Naming March in honor of a mythological being who embodied both growth and devastation is entirely appropriate. This month may see the first tender young sprouts of green life emerging from fertile soil, but it may also see those same sprouts freeze and turn into dark brown slime a few days later. March is fickle. What's behind the door — the lamb or the lion?
Read MoreA certain ephemeral effect that occurs only once every year can often be observed in February, especially toward the end of the month and in lower elevations. It is a small thing, a quiet thing, a detail that has to be looked for if it is to be noticed. But it is a heartening thing, a promising thing, a reminder that life ebbs and flows and the flowing is soon to begin.
Read MoreJanuary is wintertime, generally cold and sometimes bitterly so, but there is something fresh and clean in the crisp austerity of a cold January day. This is the heart of the dormant season for temperate plants, but it is by no means a dull or dead time of year.
Read MoreDecember's toil sets the stage for all that must be done in the next few months to prepare for another year of beauty and abundance. During the growing season no effort is spared to keep the garden looking lovely, and during the dormant season the goal is just the same. It is a different sort of lovely than you might find in May or July, but those of us who appreciate living in a temperate zone find serenity in its structural simplicity.
Read MoreNovember is a busy month in the world of bonsai here at the Arboretum, and for us the activity still has everything to do with the impending arrival of winter. Bonsai are still on display in the garden at the start of the month and will remain so until sometime near the month's end. Then the benches will be cleared off and the bonsai put into their winter quarters.
Read MoreAs a grower of ornamental plants, I welcome October. Right now, a good many of the plants I grow look worn out, their leaves spotted and dull. Soon, though, they will look briefly spectacular, ablaze in an array of seasonal color: purplish red into orange and rust, pale yellow into mustard and gold. Ours is a diverse bonsai collection that abounds in deciduous species and we can put on a great show in October.
Read MoreFor those of us in the bonsai game, September brings relief in two critical areas of concern: watering needs and rampant plant growth. Through the heat and glare of summer nearly every bonsai needed water nearly every day that it didn't rain; as we move into September there will be days when just a few plants here and there need "touching up" and there will be time to do a little catching up.
Read MoreDespite the heat the plants are still growing. Some bonsai have already been pruned half a dozen or more times this year, but they are still growing and will need to be pruned again. Grow and cut and grow and cut and grow and cut. We practice what can be thought of as "pruning from the outside." That is, we are focused on appearances.
Read MoreIt all starts with the energy of the sun and in July the energy is free flowing and the sun is beating down hot. The beginning of July finds us in the middle of the calendar year, and smack dab in the middle of the great cycle of life. July also finds those of us who care for the Arboretum's bonsai and bonsai garden out working in the sun, dealing with the on-the-ground reality of summer.
Read MoreIf April is the time of horticultural anxiety and May is when the big green wave hits, June finds us engaged on all fronts, managing best as possible to stay atop a situation where life is surging in every square inch of the natural world. The plants are growing with greater energy than at any other time of year.
Read MoreMay begins with an array of colors in the landscape that is at least the equal of the celebrated colors of autumn. There is a certain color that, for reasons of marketing products like paint, is called "spring green.” But spring green is an amalgamation of just about every shade of green there is, from the dark richness of a spruce tree to the ghostly paleness of a fern’s unfurling fiddlehead.
Read MoreIn my experience, April is a natural time for beginnings. I was born in April, in 1957, met my wife in April of 1978, and began my career at The North Carolina Arboretum in April of 1990. As regards horticulture, in this part of the world April is when the growing season is undeniably underway.
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