“If you would be happy for a lifetime, grow Chrysanthemums.” (Chinese philosopher) More than just a late-season garden booster, Chrysanthemums are used throughout the world in medicine, pest controls, edibles and teas. They are plants that have continually proved their worth, in both utility and beauty, since ancient times. Chrysanthemums have been used and revered […]
Category Archives: Blog
If you love to grow vegetables, but find you can never eat all your garden yields, here’s an alternative to researching new recipes in anticipation of your millionth tomato. Grow some decorative gourds in place of a portion of your usual edible veggies. Decorative gourds have potential as centerpieces, serving bowls, storage containers, birdhouses, and […]
Are you overloaded with new ideas for perennial beds and borders after visiting friends or public display gardens? Seen lots of unfamiliar and interesting new plants at the nursery? If so, fall is an excellent time to prepare new beds for planting now or in the spring. The cooler temperatures, weaker sunlight and shorter days […]
Mums are as ubiquitous as pumpkins in the fall. You can find them everywhere and anywhere from nurseries to supermarkets to gas stations. However, once you get them home they are incredibly easy to kill. They dry out in a nanosecond and need to be watered at least once a day. After the repeated stress […]
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Autumn is a wonderful time for planting in the landscape or container garden: temperatures are more moderate, soil moisture is easier to maintain, root growth increases in most trees and shrubs, it’s easier to see where empty or lacking places are than in spring and we plant tenders have caught our second wind! Spring flowering […]
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Feb
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Fall evokes thoughts of crisp, cool air, geese flying overhead, and leaves crunching underfoot. Capture the spirit of autumn with an inviting display of plants near the doorway of your home. Your display can be as simple or fancy as you like, start with a basic potted container, and then add-on decorative accents.
Choose Well To ensure attractive healthy annuals all season, choose full, well branched plants with good foliage color and – on flowering annuals – an abundance of buds. Don’t go for the biggest plants or most open blooms, these are more likely to be leggy and burned out too soon. If the latter is all […]
Late winter into early spring is when we crave fresh growth, a bit of color…some sign that spring is really returning!! Swelling buds on Pussy Willow and dainty Snowdrop blooms – which might be overlooked or scoffed at if amongst the lushness of summer plant life – bring excitement, praise and hope! These are soon followed […]
Benefits of Mulching Long before modern day use as a purely decorative element, mulch had an established history of benefitting plants, soil and gardeners. This is still its highest calling. A good layer of beneficial mulch can reduce stress on plants by regulating soil temperatures and reducing moisture loss and competition from weeds. In the […]
Hot, bold hues and diversified shades of foliage are all the rage. From Tangerine Tango, the new Pantone color of the year, to rich jewel tones galore, make this seasons’ garden space your own tropical paradise. Dramatic foliage plants such as Black Lace™ Elderberry or ‘Black Magic’ Colocasia help create that relaxed island feel. Plant […]