Last week I wrote about how to successfully plant in the dry summer months and I promised this week to discuss how to keep our landscapes thriving (not just surviving) as we shift to drier, hotter, and longer summers. As a side note, don’t let this recent “rain event” lure you into complacency about watering. At best, it only moistened the top ½ of the soil, which for the most part only keeps the dust down…
Something Coming And Something Going
4 Great Reasons To Visit The Garden Center In August
I was in the nursery the other weekend looking for some ideas for my next column, when it occurred to me: “What is it that draws shoppers into the garden center this time of year?”. Considering that there is nary a shy bone in my body, I thought, why not ask a few customers why they were there. This is what I found out…
'Bee-You' Bee Balm
2021 - The Year Of The Hardy Hibiscus
Love It Or Leave It
6 Steps To Successful Summer Planting
Now that the summer weather has arrived, it never fails that someone will ask me: “Can I still plant now or should I wait until the fall?” For the record, as a landscape contractor in the Sacramento Valley where it was routinely 85 to 105 degrees, I planted all summer long and never lost a single plant. You can have the same success rate by following my directions…
Challenges & Opportunities: Fried Shrubs, Burnt Baskets & Fabulous Tropicals
Summertime in the northwest is a great gardening time. There is lots of sunshine and warm soils to make plants grow, and as long as we remember to water, we can have some amazingly productive veggie gardens and luxurious landscapes (or at least some bodacious containers). Here are a few random comments to consider on the above topics…
I am sure many of you, like me, are battling the seemingly endless procession of rabbits invading your garden. In my landscape, the cute little furry destructors are there every morning to send me off to work, and then there to welcome me home. The main perpetrators are usually…