As gardeners who value biodiversity, we enjoy seeing the bluebirds raising their young and eating mealworms we provide in the winter. We see woodpeckers (hairy, downy, red bellied) on the suet feeder most days. And many other birds frequent the garden looking for insects or nesting materials. When I heard a loud “thunk” last week,…
Author: Terri Litchfield
Starting Seeds in Winter Using Totes and Seedling Flats
Winter Sowing in milk jugs has been enjoyable and successful here for the past several years. Having a seed-starting project in January is akin to browsing the seed catalogs – an opportunity to plan for, and dream about, the next growing season, with the added benefit of actually working with seeds and planting mix. While…
2024 DCMGA Plant Sale
Come to the plant sale this weekend for a great selection of native plants, grown and cared for by the DCMGA Native Plant Committee volunteers. We anticipate having about 1,000 native plants available for purchase, representing around 30 species. There are limited quantities of some species so come early for the best selection. Here are…
Host Plants for Caterpillars
There’s a good reason to choose keystone plants for the landscape – they are crucial to the foodweb in an ecosystem. The foliage (for caterpillars) or pollen (for bees) support the largest number of these insect species, creating the best chance of high biodiversity in our gardens. Keystone Plants The top keystone genera (closely related…
April is Ohio Native Plant Month…
… and this serves as an annual reminder of the importance of native plants. Perhaps even more important, April 2024 is National Native Plant Month! This designation allows us to renew our commitment to the removal of non-native invasive plant species, and the planting of beneficial native species. And it provides a platform for the…
Spring Wildflowers and our State Nature Preserves
Not only are most native plants pushing their way up, the spring ephemerals are starting to bloom! Every Friday from March through mid-May, ODNR publishes the Wildflower Bloom Report. The report is an open invitation to visit a state nature preserve and see some of these fleeting blooms in their forest homes. While the trees…
Look Down!
A couple of weeks ago we had 8-10” of snow. A concrete block on the concrete patio outside the kitchen window was covered with 10” of snow. Snow in the yard looked to be closer to 5”. The reason is that the ground had warmed up considerably before the snow fell and was holding its…
A Photo Summary of Winter Sowing
An overview was given in a November blogpost which stated my intention to do winter sowing at the end of December or very early January. But here it is, the end of January. It’s possible that some of the seeds will not get the full length of cold they require because I got started so…
Planning Winter Seed Sowing
It’s time to think through and do some initial preparation for winter sowing. “Winter sowing” most commonly refers to starting seeds in a one-gallon plastic container such as a milk jug or water jug. Once seeds are planted in the prepared jug, the jug stays outside through the winter with very little to no intervention…
Stop What You’re Doing
In her newest book, The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year, Margaret Renkl begins the prologue with “Wherever you are, stop what you’re doing.” This is a call to attention in words to savor. I have been awed in the last few weeks by the colors of fall this year. The leaves of so many…
Catchfly Commons 