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Delhi Garden Tour this Weekend!
Foxgloves Gone Wild – a favorite Catskills flower!
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 – The Ultimate Heirloom Flower
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…
Catskills Ants in Action
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,…
A Catskills forest dweller – the Rosy Maple Moth – Pretty in Pink!
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…
Dicentra part II (Two Catskills wildflowers)
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…