With my windmill palms snugly wrapped for the winter, another gardening year ends at Woodland Cottage. And a new gardening year begins, with a fire to welcome the Winter Solstice and the arrival of the longer days that I love.
And here we are again—the holidays have begun! Here is a link to my Holiday 2016 Newsletter, full of reminiscences, news of this years trips, and garden advice. Enjoy--and Happy Holidays!
Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Holidays! Here is a link to my Holiday 2015 Newsletter, full of garden tips and information on our travels this year. Enjoy!
...but we know it will, of course--eventually. From this (Bluffton, SC, February 2014)... ...to this (Arlington, VA, March 6, 2014) It's good to be back home in Arlington, though not to this cold and snow! Except for the ice storm that occurred when I first arrived in North Carolina last month, the Winter weather down South this year was gorgeous. Winter Damage The lowest temperature [...]
Woke up to this: Every twig, every leaf, every surface has snow on it. When I look up into the trees, the first thing that pops into my head is "reindeer antlers", for some reason. What do you think? Soon, I hope, the temperature will rise above freezing so the snow will begin to drop off the plants. It's heavy and wet, and many of the shrubs are arching [...]
Loropetalum beginning to bloom in our front yard After what always seems like an eternity (in other words, getting through January), I made it down here to Steve's in Wilmington. I've been here a week and, already, I feel the relaxation and calm streaming into my body and the stress and tension slowly draining out. The air is not all that much warmer down here--though I don't [...]
Now that we're about at the halfway point of Winter, I start to imagine Springtime. The days are just starting to lengthen, and the sun is just beginning to feel a bit stronger. By Valentine's Day, the sun begins to heat up the car again. I've been AWOL for awhile, so may I wish you a Happy New Year, belatedly. My desktop computer is on its last leg (a [...]
Here's an article I wrote last week, Rash of Spring, Fever or Freeze? It was published in Lumina News of Wrightsville Beach/Wilmington, NC, on February 16th. Enjoy!
We just got back to Wilmington, NC, from four days in the Savannah, GA, area. Lawsy, it was nice. Most of the time, it was cloudy and cool, but Thursday the sun popped out and the temperature went up to 75F. We threw on some shorts and a t-shirt and headed into the historic district for a nice walk. Rest easy, my Northern friends: Spring [...]
Japonica. Camellia. Some say it like this: Kuh-MAYL-yuh. Here in the South, "Japonica" is a catch-all term for so many plants: Winter/Spring-blooming Camellias, Pieris...any plant whose species name is japonica is fair game down here. Whatever you call them, they're all the same and they're all Camellias. I just took a turn around my woodland garden, and the early Camellia japonicas are blooming away. Of the varieties I have, [...]
