CORNISH FLAT, N.H. – I decided this year to do a better job of keeping track of what plants are blooming when, and photographing them. I encourage you to do the same: we all forget what we have from time to time. And next winter we’ll be able to enjoy[Read More…]
Henry Homeyer
Much to be done for late spring chores
CORNISH FLAT, N.H. – Spring arrives in New England in fits and starts: Hot and sunny one day, chilly and drizzly the next. Maybe even a few flurries to outrage the impatient gardener. But there is much that can be done in late April, even on a rainy day. I[Read More…]
Spring garden chores, planning for more
CORNISH FLAT, N.H. – This was supposed to be my very last gardening column, but (spoiler alert) it is not. I started writing a gardening column in 1998 and wrote weekly for 25 years. Then in late 2023 I dropped down to once a month. I liked the extra time[Read More…]
Combat high prices with a garden
CORNISH FLAT, N.H. – It seems to me that the prices of many things have gone up significantly in recent times. One way to combat that, as a gardener, is to start plants by seed instead of buying plants that someone else has started, watered and mothered for months. Many[Read More…]
Identifying trees in winter
CORNISH FLAT, N.H. – If you like to hike or snowshoe in the winter, you might like to learn the names of the trees you see. Do so, and the trees will seem like your friends. No need to greet them as Sally and Bob, know them as sugar maple,[Read More…]
Looking back on 2025 and forward to 2026
CORNISH FLAT, N.H. – Overall, my gardens did well last summer despite the lack of rain, largely because of all that sunshine. Most of us had a wet spring and early summer, then a very dry summer and fall. For people planting new trees, shrubs and perennials it meant lots[Read More…]
Spirits are high in German Christmas markets
CORNISH FLAT, N.H. – An impulsive decision in late November by my wife Cindy and I to explore German Christmas markets found us in Berlin visiting with an old friend. We also spent a few days traveling by rental car to Dresden, Leipzig and Naumberg, a walled medieval town that[Read More…]
Holiday gifts for gardeners
CORNISH FLAT, N.H. – New England skies in winter are often cloudy and dark, accompanied by sleet, slush, rain or snow. The sun sleeps late and goes to bed early. Gardeners sometimes give up and go to Florida. Not me, but there is much I do to make the holidays[Read More…]
More fall garden chores
CORNISH FLAT, N.H. – After a severely dry summer, October brought much needed rains, at least here, in Cornish Flat. It is particularly important for trees, shrubs and perennials planted this year to go into the winter well hydrated, and it looks like Mother Nature has taken care of that.[Read More…]
Getting ready for winter, and more
CORNISH FLAT., N.H. – After a hot, dry summer, we had a very early frost this year, September 20. Not enough to kill our late potato vines, but enough to kill squash and dahlias. I was caught off guard. I am now getting ready for winter. It is important to[Read More…]
Prepare fall gardens now
CORNISH FLAT, N.H. – I’ve seen the big yellow buses meandering down the road, lines of impatient drivers behind them, noisy kids inside. That tells me, temperatures notwithstanding, that fall has arrived, or will soon. The most common question I am fielding is about lilacs: why have so many had[Read More…]
Arranging Flowers, Visiting Botanic Garden, Putting up Tomatoes
CORNISH, N.H. – Ever year on the third weekend in August, my hometown of Cornish, sponsors a country fair. Not only does it have junk food and rides for the kids, it has ox and horse pulling competitions, woodsman’s events and more. The school is full of photography, art and[Read More…]
