Pinky Written by Pretty Everyone thinks the life of a tulip is quite simple. We get planted in the fall, hunker down all winter, then come up and bloom in the spring and soak up the sun juice to rejuvenate our bulbs. Then we rest all summer, fall, and winter, and repeat the next spring. If only that were true. There is much more to the life of a tulip, as Pinky and I will tell you, because one of the worst things that can happen to a tulip almost happened to me and Pinky this … [Read more...] about Rescued from the Weeds: The Tale of Pinky and Pretty
weeding
The Paradox of Weeding
Boltonia getting ready to bloom - Not weeds! There is a paradox of weeding, a statement that seems to be contradictory but is oh-so-true. The more you weed, the less you have to weed. Let that soak in of a minute, or go pull a couple of weeds and think about it. I seem not to understand this paradox, and don't weed as often as I should so when I do weed, I have a lot of weeds to pull out, and they are big ones. But if I were to weed more often, I would have fewer weeds to pull when I weed. … [Read more...] about The Paradox of Weeding
A call to weed
There comes a time when you must plunge into the depths of the garden border and pull the weeds. Pull the thistle rising above the rest of the flowers, catching it just as it is ready to burst into bloom and spew its seed about the garden. No matter that it is growing up through the middle of a massive rose. Pull it out. Pull the perennial sweet pea vines creeping along the ground, snaking their way up to the sunlight through the innocent coneflowers and daisies, ready to strangle them.You … [Read more...] about A call to weed
Speed weeding
Weeding at top speeds approaching more than 20 weeds a minute, I speed weeded my way through a large garden area called The Shrubbery. I did not stop to choose a special tool and dig up any weeds. I pulled and tugged as fast as I could and if a weed didn't give up its grip of the earth with a solid tug, I cut it off at ground level. Fast, faster, fastest I went, until I had cleared the area entirely of weeds, at least on the surface. I have no doubt that my satisfaction in seeing that area of … [Read more...] about Speed weeding
The Hierarchy of Weeding and Plant Removal
As soon as a gardener declares an area to be a garden and plants that first plant, it is time to start weeding and removing plants that are not part of the garden plan. This is because a garden is not made just by adding plants, though this is a major pleasure of gardening. A garden is also made by removing plants. Are you familiar with the Hierarchy of Weeding and Plant Removal? At the bottom of the hierarchy is weeding out those plants that are obviously weeds, like poison ivy, … [Read more...] about The Hierarchy of Weeding and Plant Removal
Garden Design Update: Making Plant Choices
I spent yesterday outside gardening in the garden, and only took one picture showing Geranium x cantabrigiense ‘Biokova’ with bits of Snow-in-summer, Cerastium tomentosum, growing with it. The snow-in-summer is the one with the grayish-green narrow leaves. In the lower center are the tips of the maroon leaves of Hecheura x villosa ‘Mocha’ (more on that later). In the morning I weeded out the grape arbor bed and spot weeded the other beds in the back. Around lunch time, the garden designer … [Read more...] about Garden Design Update: Making Plant Choices
