Usually, by late November, all the flowers are gone. This autumn has been different. After a one-day freeze, the temps returned to the 70s, and flowers are still blooming. The coneflowers have new blooms, and the red sage is still vibrant. Even the sweet alyssum, which usually dies with theContinue Reading
It’s been a month since I began working on the garden, and there is still a lot to do. After a cold winter, it warmed up much faster than expected, with 80-degree days early on. As a result, I’m fighting weeds much earlier than usual. VMLP photography projectsContinue Reading
The Society Garlic has never had a fair chance. I planted it in July 2022, too late for Atlanta, but it seemed to hold on over the summer, which had more frequent rains than usual. It faded in the fall, but I had expected as much. However, the polar vortexContinue Reading
Ahh…it must be January! The sitting room is bathed in the fragrance of lemon blossoms! Only a few have opened, but already, the downstairs has taken on the delicately sweet aroma. The tree has been with us since 2018, and in most years, it only had a few flowers, butContinue Reading
These images were taken on October 24 as the gardening season draws to a close. Frost usually occurs within the first few weeks of November, so bloom time is ending. I’ve done no deadheading, pruning, or watering this season; still, there are late-season blossoms. Black-eyed Susans are usually gone byContinue Reading
Posh folks use “winter” as a verb, as in “We wintered in Palm Springs.” Although my unplanted sweet potato vines and geraniums do not count as posh items, I didn’t want to see them die, having never been properly seated in pots. I bought them along with 30 or moreContinue Reading
Since 2014, the garden’s first season, I cannot recall a winter when the local temperature fell below 18. Even then, the cold was limited to nighttime. Typically, nighttime temps in December are, at worst, in the mid-30s with occasional lower temps for a few hours at best. The polar vortexContinue Reading
By the time the first frost arrives each year, I am ready to welcome it. Managing a garden, even a small one, is more work than it seems, a fact I discovered within a few weeks of my first gardening season. First, there is digging, fertilizing, and planting. Then, onceContinue Reading
Mid-April seems to be the best time to plant–earlier, and frost is still possible, much later, and there is a chance the rains will stop. It could easily be 95 or hotter by the first weekend in May, which would fry tender, young plants. Some plants are real troopers. AngeloniasContinue Reading
Violets and creeping Jenny do not understand the concept of boundaries. Unfortunately, they both have beautiful colors and decorative leaves. As best I can tell, the violets that plague me came from next door 10 years ago or further back. They used to grow in my neighbor’s yard in patchesContinue Reading
