Articles
Signs of Spring in the Landscape
March 3, 2012
Have you noticed the buds on your trees and shrubs starting to swell? As a welcome sign of spring, they inform us of things to do in the next several weeks.
Eager to start edible plants inside? Home Grown Foods is having their annual seed swap today from 11am to 2 pm. Visit http://www.homegrownfoodcolorado.org/ for details. You can glean information and still purchase seeds even if you don’t have any to share. It’s free to attend.
Spice Up Your Life (literally)
Saturday, January 14, 2012
It’s a perfect time for fresh beginnings inside and out, a time for jazzing things up. My resolution for 2012 is to do at least one new thing every day, stretching my prior way of thinking, being and doing onto a new canvas. As a flavor fanatic, this includes broadening my use and knowledge of culinary and medicinal herbs and spices.
Stay in Touch With Nature By Bringing Outside In
Saturday, December 10, 2011
With the garden buttoned up for now and nearly two weeks until the Dec. 22, when the Winter Solstice marks the pivotal point for an increase in daylight hours, we can focus our attention inside.
Even during the dormant season, there are ways we can stay connected to the natural world. The most obvious and easiest way is to bring the light and bright inside with cuttings from plants in your yard. Make your own arrangements with cuttings from pines and spruces along with beautiful broadleaf evergreens like Grape Holly (Mahonia spp.), Manzanitas (Archtostaphylos spp.) and Boxwoods (Buxus spp). Stems of rose hips and a number of the thick leafed, variegated euonymus will also add color and texture.
How to Prune Raspberries
If you have an ever-bearing variety that produces berries in both July and the fall, you have two options for pruning them. Some gardeners prefer cutting all the canes to an inch or so above ground level in spring, but this means you are eliminating the July crop, encouraging them to only be fall-bearing.
Fort Collins Tree Damage Vast But Will Pass
Saturday, November 12, 2011
The two recent snowstorms and the resulting tree damage are cause for reflection. Although it is all in hindsight, I wonder how we might have had a different outcome. Yet life is short and I am not one to get bogged down, so I am also looking for the silver linings.
While we humans were enjoying the unseasonably warm temperatures, our green friends were 8-10 days behind schedule with the leaf dropping process. Additionally, City Forester Tim Buchanan told me that when the cold came and the temperature hit 13 degrees Fahrenheit, it essentially froze the leaves on some trees by blighting the abscission layer – the place where the leaves would otherwise have detached from. Even the heavy wet snow wasn’t enough to take down the leaves at that point, other than by whole limbs. These brown withered leaves will gradually fall through the winter as they further dry out and wind breaks them off.