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In the Garden

In the Garden

No four leaf clover for the Irish

As we head into St. Patrick's Day, there are many Irish arguments to enjoy. Which is the real whiskey: Jameson's or Bushmills is one such argument. Or whether there are nine counties or only six counties in the North (it keenly depends on your political persuasion). But for the Irish gardener, one always has to wonder: is a shamrock really only a kind of clover? Or is clover just a shamrock wannabe?...
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» Read more in Terry OShaughnessy's blog

In the Garden

Winter blues?

My mother reported some very big news this week: shoots coming through the ground of her side garden. Green ones – just like in summer. With all due respect to the month of March, could spring really come early this year? ...
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» Read more in Terry OShaughnessy's blog

In the Garden

A dose for your flowers

I bought some cut flowers the other day, and was just about to open the little packet of stuff that is supposed to prolong their blooms when I suddenly remembered my grandmother putting an aspirin in the vases of her flowers. So I opened the bottle and added an aspirin to the water. I must say the flowers look fabulous--but why? What is it about aspirin that flowers like?...
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In the Garden

Planting the seed

From a Scarlet Pimpernel to a Captain-of-the-Blues to a Poached Egg Flower, it’s time to start choosing the seeds (old-fashioned heirloom ones like these, if you like) to grow indoors and be ready for planting out May 24 or thereabouts....
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In the Garden

Be a tiger for your Valentine

February 14 not only celebrates Valentine’s Day this year, it also brings in the Chinese New Year when the Year of the Tiger will pounce onto the scene, necessitating that you bring some growing bamboo, a.k.a. "lucky" bamboo, into your household and say goodbye to last year’s lumbering Ox....
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In the Garden

Garden navel gazing

Last week I asked myself why I liked to garden, and my answer was about as clear as mud. But maybe it's too hard to articulate. Maybe it’s more a case of actions speak louder than words....
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In the Garden

Why do we garden?

I’ve been wondering: Why do we garden? Is it a need to connect with nature? Or, is it something we think we should want to do? Or, is it, I wonder, an urge to create order out of chaos – a control freak kind of impulse if ever there was one? ...
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In the Garden

The prim rose actually a shady lady

With 300 days or so of January still left to go, I needed something green and growing. Something spring-y. And so I decided on a primrose – because when I saw it with its velvety crimson blooms with yolk yellow centres, it didn't look prim in the least. ...
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In the Garden

No-fuss gardening

When I woke up the other morning and shuffled downstairs to make coffee, I was amazed to find that unexpected flowers had bloomed overnight. My rosemary plant from last summer, safely brought into the house before the first frost, had two or three fragile mauve blossoms spangling its spiky aromatic branches. ...
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In the Garden

The bare bones of the matter

Though winter has definitely arrived, maybe gardening is not yet over for the season. Because with snow covering the grass, and all the flowers and foliage vanished for another year, I have a birds-eye view of the bare bones of my garden. ...
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