I was at the Philadelphia Flower Show during one of the many snow storms that hit the northeast this year and I was struck by the number of flowers in bloom. There were thousands and thousands of perfect flowers decorating every aspect of the event. These flowers had been forced to grow out of season […]

Roger Marshall’s journey Gardening came to me naturally, while growing up in England in the 1950s. At that time, with war time shortages still distressing the UK economy, commercial fertilizers were hard to come by, so we made compost and used natural organic materials to fertilize our gardens, practices that I continue using today. English […]

On April’s Fool’s Day, it was a balmy 65 in Chicago—with a forecast for 27 two nights later.That kind of grim joke is why it’s handy to have a greenhouse or a cold frame to even out the crazy temperature swings of springtime. One task that makes a greenhouse useful is starting bare-root plants. Perennials, […]

Succulents’ time has come. This group of plants, which includes cactus, requires only one-third to one-fifth the water of other ornamentals. With long-term drought in the western U.S., interest has never been higher. Even in other parts of the country, succulents’ easy care and strong architectural presence make them eye catchers. There’s a succulent for […]

I had the pleasure of spending the last day of February at a regional meeting of the Perennial Plant Association at The Morton Arboretum near Chicago. “Ready, Set, Grow!” was the theme of the daylong symposium, and are we ever! I got home all fired up to start some perennials from seed. Growing perennials from […]

Recycle. Reuse. Repurpose. It’s a popular mantra, but would it work for that most ephemeral of endeavors—a bouquet of flowers? Northwest horticulturalist Riz Reyes thinks so. He adds succulents and other structural perennials like tillandsia (air plants) to his floral designs. When the flowers fade, the cuttings can be rooted in a well-draining medium. Air plants […]

For nearly one hundred years–between the 1880’s and the 1960’s a stretch of the Hudson Valley in upstate New York was known as the “Violet Capital of the World.” Herb Saltford recounted that it was his grandfather, William Saltford– head gardener at several estates in England before the family moved to Hyde Park, New York– […]

Snow covers the garden, and spring is nowhere in sight, so it’s time for that perennial pleasure—perusing the stack of seed catalogs that’s been piling up since November. Interesting trends in vegetable gardening emerge in this year’s catalogs. If you plan to grow tomatoes, 2015 promises intriguing choices; breeders have been busy creating new combinations […]

There is an easier middle way between the effort of traditional composting and the specialised requirements of a wormery: invite the worms into your regular bin, and let them do the work. Of all the ongoing experiments and trials in my garden, the longest-running, most revealing and ultimately most fruitful are those around compost-making. I’m […]

February is the time to give cool-season vegetables a jumpstart by sowing seeds in a greenhouse. You could also put seed trays under lights in a frost-free garage or a back porch, or even on a sunny windowsill that’s not too warm. In addition to the traditional ones—cabbage, broccoli, peas, lettuce, and cauliflower—it’s worth considering […]

The weather report may still be full of blizzards, but once Ground Hog Day rolls around, springtime becomes less of a memory and more of a prospect. That’s when it’s worth thinking about buying or building a cold frame to get a jump on the growing season. A cold frame is a low box with […]

We are lucky enough to have the wonderful Pam Ruch – a greenhouse grower in Pennsylvania, adding a little bit of her knowledge to the blog this month. Take it away Pam: If you’ve ever spent time breathing in the musky, earthy air of a winter greenhouse then you know for a fact that this is […]