I am very prone to love at first sight. In fact, it happened just last week. I saw a tall southerner “across a crowded room”, as the song says. My heart stood still (as another song says). I was enraptured. […]
Plumbago Passion
ALIAS PRIMROSE
When I moved into my house in mid-February a year and a half ago, one of the first things I did was to walk around the yard, and try to figure out what the previous owner had planted. The winter […]
Selecting a tree for your local Town
In his classic book Mormon Country, author Wallace Stegner noted that nineteenth century Mormons planted rows of Lombardy poplar trees wherever they established settlements in the territory that is now Utah. The trees served as windbreaks and boundary markers, but […]
Growers Guide for Starting Seeds Indoors
I have given up indoor seed starting completely on several occasions. The first time it happened I was a novice gardener. I had ordered seeds of just about every plant that I saw in the garden catalogs without thinking about […]
Lavender Cotton – Santolina
I think that one of the best things about gardening is that when I am weeding or planting or pruning, I worry a great deal less about losing my mind. The seeds of insanity, or at least confusion seem to […]
Growing Pansies
Pansies are annual garden flowers (blooms for only one year, then dies) that are usually the first you find for sale in stores in spring. Pansies have been around for many years and are popular, being easy to grow and […]
Taking Plant Cuttings the Easy Way
This is that time of year when we take cuttings of our beloved plants. These are the indoor plants that grew too big over the summer months, the perennials we would like to increase in numbers rather than dividing, or […]
The versatility of ferns is being seen again
Gardeners today with busy schedules want less work in their gardens, and thus a need is established for plants that do just that. Their focus is more on leaf texture and foliage colour, rather than blooms and pruning schedules, consequently […]
A Taste of Asia Gardening
Lately, I have noticed that the mail-order garden supply catalogs are full of Asian-themed garden accessories such as pots, traditional bamboo fences, and stone lanterns. This seems to go along with the trend toward Asian-inspired minimalism in home décor. In California and […]
Effective Ways To Avoid Dampness In Your Garden
If you happen to be struggling with dampness in your garden shed then it is a serious problem that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Some handy tips could help get rid of the condensation however if the problem is proving to […]