Category: Gardening

Posted in Gardening

A splash of color

Posted on by Paul
A trio of small, colorful potted plants sitting on a windowsill

The weather, much like my mood, has been rather gray for most of this month. But every time I walk by the kitchen window and see this trio of small, colorful plants, I smile a little.

During the summer, we had coleus and celosia plants growing outside in the garden. The coleus plants ended up resembling small shrubs by August — much too big to bring inside, and too fragile to withstand New Jersey winters. (Celosia seems to have a five- to six-month lifecyle, regardless of temperature.)

But the larger plants scattered some seeds, and a few of them grew. I dug them up and put them in these small windowsill pots to have a bit of color to help get me through the winter, until it’s time for the spring daffodils and violets to start blooming again.

Does the winter grayness bother you? What are some of the things that you do to help fight it?

Posted in Gardening

Getting ready for a spring that waits to be

Posted on by Paul

I spent a good part of my free time last week trying to get the yard ready to plant our garden, although I always insist that I keep more of a plant menagerie than a proper “garden.”

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This year’s big project is the construction of a raised flower bed, approximately 16 feet wide by two feet deep that will be home to eight Astilbe plants that we’ve been growing inside since late February. A couple of them are now around 15 inches tall and they’re more than ready to go outside, as soon as the weather cooperates.

While a love of baseball was something I could share with my father, I got into gardening to have something I could share with my mother. And by now, I need to see pretty, colorful signs of life to help get through winter just as much or more than she does.

Posted in Gardening, Odds & ends

A glass of spring…

Posted on by Paul

Snow DSCN7127

The northeast has resembled Hoth for the past couple of weeks, with today bringing our first significant snowstorm of 2018. It’s supposed to get even colder this weekend.

But the two most recent additions to our plant menagerie will help remind me that spring is on the way, and that should make it a little bit easier to get through the winter.

January 6th update:

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