Green Thumbs Stand Out Against A Snowy Landscape

Maintaining your gardening chops during the chill winter season can be a challenge for many — but not for serious gardening notables Bosco Schell and Page Dickey, who now live in Falls Village, Conn. They engaged a Zoom audience with gardening advice and success stories on a snowy Sunday, Feb. 7.

Their conversation, titled “Gardening in Winter,” drew an audience of 187 to hear stories of things that grow willingly in their well-appointed greenhouse in Falls Village all winter long. The program was sponsored by the Cornwall Library in Connecticut and hosted by author Roxana Robinson.

The format was lively, with Dickey, a well-known writer about gardening, asking just the right questions to elicit anecdotes from Schell, a former magazine editor with years of gardening experience.  

Between the two of them, they have four well-exercised green thumbs. Married in the year 2000, it was a love for gardening that brought them together. For those wondering what Schell is growing in the greenhouse that is kept at 52-55 degrees in the winter months, there are many types of geraniums and begonias, but that’s not all. There is a section for succulents. Many of the plants are from cuttings and many are welcome gifts from gardening friends who spread the wealth of plants around, particularly where the plants can find a good home to thrive in.

Three cold frames are located nearby, giving spring flowering bulbs a wintering over. At the right moment, the bulbs can be moved into the greenhouse, where they will bloom and add their cheery colors, Schell explained.

“I am a grower,” Schell said, proudly pointing out his “babies,” plants getting a good start in life. “I am not a professional,” he added. “I do it by trial and error.”

Geraniums, he said, earn their keep. With minimal care, they keep on providing beautiful foliage and steady blooms and offer a bounteous variety. The Fantasia Apple Blossom is a favorite of his, a gift from  the garden of interior and garden designer Bunny Williams, also a Falls Village resident. There are ivy-leafed begonias and a Martha Washington begonia.

“Every time I come home, I find that he has a new succulent,” Dickey said.

“I find them so architectural,” Schell explained, adding that they flower in the winter, a real plus.

To create space for more plants, Dickey pointed out various levels in use in the greenhouse, from hanging plants above, to shelves and tables below. Pots can also be elevated by setting them on other, overturned pots.

Three fans keep the air circulating. For humidity control, they add water to the floor; when the sun comes out, the humidity rises.

“It’s work to have a greenhouse,” Schell cautioned but added that, “It’s my happy place, to smell the flowers and the earth.”