First off, my apologizes to writer E.L. James for riffing on his popular novel title “50 Shades of Grey”. I rather doubt that my comments here will ever make it to the big screen. Just the same, the month of December in my garden is a pretty steamy mix of tan, brown, or black (and all the shades in between) emanating from foliage, seed heads, and bark, and frankly, I find it pretty stimulating…


I know we are in the midst of fall and I hate to even bring up the term “winter” quite yet, but as they say, “the early bird gets the worm”. Like the box stores, gardeners like to stay ahead of things and I am already seeing…