​Usually the question is plaintively asked:  “I can’t wait to plant, is it time yet?”  The answer is a bit more complicated for northern gardeners than you might expect.  When I lived in southern Wisconsin I planted my garden and containers successfully all at the same time near Memorial Day.  When I moved almost 300 miles to northern Wisconsin using the calendar method no longer worked.  It took a while to figure out why my seeds failed to germinate and the nursery plants grew ever so slow.

noun (from dictionary.com)    1.  any of various woodland wildflowers that appear above ground in early spring, flower and fruit, and die in a short two-month period.  
​It is such fleeting season.  Trilliums are the first thing that comes to mind whenever anyone mentions “spring ephemerals.”  Well, actually the very first thing that came to my mind was that I needed to look up “ephemeral” in the dictionary for its definition and pronunciation. 

​On April 4, 2017 my husband and I visited the Keukenhof Gardens in Lisse, Netherlands about 20 miles from Amsterdam.  Everything about the garden is impressive:  7 million bulbs, 100 bulb companies, 800 varieties of tulips, and 80 acres of displays.  And unless you hop on a plane right now you will need to wait until next year, it closes on May 21, 2017.   The park hosts over a million visitors over an eight-week period.  It is only open each year from late March to mid-May. 
 
The outdoor displays showcase the very best that the bulb growers have to offer.  We arrived on the early side of the tulip season.  Getting around the park was very easy and I was able to take pictures without people crowding out the scenic views.  A neighbor went just two weeks after us around Easter and he reported that it was difficult to walk around.  We understand from locals that during the prime time you can barely move in the park.  So there is a trade-off between prime tulip blooms and crowds of people. 
 
Three large pavilions showcase cut flowers, orchids, and tulip displays inside.   Next to the park are bulb fields that can be explored by a canal boat or by bicycle.  Of course, as with any other attraction there are plenty of opportunities to shop and eat. 
 
This is one of the top 50 gardens of the world.  I can vouch that it is one of the most spectacular that I have ever visited.  If you are a gardener this should be on your bucket list. 

​​I’m a gardener and I’m lazy.  When it comes to gardening I dislike the labor involved with weeding, mowing, pruning, and yes even at times planting.  As a result my garden has untrimmed edges, overgrown lawn, and volunteer plants that some will recognize as weeds.
 
Now this is a problem for me since I am a life-long gardener, grew up on a farm, am currently a University Extension Master Gardener Volunteer, and teach gardening at the local technical college.  There are certain expectations that come with all of that.  So I am always on the search for ways to accommodate my sloth and give the illusion that my garden is a showcase. 
 
There are many magazines and books that wax elegant about digging in the soil, smelling the warmth of the earth, the joy of seeing the seeds that one planted bursting forth with new life.  I’m more interested in those with “low maintenance” in the title.  This is a code word for lazy gardeners to pay attention.  Here are a few tricks that I have discovered.