My Dear Flora, I was so excited the other day to find a nest in my bluebird box that I thought straight-away about writing to tell you about it. I was out planting some onion sets in the gardem—a little later than I had planned—and decided to peek inside the bluebird box. To my surprise and delight I found a nest inside, already. I just put it up a few weeks ago. You can imagine what I did when I discovered the nest, can't you? Yes, I ran down to the local bird feeding store and bought … [Read more...] about A letter about bird feeding
letters to gardening friends
The Theory of Seasonal Wildflowers
Dear Gail, Thank you for providing us with Wildflower Wednesday on the fourth Wednesday of the month, reminding us to think about wildflowers for our gardens. While I was out mowing today, I thought about wildflowers and what I might post about them. I mowed past some Black-eye Susans (Rudbeckia sp.) and considering posting about them. Black-eyed Susans Then I saw the big Joe Pye Weed (Euchotrium dubium 'LIttle Joe', formerly Eupatorium dubium 'Little Joe'), standing over four feet … [Read more...] about The Theory of Seasonal Wildflowers
Dear Friends and Gardeners September 6, 2010
Dear Dee and Mary Ann and Gardening Friends Everywhere, The other day on the way home from work, I stopped at a garden center and bought some grass seed and on impulse picked up the 2011 Old Farmer’s Almanac. I guess that means I am officially looking forward to next year’s vegetable garden and am ready to give up on this year’s vegetable garden. We are dry, dry, dry. It is so dry that even the thistle are wilting. That’s dry, fellow gardeners. There is no way to water everything I have … [Read more...] about Dear Friends and Gardeners September 6, 2010
Dear Friends and Gardeners August 30, 2010
Diervilla lonicera Dear Dee and Mary Ann and Gardening Friends Everywhere, In 48 hours, give or take, August will be over and it is on to September. Here in Indianapolis, we will remember this as a record setting August – the driest ever with just .37 inches of rain. This beats the record set in 1897 when they measured .47 inches of rain. This is a far different summer than I thought we would have back in June, which was the third wettest June in Indianapolis history. That whole month, one of … [Read more...] about Dear Friends and Gardeners August 30, 2010
Dear Friends and Gardeners August 23, 2010
Dear Dee and Mary Ann and Gardening Friends Everywhere, I am not pleased to report that we are about to break a weather record that was set back in 1897. That was the year they had the driest August on record with just .47 inches of rain, less than half an inch for the entire month. With just eight days left in August, we have had just .37 inches of rain and there isn’t any rain to speak of in the 10 day forecast. And we won’t mention that this is going to be one of the warmest Augusts in … [Read more...] about Dear Friends and Gardeners August 23, 2010
Dear Friends and Gardeners August 16, 2010
Dear Dee and Mary Ann and Gardening Friends Everywhere, This past week we got to experience something that hasn’t happened around here in years. Years, I tell you. Unfortunately that something was every blessed day the high temperature was in the 90’s --- 95, 97, 98, 96, 96, 92, 96 through yesterday to be exact. At least that’s what the newspaper reported each day and what I wrote down in my big ol’ garden journal. And then for each day I wrote my general observation for the day – Hot. Or … [Read more...] about Dear Friends and Gardeners August 16, 2010
