Sorted by date Results 1 - 13 of 13
November 2024 Yearning for fresh produce from your garden? Hydroponics, water gardening, offers an alternative to waiting for next summer’s yields. Tired of wilted lettuce on your BLT’s? Look for Butter Crunch lettuce in the produce section of your grocery store. You know, the rooted, cupped leaves in the ‘corsage like’ containers? Before cleaning the leaves, cut them about an inch or so above the crown of roots. Leave the soil on and plop the roots in a ramekin or other small dish. Cover the roots with water, about 1/4 cup....
November 1, 2024 Margaret A. Swenson October’s Glory has faded into November’s Fog. Like statues in Rome trees stand with little or no adornment. Shrubs, some with only berries remaining on their branches exhibit their framework. And perennials, fallen to the ground, seem to have died. Our plants are not dead. They are simply in another stage of life. They are waiting for winter when they will rest. What can we do to encourage their resurgence in the spring? We can make sure the ground where they have been growing is ade...
October 21, 2024 The plants in my daughter’s window looked rather sickly and tired. “What can I do for them?” She asked. “They are starving.” I told her. “They need nourishment.” Nutrients in house plants often leach out of their pots resulting in plants that are vulnerable to decline. A light dose of “plant food,” half the recommended dosage or less, will usually encourage the plant to take up nourishment and the yellowish-green foliage will begin to “green up.” Increase the fertilizer percentage to about three-quarters...
October 2024 Out in the garden pumpkins are ripe Their orange skin’s ready regardless of type. Round ones and flat ones and some that are white All hoping for faces that October Night. Some sport goose bumps and stripes of bright green Others so large Peter Pumpkin Eater’s wife can be seen. Like stars in the moonlight upon the cold land Tiny ones, too, fit the palm of my hand. Fairies and witches and creatures that roar Run through the town and knock on my door. I’ll try to appease them with candy and treats And wish them...
September 30, 2024 Margaret A. Swenson Winter Solace Frost is on the pumpkin And frost is on my nose Winter will be coming So the story goes. Time to put away my tools And stack wood for the fire The garden will be waiting When weather’s not so dire. What to do while waiting In my covers and my coats There’s books to read and quilts to make And dreams of pleasure boats. I’d love that you would join me On this journey through the cold The time we spend together Is more precious than pure gold....
Margaret Swenson Labor Day has passed and I am ready to put my white slacks away until next summer. Well, maybe I’ll wear them one more time. Trees and shrubs have already begun to change the color of their frocks. Linden and some Poplar varieties such as Cottonwood and Quaking Aspen are taking on a yellow glow. Varieties of spirea are teasing us with yellow, orange and red leaves amongst their green ones. And a walk in the woods will treat you to native plants with vibrant reds, carmine, bronzes and buff colored grasses. A...
August 27, 2024 Margaret A. Swenson There is a taste of September in the air. Soft, cool breezes on my face and sunshine on my back. The skies are bluer and the yellow grass is greening. Unexpected falling leaves float gently on walkways and paths. Mornings come later and evenings earlier. And I marvel at a new season ready to replace the old. It is time to clean and fill hummingbird feeders for the hummers before they depart on their long journeys. They will need energy to fly sometimes hundreds and even thousands of miles....
Besides the Ponderosa pine, lilac and lavender, plants that have defied the wrath of summer’s sun and lack of water include: smoke bush cotinus, peonies, juniper, ornamental grass, Karl Forester, sedum, and of course, native plants that have proven their faithfulness for eons. Plants that have appeared to “bite the dust” such as varieties of spirea, barberry, burring bush euonymus, hydrangea and roses may be pruned to stimulate new growth. Perennials such as the penstemon, Husker Red and hostas have rejuvenated after the g...
Plants don’t like 100 degree and above temperatures any better than we do. What to do? Many cities institute a restricted watering policy for landscapes so lawns and gardens may not receive the moisture needed for that lush look. Grasses may wither and look dead but their roots are merely resting and will usually green up when the weather cools in September. A mower set to a high setting will help protect the grass roots. Many perennials and annuals may finish they’re blooming season and set seed early. Deadheading, rem...
I don’t need more inspiration to write a gardening article than to see the efforts my plants are making to insure my happiness. Forsythia and lilacs have finished their show, bridal wreath spirea blossoms have dropped to make room for the fragrant mock orange bushes and honeysuckle vines, and vibrant magenta blooms on the peonies and gorgeous colors of iris have all but erased the memory of tulips and daffodils. The transition to summer finds the frenzy of spring chores much less demanding. Analysis is the order of things a...
Tough little sprouts of oats, peas, (not beans) but clover, and barley, thumbed their noses at the weather reports, poked their heads out of the soil and decided to take a chance for frostless nights. Still cold from the grip of this spring’s weather, they shivered a bit, kept their leaves close to their stems and braved the elements. They hoped to join their native friends, the beautiful bright yellow biscuitroot, a plant of the parsley family, Lomatium, that graces either dry rocky hillsides and prairies or in some cases mo...
What could have happened to this lovely bee friendly fragrant member of the mint family? The woody sub-shrub lavender plants in my garden have succumbed. There doesn’t seem to be any life in the rigid stems. They had always been so happy in they’re sunny open spaced, well drained drought tolerant garden. I had been a diligent gardener, harvesting the fragrant blossom stems of this woody perennial in July, pruning to just above the new shoots and then tidying it up again in late August. I was careful not to cut into the old...
Unlike the wax candles on my coffee table, the candles on the ponderosa pines touched by May’s morning light glow as they reach as with reverence toward the Heavens. Gleaming with life, the candles contain the spring growth of the tree. David Douglas, the naturalist, named the magnificent giant whose name Ponderosa means ‘heavy wood.’ Native Americans revered the long needled, single flush, (one growth of candles per year) pine tree for many uses including pitch for adhesive, needles for tea, logs for canoes, and dried bark...
