Spring Archives

Got the Gardener’s Blues? How about Planting All Blue Potatoes this Spring?

“Any potato is easy to grow, and All Blues are even easier, as they seem to resist fungal diseases.” They say variety is the spice of life. For gardeners, varieties are the key to having the garden of your dreams. Back in 2019, on this day, in The Old Farmer’s Almanac, Doreen Howard wrote about her passion…

March 2, 2021 Gardens Matter to Pollinators, Joel Roberts Poinsett, John Jacob Mauerer, A Spring Flower Show, Fermented Vegetables by Kirsten and Christopher Shockey and the State Flower of Idaho

Today we celebrate the man who went to Mexico as an ambassador and sent back the plant that became synonymous with Christmas. We’ll also learn about a gardener who worked for 50 years to create one of England’s top gardens. We hear a charming account of spring’s flower show. We Grow That Garden Library™ with…

February 19, 2021 A Wild Spring Plant Display, The Orchid Thief, Charles Swingle, Growing Algerian Iris, Embroidered Ground by Page Dickey, and Strange Embroidery with Botanist Eliza Brightwen

Today we look back at the story that inspired the book The Orchid Thief. We’ll also learn about the incredible true story of a Madagascar explorer. We hear words about the incredible Algerian Iris. We Grow That Garden Library™ with a memoir from a garden who pulls back the row cover on the remarkable story…

The Skunk Cabbage

by Jack Sanders In much of North America, skunk cabbage has earned the widespread reputation as the first flower of spring. It might be more accurate, however, to call it the first flower of winter. “The skunk cabbage may be found with its round green spear-point an inch or two above the mold in December,”…

The Beauty of Spring Bulbs

by Katharine S. White I shall never desert the bulbs, though, and last winter, I think I got more pleasure from a pot of February Gold daffodils than from anything else I raised unless it was my pots of freesias. February Gold, which is a medium-small, all-yellow narcissus of the cyclamen type, for me proved…

Unseasonably Warm Spring Weather in Brainerd, Minnesota in 1931: Pansies in February

“A bed of pansies came into full bloom today in a farm garden near Brainerd, the center of a section famous for severe winters.” February 4, 1931 On this day, newspapers reported a shocking headline from Brainerd, Minnesota: Pansies In Bloom. A bed of pansies came into full bloom today in a farm garden near…

Remembering Ben Hur Lampman and his Article on the Spring-Blooming Skunk Cabbage

“The Skunk Cabbage is of the first to feel that faintest footfall of the returning spring, and the pasture is lighted by it in the swales where the cattle stand to stare southward.” January 24, 1954 On this day, the American newspaper editor, essayist, short story writer, and poet Ben Hur Lampman died. Ben wrote…

Cold Frames for the Spring Garden: A 1938 Diary Entry from a Canadian Naturalist

“A few frames can represent a whole wildflower garden in seed.” April 9, 1938 On this day, Canadian Naturalist Charles Joseph Sauriol wrote about his cold frames in his diary. There are five frames in all, three are for herbs, the other two are for wildflower seeding. The frames are 3 feet by 3 feet……

Celebrating Spring in a Wildflower Garden: A 1938 Diary Entry from a Canadian Naturalist

“Cautious little down covered stems and buds that will later become Hepaticas…” April 4, 1938 On this day, Canadian Naturalist Charles Joseph Sauriol wrote in his diary: For a few minutes this morning I fumbled around my Wild Flower garden… Little points which will soon be Bloodroots. Cautious little down covered stems and buds that…