Farmers Market first weekend

Opening weekend for the Boone County Farmers Market

It has become a tradition for me to work the first couple of Saturdays at the Boone County Farmers Market and answer questions as a master gardener to earn my volunteer hours for the year.. I’m not very sharp when it come to the vegetable questions, but I have no problems when it comes to ornamental trees and shrubs. I enjoy seeing all the annuals and the vegetable seedlings, the hanging baskets and begonia planters for sale. I bought a sweet potato vine and several coleus for my front garden beds. In the past I had the opinion that I wouldn’t waste my time on a plant that was only good for one season. I have changed my opinions, and gained a new respect for a plant that can go through all of the stages of plant life in a single season. I now enjoy all of the beauty that many of these plants offer us, and gladly offer many of them a place to share their full potential in my landscape.

The Boone County Farmers Market is open 7 days a week May through October, 10am – 5pm Spring hours and Summer hours are 9am – 6pm (Memorial Day through Labor Day). Market re-opens the day after Thanksgiving: 7 days a week, 10am – 8pm (weather permitting). I will be at the market one more time this year to answer question in the booth at the canter of the market, I’d love to meet you and answer any question you might have.

Death and New Life

What a beautiful day we had for the first BYGL diagnostic walk about of 2014 at Spring Grove Cemetery.

This is a very special place for many reasons, one of them is the dead. Many of the people who have been laid to rest here were those who played a part in shaping what Cincinnati is today.

Up until a year ago the Carew Tower was the largest structure in downtown Cincinnati. You will find the Galbraith’s here, Galbraith is also a major road in Cincinnati that runs East and West across the entire city. The who’s who of early Cincinnati can all be found here. Another thing that makes Spring Grove special is the fact the cemetery is home of 25 Ohio state champion trees, including a Yellow Buckeye with a diameter of 178 inches DBH, a height of 104 feet and a width of 77 feet.

The grounds of the Cemetery are a magnet for bridal photography, the views available here make for breathtaking backdrops for those special pictures.

Then there is the revival of life in the Spring of the year. There is no place better that I can think of to experience it than at Spring Grove Cemetery.

Early Spring Flower Sighting

I wanted to share this sighting, it’s the first of the late Winter/early Spring wild flowers I have seen this season. For anyone who isn’t familiar with this flower, this is called a ‘Snowdrop’ or Galanthus nivalis L., which is the Latin. This flower is normally found in a deciduous or coniferous woodland, in meadows, pastures and along streams or rivers. This one I found at the base of a tree on a lightly wooded homesite in Hyde Park, Ohio. What a great find!

~Michael