March/April 2009

For me, March is the real beginning of the year.

This is when I actually start doing things in the garden rather than just sitting gooey-eyed on the sofa and dreaming.

Sow some seeds. Go outside to cut down the dried perennial stalks and break them into smaller pieces for paths and mulch. Rummage around the perennials to search for new growth. Catmint, phlox and even some clematis never fail to surprise me with their eagerness to get their show on the road. And, of course, admire the carpet of crocus that usually peaks toward the end of the month. One week of glory followed by....splat...and I realize, horrified, that a part of the gardening year has already ended.

But who can weep over lost crocus when it’s time to move into high gear, getting serious about changes I want to make so that this year I finally achieve My Best Gardening Year Ever! You betcha. There are plans to be made—real plans, with dollar bills attached. Before I know it, March will morph into April when I need to be out spading and raking the vegetable bed, moving those proliferating columbines into some kind of order, and making my first trips to the garden center to have some fun.

High on my To-Buy list is ‘Mops’, a mounding, golden-needled false cypress (Chamaecyparis) suggested by Jeff Schultz of The Hidden Garden in Willowbrook. It sounds like just the thing to camouflage the lower canes of my pink ‘Jens Munk’ rose and complement the blue-green foliage of the adjacent ‘Six Hills Giant’ nepeta. I also “need” to get a Miscanthus sinensis ‘Purpurascens’, whose leaves, topped by shimmery inflorescence, turn a beautiful russet in fall. There are masses of them in the median plantings on Chicago’s South Lake Shore Drive, and I’ve admired them for years.

At Chicagoland Gardening, we’re also hoping to have a stellar year. We’ve got
a roster of great city and suburban gardens to show you, features on plants that will serve you well in your gardens, and we’re also introducing three interesting new columns.

• “Design Fundamentals,” written by Michelle Byrne Walsh, offers solutions to discrete design problems such as concealing eyesores, placing a swing set, or dealing with a narrow side yard.
  
• “Know Maintenance,” by Patrice Peltier, discusses Roy Diblik’s trademarked planting concept that promotes a deeper knowledge of plants as a way to establish a garden of plant communities that grow naturally together, thereby reducing both maintenance and expense.
  
• “Neighborhoods,” by Cathy Jean Maloney, showcases interesting city and suburban communities that have put their mark on the region’s history.

We’re excited about what we’ve got planned and believe you will be too. And in a year of national recession, how better to keep ourselves “grounded” and centered on the important things in life than by focusing on our families, homes and gardens?

So is this going to be our Best Year Ever at Chicagoland Gardening? You betcha.