Ahhh, what the Sufi poet Rumi called “Smiling Spring” is upon us – in all her mystery. Like falling in love, spring makes us gardeners both ecstatic and yet restless/agitated. Some of the year’s sweetest and yet most ephemeral blossoms… Continue Reading
There’s a lot to love about the garden in winter. But I do miss some things from the summer garden. For instance, I miss my bats. Of course, they are not technically “my” bats, but rather a small colony that… Continue Reading
I am going on several winter weeks without rain (or snow) on my garden. I am enjoying the sun, but I am very aware of the lack of needed water as well. If you are a gardener (or living creature… Continue Reading
“I like to think they are shy,” David Walther tells me, speaking of his beloved hellebores. David is co-owner of Spring Fever Nursery in Yankee Hill with his wife Cathy. “Many varieties of hellebores have flowers that face downward because, as winter bloomers, they are trying to protect their pollen from wind and rain and snow until pollination takes place. But the difference … Continue Reading
In February we continue to prune out the old and plant seeds for the new. Brian Marshall and Nancy Heinzel of Sawmill creek farm in Paradise wrote this beautiful description of February on their market farm: “February is often the… Continue Reading
Winter in the garden involves – or is supposed to involve – a lot of pruning. In January of 2010, I recorded an interview with horticulturist and arborist Rico Montenegro, working with the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation, about the pruning… Continue Reading
If you are like me, you love your tools. If you don’t love your tools – you should. Every gardener needs tools that they love – that help them to accomplish their many gardening tasks with relative ease and the… Continue Reading
This week In a North State Garden has the pleasure of interviewing Drs. Carole Burr and Roger Lederer, a husband and wife team based in Chico who in 2010 published a lovely little handbook entitled “The Birds of Bidwell Park.”… Continue Reading
The seeds of much of the spring and summer garden are sown in the short days and early evenings of January’s wintery span. Perhaps these are the figurative seeds of ideas and plans sown in our gardeners brain by beautiful… Continue Reading
“Always free, always beautiful.” That’s what Candace Miller and Judy Harvey said of the Dunsmuir Botanical Gardens as they toured me around recently. Judy, married to a former Dunsmuir City Manager, is the Chairman of the Board of Directors and… Continue Reading
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