Browse Category: General

Is It Spring Yet?

It was bound to happen. After months of cold, snowy weather without the normal respite of random warm days, my condition worsened. “Get in the car — we’re going to Lowe’s,” I announced to my husband on Saturday night. Ten minutes later, we were bundled up, cursing ourselves for not using remote start to warm up the Tahoe, and headed to town. As we pulled out of the driveway, I growled to Brandon: “Play me some angry music.”

Call it the winter blues, call it cabin fever, call it “*bleep* you, winter!”, my affliction has me feeling a combination of anxious, frustrated, and just plain angry. Last year at this time, I was having my water garden installed! We were seeing glimpses of spring! Heck, you could even be outside without the fear of frostbite!

I mean, FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY, can we please get some warmer weather around here?

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'Funky Pink' Begonia seedlings at 8 weeks.

Garden musings on a snowy April day

Today is second straight Sunday in April where the high is in the 30s and we have winter precipitation falling from the sky.  If I didn’t know any better, I’d think Mother Nature was intentionally trying to prevent me from having some beautiful spring garden pictures to share with you.   I can’t say that we haven’t had any nice weather lately — it’s just been all over the place.  I went from having to cover plants on Tuesday night (a 22° low), to a Thursday so warm Beau needed a dip in the pond, to again having to cover plants for a 20° low Friday night.  Craziness!   Continue Reading

Summer flowers at the Overland Park Arboretum and Botanical Gardens

Garden planning: 2018 edition

In 2017, I was a master of impulse gardening: “Ooh!  these plants are on sale!”/ “Time for a new garden bed — I need to fill the space!” It led to a lot of progress, but also, a few regrets.  Towards the end of the season, I realized that almost everything I planted was about the same height, and this winter the empty garden beds have been staring at me, begging me to do better next year.

While I can’t vow to avoid impulsive gardening completely this year, I am determined to be more intentional with my garden’s design.  After looking at thousands of garden pictures, I think I have my plan boiled down to nine elements I will be focusing on: Continue Reading

Crocus Spring Beauty growth early March

Glimpses of spring

Happy March, my friends — we made it through February!  Though it is technically still “late winter,” we’re starting to see small hints that spring is just around the corner.  The Black-capped chickadees have started singing the two-note song that puts a smile on my face,  the daylight stretches into the evening a bit, and KC has seen some beautiful 60-degree days.

I’m starting to see tiny signs of life in my garden– while cleaning up sticks this weekend, I noticed that the Japanese Maples are covered in tiny buds.  Most are 6-12″ saplings, and I only permanently planted three last year–the rest I stuck in the ground, pot and all, hoping that they would overwinter.  It appears they all survived — score one for this newbie gardener! Continue Reading

Greenhouse in winter - GardenTails

A gardener’s February survival plan

Is it just me, or is February the toughest month for a gardener?  Spring, summer, and fall are all great seasons with plenty to enjoy in the garden–but winter seems to drag on forever.  My mental state definitely declines through the winter months:

December: “Whoo hoo, I love this time of year!  Snow is great–it makes it feel like Christmas!”

January: “Alright, new year, fresh start, stuff to do.  It’s cold, but no problem–I’ll just water my houseplants!  That’s all I need, right? ………Right?”

February: “AAAGGHHGH!  WILL WINTER EVER END?!?!”

In an attempt to maintain my sanity this year (what little I have anyway), I’ve developed an 11-step February Survival Plan.  I share it with you in hopes it helps you create your own sanity plan: Continue Reading