Winter Greetings

Not much to do now but daydream. I'm going to force some hyacinths and amaryllis bulbs just to get my gardening yen on. My cabbage plants and heathers are holding steady in the cold, but the mums are long gone. Thanks, Karen, for the shout-out in the Special Edition this month!

Free Black Eyed Susans

Hello Gardeners,

I recently received a bunch of black-eyed susan plants from a friend in the country,

far more than I can use. I will leave them in my garden at the American Legion room in paper bags, please help yourselves. They do need a lot of sun.

Unintentional Vegetable Gardeners!

Holy moly, who knew that the lovely ornamental kale and cabbage we got today is actually edible by humans? I do love kale chips, but I think I'd rather see them growing during the grey months of winter!

And now let us sing the praises of ---

Squirrels. Yes, squirrels. As much as it kills me to admit it, since the little stinkers have destroyed dozens of my bulbs, but they're not just rats with fluffy tails, according to this interesting NYTimes article. I have to give them some respect.

Thomas Jefferson's Revolutionary Garden

This is a wonderful article about Thomas Jefferson's great gardens at Monticello.  We can't do veggies here at BG, of course, but it's fun to dream! I love how orderly and formal his vegetable gardens look.

More neighborhood plant identification

I've always wondered what the Latin name of these lovely yellow flowers are. Turns out its Oenothera fruticosa. They are also known as sundrops, buttercups, Missouri primroses, and it doesn't matter what you call them, they add a lot of cheer and sunshine to our gardens. They do best in sun, but they add some nice yellow punch to my shady spots, too. I got mine from the always-generous Anne Fitzpatrick... thanks Anne!

Around the corner, on 56th Place, there is a beautiful blue-purple flowering groundcover that does well in rocky soil and sun... it climbs up the stairs of several houses on the eastern side of the street, and blooms in late spring. It may be Campanula 'Birch Hybrid'. They're just gorgeous, I can't wait to try it in my garden!

Plant Identification at Boulevard Gardens

Since I have started gardening at BG three years ago, I've gone from mildly curious about what the names of flowers are growing here to mildly obsessive. I often go to davesgarden.com's plant identification forum to inquire about things I don't know. Here's a little run-down of what I've learned lately.

I've always wondered about these stately but cheerful flowers, and I've asked lots of my neighbors what they've been growing, but they always say it's from Italy and they don't know the english name. It seems to fit the description of Cheriantus, or wallflower. 

As everyone knows, shade plants are king at BG, and I love this little one that I dug up from the woods near my parents in law's farm in western Pennsylvania. The good folks at davesgarden have identified it, correctly, I think, as mayapple, or Podophyllum peltatum. It's non-invasive but spreads into nice lovely stands, and it thrives in shade. Very unusual leaf shape.

Some people think it's a flower, some call it a weed. Some people call it broadleaf plant, fig buttercup or yellow-star, but according to davesgarden,  the technical name is Ranunculus ficaria, Lesser Celandine.  It certainly seems to fit the description of it, particularly the US Parks Service classification of it as an invasive species in non-native areas.

Welcome to the our new blog

Dear Volunteer Gardeners at Boulevard Gardens,

I started this blog because I love to garden here at our beautiful co-op, and wanted to a way to chit-chat with my neighbors, and share our passion.  I invite you to have fun here, and hopefully we can start up some sort of plant exchange, too! I know I often have extra plants to share.

Feel free to post comments or send a note!