 | wild Agerantum | I transplanted a half dozen plants from the middle of a large swath in our woods. They have multiplied well in the garden; it is easy enough to weed out any excess. |
 | Poppy Anemone "Mr Folks" | The anemones do well here, sheltered in the strawberry bed. Their early blooms anticipate the colours of the irises (leaf to left) rising through the strawberries. |
 | Poppy Anemone "The Bride" | White anemone, grown here for comparison, are lost among stawberry plants. Strawberry flowers, 'though yellow-centered and slightly smaller, look similar. Strawberries flower much longer and have more interesting, almost evergreen foliage. They yielded 25 gallons of berries. |
 | Zinnia with Swallowtail | Flying flowers! |
 | Zinnia with Swallowtail | Another flying flower! |
 | Zinnia with Swallowtail | I could fill the whole page with flying flower pictures. The annual zinnias will not self-sow, but their seeds are easy to harvest; they come in as wide a range of colours and forms as the butterflies they attract. |
 | Cabbage Brussels Sprouts Peas | Arranged by height, each crop shelters the feet of the one behind it. With a little mulch, this leaves little space for weeds to get started. |
 | Centaurea Cyanus double blue | Batchelors' Buttons and Blue Cornflower are just two of the many common names for Centaurea. This European annual didn't self-seed for me. |
 | Cilantro Broccoli Peas | Spring crops. Only the cilantro will grow all season; the cool-loving peas will be replaced by heat-loving beans, and the broccoli by tomatoes. The cilantro is also the only one that will self-sow. |
 | Semi-double Clematis | This velvet-petaled flower is the pride of the garden. Unfortunately, its label is long lost, making it a "mystery clematis." It is easier to propogate by root-cuttings than by tip-cuttings or seed. |
 | Coleus Blossom | Various tender ground covers being over-wintered indoors. Notice the liriope seedlings sprouting in the right-hand pot; I plant seeds in with other plants for better moisture. Why waste space? |
 | Columbine | Brought to Maryland from a friend's New Hampshire garden; seeing the plant will always remind me of the visit. |
 | Coriopsis | Just one of several native wildflowers rescued from a field where a friend's new barn was to be built. |
 | White Cosmos with Sphinx Moth | The Sphinx Moth looks very much like a humming bird. The cosmos are self-sowing annuals. Preferred specimens are easy to propogate by cuttings. |
 | Crepe Myrtle | Over 25' tall, sparrows nest in the topmost branches. For just a few weeks each summer, these trees are smothered in a froth of colour. |
 | Autumn Crocus | The parent bulb grew in the garden of my theatre teacher; plants can be a nice way to keep memories. |
 | Old Shade Bed | A barnward view, showing the old-fashioned narcissus. In a month, hydrangea will fill out and fern fronds rise to cover old narcissus leaves, left to re-charge the blossom-exhausted bulbs. |
 | Daffodils and tulips | A brilliant profusion! I dig a trench, spread bonemeal and horseapples along the bottom, and pop the bulbs in, roughly alternating between boxes of mixed daffodils and tulips. |
 | More daffodils and tulips | Plant any time between autumn's first chill and a month before thaw; you can even dig holes or trenches ahead of time, anticipating late fall sales for mass-planting after the ground has frozen. |
 | Dandelion amidst henbit | Imported from France as a salad green, dandelions would be highly desired specimens if they were difficult to cultivate. Unfortunately, profusion makes them so undesirable that few ever stop to really look at them. Henbit likewise has become a weed. |
 | White columnar dogwood fruit | Thought of as a shade tree, this one has done very well in full sun. This native provides flowers, fruit, and autumn colour. |
 | "Egyptian" onions | Originating in America, these wonderfully bizarre "walking onions" fall over to plant their top-sets a step away. Mild and easy to propagate. |
 | Royal Fern | The grouping of royal fern amidst narcissus leaves, with hardy geranium in the background and autumn crocus in front, shows a subtle range of greens. |
 | Flowering Almond, double pink | Smothered in flowers for only a single week each year, it is fairly tolerant of shade and neglect. Branches thinned early can be forced to bloom indoors. |
 | Hibiscus "Disco White" | A hardy hibiscus rose mallow, these leaf out so very late in the spring, one is unsure whether they have survived the winter. |
 | Hosta blossom | |
 | Joe Pye | |
 | Lamium "Beacon" | |
 | Lily-of-the-Valley | A good low-maintenance choice for difficult shade areas, it is drought tolerant but spreads perhaps too well where soil is rich. |
 | Mallow | |
 | Mantis with Grasshopper | |
 | Maple Blossoms | Simple beauty is easily overlooked. |
 | Muscari | |
 | Rhododendron | |
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 | Spotted Touch-Me-Not | The sap of this wildflower is a remedy for poison ivy rash. In moist rich soil and full sunlight, these annual wildflowers can grow over 6' high; where I sow them in the garden, they are only 2' tall. Transplant only when very young. |
 | Texas Bluebell and Shiso leaf | Texas Bluebells put on a great show for many weeks. Red Japanese Shiso, a culinary herb, is a perilla, an annual mint. Behind is a hollyhock leaf. |
 | Tulip Buds | The promise of things to come! |
 | Early veggie bed | I am all thumbs, so I built these raised beds with no nails. The plastic on the paths suppresses weeds. I have since built an arbor and better trellises. There are some fifty varieties of veggies here. |
 | Wild Violet | If I don't weed these while they're young, it is difficult to resist letting them be! |
 | Me and Wyatt Earp | Wyatt was a great dog, a real teddy bear of a Rottwieler. His grave is marked by two paw-paw trees; I figured, two paw paws makes for paws. |
 | Woodland Sunflower | A shade-tolerant perennial from the very large native sunflower family. |
 | Aster and Wasp | The wasp pollinates the aster and will later lay eggs in hornworms and other pests. This is the aster used for the margin of my stationary. Unfortunately, my only aster did not perennialize for me. Better drainage next time? |
 | Badger and Tulips | This Badger, brough back from Japan, represents a fun-loving country spirit. Few tulips are hardier than Darwin Hybrids. |
 | Birdhouse | This wacky birdhouse is right by the kennel yard entrance. The mixed daffodils and tulips are sheltering the feet of one of the apricots flanking the gate. The barn has since been painted black. I will sink the red tub and plant herbs in it; it will prevent the roots from spreading. |
| Last update Feb 15, 2005 |