Each month in this “Rooting for You” column, I seek out experts on some aspect of gardening. But this time I’m turning to a different authority—the plants themselves. Plants are good teachers. They give you quick feedback—are their needs met or not? They’re excellent storytellers—you can see the history of a tree by the scars […]
Whenever I see lawn grass start to go dormant in the summer I remember a guy I once met in a Chicago suburb who had replaced his front lawn with a carpet of prickly pear cactus. It kept kids and dogs out of his yard, he said, and he didn’t have to water it. Doing […]
We gardeners all rely on the common wisdom passed along through books, magazines, blogs, or the neighbor down the street. However, John Fischer, a retired meteorologist, Master Gardener, and garden writer, offers this—make your own observations. Throughout his career as a television meteorologist, John always tied together the weather and gardening. When horticulture questions arose, […]
Conservatories offer all sorts of opportunities to open up your home to the outdoors while at the same time letting you and your plants live in comfort. The newest addition to the Hartley Botanic range of glasshouses is the stylish ‘Opus’. Its clean lines and walls of glass speak of mid-century modern style so very […]
Herbs are an indispensable part of the edible garden. How can there be tomatoes without basil? How can there be mint juleps without mint? Flavor is the main reason these plants are in my garden, but it’s not their natural destiny. Like most other plants, their goal is to flower. Many of our common herbs […]
As a greenhouse owner, you can easily make your own hanging baskets rather than buying them at a nursery. If you start your basket plantings in late winter, they’ll be large, lush, and ready to put outdoors after Jack Frost has quit for the season. I prefer very large, 20”-diameter, peat-lined containers for my hanging […]
Greenhouse flowers and May go together like love and marriage in June…for bridal bouquets and wedding décor. It’s a chance to push the envelope and combine traditional and modern approaches to create memorable floral moments. You’ve heard about the wedding photographer’s stylist who grabbed up a table centerpiece for the model to hold, and with […]
Spring in Chicago has been lush but short. The pink blossoms of the redbud trees are already fading and disappearing among the new green leaves, and sweeps of glorious yellow daffodils blooms have shriveled up, leaving boring green leaves. Many gardeners are tempted to cut back those leaves as soon as the flowers fade on […]
Many gardeners love dahlias for their wide range of colors and large, showy size. But the drawback to dahlias in northern climates is that they can’t tolerate winter’s cold, so the tubers must be dug out each fall and planted outdoors each spring when all danger of a frost has passed. This means that it […]
At this year’s San Francisco Flower and Garden Show, a colorful bounty of bouquets stopped me in my tracks. Now that’s not unusual for me at a flower show, but this booth was different. The space was stacked high with countless containers of flowers under a huge sign—“Random Acts of Flowers.” What is that? I […]
A handcrafted thing is a joy forever. Whether it’s a clay pot made by your five-year old or a bespoke greenhouse from Hartley Botanic, the skills and artistry it captures brings pleasure and satisfaction each time you look at it. Suminori Awata would agree. He is the 15th generation in a family of stonemasons that […]
