Seasonably Warm

Now let me first start this out by saying that what I am about to say is not in any way a complaint.  So here it is, it is seasonably warm where I live.  I am talking about it is almost seventy glorious degrees outside on a January day.  Sure there are places where that is common for this time of year, but not here.  Not that I mind, mind you.  Nope, I love it and I will take all the warmth I can get.  I do, however, feel a little bad for my plants outside.

My poor plants are confused.  They do not know whether they are supposed to come out and bloom or become dormant.  This yo-yo weather stuff is not really what they expect to happen around this time of year I am sure.  I mean think about how you would feel if everyday you are used to seventy-two degree sunshiney weather but then all of the sudden you are forced to go out into the world and it is rainy, cloudy, and only thirty degrees.  Yes, that would make your body unhappy and a little confused, right?

That is how my sweet shrubs and plants feel.  While I am sure that like me, they are fans of the warmth and the sun the winter weather is probably going to show up soon enough and shock them.  My poor honeysuckle bush has been blooming since mid-December and it is more fragrant than they have been all winter.  It is just crazy to see the buttercups coming up and about to bloom.  And the greenery around the yard are fuller than usual this time of year.

From what I have read and seen, the weather is not going to get much colder in the area where I live.  So a mild winter it is, and maybe that means that spring will come sooner and all of my plants and flowers will be fuller and more colorful than they have ever before been.  That would make me extremely happy.

What is the weather like where you live this year?  Are you seasonably warm or cold?  Maybe you are experiencing weather that is typical for this time of year.  No matter what I bet most of you are like me and ready for spring.  It is almost here and we can all be back out in the gardens soon enough!

Winter Bloomers

The winter months might not be full of sunshine and warm weather in all the place in the United States, but that is no reason not to have some color in your yard. There are plenty of varieties of plants that will offer you the color that your lawn might be missing in the winter months.  In fact, I had an excursion the other day to find the perfect colorful hanging plants that will offer up glorious color all winter long.  If you have the winter blues and are looking for some bright hues to perk you right up, look no further than these colorful winter options:

Prepare Garden Beds for Winter

It’s only been fall for a month now, but we avid gardeners know it’s never too early to start preparing our gardens for winter.  Soon the first frost will settle in the South, and there’s already been snow in many parts of  the nation.  It’s time to start thinking about how to make sure we take the best care of our garden spaces so we’ll be ready to start them back up next spring, just like it’s time to replace batteries in your smoke detectors, or make sure you arm your adt home security system at night. Putting the garden beds to rest for the winter is primarily a matter of cleaning up and providing adequate coverage for the ground, but there are several things to consider.

Colors of Fall

Berries, Leaves, and Mums.  Oh my!

Most often when you ask someone what they enjoy most about the fall, you will find that the answer usually has something to do with the fall scenery.  You know, leaves changing colors and things like that.  We all love to look at the colors of fall, and for good reason, they are pretty.  Setting up your yard and landscape to get the best of fall colors is probably something that you have never really though about, but it is doable.  There are many fall flowers, shrubs, and trees, but for today we are going to discuss three ways to get some glorious fall colors in your garden.

Growing in the UK

Our sponsor, dish2u, is a provider of satellite television packages that will open a world of channels into your household, letting you learn even more about gardening from around the world.  Today, we’ll be looking at some grow at home statistics from the United Kingdom showing trends in home vegetable gardening over the past few years.  Home gardening has truly taken off worldwide.  Like a classic and well-loved item of clothing, it seems to go out of style every now and then, only to make a meteoric comeback later on.