Maine Gardens and Gardening - Janine Pineo

Discovering folklore of woolly bear caterpillars

What’s fuzzy, an inch long, black on both ends, brown in the middle and crawls across snow in February? Awww, guess. Confused? So was the woolly bear caterpillar. Last Saturday I was … more

By Janine Pineo
BDN Staff | 2/27/10 | 163 views

List is long with ways to enjoy all things green

I miss green. And greens. As I undertake my annual seed hunt, I find myself drooling excessively over the sheer wonder that is naught but a leaf. But what a leaf. Last year was near … more

By Janine Pineo
BDN Staff | 1/30/10 | 161 views

Holiday homage to pestilence, blight

Send the kiddies to the root cellar and put on your Grinch pants ’cause it is time once again to lift your voice in joyless refrain for our annual gardening holiday ditty. You and I both … more

By Janine Pineo
BDN Staff | 12/19/09 | 457 views

Fragrant white winter blooms make heady gifts

In mid-December, the garden beds buried in new snow, it feels good to be planting something. I reach into the wrinkled brown paper bag and pull out five bulbs, each covered with a dark brown … more

By Reeser Manley
Special to the NEWS | 12/12/09 | 281 views

Long-lived hemlock witness to history

Before the Revolutionary War. Before the Mayflower weighed anchor. Before Columbus set sail. Way before the Crusades ended. Even before the Magna Carta. more

By Janine Pineo
BDN Staff | 11/28/09 | 523 views

Backyard can produce rare jewel of a crop

They are small and somewhat pathetic, with not even enough to fill 2 tablespoons. But I rejoiced anyway. The lingonberries have fruit this year. more

By Janine Pineo
BDN Staff | 10/30/09 | 665 views

Annuals amid veggies celebrate color

Life is pointless if you don’t have a romantic plant in your garden. Really. more

By Janine Pineo
BDN Staff | 9/26/09 | 651 views

Pest invasions, early blight, mildew wreak havoc

I am feeling blighted. Decidedly mildewed. A little wormy. And — not unexpectedly — beset by beetles. Welcome, my friends, to the year of pestilence. more

By Janine Pineo
BDN Staff | 8/29/09 | 711 views

A sage gardener embraces the unknown

Sometimes, gardening is a series of happy accidents. How many times have you purchased a plant, not knowing what to expect? You take it home, dig a hole and plant it, uncertain as to what it might … more

By Janine Pineo
BDN Staff | 7/25/09 | 884 views

Gardens in Belfast on tour

BELFAST, Maine — Andrea Whyte and Joan Bennet will open their adjoining gardens for the Belfast Garden Club tour on Friday. more

7/21/09 | 1282 views