Small Town Gardener » Winter

The day before Christmas, I was gathering colorful ‘Arctic Fire’ cornus twigs in the garden, and was feeling content about the fact that the surrounding scene wasn’t the winter wasteland...

https://mariannewillburn.com/the-why-winter-garden-challenge-join-me/

I'm into table decorating.  Always have been.  If you give me a table and an hour, and put someone else in charge of stirring the balsamic reduction, I am in my happy place. Somewhere betwee...

https://mariannewillburn.com/go-foraged-and-take-the-fear-out-of-formal-tablescapes/

December is a month of transition in the temperate gardener’s mind. I look at it like a well-deserved break and savor every second. It is a resting month in the Mid-Atlantic garden, which is...

https://mariannewillburn.com/decembers-garden/

A new year, a new growing season. January is a wonderfully busy month in my garden, as I am given the opportunity to get on top of difficult areas of bramble and vine without the overwhelming ...

https://mariannewillburn.com/januarys-garden/

Yes, I know. We could have done with this post about two months ago.  But two months ago I was planting bulbs and didn’t have time to write it.  Still, there’s a good chance there are mo...

https://mariannewillburn.com/why-i-use-a-garden-auger-to-plant-bulbs-and-when-its-not-a-great-idea/

December is upon us, the spirit is in the air, and you have an itch to try the whole wreath-making thing again. Except...you've never really nailed the art of wreath making. 'Spindly' and 'ama...

https://mariannewillburn.com/nail-it-three-tricks-to-make-a-gorgeous-natural-wreath-this-season/

Inevitably, the time will arrive when many gardeners will consider starting their own seeds indoors.  Perhaps it is the threat of being faced, once again, with only two tomato varieties at th...

https://mariannewillburn.com/using-grow-lights-for-healthier-seedlings-doesnt-need-to-break-the-bank/

Have you had it with the constant, unrelenting weather reports that sound more like John Grisham novels than weather reports?  Me too.  This week, I shared my thoughts on GardenRant (where o...

https://mariannewillburn.com/tired-of-all-the-winter-weather-hype/

Spring or Winter?  March is of two minds. I understand completely. Although this month marks a significant change in the weather going forward, that change brings with it many tasks for the g...

https://mariannewillburn.com/marchs-garden/

There are few things more magical than a snowfall, and few terms more overused to describe it. Nonetheless, the cliché communicates the outright miracle of slowing a world that refuses to slo...

https://mariannewillburn.com/my-love-hate-relationship-with-snow/

The symbolic promise of a new year is not enough for me this time around. Normally happy to raise my glass and cheerfully throw out The Old as the clock ticks towards midnight, this year I am ...

https://mariannewillburn.com/garden-resolutions-the-triumph-of-hope-over-experience/

To walk through a young garden in winter is a courageous act when the garden is your own, and the budget, diminutive.  We forget how much frosting the active growing season naturally spreads ...

https://mariannewillburn.com/young-broke-garden/

At this time of year there is much advice floating around to “use natural materials” to create amazing holiday decorations cheaply. Indeed I’ve floated much of it myself.  However, for ...

https://mariannewillburn.com/let-your-garden-help-you-decorate-for-the-holidays/

At the top of my driveway, slightly hidden on a south-facing slope that could less generously be termed a rocky mound, there is a small gathering of snowdrops and eranthis that in a few short ...

https://mariannewillburn.com/taking-steps-toward-a-winter-garden/

“Are you from the past?” asked my daughter this morning when she came down to the dining room table to find me writing in my garden journal. I raised my eyebrows pointedly and swept my han...

https://mariannewillburn.com/the-case-for-a-garden-journal/

The office is lightly scented with pencil shavings and old coffee mugs this morning. Not an unpleasant smell, but an unfamiliar one. I have ignored this room for two weeks over the Christmas h...

https://mariannewillburn.com/wrestling-with-a-tough-resolution/

It’s early morning in late fall; and as you sprint to the car, your eyes are caught and held by the incredible holiday container display sitting by your neighbor’s front door – a display...

https://mariannewillburn.com/container-gardening-by-subscription/

As if to punish me for my naiveté in penning an article in January on the subtle joys of a Mid-Atlantic winter, the Mid-Atlantic immediately doubled down, presenting us with icy wind, freezin...

https://mariannewillburn.com/reflections-and-tasks-for-a-wet-winter/

Fresh from speaking at a seed swapping seminar a few weeks ago at Green Spring Gardens in Alexandria, I am pumped up to begin this year’s vegetable garden.  There is no early spring travel ...

https://mariannewillburn.com/deer-when-youve-finally-had-enough/

Three weeks ago while attending the Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show (MANTS) in Baltimore and walking the streets of that city in between meetings and meet-ups, I noticed that teenagers were be...

https://mariannewillburn.com/electric-scooters-efficient-transport-ridiculous-fun/