It pains me to see customers spending hundreds of dollars on new plants and simultaneously refusing to spend a few more on a bag or two of compost and a box of starter fertilizer. These two items are not unnecessary “add-ons” that the retailer is just trying to add to the sale, they are critical components of a successful transplanting process - or as I like to refer to them as “plant insurance”. Unless you have phenomenal soil, you should always add compost and starter fertilizers when you are planting new plants. Here is why…
This little northwest mist we just experienced reminds me that this is the time of year when all those little weed seeds that have been lying dormant in our soils suddenly get a notice from Mother Nature that it is time to wake up and start growing. There are 3 environmental signals that cause this response…
It always amazes me that no matter how many times I visit the garden center, I always seem to find something that looks interesting and is calling to me to take it home and add it to the landscape. You would think that I would run out of space eventually, but the reality is that any gardener worth his/her salt can always find a spot for a new introduction. Here are a few that caught my eye this week as I toured the nursery looking for treasures…
Fall is in the air! The days are getting shorter, the nights are getting cooler and the sun is moving farther south, creating longer shadows on the north side of the garden. These climatological events are triggers for the garden, to let it know that winter is coming and seasoned gardeners will respond accordingly. Here are some things they will be doing this month, that you should do as well…
It’s been a while since I have given you a concise, all-in-one-place list of chores for the month, so I thought it would be timely to do just that. There is always something to do in the garden, even if it is just walking around and observing what Mother Nature is up to. As stewards of the green spaces we call our gardens, here are some things to consider as we move into winter…
First off, I suspect you would like an explanation of what the heck is a “bud-blooming” heather. It’s a fair question so here is my answer: A bud-blooming heather is a type of Calluna (a commonly planted summer-blooming heather that is in many of our gardens) whose buds never fully open but still manage to show color - often for many months during the fall and into the early winter. These types of heathers will look fresh for months and…
The Golfing Gardener
Trevor Cameron
One of my all-time favorite plants is the Hellebore, a magnificent evergreen perennial that goes back for millennia in gardens across the globe. These plants thrive in our climate and should be utilized in every landscape without question. They make wonderful…