Fern Fiddlehead Friday

Rowan 5/11/2012
[2] comments
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It once was lawn where these ferns used to grow, but now, in the lee of a row of stacked firewood, there is permission for a higher kind of leaf. Every year, the size of the patch expands, as these …

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Eating The Weed That Grows Around Me

The Green Man 5/7/2012
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In common terms, it’s often called creeping charlie, gill over the-ground, haymaids, or ground ivy. More often than not, though, gardeners don’t even know its name. They simply call it that plant that won’t stop growing into my flower bed and taking over. They certainly don’t call it salad greens, but they could.

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Volatile Climate Rips A Lilac In Two

jclifford 4/26/2012
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The lilac was ripped apart by the erratic climate.

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Northern Gardeners Worried About Radical Warming

jclifford 3/21/2012
[2] comments
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All across the north, gardeners are observing bizarre warmth and plant growth, and are wondering what the heck to do about it.

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Papaver Somniferum Awakes

jclifford 3/20/2012
[7] comments
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Whether these poppies germinated at the beginning of winter, when temperatures remained unusually warm, or had rapid growth triggered by the unusually hot weather we’ve been having over the last week and a half, I can’t be sure of. What I can say is that I have never before seen a March of such unseasonal and robust plant growth in my garden.

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Last Year’s Sunflowers, Before the Sun

Jim Cook 3/16/2012
[3] comments
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November Gardening

jclifford 11/5/2011
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A final day of weather above sixty degrees came yesterday afternoon, and the low afternoon light amplified the color of the leaves still hanging on the trees around my house. I divided dianthus, moved a rooted cotoneaster, dug up turf …

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Make a Green Man… Naturally

Jim Cook 9/11/2011
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Why make a Green Man for your garden from a base of polymer clay or papier mache mix or plastic resin or concrete? Such a creation may be many things, but it isn’t made out of what it’s meant to …

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Five Plants To Lose Time By

Rowan 8/21/2011
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Japanese maple for the light filtering through the overlapping leaves Tall grass for the separation between the leaves and the seed heads Mint for its mist of pollinators Catalpa for the absurdly large beanness of it Apple for the deer …

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In Summer, Fall

Jim Cook 8/11/2011
[1] comment
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By the calendar, strict dividing lines separate Winter from Spring and Summer from Fall. The natural world knows no hard and fast boundaries. In the middle of August I stepped outside this morning to find an acorn on the ground. …

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Can You Grow A Sequoia?

The Green Man 7/19/2011
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Sequoia seedlings need a reasonable amount of water to grow, so the desert and arid plains are out. Also, they don’t tolerate temperatures below ten degrees Fahrenheit, so if you live in the northern half of the United States, sequoia probably won’t work well for you.

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Apart

Rowan 6/15/2011
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Here, amid the thyme and lavender, there are no parking lots or big box stores or internal combustion engines.

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Those Musta Been Some Pretty Active Minutes

Jim Cook 6/13/2011
[1] comment
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It’s amazing what a reed fence, and a brick border, and a potted plant, and a bed of annuals, and a chair, and a bed of crushed gravel, and a set of photography lamps will do.

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Allium To The Infidel

Rowan 5/10/2011
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Evocative allium flower buds.

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Pilgrims Will Not Follow

Rowan 5/3/2011
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What April showers brought.

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Mud Pie

Rowan 5/2/2011
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Early June’s tart pie has pushed its way out of the mud.

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Backyard Carbon Sequestration

Rowan 5/1/2011
[1] comment
http://irregulartimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/horsechestnut.jpg

A solar-powered carbon sequestration unit in my backyard, with a multi-pronged production system, sequestered six inches of carbon on the tip of each prong in just three days this week. The unit’s name: Horse chestnut.

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Another of Nature’s Lawn Aerators at work: the Flicker

Jim Cook 4/30/2011
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The squirrels and earthworms have been pocking little holes in my lawn for weeks now, supplementing the frost heave of winter in aerating the grass. Another of nature’s lawn aerators has been visiting lately: the Northern Flicker, a woodpecker that …

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