Serenity in the Garden

What blooms earlier than forsythia, has a delicate fragrance and is an easy-to-care for  compact delight ?  That is also hardy to USDA Zones 6-9 and native to Japan and Taiwan? Photo by Richie Steffen - Great Plant Picks Buttercup winterhazel    ( Corylops is pauciflora)   Toward mid April (depending where you live), the bare branches of buttercup winterhazel hang with inch-long clusters of soft yellow flowers that appear as little lanterns.   The fragrance is noticeable, making it perfect near a sitting spot.   It was awarded the  Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit (AGM) in 1993.  Missouri Botanical Garden photo Winterhazel is good in a small city garden or as a woodland underplanting in open shade.  It glows in front of evergreens and is a perfect pairing with purple   Rhododendron mucronulatum  since  they flower at the exact same time. And  winterhazels look wonderful with snowdrops and hellebores!  Portland Nursery photo A

Turn Your Thumbs & Your Backyards Green With This Book From A Gardening Expert

My backyard dry stream - Jan Johnsen If small is beautiful then....smaller must be more beautiful. At least that is what I tell myself as I survey my postage stamp of a backyard. I remind myself that some of the sweetest of serene spaces are small gardens, tucked away, out of sight. Small outdoor spaces are cherished. Each planter or plant is special. like admiring Coleus Globetrotter in a pot... Or Lantana among some rocks I add touches in summer like this flowering lantana amongst the rocks My small verdant retreat is where I can place a chair or two, sip a cup of tea, tend to the garden, admire my planters of foliage or even write my blog, ‘pleine aire’, so to speak … Small gardens call for small plants  – although normal size plants look great when first planted, in the years that ensue they may grow to overwhelm the space… To prevent that I have a few suggestions for some hardy, compact and delightful perennial plants. The following diminu

Trees emanate a palpable energy. Stop next to a tree, be quiet, and you can feel it. In my book, Heaven is a Garden , I have a chapter titled, 'Calling on the Trees'. It touches upon the unsung aspects of our woody grand neighbors. Now, with the public's renewed focus on trees, I feel it is the right time to share a short excerpt from my book with you: "The Celts of ancient Europe believed that Nemetona, goddess of the grove, resided in the hushed atmosphere of forest glades. She could be found in a needle-covered pine forest, beneath a group of towering beech trees or in a sun-dappled birch grove. These woodland clearings were called nemetons and were seen as being awash with the enchanted energies of trees. Trees: Nature’s Recharger The Celts attributed the charged atmosphere of woodland clearings to shunnache, the life energy of trees. Interestingly, this ancient notion is similar to the invisible energy fields of modern physics, and Albert Einst