One of the most popular annual flowers for window boxes and planters is the Pot Geranium, known to most folks just as geranium. It bears clusters of flowers on strong stems and is very tolerant of sunny, hot, dry conditions. In contrast, the other less well known geraniums, the garden…
Not a regular blog post this week folks, as I am busy preparing for the garden tour! This Sunday, June 28, from 11am – 3pm, one of our favorite gardens will be participating in the Delhi Garden Tour. Check it out! I will be there at Stop #3, and would…
The foxglove, a favorite Catskills flower, is now blooming. Some people think that it is a wildflower, because they see it growing in uncultivated ground. But those foxgloves are actually naturalized, having escaped from gardens and spread into the wild. They spread by generating copious quantities of minute seed. They…
Catskills peonies are blooming now! They may be one of the all-time favorite flowers now blooming in our gardens. The peony is well-known for being very long-lived, enduring for decades and even centuries. The famous peonies at Williamsburg were reputed to be colonial in age, but the oldest plants were…
Last week I posted about 2 Catskills wildflowers, Dutchman’s Breeches and Squirrel Corn. Both are species in the genus Dicentra, and they are very closely related to the popular garden plant, the Bleeding Heart. I described their special relationship with bumble bees, and mentioned also their relationship with ants. Well,…
The local cast of characters changes throughout the season. The fly fisherman knows that different fly patterns are effective at different times of the season. Throughout our gardening season, different plants flower and fruit at their own particular time. So it is with many insects. Many emerge as adults and…
Last week, I focused on the Bleeding Heart, a popular garden plant which used to be in the genus Dicentra. Dicentra has two species native to the Catskills region. One is Dicentra cucullaria, the Dutchman’s breeches and the other is D. canadensis, aka Squirrel Corn. These two Catskills wildflowers are…
Gardeners often hate it when botanists change the names of plants, but gardeners and botanists use names differently. Gardeners use a plant name as a tag, an identifier, a way of searching on the internet. To botanists, a plant name is rich in information. Botanists use a plant’s scientific name…
Anemone is a genus (a closely related group of around 150 species) with representatives in our gardens and with native species here in the Catskill Mountains as well. The genus Anemone as a whole has a very interesting history to explain all the different types of anemones in different places.…
Not all narcissus are daffodils, but all daffodils are narcissus. We are all familiar with this flower in its many forms. It is one of the most popular flowers in Catskills gardens at this time of year. Narcissus is a genus, a grouping of closely related species, and daffodils are…
