X What a wonderful first weekend of Spring we’ve just had! Plenty of sunshine, warm temperatures, the first peepers, snowdrops and crocus blooming… lots of songbird courting activity, buds bursting on trees, and the lawn is turning green! Here at Gardenscapes I’ve already done my initial garden clean up and have my fingers crossed that [...]

Zone 5 refers to the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone in which I garden here in Hadley — located in Western Massachusetts. Years ago botanists and horticulturists started gathering weather records throughout North America to compile a database to show the average coldest temperatures for each region. These records were condensed into a range of temperatures and transformed into [...]

Spring is right on our doorsteps! It’s a busy time for gardeners – so much to plan, prune and plant! Gardenscapes offers some advice for working in the Zone 5 garden during March: Plan Finalize your plant and seed wish list. Place orders with catalogs (many offer early-order discounts!) Study local nursery catalogs to see [...]

To get my winter gardening fix, I grow flowering and fragrant houseplants and bulbs. Right now the colors and fragrances are amazing! I have a deep red amaryllis in bloom and pictured is my deep coral and white amaryllis with two stems and eight blossoms! It pays to buy one of the more expensive and [...]

As most of you woke up to a snow-covered world on Saturday morning and pulled the covers back over your heads, I donned my coat, hat and boots and after feeding the birds and checking my pond, shoveled paths through my garden! The snow was magical the way it frosted everything in sight and I [...]