The sun finally came out today - just in time for Michelle Obama to begin planting her second annual vegetable garden. The first lady again invited students to join her as she got her hands dirty with Mother Nature. The White House garden has been so successful that some two dozen book deals have been offered to Michelle Obama and her garden.  We'll have more photos later. But for now, here's the AP report:

WASHINGTON — First lady Michelle Obama is welcoming spring to the White House by replanting her popular vegetable garden with the help of local elementary school students.

Mrs. Obama told the students that the garden grew food last year that fed many people and that it started a national conversation about healthy eating. She told the students that no matter where people live or how old they may be, they can still garden. She said it's fun digging around in the dirt.

To illustrate that point, the first lady knelt in the garden and planted two rows of broccoli as well as some rhubarb. Joining Mrs. Obama were Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and White House chefs.

 

Associated Press Photo

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Categories: White House Vegetable Garden
        

Photos by Sarah Kickler Kelber

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Categories: Wordless Wednesday
        

As you all know, Susan is traveling, but I knew if she were here, she'd want to share this gorgeous video from the L.A. Times about how the crazy winter rains have resulted in spring blooms in Anza Borrego Desert State Park. Check it out below:

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 4:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

First Lady Michelle Obama and her garden helpers from Washington's Bancroft Elementary School will be planting the White House vegetable garden -Season 2 - Wednesday at 4 p.m. Stay tuned to Garden Variety for updates and photos.

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Categories: White House Vegetable Garden
        

Photo credit: Gary Mihoces

This is how you can tell you are at a flower show.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Flower Shows
        

Photo credit: Gary Mihoces

Garden Variety returned to her roots this weekend, visiting family in Pittsburgh.

Because she makes her living as a garden blogger, Garden Variety used her executive authority to take a group of 10 (count 'em) to the Phipps Conservatory for its Spring Flower Show, a tradition since Garden Variety was a seedling.

Even the men in the group admitted that the Conservatory experience was a very relaxing one.

(For more on the Conservatory, read on. For more pictures, taken by Blog Spouse Gary Mihoces, visit my Flickr collection.)

Photo courtesy of Phipps Conservatory

The gardens were founded in 1893 by steel and real-estate magnate Henry Phipps as a gift to the City of Pittsburgh, to educate and entertain the people of Pittsburgh with formal gardens, such as Roman and English, and exotic plants, such as palm trees, succulents, bonsai and orchids.

Phipps has elaborate gardens in thirteen rooms and on the adjoining grounds. In addition to its primary flora exhibits, the sophisticated glass and metalwork of the Lord & Burnham conservatory offers an interesting example of Victorian greenhouse architecture.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Flower Shows
        

Greetings from Pittsburgh, where Garden Variety is hanging out with family and dragging them to yet another spring flower show!!!!

This was was at the Phipps Conservatory, where even the reluctant men in our party were delightfully surprised by the calm and beauty of a flower show. Even the 7-year-old seemed pleased!

Stay tuned. Pictures will be up tomorrow. I hope. Wireless Internet hasn't yet made it to every corner of my hometown.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 6:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Flower Shows
        

Photo credit: Michael Lemmon

The hyacinth is one of the stars of the Spring Flower Show at Baltimore's Rawlings Conservatory, now through April 11.

This is part of the hyacinth's story...

So ends the Greek myth of Apollo and Hyacinthus.

The two were taking turns throwing a discus. Zephyr the West Wind grew jealous of their friendship. He caused the discus to hit Hyacinthus in the head, instantly killing him.

Instead of letting Hyacinthus pass to the underworld of Hades, Apollo changed him into a small flower and allowed him to return every spring.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 6:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Flower Shows
        

The Rawlings Conservatory and Botanic Gardens in Baltimore's Druid Hill Park celebrates spring Saturday with a flower show dedicated to L. Frank Baum's "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," a book first published in 1900, about the same time the Conservatory was built.

Working from a 1939 reprint of the book, manager Kate Blom has decorated the Conservatory's rooms with Dorothy, Tin Man, Lion, Scarecrow and all sorts of Munchkins that reflect not the MGM movie, but the original illustrations by W.W. Denslow.

And then she added 20,000 spring bulbs.

(For a sneak peak at the Flower Show, see Ken Lam's photo gallery at baltimoresun.com.)

 

Tulips, daffodils, narcissus, hyacinth and lilies in colors from bright white to deep purple surround the story book characters as they make their way along a yellow brick road that is, well, yellow highway tape cut into brick shapes.

Always looking for a bargain to make her conservatory budget go further, Blom also borrow a miniature house from the city's Safety City display.

She got the throne for the Wizard and the curtain that hides him from Center Stage Theater.

And she was the grateful recipient of a wagon, two-way radios and a new hose reel from the Homeland Garden Club.

 "It was like Christmas," she said.

 

 

 

There will be cupcakes decorated with green sparkles and green punch in the "Emerald City," when the show opens at noon Saturday.

And there will be an Easter egg hunt outside the Conservatory Saturday from 12-2.

But the flowers are the stars of this show and Blom, who likes to try a few new ones each year, is especially pleased with hyacinth "Hollyhock," which blooms in a splendid rich pink.

"We don't always like everything we try, but this one was a success," she said.

Conservatory guests are greeted by a spiraling "tornado" made of air plants and Spanish moss.

The show begins with Saturday's open house from noon to 4 p.m. and runs through April 11. The Conservatory is open Tuesday through Sundays, including Easter Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (The Conservatory is closed Mondays.)

The flower show is free, though a $3 donation is gratefully accepted. 

 

Posted by Susan Reimer at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Flower Shows
        

San Francisco is a long way from us here at Garden Variety. But one of my favorite blogging photographers, Laura Mathews of Punk Rock Gardens, [http://punkrockgardens.com/]put this slideshow of images together from the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show - and then put it to music. Enjoy!

Posted by Susan Reimer at 1:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Flower Shows
        

The White House will open its gardens to the public again in April, and this time the first lady's vegetable garden is on the tour.

On April 17th and 18th, members of the public with tickets will be able to visit the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden, the Rose Garden and the Children's Garden and they will be able to visit the South Lawn, home of the most famous vegetable garden in the world.

Only a glimpse of the garden could be seen during the fall White House grounds tours. But this time, the garden will not only be visible, there will be a large poster with information about the garden and visitors will be given a brochure. 

No word yet on when the vegetable garden will be planted for this season.

If you want tickets for the tour, keep reading.

Photo courtesy of The DC Traveler/ Paul Morse

The grounds will be open Saturday, April 17, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday, April 18, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

A ticket is required for all attendees, including small children. The National Park Service will distribute free, timed tickets at the Ellipse Visitor Pavilion located at 15th and E Streets on each tour day beginning at 8:00 a.m. Tickets will be distributed -- one ticket per person -- on a first-come, first-served basis.

In case of inclement weather, the Garden Tours may be cancelled. Call the 24-hour information line at 202-456-7041 to check on the status fo the event.

Strollers, wheelchairs and cameras are permitted on the tour, but the following items are prohibited:

Posted by Susan Reimer at 2:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Garden tours
        

President Obama was busy with health care and Mrs. Obama was in New York seeing plays on Broadway with the girls, and both missed the annual Gridiron Dinner for Washington correspondents.

In keeping with the tradition that absolutely nothing is sacred, the White House vegetable garden took a lampooning at the dinner and comedy skit show.

A chorus line of dancing vegetables sang about the garden, to the tune of The Beatles song, "Octopus' Garden."

Special thanks to Lynn Sweet at the DAILY FLOTUS blog for these lyrics.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: White House Vegetable Garden
        

Remember the fuss I made last week about waiting until the gardens dried out a little more before starting to work in them?

 Remember how I said that our footprints would compress the soggy soil and force out the air pockets that are as important to plant life as the nutrients in the soil?

Remember how wet I said my own garden was? That the only thing that might be growing right now would be algae in the standing water?

Remember all that?

Never mind.

I could not resist the beautiful weather. Nor could I ignore the date on the calendar.

There are only so many Saturdays that are fit enough to work in the yard. This was one of them, and I was out there.

Keep reading to see the result.

 

Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Susan Reimer

Posted by Susan Reimer at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Weekend Chores
        

In this lovely essay in the New York Times, Michelle Slatalla writes about her aging lab, Otto, and the last day of his life.

He spent it in a garden, a place she returns to after his death and a place that for her, clearly, represents a fresh start.

Photo credit: "Dogs in Their Gardens" by Page Dickey

Posted by Susan Reimer at 9:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Garden inspirations
        

Warm weather this past weekend is going to bring out Washington's famous cherry blossoms a few days early.

The National Park Service has revised its prediction for blooming dates, and chief horticulturist Robert DeFeo is now predicting the peak blooming will be April 1 to April 4.

Earlier he predicted most trees would be in bloom April 3 to April 8.

The trees will likely begin blooming this weekend and continue through April 9. The opening ceremony is planned for Saturday at the National Building Museum.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 4:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Garden news
        

First Lady Michelle Obama (voice by Angela Bassett) made an appearance at Lisa's school on "The Simpsons", urging the kids to be nice to the nerdy little girl.

Wearing her signature cardigan, pop-bead pearls and wide belt, the cartoon Mrs. Obama tells Lisa she knew about her because of her garden blog. (Ahem!)

Then she uses her remarkably buff arms to help the Marines open the helocopter door.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 3:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Garden humor
        

I found this in my garden. The antique key by the gate in the picket fence has been nearly overgrown with ivy.

I saw it, and suddenly I heard Bruce Springsteen singing "Secret Garden"....

Photo credit: Susan Reimer

"She'll lead you down a path
There'll be tenderness in the air
She'll let you come just far enough
So you know she's really there
Then she'll look at you and smile
And her eyes will say
She's got a secret garden
Where everything you want
Where everything you need
Will always stay
A million miles away"
 

I fancy myself to be that elusive.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 2:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Garden photography
        

Photo credit: Michael Lemmon

Citrus

Citrus are small evergreen trees or shrubs of the Rutaceae family that are native to the southern areas of Asia and include oranges, grapefruits, lemons, and limes. Their flowers are on display now at Baltimore's Rawlings Conservatory in Druid Hill Park.

Brought to the US by Christopher Columbus, records indicate that oranges were growing in St. Augustine, Florida by 1579.

Flowers are usually white with a very strong sweet fragrance. Citrus make great ornamentals and do well in containers.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 1:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Baltimore's Rawlings Conservatory
        

I certainly hope that we've established the fact that, though this should be a beautiful weekend, it might not be time to work in the garden.

Too much snow and too much rain mean the soil is probably sodden, and walking on it will compact it, eliminating the air pockets that are as important to plants as the nurtrients in the soil.

What to do? What to do?

Get your containers ready for the season.

Kerry Michaels, who blogs about container gardening at About.com, is one of my go-to people on the subject of container gardens.

And while I am totally anal and clean my containers every spring, Kerry considers herself "a total sloth" on the matter. "I rinse them off with a hose in the fall and call it a day," she said.

She can get away with it. She lives in Maine, where the cold is going to kill anything that tries to winter-over in her pots.

There I am, with a scrub brush and my spray cleaner with bleach, making a total mess on the deck. By the end of it, my pots are so clean you could bake a shepherd's pie in one of them.

I can clean my pots this way because I've dumped the soil out of them.

Don't make the (cheap, cheap) mistake of trying to get two seasons out of your potting soil. Not only will it be seriously nutrient deficient, it might be full of insects or disease or both. Just start over.

Kerry gave me the go-ahead to add the old potting soil to my compost pile or to spread it around my beds - unless I have used water-retention crystals.

"I'm a big opponent of those things," she said. "They are made of polyacrylamide, a potential carcinogen." And, she added, Fine Gardening magazine wrote that they didn't work.

More advice from Kerry?

"I'm a big fan of putting a big volume of potting soil in your containers. Lots of people recommend filling the bottom of the pots with everything from packing peanuts to old milk jugs, but it's important to know that the more soil you have in your pot, the better it is at retaining moisture." (And temperature, too, I suspect.)

Having said that, Kerry added that there are some products out there that she likes because, like these other fillers, they have the advantage of helping with air circulation around roots. She recommended Better Than Rocks, and is anxious to try Packing Pearls.

When it comes to soil, Kerry is organic, and recomments Coast of Maine potting soils. Or Organic Mechanics.

Don't forget to mix a slow-release fertilizer into the potting soil. "I think it's the step that most people skip and it's perhaps the most important thing for happy plants." For this, she recommends Bradfield Organics products.

And finally, over the growing season, she uses a liquid fertilizer that is a fish emulsion and seaweed combination. "I dilute it and use it once every other week."

(FYI. Kerry has no financial arrangement with any of these companies.)

So, give your gardens another week to dry out and get the containers ready. You will still be outside!

Posted by Susan Reimer at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Container gardening
        

Cue Kool & The Gang.

It's Ladies Night tonight (Friday, March 19) at Homestead Gardens in Davidsonville where the spring garden show concludes this weekend. From 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., participants will receive a special one-night-only discount coupon of 25 percent off, and a complimentary strawberry plant in a 4-inch pot will be waiting for the first 250 people!

Seminars continue Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday, 10am: Container Workshop: “Make and Take” Salad Container ($30) Class size is limited.

noon: New Perennials: Author of “The All-In-One Garden” and Editor in Chief of American Horticultural Society’s Encyclopedia of Perennials, Graham Rice introduces you to new perennials from around the world to add year-round interest to your garden.

2pm: Color Combinations For your Garden: Color coordination goes beyond decorating your home. American Horticultural Society President Emeritus Katy Moss Warner explains the intricacies of combining colors for both dramatic flair and subtle effects.

Sunday, noon: Color Combinations for your Garden with Katy Moss Warner
Color coordination goes beyond decorating your home. American Horticultural Society President Emeritus Katy Moss Warner explains the intricacies of combining colors for both dramatic flair and subtle effects.

1pm: Book-signing with Graham Rice at the American Horticultural Society Information Table

2pm: Bed Preparation with Gene Sumi
Spring is here, time to dig in! Not so fast, says garden expert Gene Sumi. Take the time to prepare the bed around your yard for color and edibles to produce the best results!

3:15 pm: New Perennials with Graham Rice
Author of “The All-In-One Garden” and Editor in Chief of American Horticultural Society’s Encyclopedia of Perennials, Graham Rice introduces you to new perennials from around the world to add year-round interest to your garden.

And at Valley View Farms in Cockeysville this weekend:

Saturday, 9 a.m.: Cool Season Vegetables: Asparagus, broccoli, onion sets and potatoes are among the vegetables that can be going into the garden soon. Valley View veggie veterans Suzanne and Dotty will help you get a head start.

11:00 a.m. Spring Lawn Clinic: Join Valley View's Scott Anderson as he discusses the best seed, fertilizer, crabgrass and weed controls, and other amendments to make your lawn beautiful.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Garden events
        

The Daily Green, a consumer guide for all things green, included Baltimore among its Top 10 cities for urban gardening, upending the notion that only suburbanites have the room to grow their own food.

According to the Trust for Public Land, Baltimore is the cities with the most  community gardens per capita. These gardens not only produce food, they bring neighbors together, involve young people, feed the hungry and, perhaps, help reduce crime.

Seattle was No. 1 on the list. Baltimore was No. 7. Also included were University of Maryland horticulture students who mentor community gardeners at 22 plots outside of Washington, D.C.

Photo credit: Joseu Lopez

The rest of the Top 10 include:

Anchorage, Louisville, Portland, Long Beach, St. Paul, Honolulu, San Jose.

The Baltimore Community Gardens Program, directed by the Baltimore City Master Gardeners, has, among other things:

• Helped 22 community gardens obtain water permits for using fire hydrants.
• Introduced gardening to 150 middle and high schools students.
• Completed a pilot study on the removal of lead from soil.
• Arranged tours and awards.
• Saved the city more than $137,800 in 2005 alone.
• Obtained free seeds.
• Helped repair equipment used by community gardeners.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 1:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Garden news
        

Our own Robin Ripley, who blogs about gardening at Bumblebee Blog, is the guest ranter on the popular blog Garden Rant and, wow, is she in a huff!

Robin, who lives and gardens and raises chickens on a 21-acre homestead somewhere in Calvert County, Maryland, is furious with half-hearted vegetable gardeners who give serious vegetable gardeners a bad name.

They bite off more than they can chew in the spring and lose interest quickly. Their gardens go to hell in a hand-basket and, she says, make the case for all those homeowers associations that want to ban vegetable gardens.

We perennial gardeners (Ahem. That would be me) proceed much more slowly and with greater deliberation. And we are borderline obsessive about maintaining our gardens.

So, if you are thinking of going back to the land and aren't sure you've got the staying power for a vegetable garden, go to the farmers' market instead!

Posted by Susan Reimer at 12:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Garden blogs
        

Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Callie Lipkin

It looks like the weather in the Mid-Atlantic will burst into spring this weekend, with temperatures expected to be in the high 60s and low 70s.

It is irresistable gardening weather, but gardeners may have to do just that. Resist.

Barbara Damrosch, writing in the Washington Post today, says that garden soil is probably still too wet to work and doing so will certainly compact it, shutting down the worm tunnels and air pockets that plants need. Compaction is particularly harmful in the clay soil we have in many parts of Maryland.

She is writing primarily about vegetable gardening, but even lawns (yes, the much-hated lawns) will suffer if you walk on them when they are this wet.

How wet is too wet? If you sqeeze the soil and it stays in your hand in a clump, it is too wet to work.

The time to improve your soil, Damrosch writes, is actually in the fall. Add compost and other soil amendments then, with the soil is dry and it has time to take in the nutrients. Don't try to do that now.

But what about clean-up? Can't we just go out and start to clean up the mess left by this damaging winter?

The answer seems to be, it depends.

I literally had standing water in my yard after last weekend's rains.  And the edges of the beds were filled with water that had collected there. The ground is so saturated by more than 50 inches of snow that there was no place for rainwater to go. The sunny days predicted for this weekend will only begin to dry out my gardens.

If you absolutely must garden this weekend, work on your containers. More on that tomorrow.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Garden tips
        

I was just about to ask the guys at my favorite Starbucks ("extra-hot grande skim latte, please") when they would begin putting aside spent coffee grounds for us gardeners when I looked down and saw the familiar silver bags waiting for me.

Those coffee grounds are more a sign of spring for me than any robin. It means I can begin to get my beds ready.

Ground coffee is high in nitrogen, making it a very good for fast-growing vegetables. It is especially good for tomato plants, both for the nitrogen boost this heavy feeder needs and and for coffee's ability to help suppress late blight.

But I sprinkle the coffee grounds everywhere.

Last spring, I didn't bother with the little silver bags.

I asked my Starbucks guys to just tie up the giant plastic bag of spend grounds and I dragged it to the car. I'll bet I spread a couple of hundred pounds of grounds before spring was over.

The roses and the hydrangeas seemed to like the acid. But I spread the coffee grounds around all my shrubs and perennials and the spring rains soaked them in like a slow-released fertilizer. I dumped the extra into my compost pile to give it a nitrogen boost.

I have read testimony that coffee grounds are great for houseplants and for encouraging worms in your garden and discouraging slugs. 

I can't say for sure that my gardens did appreciably better because of the coffee grounds. I could be just adding a chore to my long spring list.

But it gives me a good feeling to know all those grounds just don't go in the garbage behind my local Starbucks.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)
Categories: Garden tips
        

And you thought the winter was tough here.

The Irish government is reporting that unusually severe winter weather on the Emerald Isle damaged the spring crop of shamrock, and bogus shamrock that only resemble the special clover are showing up on the market this week instead.

Like so many plants and animals, the shamrock suffers from "loss of habitat." Modern farming methods and receding grasslands where the clover grows have already meant a shortage of the national plant. Frosty weather this winter didn't help.

What you will probably see this week is something called "white clover" or Trifolium repens or Medicago lupulina or "black medi," which isn't even a clover.

What makes the shamrock so sacred to the Irish?

Photo credit: Associated Press

It is not because the plant is only found in Ireland. It can also be found in Britain and northwest Europe.

Instead, the shamrock was used by St. Patrick as an illustration when he taught the concept of the Holy Trinity to the Irish he was attempting to convert to Christianity.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 2:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Garden news
        

Photo credit: Emma Jackson

Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Kim Hairston

Posted by Susan Reimer at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Wordless Wednesday
        

Yesterday, the 15th of the month, was Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, when we garden bloggers post photos of what's blooming in our gardens. (Me? Not much!)

I posted links to some of the stunning photography - not to mention the blooms that inspire jealousy, and I thought I would add more today.

We can all use a reason to keep going until spring officially arrives.

From Dee Nash in Oklahoma at Red Dirt Ramblings.

From Washington Gardener

From Mary Ann in Idaho and Gardens of the Wild, Wild West.

And orange and yellow challenge from Nicole at A Caribbean Garden.

From Jean at Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog.

And from Kathy Purdy at Cold Climate Gardening.

That you bloggers for your generous spirt and your excellent eye for beauty!

Posted by Susan Reimer at 3:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Garden photography
        

The blooming of the cherry trees around the Tidal Basin in Washington has come to symbolize the official beginning of spring in this region.

The exact day the trees, a gift from Japan in 1912, will explode into their pink and white blooms depends on the whims of Mother Nature. But now you can keep an eye on things yourself.

The National Park Service has a Web site called "Bloom Watch," and closer to the date the blossoms are expected to emerge, there will be web cam coverage of the trees.

According to the site, the official cherry blossom blooming period begins when 20 percent of the blossoms are open and ends when the petals fall and the leaves appear. The spectacle can last as long as 14 days, peaking when 70 percent of the bossoms are open.

Photo credit: Associated Press

The average peak bloom date is April 4, but the NPS is predicting that most of the blooms will be open sometime between April 3 and April 8 this year. The first blooms could appear as early as March 31.

In the past, unseasonably warm weather has resulted in peak blooming as early as March 15 (1990) and cold weather pushed the blooming as late as April 18 (1958)

According to blogger WashingtonGardener, who attended the opening press conference for the festival, NPS horticulturist Rob DeFeo said the trees did not suffer much storm damage, despite this rough winter. Only a handful of the 3,700 trees had to be replaced. (For a full report, visit her blog.)

You can also visit the Web site for a photo gallery of the various stages of the cherry blossoms and plan your visit to the Tidal Basin with the help of the map and event links. The annual parade and Japanese street festival are schedule for April 10.

Photo credit: Baltimore Sun/Kim Hairston

Posted by Susan Reimer at 1:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Garden events
        

He's seen here in his jammies Monday, shooting scenes for his upcoming thriller, "The Tourist," in Venice, Italy.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 10:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Garden humor
        

On the 15th day of every month, garden bloggers celebrate by posting pictures of what is blooming in their gardens or in their neighborhoods. It is an Internet event begun by Carol at May Dreams Gardens.

Things are pretty rough in my garden right now. Between the melting snow and the pelting rain here in the Mid-Atlantic, there is standing water everywhere. The only thing that might be bloooming in my garden is algae.

But my fellow bloggers have come through. Take a tour of the photographic wonder they have captured of early spring.

Laura Livengood Schaub at InterLeafings

Rebecca at Gossip in the Garden.

Mr. McGregor's Daughter.

Gail at Clay and Limestone

Christina Salwitz at The Personal Garden Coach

Posted by Susan Reimer at 11:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Garden blogs
        

She was writing about some of the most beautiful homes and gardens in Southern California when Debra Lee Baldwin noticed that more and more designers were using succulents in landscape designs.

Not only did they go well with the arid climate, but their lines and colors mixed well with contemporary architecture and its dramatic lines.

And, like so many of us who write about gardens, she began to purchase them for her own garden.

"It has become politically incorrect out here to have a lawn," said the author of the new book, "Succulent Container Gardens."

Succulents are the answer. "They like water and they look more lush and lovely when they get it. But they will make it through dry weather. They will hunker down and drain their leaves."

 Photo credits: Debra Lee Baldwin

We gardeners in the Mid-Atlantic may not think about using succulents, but we should.

And Debra's new book, with dozens of photos of eye-catching plant and pot combinations, tells us how.

With plenty of drainage, succulents in pots can handle the early season rain we often get in our micro-climate. And, better yet, succulents can handle the August-Septembers heat and drought without missing a beat.

And no worries about who is going to water while we are on vacation!

"They don't like to be cold and wet," Debra warned. But many varieties will go dormant in the protected cold of a winter garage and re-emerge in spring. The cold actually encourages blooming.

Planting them in containers makes it that much easier to move them inside for the winter.

And dotting the garden with these imaginative plant/pot combinations can add interest during a lull in blooming.

Lawn and garden centers, even here in in the East, are carrying more succulents and others can be ordered on-line. Succulents are easy to propigate, too, if you have someone who will share.

Like Debra, I have been seduced by succulents, and I am going to plant my deck pots with them this year.

It will be such a different look.

And such a relieve not to have to water morning and night.

I am giving away two copies of Succulent Container Gardens. I will randomly choose a couple of winners from among those posting comments here.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (15)
Categories: Garden books
        

The snow has melted, revealing not only the damage done to my gardens, but the inevitable spring mess waiting for me.

Among the chores I have neglected because of the 40 inches of snow covering: pruning my hellebores.

Hellebores are also known as "Lenten Roses," for it is during that time of year that they bloom.

They are the only plants blooming in my winter garden, and I have done them the great disservice of neglecting their appearance.

Each year at this time, I prune away the blackening leave fronts, but I leave the new leaf growth in place.

Mr. McGregor's daughter, a garden blogger from Zone 5 outside Chicago, suggests I cut away all of the foliage to prevent infestations.

Check out this blog post for a step-by-step photo illustration on how to prune your hellebores.

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Weekend Chores
        

Jeff Holper, the "Mole Hunter," with tens of thousands of "kills" to his credit, appears this weekend at the Maryland Home & Garden Show at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium.

But I wish he was in town to make a house call.

As I've mentioned before, I once planted 150 tulip bulbs and not a single one came up the following spring, but voles were seen in my yard, laying on their backs and patting their stomachs.

I asked Holper about the difference between moles and voles.

 "A vole is a rodent and a mole is an insectivore," he told me. "A vole is a heavy vegetation eater - bulbs, seeds, hostas -- and they are the most prolific. A female can be pregnant within 24 hours of a litter and can produce 200 babies a year.

"They can be serious when they hit a garden."

Top photo: a mole. Bottom photo: a vole.

 

 

A mole is larger, and you can often spot their raised surface tunnels from above ground, he said.

"A mole is about six or seven inches long and has two real strong claws. He can create more than 100 feet of tunnel a day. And he is in your yard for earthworms, not grubs."

Holper has a book, a DVD and a trap, and he will demonstrate how to make the trap work.

"A vole does damage to what you paid to plant," he said. "A mole messes with people's minds. After you have tried so many things to kill it, it becomes a personal issue. You start thinking about explosives."

His trap works, he says. "Once you know how to do it, you actually look forward to the next mole."

 Holper will be presenting at 11:30 and 2:30 Saturday and Sunday at the show's Green Thumb Theater

 

 

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Categories: Flower Shows