2021 in the garden
Hi, guys!
I’m all ready for the last stop of this year’s book tour at Barnes & Noble in Bay Shore, NY. They’ll be selling my 2022 Day-by-Day Gardening Calendar and hosting me for a signing tomorrow (Saturday) from Noon to 4 pm. If you’re in the area and still looking for the perfect gift for a gardening friend — or for yourself (let’s face it, you deserve it!), please stop by — I’d love to meet you! Details and location information are here.
I’m going to take the next couple of weeks off and will be back after the new year, but will leave you with my best wishes for a safe, healthy and wonderful holiday season, and these fantastic reader photos (the ghosts of gardens past?) which can serve as inspiration fodder for next year’s garden. Seed catalogs will start showing up soon enough!
I'm dreaming of homegrown cherry tomatoes like the ones that grew in Bob Cavaliere's Port Jefferson Station garden last July.
Mary Oehrlein of West Islip, NY, captured this “visitor” to her garden last July.
Meanwhile, Gena Lemmink of Cleves, Ohio, got up close and personal with another pollinator on a purple coneflower last July.
Margie Clausen shared this pretty purple hydrangea row in her garden last June.
William Fischetti’s North Merrick, NY, backyard could easily pass for a well-tended park!
Joel Kessler of Holbrook, NY, had the right idea by planting marigolds around his tomatoes last summer. The cheery orange- or yellow-flowered plants exude chemicals that protect tomato plants from harmful root-knot nematodes. And what a tomato farm he had growing!
Al Muoio introduced a colorful tropical flair to his Deer Park, NY front yard last summer.
Leema Thomas of Dix Hills, NY, shot this gorgeous photo of a hibiscus growing in her garden last June.
Yes, please! Marge McGauley’s homegrown Nesconset, NY, harvest is but a distant memory, but I can almost smell those freshly picked tomatoes!
You want curb appeal? Ed Martello has curb appeal! This shot of his East Northport, NY, front-yard bed was taken in August.
Also seen at the top of this page, Mary Hallam of Lynbrook, NY, doesn't need to travel to take a vacation! Here's another shot of her backyard oasis, taken last August.