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In spring any color is welcome, but I sometimes think that we end up with a glut of yellows, especially when the daffodils are out. Fortunately, Mother Nature gave us contrast in the form of a few blue flowers that bloom at the same time. The best ones, lungwort (Pulmonaria sps.), false or perennial forget-me-not (Brunnera macrophylla) and true forget-me-not […]
Gardeners practiced the concept of the three R’s: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, long before it became trendy. People who grow things have a special relationship with the land and they naturally take steps to take care of it. Take composting for example, they have always known that recycled plant material was beneficial to the soil. Nothing from my grandmother’s garden or […]
Collectors everywhere know what it is like to have a quest—an ongoing hunt for the one little porcelain box or wheat penny or 1950’s lunchbox that will make it all worthwhile. A good part of the joy of collecting in the search for the missing pieces that will fill in the collection. For some people the hunt is everything, and […]
I subscribe to a lot of gardening magazines.Each one is a bit different, but there are some things that are common to all of them.At least every other month, a reader writes in to Horticulture or Fine Gardening or Garden Design to ask about ways of keeping cats out of the garden.The litany of feline evils is always the same: […]
As I travel country roads and stroll around many gardens, including my own, I see members of the Rudbeckia family blooming everywhere. Almost 4 weeks ahead in the season, I wonder what other flowers are going to give me the fall colour I need that it does. Gloriosa Daisy, Yellow Coneflower, Black-eyed Susan and Rudbeckia are the many names people […]
The colorful pictures and fanciful names on the seed packets at your garden center entice you to buy. But before you get carried away and select more varieties than you have space to plant, take a minute to read the packets. You may be surprised to learn that many of the flower and vegetable varieties for sale are not well […]
Delphiniums in Bloom By L. H. Leonian Sometime in June, Delphiniums begin to bloom in most parts of our country. This is an important period in the life of the plant. Where nights are cool and the atmosphere humid, the mildew will be at its worst. Dusting with sulfur or spraying with Bordeaux will control mildew. Although less harmful to […]
No matter where I am, I always try to notice what is growing around me. Last week I was stuck in traffic on a busy commercial street not far from my house. Gazing at the gas station on the other side of the intersection, I noticed that the owner had installed a long raised planting bed, about 18” high, made […]
Fall in this part of the world is often more of a collision of summer and winter than a season in its own right. Temperatures swing wildly between unseasonable warmth and unexpected cold. Trees color and leaves fall right on top of lawns that still need mowing. The days grow shorter as the weeds grow taller. The tall, wild white […]
Occasionally we are faced with a feature that is something of an eyesore. We tend to think of pergolas as free standing but they can also be used to hide an ugly wall, shed or garage. The Challenge Our client had just moved to a new property and the garden was turf all over. The neighbour’s house runs all down […]