by natureswayrdev | '23 Newsletters, Uncategorized
CELEBRATING POLLINATORS WHILE ENVYING THEIR HEAT TOLERANCE? by BRENDA BEUST SMITH PROLONGED EXCESSIVE HEAT is definitely on our agenda for this week (and next) which, coincidentally, is also National Pollinator Week (June 19- 25). Early heat predictions indicate our...
by natureswayrdev | '23 Newsletters, Uncategorized
Learn about Gardening while helping preserve Freedmen’s Town by BRENDA BEUST SMITH FIRST, THO, A LITTLE HOUSEKEEPING. Realized last week I left off one set of my “now” flowers. See above: lantana, cosmos (great in mailbox planter) snapdragons and...
by natureswayrdev | '23 Newsletters, Uncategorized
YOUR GARDEN’S WAITING . . . HOW WILL YOU CELEBRATE? by BRENDA BEUST SMITH TUESDAY, JUNE 9, IS NATIONAL GARDENING EXERCISE DAY. To celebrate, I wandered around the yard shooting random pictures of plants in bloom (aka have a flower on them). After all, blooming...
by natureswayrdev | '23 Newsletters, Uncategorized
EFFECTIVE WATERING, INDOOR CACTI, QUICK GROWS, AND CARNIVOROUS PLANTS! BY BRENDA BEUST SMITH SINCE THERE’S NO NEED TO WATER RIGHT NOW . . . good time to evaluate your sprinkler system (or think about adding one). We are in an El Nino year (high temps, increased...
by natureswayrdev | '23 Newsletters, Uncategorized
DAYLILIES CAN DELIGHT EVEN LONGER & MUSHROOMS ARE A’SPROUTIN’! BY BRENDA BEUST SMITH Fungi “celebrate” during some ideal (for them) heavy rainy seasons by shooting up spores that hopefully will only sprout in yards where folks delight in...
by natureswayrdev | '23 Newsletters, Uncategorized
HAPPY EARTH DAY! HAPPY GARDENING . . . BUT, WHERE ARE THE MONARCHS? BY BRENDA BEUST SMITH JEALOUS OF NEIGHBORS already harvesting vegetables? Don’t be. Lots of growing time ahead. Just be sure to follow the best advice for THIS area. Nowhere is a better place to...
by natureswayrdev | '23 Newsletters, Uncategorized
SEARCH FOR LANDSCAPE FRIENDLY NATIVES GETTING EASIER BY BRENDA BEUST SMITH IN THIS AGE of instant gratification gardeners aren’t exempt from the frustration of having to WAIT! Nowhere is this more evident than in the locus of planting with natives — a...
by natureswayrdev | '23 Newsletters, Uncategorized
“If you think you are too small to make a difference, try sleeping with a mosquito.” — His Holiness the XIVth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso MAGENTA BLOOMS FOR ENERGY AND OUR NEW BENCHMARK FOR COLD BY BRENDA BEUST SMITH For its 2023 Color of the Year, Pantone...
by natureswayrdev | '23 Newsletters, Uncategorized
Don’t let overly-enthusiastic pink oxalis (clover, sorrel) turn you off all the other great ones! One leaf is for hope, and one is for faith, And one is for love, you know, And God put another in for luck, – If you search, you will find where they grow....
by natureswayrdev | '23 Newsletters, Uncategorized
“Spring is nature’s way of saying, ‘Let’s party!'” — ‘ROBIN WILLIAMS (1951-2014) BY BRENDA BEUST SMITH CAN’T CELEBRATE SPRING WITHOUT MUSIC! HOW MELODIOUS ARE YOUR PLANTS? PLAYING “IN”THE GARDEN is a fun...
by natureswayrdev | '23 Newsletters, Uncategorized
You are the epitome of magic Your thick stems arching up into the air at sharp angles … But your journey is always upward except when one of your stems takes a very deep bow … your leaves are long and languid, sweetly supporting bouquets you present to the eye … I am...
by natureswayrdev | '23 Newsletters, Uncategorized
TO MY SURPRISE, BRIDAL WREATH(Spiraea prunifolia) ) is readers’ most touted (to us) “late winter-pre-spring” bloomer this year. Our 4-5-year old bridal wreath (pictured here) is still an infant compared to our “decades-old pre-Harvey”...
by natureswayrdev | '23 Newsletters, Uncategorized
MORE READERS’ REPORT IMPRESSIVE WINTER’S END BLOOMERS “The flowers of late winter and early spring occupy places in our hearts well out of proportion to their size.” – Gertrude S. Wister, nationally recognized horticulturist (1905-1999) BY BRENDA...
by natureswayrdev | '23 Newsletters, Uncategorized
FROM FLOWERS IGNORE AL’S BAD NEWS … TO ORCHIDS IN SPOTLIGHT! Though cloudy skies, and northern blasts, Retard the gentle spring awhile; The sun will conqu’ror prove at last, And nature wear a vernal smile. “Waiting for Spring” by John...
by natureswayrdev | '23 Newsletters, Uncategorized
WHAT WE NEED ARE MORE PLANTS THAT LIKE END-OF-WINTER WEATHER! “May we raise children / who love the unloved things – the dandilion the / worms and spiderlings, Children who sense / the rose needs the thorn. “MAY WE RAISE CHILDREN” by NICOLETTE...
by natureswayrdev | '23 Newsletters, Uncategorized
Tips of tender green, / Leaf, or blade, or sheath; Telling of the hidden life / That breaks forth underneath, Life nursed in its grave by Death. “SPRING” by Christina Rossetti, (1830-1894) British poet/writer PREPARING FOR SPRING WITHOUT JUMPING THE GUN By...
by natureswayrdev | '23 Newsletters, Uncategorized
L to r, incorrectly-pruned crape myrtle (aka “crape murder”), correctly-pruned crapes without & with blooms and, far right, winter bark on correctly-pruned mature tree. (File photos) “Please Don’t Name Us” Worried About My Crapes...
by natureswayrdev | '23 Newsletters, Uncategorized
OK, TIME FOR PLANTS TO START RETURNING . . . A brand new year has started already What will Mother Nature bring? One thing I know for sure is that I am very patiently waiting for spring. — Marilyn Lott, American poet If ever there were a time when we could all...
