Missinghenrymitchell

LATEST ARTICLES ( 236 )

• Lonicera Fragrantissima: Winter Honeysuckle

  

  At long last, I can see spring on the way. The buds on my winter honeysuckle, Lonicera fragrantissima, are beginning to open. The flowers smell bright and... Read more

  Posted on 10 February 2014 GARDENING

• Garden Project for a Wet Winter Day: Desktop Moss Garden

  

  I’ve always loved moss. Nothing else has such lush texture and color yet requires so little in the way of care. And since February’s damp gray misery persists, ... Read more

  Posted on 06 February 2014 GARDENING

• Beginning Birding: An App That Slows Me Down

  

  I have a new toy. A smartphone app called Merlin Bird ID, released by The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, coaches beginning birdwatchers in the fundamentals of... Read more

  Posted on 05 February 2014 GARDENING

• Muddy Boot Realities: February Means Being Patient.

  

  (with apologies to Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams) My garden daydreams lately have consisted almost entirely of imagining three consecutive days without rain. I raked... Read more

  Posted on 04 February 2014 GARDENING

• Of Milkweed and Monarchs | Saving the Beneficial Butterfly

  

  Reblogged from Garden Variety: Large-scale farming has wiped out millions of acres of native plants, including milkweed, a vital resource for monarch... Read more

  Posted on 01 February 2014 GARDENING

• Soil Testing: The Process at the North Carolina State Soil Lab

  

  The inch and a half of snow we got from the Blizzard of 2014 is melting today (by Sunday, it should be 60 degrees). It was fun and pretty while it lasted, but... Read more

  Posted on 31 January 2014 GARDENING

• Know Thine Enemy: Oxalis Sp., Or Wood Sorrel

  

  Continuing in my quest to learn my weeds, I am getting better acquainted with the most prolific of my weeds, Oxalis stricta, or wood sorrel.Copyright © 2005 by... Read more

  Posted on 30 January 2014 GARDENING

• Garden Planning: Enough of This Polar Vortex Business.

  

  Just a few images I’m entertaining in my mind as I wait for the Snowpocalypse (of which there’s no sign as of 4 p.m. EST). Still planning what to do in the new... Read more

  Posted on 28 January 2014 GARDENING

• An Important Top Ten List for the Year, Part 2: Important Herbaceous Host...

  

  Yesterday I wrote about the top genera (all of which happen to be woody) that are important for hosting Lepidoptera species (butterflies and moths). Read more

  Posted on 23 January 2014 GARDENING

• An Important Top Ten List for the Year: Important Host Plants for Butterflies,...

  We all love a list, I think, as long as it is not a list of chores to be done. Particularly fun at this time of year is a list of plants we wish to add to our... Read more

  Posted on 22 January 2014 GARDENING

• Know Thine Enemy: The Weed Battles Begin

  

  Last summer and fall, I endeavored to learn a bit about the weeds that persist in my garden, to better understand how to combat them effectively. Read more

  Posted on 17 January 2014 GARDENING

• Garden Log, 1.17.14

  I went outside to vent the cold frame this morning, and discovered that a villainous squirrel found his way into the cold frame yesterday and dug up and... Read more

  Posted on 17 January 2014 GARDENING

• Seed Viability, Part 3: Planting Seedlings Embedded in Paper Toweling

  

  The easy sprouts have been potted up, and now it is time to tackle the ingrown ones.Now, the good thing about seedlings growing through their germinating... Read more

  Posted on 16 January 2014 GARDENING

• Seed Viability, Part 2: Potting up the Sprouts

  

  I began the germination test on my hollyhock seeds on January 7. Yesterday, I opened up the bag to find ‘The Watchman’ ready for duty.From your test, gently... Read more

  Posted on 14 January 2014 GARDENING

• Checking Seed Viability

  

  If, like me, you have flower and vegetable seeds older than your children, it’s not a bad idea to test their viability prior to sowing them. Read more

  Posted on 13 January 2014 GARDENING

• Happy Gardening Accidents: Growing Moss

  

  I sowed spinach seeds in early November. They didn’t germinate, and as the holidays drew near I left the seed flat alone in favor of other responsibilities. Read more

  Posted on 09 January 2014 GARDENING

• Winter Harvest: Seed Catalogues

  

  It’s the most wonderful time of the year: I’m enjoying my first harvest of the 2014 plant and seed catalogues.The first harvest of the 2014 gardening catalogues. Read more

  Posted on 07 January 2014 GARDENING

• Cold Frames

  

  Welcome back, gardening friends! I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year.The deep freeze that has hit most of the eastern half of the... Read more

  Posted on 07 January 2014 GARDENING

• New Plants to Try: Ceratotheca Triloba

  

  My visit this fall to Montrose hasn’t stopped inspiring me. Ceratotheca triloba, also known as South African foxglove, is an unusual annual plant that thrives i... Read more

  Posted on 24 December 2013 GARDENING

• Cyclamen from Seed: Presoaking Method

  

  The backlog of unsown seeds in my refrigerator and elsewhere in the house makes me no different from any other gardener, I suppose, but I don’t have the seeds o... Read more

  Posted on 23 December 2013 GARDENING