A Garden for the Pollinators
Tangled Gardens Blog
by Susan Collard
1y ago
Cottage gardens lend themselves to a pollinator friendly garden quite naturally. With an informal style and happy jumble of old fashioned flowers they offer a feast for a variety of pollinators. You don’t need to have a cottage style garden to cater to pollinators though. When planning my gardens I break down the growing season so there is always something for the hungry pollinators as well as fresh color and flowers. They key is to offer as many options as possible through various flower shapes, sizes and height. The very earliest of flowers here can be found in our patch of woods. Trilliu ..read more
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Autumn:
Tangled Gardens Blog
by Susan Collard
1y ago
As someone who spends the majority of their time outside I am acutely aware of the slightest shift in seasons. The temperature of the breeze on any given day, the subtle change in light, frantic activity of the bees all signal autumn is arriving. Here in the Pacific Northwest, autumn is long and drawn out. There are days of clear, bright sky the light golden as the sun begins to set. Nights black and crisp, the moon luminous against her dark backdrop. As the season progresses, along with sunny days, the sky becomes overcast with the heavy grey days our area is known for. The garden requires ..read more
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Cottage Garden Style
Tangled Gardens Blog
by Susan Collard
1y ago
Cottage gardens were originally created out of need. Vegetables and fruits surrounding small cottages with flowers tucked in here and there. The cottage gardens of today may or may not include edibles but still retain the charm of those humble spaces. Small and unpretentious, meandering paths filled with a delightful tangle of treasures spilling over soft edges. Picket fences, gates, arbors and evergreen hedges help create the structure of the cottage garden. Curving pathways made of grass, gravel or stone that lead somewhere…or nowhere. Charming fountains will attract birds and offer the so ..read more
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March and her Many Moods
Tangled Gardens Blog
by Susan Collard
1y ago
Oh, tempestuous March. How I do love you. With the depths of winter behind us, March is the month where spring begins to open her doors. Temperatures can vary radically, swinging from a lovely warm spring day to a mixture of sun, rain, and hail. Very nearly all three at the same time. Moody, complicated and temperamental. One thing for certain, there is a tinge of warmth in the breeze. The biennials and perennials are waking up, hydrangeas and roses are beginning to swell with tender foliage. The landscape takes on a spring green and it all looks a little unruly with everything growing at it ..read more
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Winter Gardening
Tangled Gardens Blog
by Susan Collard
1y ago
February is the month where my gardening activities are focused on spring. The cold hardy annuals that were sown back in early August require “potting up” so they have more space to spread their roots. Trimming of Hydrangeas and roses has been taking place for about 4 weeks now and I am beginning to feel the pressure to finish. Sowing of a select few annuals has begun, taking extra care that they are kept warm. I have been in the process of adding more roses and perennials to my cottage garden beds as well as garden structures over the past year, so rose ordering has begun in earnest. The ki ..read more
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Sowing Sweet Peas and Wondrous Cold Hardy Annuals
Tangled Gardens Blog
by Susan Collard
1y ago
January is also the time for sorting seeds and planning the garden. The beautiful spring flowers that accompany roses and peonies require the earliest of sowing so they are ready when it’s their time to shine. The most delicate in appearance and yet tough, preferring winter temps to grow ever so slowly sending down strong roots preparing for springs arrival where they will burst forth and grace us with their beauty. These are the cold hardy annuals. They fill in gaps and offer whimsical, old fashioned charm whilst providing nectar for eager pollinators in spring and early summer. Sweet peas ..read more
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Beautiful Things to Come
Tangled Gardens Blog
by Susan Collard
1y ago
I had a friend ask me recently why I garden. “Why do you garden the way you do? I understand it’s therapeutic and that you love it but why so intensely?” I have to admit I was taken aback. I found myself struggling to find the answer. My response was, “it’s a compulsion. I am a compulsive gardener.” If I am honest, somewhere in the recesses of my mind I have asked myself the same question many times. There are moments when I find gardening to be frustrating and exhausting. I worry over seedlings and fuss when they are first placed in the ground. The days are spent planting, weeding, watering ..read more
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