daffodils with BGC sign

Nothing Gold Can Stay

After a long winter, the jolt of a yellow crocus, yellow daffodil, yellow forsythia blossom sounds a wake-up call. Spring is not only here, but it’s charging ahead. Weeks of inching out of the ice suddenly give way to the day when you walk out to find your garden burgeoning, seemingly overnight, with spots of green (often weeds–why are they always the first to burst forth?). Pushing up out of winter’s mulch are the first signs that your garden has survived. Quell the urge to get out there and rake: The plants know quite well how to push the leaves aside as they reach for the light. The insects over-wintering in your beds need consistent 50-degree temperatures before they’ve grown and flown out to do their essential work as pollinators. What the experts are helping gardeners to understand is that by doing less, they’re doing more. Garden beds that look as though they’ve been vacuumed are no longer the ideal. One way to satisfy the tidy impulse is to keep the edges of your beds sharp and defined, while allowing the leaf litter inside the beds to work its magic.

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature’s first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf’s a flower;

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf.

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay.

–Robert Frost

Meet BGC

We’re all about school programs, public gardens, happy bees, satisfied birds, healthy lands, and garden literacy. Curious?

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Temperature map of eastern US

The Latest Dirt

If your garden is feeling a bit frisky, it could be the weather. Predictions have temperatures rolling above average. As for precipitation, there’s a thing called “equal chances.” Plus more riveting tips.

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