If you have spent time in the gardens as of late you will notice that things seem a bit ahead of schedule, to say the least! Reports are circulating around Cincinnati of some magnolias in bloom as well as bearded …
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Very late at night, not quite dawn, the insects shush and the first bird says hello. If your garden is particularly bird friendly, lots of sweet tweeting and chirping and song-of-the-morning bird music greets you before the sun arrives. And …
Read More »This morning’s rain, the big stuff, the blow-the-roof-off, turn-semi’s-over, strip-every-green-and-flowering-thing kind of rain is now in West Virginia and we just had a soft, leftover shower, the kind that doesn’t even show up on radar and the birds sing through. …
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When Civic Garden Center staff and volunteers think of the first weekend of May, our automatic first association is THE Plant Sale. It has been happening for over 60 years now and it is the big event for many Cincinnati …
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85 degrees, sunny, humid, in mid-April? Did today put you in mind of August heat and a full-body sweat after just a short stint in the garden? The thing of it is, though, in August trees have leaves and they …
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A week into Spring and the warnings of 8 inches of snow? For those of us who are itching to get into the garden and dig some dirt, this round of late winter/delayed Spring is a bit of a challenge. …
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Can you feel it? The days are getting longer! The plants can feel it, too. And that means it’s time to PLANT!!! Well, it’s almost time to plant. But let’s get ready anyway. Here are all the wonderful things you …
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If you’ve been out in the garden during our mild spells you may have noticed clumps of rich green, glossy leaves appearing as low carpets in your lawn or flower beds. You may be witnessing lesser celandine (Ficaria verna, formerly …
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It’s been a rough week in the neighborhood – not because anything particularly bad happened, but because I was in neighborhoods more than schools this past week and reminded of how tough life is. Our neighborhood gardens are built strongly …
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Kerria japonica (Japanese kerria; one of those common names that really seems unnecessary, no?) is a great spring-blooming shrub that could easily replace most plantings of Forsythia. Why would one do that? Kerria japonica delivers reliably where Forsythia may lose …
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