Good seasons
Lynette L. Walther is the recipient of the National Garden Bureau’s Exemplary Journalism Award and the Florida Magazine Association’s Silver Award of Writing Excellence. She is a member of the Garden Writers Association. She gardens in Camden.
Recent Posts by Lynette Walther
A world of flavor, and more, at your fingertips with basil
By Lynette Walther - Mar 10Fragrant and flavorful, basil comes in a dizzying variety of tastes and colors, all of them good. This sun and heat-loving annual herb is the ...
Five degrees of separation
By Lynette Walther - Feb 26It’s looking as if things really are warmer than we thought, never mind those hot flashes now and then (Mother Nature’s, not mine). But then you ...
Psssst…hey you! Those flowers are speaking to you
By Lynette Walther - Feb 18Roses are red and violets are blue… and with Valentine’s Day right around the corner, it’s a sure bet that a whole lot of roses, and perhaps some ...
Colorful vibes: Get your orange on
By Lynette Walther - Jan 28For many years it was the Rodney Dangerfield of colors — just didn’t get no respect. But it looks as if the tide has turned for this color, and ...
Don’t let limitations define your gardening
By Lynette Walther - Jan 14For most people, a New Year’s resolution to take up gardening or do more of it is a simple matter of finding the time and the place. However for ...
Turning over a new leaf
By Lynette Walther - Jan 01'The farther we get away from the land, the greater our insecurity.' -- Henry Ford Pick any time of the year, and it’s a good bet that ...
The cactus that says Christmas
By Lynette Walther - Dec 15Some bloom at Thanksgiving, others at Easter, but the most famous of them come into their glory at Christmas. Collectively they are called ...
Make holidays brighter, more colorful with amaryllis
By Lynette Walther - Dec 02Brilliantly colorful, long-lasting and simply stunning — amaryllis is all that, and more. Long esteemed for elegant holiday decorating, the ...
Winterizing a garden pond
By Lynette Walther - Nov 12Nothing, but nothing is quite as relaxing and pleasurable as a water view. Statistics show that people who live within sight of water are happier. ...
Planting bulbs of every stripe and bouquet
By Lynette Walther - Oct 23The box of spring flowering bulbs I ordered arrived the other day. Hooray. There’s something so exciting about what amounts to burying treasure to ...
Fall garden clean-up
By Lynette Walther - Oct 09Honestly, it seems like just the other day that I was starting seeds, then setting out new plants in the garden. Is it just me, or did this summer ...
Is your lawn on the ‘map?’
By Lynette Walther - Sep 24I’ve signed up my lawn. Have you? There’s no better time than the present to join a growing number of area residents who have taken up the ...
PARK(ing) Day fueling that ‘need for green’
By Lynette Walther - Sep 13We live in an incredible part of the country, with farms, open fields, forests, mountains, rocky coastlines, parks and public spaces and loads of ...
Gardening basics: Composting
By Lynette Walther - Aug 31If I've said it once, I've said it a dozen times: Composting is one of the best ways to make good use of a lot of garden and household wastes that ...
Sow seeds now for an easy and delicious fall garden
By Lynette Walther - Aug 29Couldn't help but notice the wind the other day. It was a different sort of a breeze, chilly, dry and it made the leaves flutter in the trees. I ...
Gardening basics, part III: Understanding cold hardiness and heat zones
By Lynette Walther - Aug 15One of the questions I am most frequently asked is whether or not a particular plant, shrub or tree will grow in Maine. One gardener wants a ...
Gardening basics: Fixes for weeds, slugs and bugs
By Lynette Walther - Jul 20Weeds, bugs and slugs are nagging problems that often find gardeners resorting to harsh chemical fixes that can end up doing more harm than good. ...
Excuses, excuses and how to avoid garden mistakes
By Lynette Walther - Jul 04(dock/goutweed) Knowledge is power when it comes to weeds. Learn to recognize weeds, and remove them as soon as possible. This “lethal” combo of ...
Step aside 'Stargazer as lily revolution develops
By Lynette Walther - Jun 19Lilies are true delights of the summer ornamental garden. All of them, the Asiatic and Oriental lilies and their allies add a stately presence ...
Time to get growing: Best seeds for direct sowing
By Lynette Walther - May 22By now many have already started their tomatoes and annuals, maybe some perennials in flats. Those most optimistic gardeners probably have a few ...
Enjoying spring while greening the lawn
By Lynette Walther - Apr 24One of the most common components of any home landscape is the lawn. Though this element may seem simple, in fact growing a lush lawn can be one ...
Basics of bare root roses from the box to the border
By Lynette Walther - Apr 10"April / Comes like an idiot, babbling, and strewing flowers." -- Edna St. Vincent Millay, American poet, 1892-1950 While there's no doubt ...
A sight for sore eyes
By Lynette Walther - Mar 26There's a little village called Heart's Ease that's on the northern coast of Newfoundland. The winters are long and hard there, cold weather often ...
A 'farm' like no other
By Lynette Walther - Mar 13Over time I have been to a lot of different farms. Most of them grow things like vegetables, fruits or nuts, flowers and some raise animals. I've ...
The sweetness of flowers
By Lynette Walther - Feb 13Valentine’s Day has long been a time when tender notes are exchanged, and flowers have long been associated with the event. Traditions for the day ...
Well hello, Piggy Sue
By Lynette Walther - Jan 31We are never alone in the garden. Often with us are bugs, birds, earthworms, fungi, sometimes deer and many other creatures who visit or live ...
Taking stock at year's end
By Lynette Walther - Jan 03The Japanese have a term that aptly describes that wonderful sense of accomplishment, that level of appreciation and sense of purpose anyone who ...
Powerhouse in a pot
By Lynette Walther - Dec 23Consider the lowly houseplant. Those cheerful potted plants that help to brighten up our living, study and office spaces are actually carrying a ...
The season when less is more in the garden
By Lynette Walther - Dec 04“People who are not gardeners always say that the bare beds of winter are uninteresting; Gardeners know better, and take even a certain pleasure ...
Once gardening is over, it’s all about the holidays
By Lynette Walther - Nov 21How about trying some holiday decorating with a bit of help from the garden? The gardens are all snug in their beds while visions of the holidays ...
Soil science 101
By Lynette Walther - Nov 06Ask most gardeners what they need to do to have bountiful and beautiful gardens, and often the answer will center around watering and feeding ...
Time to say ‘nightie-night’ to the garden
By Lynette Walther - Oct 16Whew! What a summer it has been. Harvests have never been better, and we can credit those near-perfect-or-better growing conditions and an early ...
Underutilized plants for fall color and winter interest
By Lynette Walther - Oct 09Overnight, that’s how quickly the trees seemed to change into their fall “suits” of red, orange, crimson, bronze and yellow. The show is spectacula...
Juicy cultivation: The art of creating succulent gardens
By Lynette Walther - Sep 26Garden trends come and go. Some last. Some don't. Little succulent gardens have the appeal and the staying power to be one of those trends that ...
Flowering shrubs
By Lynette Walther - Sep 10A golden window of opportunity opens this month as two powerful forces collide. No. 1: end of the season plant sales and No. 2: a great time to ...
Is that all there is?
By Lynette L. Walther - Aug 25Not wanting to sound like some sort of Chicken Little or seasonal alarmist, nonetheless I need to point out that for most of us, our gardening ...
Getting those happy garden blues
By Lynette Walther - Aug 11It occurred to us that as soon as the long-awaited summer solstice arrived back in June, the days immediately began to get shorter. It's enough to ...
Reviving an old farm with a unique crop
By Lynette Walther - Jul 28Lorie and Patrick Costigan took a pretty big risk. On a recent Saturday they opened up their 26-acre Glendarragh Farm in Appleton to all comers. ...
Search is on for the oldest mower
By Lynette Walther - Jul 16As the season progresses, and your grass grows and grows and grows, it might seem as if your trusty mower is older than you think. But think ...
Tomato lust can overcome common sense
By Lynette L. Walther - Jun 30How much do we love tomatoes? Let me count the things we've done to ensure a good harvest. There was the red plastic ground cover that was ...
What makes those Proven Winners plants so special?
By Lynette Walther - Jun 16It’s been all of 16 years since the first Proven Winners plants appeared on the garden scene changing things forever. For the first time we had ...
Preparing for a particularly productive pumpkin patch
By Lynette Walther - Jun 02With the gardening season getting a jump on us this year by presenting warmer-than-usual temperatures and long stretches of sunshine, there’s no ...
A ‘harvest’ of books to maximize summer garden produce
By Lynette Walther - May 26Bring on the summer! Pick any of these four new books from Storey Publishing: “Fix, Freeze, Feast: Prepare in Bulk and Enjoy by the Serving” by ...
Gardening with less is more in mind
By Lynette Walther - May 05Downsizing is up. Corporations are doing it. Baby boomers are doing it. Everyone’s thinking about downsizing. And when it comes to smaller ...
Good Seasons: Taking stock of eco trends for the decade
By Lynette Walther - Apr 22Did I miss something? Where was all the hoopla when we transited into a new decade? Here we are well into the fourth month of a new one-a decade ...
Forecast for more gardening, good vegetables
By Lynette Walther - Apr 07According to all reports, folks are gardening more than ever. From the 2009 Edibles Gardening Trends Research Report conducted by the Garden ...
More flavor, more fragrance, more color, more of everything for gardens
By Lynette Walther - Mar 24Few would argue that the main reason gardeners grow tomatoes is because of their flavor. Nothing, simply nothing, equals the flavor of a truly ...
Vegetables for the garden: it’s time to get going
By Lynette Walther - Mar 10Gentlemen: Start your vegetables! That shameless theft of auto racing jargon may indeed be trite, but when it comes to gardening, timing is the ...
Sansevierias: a closer look at an old standby
By Lynette Walther - Feb 27My grandmother grew them, and I’d bet dollars to doughnuts that yours did too. Sansevierias, or as my gardening granny, Grandmother Reba, called ...
