This midwinter I'm enjoying a couple of classic Southern bulbs from the gardens of my great-grandmother and two grandmothers, and which come up every fall and grow through the worst winters. With no care whatsoever.
I'm in my 2021 garden planning mode right now, and along with many other intentional gardeners, I have my mind on seeds.
Happy New Year! Boy, oh boy, what a number COVID laid on us in 2020.
It's been said that one person's sweet perfume is another's stink. Well, whether a smell is good or bad, it's welcome in my garden. To a point.
The adage that "hindsight is 2020" is usually pretty apropos; but, looking back, how about changing it to "let's put 2020 in hindsight" and say g'bye to a weird year?
For at least 10 years, I've been actively wondering what direction our landscape and gardening practices are headed. Being a horticulturist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, I've had the opportunity to ask this question of gardeners and nongardeners alike, as well as commercial horticulture growers.
Poinsettias are being bought, Christmas trees with ornaments are up, and lights and inflatable figures are on display around our homes as people get ready for the holidays.
Might not be any snow, but with a pair of loppers and shears we can transform winter gardens into lollipops and gumdrops. But a word to the thin-skinned: If you go crazy with creative trimming, you'll get trash-talked.
"'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the yard, not a plant was left standing, and the ground was hard." So begins Karen Geisler's gardener adaptation of Clement Clarke Moore's Christmas classic "The Night Before Christmas."
While I was moving a shrub the other day my little-girl squeal, an unanticipated side note of gardening, came out.
1. MLK Day in the year of COVID COMMUNITY
2. EMCC alumna named 'EMT Life Saver of the Year' COMMUNITY
3. Worth the drive: Tennessee Williams exhibit to open at Meridian's MAX ENTERTAINMENT
4. In the garden with Felder: Midwinter in the garden COLUMNS
5. School news: Lu selected as scholar COMMUNITY