Saturday, February 01, 2025
When in Boston, a revisit to the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum is in order. The wealthy Gardener was a voracious collector of art, and many other what-nots, with decidedly eccentric ideas about….➤ Read MoreThe Fuchsia+Blog Tags — gardens | museums | winter
Monday, January 27, 2025
Unlike that unconscionable arctic assault we endured about this time last year, winter consistently moving itself into the upper twenties ain’t all that bad. Nor the 25 F (almost -4 C) that descended on the garden last night….➤ Read MoreThe Fuchsia+Blog Tags — garden | plants | winter
Tuesday, December 31, 2024
My last outing of the year on the last day of the year was to the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden here in Portland. You might not be aware but the American Rhododendron Society was born in Portland and Crystal Springs….➤ Read MoreThe Fuchsia+Blog Tags — botanical gardens | seasons | winter
Saturday, November 30, 2024
Finally a first frost early this morning on the First of December. 31.7 F (-0.1666 C) was just enough to garnish exposed parts of the garden with tiny crystals of ice. But even ‘Gartenmeister Bonstedt’ has laughed….➤ Read MoreThe Fuchsia+Blog Tags — seasons | winter
Wednesday, November 29, 2023
With the frosts, it’s time….➤ Read MoreThe Fuchsia+Blog Tags — cultivation | fuchsias | winter
Friday, January 19, 2024
It’s been a heck of a week!➤ Read MoreThe Fuchsia+Blog Tags — weather | winter
Tuesday, December 21, 2021
07:59 PST (15:59 UTC). The winter solstice. It's here. Some mistletoe, Viscum album, from De Historia Stirpium. This sumptuously illustrated herbal was published in 1542 by none other than our Leonhart Fuchs, namesake of the Fuchsia. Now on to brighter, longer days!➤ Read MoreThe Fuchsia+Blog Tags — holidays | winter
Monday, November 11, 2019
The fuchsias were brushed by frost a few days ago. Ordinarily this might be the end but I was struck by the faded beauty of the blossoms, muted by the cold with shades of their former selves. Some have taken on almost gem-like translucent tones of amethyst….➤ Read MoreThe Fuchsia+Blog Tags — autumn | fall | flowers | fuchsias | winter
Thursday, January 24, 2019
A brief visit to Cleveland. You've long wanted to take in its botanical garden. The perfect opportunity. But it's not summer. It's the middle of January. And a blizzard has just swept through two days before dropping almost two feet of snow….➤ Read MoreThe Fuchsia+Blog Tags — botanical gardens | parks | greenhouses | seasons | winter
Sunday, January 20, 2019
As winter storm Harper spread snow, ice and rain throughout the Northeast, the orchids were standing tough. Well, inside the Rutgers University's Douglass Student Center in New Brunswick, NJ anyway. It's the North Jersey Orchid Society's annual show and sale this weekend….➤ Read MoreThe Fuchsia+Blog Tags — flower show | flowers | orchids | plants | winter
Thursday, November 15, 2018
Well…. What can you say? What was supposed to be simple rain is now a full blown snow storm! This is, of course, quite a bit unseasonably early for New York. It's still Fall. The leaves are only just starting to turn. It's also the outer, early edge of a first frost. Who's ready for this….➤ Read MoreThe Fuchsia+Blog Tags — winter | seasons
Friday, March 13, 2015
What a difference a week of vaguely normal weather can make. Temperatures above freezing all last week, a little rain here and there, and the white tide recedes. Good riddance, you miserable Winter of 2015. Hello Spring!➤ Read MoreThe Fuchsia+Blog Tags — garden | hortulus fuchsiarum | weather | winter
Sunday, January 11, 2015
The really cold part of the winter usually has the good sense to wait until sometime in January before annoying us. Well, right on the heels of the Three Kings, it’s here. Some assorted scenic snowfalls and then The Plunge blew in. Thanks guys. The snow was a nice present but...➤ Read MoreThe Fuchsia+Blog Tags — garden | hortulus fuchsiarum | winter
Sunday, December 28, 2014
Since well before the holiday last week, the weather’s still been pretty mild here. That’s not really all that unusual. In spite of the plunge in November, the really cold snaps usually have the good sense to wait until the New Year’s...➤ Read MoreThe Fuchsia+Blog Tags — hortulus fuchsiarum | species | winter
Friday, December 12, 2014
I walk to work. I mean, I could take a bus if I really wanted to. But I don’t. There’s no point to cramming myself into one at rush hour when I can just walk the same route almost as quickly as a city bus can inch along it...➤ Read MoreThe Fuchsia+Blog Tags — christmas | holiday | new york | urban | winter
Sunday, November 09, 2014
The end of daylight time is only a week past but it seems like much of the world disappeared when the switch was flipped off. Early evening a couple of days ago and Central Park was already mostly abandoned...➤ Read MoreThe Fuchsia+Blog Tags — central park | new york | parks | seasons | winter
Friday, March 14, 2014
It’s been a long, tiresome winter this year. I’m sure you’ve had enough of it as well. Monday afternoon was finally blue and heavenly. 64 degrees in Central Park. I was really feeling spring in the air...➤ Read MoreThe Fuchsia+Blog Tags — central park | new york | parks | seasons | spring | winter
Monday, March 17, 2014
Since the depths of January, there hasn’t been much new going on outside. It's been basically the same pattern. Freeze. Snow. Freeze. Snow. Freeze. The over-wintering pots of fuchsias are… well… still impatiently over-wintering and...➤ Read MoreThe Fuchsia+Blog Tags — fuchsias | winter | spring | propagation
Thursday, February 27, 2014
It seems like this winter just won’t end. Snow, snow, freezing polar vortices, and then more snow. Just when I thought we had finally rounded the frozen bend this past week, the temperatures are scheduled to drop...➤ Read MoreThe Fuchsia+Blog Tags — fuchsias | species | winter
Sunday, February 16, 2014
The Garden remains encased in snow but my windmill palm seeds finally arrived in the mail. I’ve been coveting Trachycarpus fortunei ‘Wagnerianus’ for a while. This was even my second attempt to get my hands...➤ Read MoreThe Fuchsia+Blog Tags — hortulus fuchsiarum | propagation | winter
Sunday, January 05, 2014
That foreboding winter storm, incongruously identified with Hercules, finally arrived late Friday night. I would have preferred calling it after Ganglati, servant to goddess of the frozen northern underworld, Hel, but...➤ Read MoreThe Fuchsia+Blog Tags — hortulus fuchsiarum | markets | new york | streets | winter
Thursday, January 02, 2014
I woke this new morning to find a beautiful dusting of snow covering the garden, like powdered sugar on a spice cake. We’re off to a fine start for the New Year! Except that there’s already six to eight inches of snow...➤ Read MoreThe Fuchsia+Blog Tags — hortulus fuchsiarum | new year | winter
Friday, December 13, 2013
The final cleanup of fall always seems to take me by surprise. Especially when the weather has had that golden crispness that usually settles in sometime during autumn here, when the summer’s heat and humidity have fallen back south. The City comes into its own then...➤ Read MoreThe Fuchsia+Blog Tags — fall | hortulus fuchsiarum | winter
Monday, March 24, 2014
The vireyas are in bloom again and right now is the time to take in their deletable beauty in the Camellia House at Planting Fields Arboretum on Long Island. The Arboretum has a very under-appreciated bevy of vireya species and cultivars....➤ Read MoreThe Fuchsia+Blog Tags — botanical gardens | greenhouses | plants | winter
Thursday, March 21, 2013
The Estate Fruit House, part of the vast West Conservatory Complex at Longwood Gardens, is a carefully heated and ventilated greenhouse used for forcing crop plants...➤ Read MoreThe Fuchsia+Blog Tags — botanical gardens | fruit | greenhouses | winter
Friday, March 15, 2013
After visiting the Philly Flower Show last week, I wandered over to Longwood Gardens to check out what’s blooming in the Conservatory. It took awhile because the siren winter witch hazels…➤ Read MoreThe Fuchsia+Blog Tags — botanical gardens | plants | winter
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Blizzard Nemo was billed as a snow storm of historic proportions well before it got here late on Friday night. It was certainly epic. Just not within New York City. The great blizzard of 1996…➤ Read MoreThe Fuchsia+Blog Tags — new york | parks | winter
Friday, February 15, 2013
Blizzard Nemo passed through the City overnight and fairly quickly. By 8:00 am the next morning the skies were clearing rapidly. By 9:00 am they were brilliant blue...➤ Read MoreThe Fuchsia+Blog Tags — new york | parks | winter
Monday, January 07, 2013
The winter sky was clear and the sunset looked to be promising so my friend and I couldn’t resist a detour on the walk home to take a stroll along the High Line before...➤ Read MoreThe Fuchsia+Blog Tags — new york | parks | winter
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
On warmer days and nights that don't go below breezing, I sometimes set some of the plants back outside to take in the spa of cool, refreshing air. Right now...➤ Read MoreThe Fuchsia+Blog Tags — fuchsias | hortulus fuchsiarum | winter
Tuesday, January 01, 2013
It's the beginning of January right now. Despite the incredible loop we were thrown by Hurricane Sandy just before Halloween last October, the weather this past fall has been a...➤ Read MoreThe Fuchsia+Blog Tags — hortulus fuchsiarum | winter
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
I was at the Brooklyn Museum a week ago or so to see a closing exhibition one last time and took the opportunity to stroll around the Brooklyn Botanic Garden…➤ Read MoreThe Fuchsia+Blog Tags — botanical gardens | new york | winter