1 Feb
Misspelled words are usually either annoying or embarrassing, depending on whether you’re reading them or creating them. But every once in a while, they inspire a whole new line of thought. When I recently ran across “necrofilia” (never mind where, but really, it was nothing horrible), I read it as “necrofolia,” and suddenly, there was the perfect term for an entire horticultural subculture.
31 Dec
The calendar says it’s just turned winter, but as far as I’m concerned, we’re already well on our way to spring. I used to wait until March to do my outdoor cleanup, trying to get every last bit of enjoyment out of the garden before giving up on the previous year’s display. Unfortunately, the voles also got a great deal of enjoyment out of that approach, and I eventually had to switch to cutting down both the garden and meadow in mid- to late fall so the voles were forced to find other places to spend the winter.
31 Oct
It’s that time of year again: time for the Fall Color Project, hosted by Dave at Growing the Home Garden. This is my fifth year participating in this event. Compared to some other years, this season’s fall colors in my part of southeastern Pennsylvania haven’t been the most spectacular. In fact, until about a week ago, I was wondering how I could possibly scrape up enough decent photos for a whole post.
31 Aug
It feels like cheating to do another picture-heavy post this month, but there was just too much going on to pack it all into the last Bloom Day extravaganza. So, here are the missing combination and garden shots for August, starting in the front garden.
1 Aug
A few weeks ago, in It’s Personal – Part 1, I started talking about some of the ways I’ve tackled the development of the gardens here at Hayefield, in response to some readers’ questions. I ended that part by mentioning that I have a group of plants that I rely on for filling new gardens. Here are some of my favorites, along with a few more thoughts about planting and maintenance and some more pictures of how the gardens have evolved over the last decade.
