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Articles from Francis Rosenfeld | Selfgrowth.com
- At the End of September - by Submitted on Sep 30, 2019 from Francis RosenfeldWith temperatures stubbornly stuck in the eighties and nineties I would have missed the beginning of fall this year but for the garden following its own internal clock: warmth or no warmth, once we passed the fall equinox, everything in the flower and vegetable border went into liquidation ...
Views: 467 - Perpetuals - by Submitted on Oct 05, 2019 from Francis RosenfeldSome annuals are such reliable self-seeders they can pretty much hold their own with their perennial counterparts. They are usually wild meadow flowers, a little rugged but relentless in the propagation of their species. I still find tall bell flowers from two years ago, blooming where I ...
Views: 467 - Weather Musings - by Submitted on Oct 20, 2019 from Francis RosenfeldI read last year's entry entry for this week and got reminded of how remarkably consistent the weather and garden patterns are: the first snow, the January cold streak, the first bloom. They follow nature's implicit schedule almost to the day. It just dawned on me that I could read up a few ...
Views: 467 - Millefleur - by Submitted on Jul 15, 2019 from Francis RosenfeldEvery spring I plan on planting more annuals and every summer I fall short of the desired effect. At least this year I have an excuse: after clearing up the shrubbery from a large portion of the front yard, the design of a new perennial border became a priority. There seems to be a quiet ...
Views: 466 - Special Hybrids - by Submitted on Mar 17, 2020 from Francis RosenfeldI know this is a task for October and not February, but since the weather turned sour and put the excitement for gardening activities on hold again, I thought I’d put together a list of interesting daffodil varieties to consider next fall. Flower Drift is a double daffodil with pure white ...
Views: 461 - The First Day of Spring - by Submitted on Mar 02, 2020 from Francis RosenfeldThe plants got the message that winter is over. Every year this message comes in secret, in subtle ways that only plants seem to understand, but they all get it simultaneously and come back to life with a speed and enthusiasm that always humbles me, even after so many years of gardening. This ...
Views: 460 - Summer's Door - by Submitted on Jun 01, 2020 from Francis RosenfeldSummer is knocking on the door a month early and it brought with it sweltering temperatures more suitable for the middle of July; it arrived so suddenly it gets difficult for us poor humans to adjust. Everything tripled in size in a matter of days, desperately springing into bloom as if not to ...
Views: 459 - Lilacs - by Submitted on May 04, 2020 from Francis RosenfeldEvery year when I enjoy the abundant bloom and fragrance of my Miss Kim lilac I count myself lucky for my tendency to procrastinate. I put off pulling what looked like a dead shrub for an entire summer and fall, only to be surprised with blooming branches the following spring. Lilacs are ...
Views: 458 - Collaborative Growth - by Submitted on May 16, 2021 from Francis RosenfeldEstablished gardens have a secret gardeners don't learn until they've spent many seasons watching them and caring for them: the group planting graciously indulges one or two species to rule the garden for a season, and those rights change every year, allowing all the plants the opportunity to ...
Views: 455 - The Land of Pretty Flowers - by Submitted on Mar 09, 2020 from Francis RosenfeldWhat makes a beautiful perennial garden? There is no recipe or guarantee, but I can list a few things I noticed over the years that all thriving gardens have in common. Work with the land you have I know this ingredient can be supplanted by a simply unreasonable amount of work and earth ...
Views: 455 - Spring Cleaning - by Submitted on Mar 08, 2021 from Francis RosenfeldThe last week of March usually brings warm, almost summer like weather, perfect for the long-awaited spring cleaning. It felt strange this year to find a reliable pattern in the middle of emptiness and uncertainty. I put the favorable weather to good use and finished the garden cleaning ...
Views: 451 - The Fountain at the Center of the Garden - by Submitted on Jan 12, 2020 from Francis RosenfeldThe fountain at the center of the garden was a staple of medieval landscape design. Its simple yet powerful symbolism was derived from necessity, but speaks to that part of the soul that envisions water as healing and life giving. Nowhere is a tiny fountain more at home than at the center of a ...
Views: 437 - Veggies to Start Outdoors - by Submitted on Apr 12, 2020 from Francis RosenfeldSome plants don’t benefit from being started indoors. There are a few reasons for this: their tender foliage has a hard time adjusting to the change of environment, their roots dislike being disturbed or their growth schedule is so accelerated that they outgrow their starting containers too ...
Views: 437 - Gardening Superstitions - by Submitted on Jun 09, 2021 from Francis RosenfeldWhen you grow up around gardening activities you're sure to internalize a few old wives tales. Some of them are backed up by science, but most are just taken on faith and passed along from one generation to the next without any reason or explanation. Here are a few. If you want a plant ...
Views: 432 - Tulips? Yes, please! - by Submitted on May 10, 2020 from Francis RosenfeldI always plant tulips. I’ve had beautiful ruffled pink ones, and fringed parrot ones, standard, double, lily flowering, you name it, I’ve tried them. I rarely see any in my garden. They don’t like the soil or the light levels, or something, or maybe they get eaten over the winter, who knows? ...
Views: 430 - Nature's Healers - by Submitted on May 23, 2021 from Francis RosenfeldLong before the dawn of chemistry herbs held the honor of providing people with a readily available pharmacological treasure, foraged and cataloged by natural healers. Herbs may not be able to cure severe illness, not in their natural form, anyway, but they have the answer to the smaller things ...
Views: 428 - Spring Cleaning - by Submitted on Apr 20, 2020 from Francis RosenfeldIt doesn't really look like spring in the garden until the spring cleaning is done. I rushed through it for a few hours between rains, so I didn't have a chance to pay close attention to the perennials that were already out. The sprucing up attracted a few visitors from the wilderness - a ...
Views: 421 - Starting the Vegetable Garden - by Submitted on Mar 31, 2020 from Francis RosenfeldHere’s to this year’s crop! I decided to try Independence Day tomatoes, and learned that it has a much lower germination rate than other varieties. Let’s hope they make up for it with taste. The seedlings look sturdy and enthusiastic, and have grown large enough that I don’t have to worry ...
Views: 416 - For the Love of Athena - by Submitted on Jun 30, 2019 from Francis RosenfeldI don’t think the goal of traveling is to see places and learn things, often you get better images and information from photography catalogs and travel guides. The goal of traveling is to get immersed in the spirit of a place. The longer you stay in Greece, the more it becomes clear to you ...
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