I need new trees. Last winter, a 100-year-old Douglas fir came crashing down on six of my specimen trees. So, now in late summer, I looked for replacements at the Farwest Show New Varieties Showcase in Portland, Oregon. If you also need new trees, early autumn can be an excellent time to plant. According to […]
Over the last few years I’ve come to a greater appreciation of begonias, both in conservatories and outside in the garden. Because my main garden is on the north side of a four-story building, I’m always interested in ways to bring colors other than green to the shade. Like many gardeners, I used to rely […]
Stephanie Niedermyer is a bean farmer. Granted, hers is miniature-scale farming operation in her Eugene, Oregon backyard. But still, she manages to produce at least 26 different kinds of beans each summer. She says, “I’m a magpie, attracted to pretty bright things—that’s beans!” A road trip to the Southwest was the catalyst for her bean-farming […]
On a sunny August day, as I weed among the bee balm and tickseed, some of my favorite garden companions are likely to bustle by: bumblebees. They never move fast, but they never stay still. Every moment of a bumblebee’s day is busy, collecting nectar for food and pollen to feed the young. I love […]
It may be old news, but only in parts; continuing research is revealing even more about the benefits of green as in “green space“. Turns out that you don’t need acres of green to feel the benefit of plants and nature; even a small patch of grass or a houseplant on your desk has theraputic […]
Inside the greenhouse or out in the garden, the tools you use will either make gardening a chore to be put off until tomorrow, or the pleasure that it truly is, luring you into the garden for your daily connection to nature. It’s an unwritten law that while the usefulness of a tool is in […]
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 […]
