Proper placement of bird feeders, buying holiday garden gifts, and caring for poinsettias and Christmas cactus are some of the gardening activities for this month. To encourage birds to visit your garden this winter, set out feeders near evergreen trees or shrubs so birds have cover while they feed. If you have bird-chasing cats, or if raiding squirrels are a […]
December Gardening
THERE may be some who think it is a little late to talk about winter protection of plants in December, but as a matter of fact, most growers are agreed that the really critical tune for plants which are on the borderline of hardiness is in late winter when a warm sun, combined with drying winds, takes moisture from leaves […]
Gardening tasks to Do in December
The truth is that a gardener thinks of very material things in December. He is thinking of what he wants to give some good gardener for Christmas or else what he wishes he had himself. But when anyone asks him, “What do you want for Christmas?” he blinks his eyes and says, “Well, I don’t want a thing, just a […]
December Gardening Tips
Provided is a list of tasks you need to perform in your garden during December. Please understand your gardening zone which is identified in the menu above. Look for Hardiness Zones. Zone 1 Continue pruning deciduous trees and roses In coldest regions, protect roses with earth cones or wire baskets filled with insulating material Keep gift house plants as cool […]
Winter Ornamentals – Bark
Winter Ornamentals – Bark Book Excerpt by Dan Hinkley Like the last and messy hours of a party gone on too long, the soggy, cool days of late autumn cast about the garden a mood of the season’s demise. Yet as the last colored leaves, varnished with the first rains of winter, fall earthward, the deciduous trees bare their sinewy […]
WINTER INTEREST
When I first started gardening I emulated the grasshopper in the old fable, “The Ant and the Grasshopper”. Like that high-living insect, I basked in the summer sunshine, cultivating and enjoying my flowers. I didn’t plan for the lean cold days of winter, because I hadn’t the slightest interest in my garden during the months of November, December and January. […]
Ready your Pond for Winter
GETTING YOUR POND READY FOR WINTER By the Pond Lady Signs of autumn are springing up everywhere. Leaves are turning colors, birds are gathering for their flight south, pumpkins and apples are being harvested and the blankets are being put back onto the beds. Sunscreen is being traded for sweaters and sweatshirts. Water lilies and other vegetation in your pond […]
Gardening through the Winter
Judging by the hysterical television coverage that happens whenever more than three inches of rain or an inch of snow is forecasted, nobody prepares for bad weather anymore. During the fall months when the weather is still good, we only think about winter storms when an early blizzard inundates the upper Midwest. Then, when bad weather is predicted closer to […]
Indoor Winter Gardening Questions
How to treat unplanted spring-flowering bulbs, amaryllis when through flowering, and houseplants dropping leaves, are some of the common indoor gardening questions this time of year. Many also ask if there are food crops that you can grow indoors during winter. If you purchased spring-flowering bulbs this fall but didn’t get them all planted, what should you do with them? Such […]
How to Grow Tuberous Begonias in Pots
These Popular and Easy-to-Grow Flowers Come in Many Types These attractive plants are invaluable as house plants, for the greenhouse, and for filling summer flower beds. Some kinds are grown for their ornamental leaves, others for their flowers; some bloom in summer, others in winter, while a few flower more or less all the year round. Begonias are found wild […]