At this back-to-school season, itâs time to studyâwhat gets an A in your garden and greenhouse, and what rates an F? Take notes on both the perfect and the problem areas. Then you can hunt for plants that fit into these two categories. If, say, your foxgloves were a glory, find more for next year. […]
Ideally you need a warm sunny greenhouse for Plumeria to thrive for if you keep these happy theyâll reward you with months of the most delicious blooms each so heavily perfumed you almost want to eat them (please donât, theyâre likely poisonous). Their common name Frangipani was taken from an Italian Renaissance nobleman who blended […]
Aubergines and tomatoes that have finished cropping, as some of mine have, can be composted, creating more space in the greenhouse border and between pots on the bench, admitting more sunlight and improving air circulation around the plants that remain. Early in the month, remove individual leaves around aubergines, peppers and cucumbers and continue feeding […]
One of the glorious things about gardening is that youâre always thinking ahead, so I’m dreaming about the glories of next year just as the garden begins to fade. I’m planning to grow sweet peas again, because they are the ultimate cut and come again flower. Just a few stems on the kitchen table fragrance […]
We all know that people who live in glasshouses shouldnât throw stones. Well, I have a new twist on that old proverb: People who have glass greenhouses shouldnât use a string trimmer nearby. An unfortunate incident taught me this lesson. Last spring, I decided not to weed between the slate stones of the patio that […]
Let locally adapted self-seeders run wild, and watch your garden come alive. Itâs been a wild summer in my garden â in every sense. Diminished gardening time has meant that many plants and projects have run away from me, unleashed and untamed, egged on by peaks of heat and unseasonal lashings of rain. Stuff has […]
Itâs been said that if you have a view you donât need a garden. Tell that to my plantaholic friend, she who inhabits a houseplant jungle on the top floor of a loft building with views of Pikeâs Peakâif you can see it through the foliage. Of course, the walls are mostly windows, making the […]
The sun is still high and the greenhouse lush and jungly, but it is time to start looking ahead to winter, and to what I will be eating from the garden then. The greenhouse must be pressed into service for nurturing young plants again, if I can only find some space⌠Happily with the weather […]
The other day I strolled along a path between plants as tall as my shoulders, like a sea of green grasses with colorful swells of yellow coneflowers and black-eyed Susans, white ironweed and Indian plaintain, purple milkweed, and orange butterfly weed. Butterflies twinkled–monarchs, painted ladies, swallowtailsâand bumblebees plodded from flower to flower. On the marsh […]
Jean Vernon explains the whys and wherefores of deadheading your garden plants Itâs a term bandied about a lot in summer â deadheading. But what does it actually mean and why do we need to do it? Deadheading is all about keeping your summer plants flowering, more specifically your annual plants but not always. Itâs […]
Iâm always pleased when I discover beautiful ornamental plants in my garden that are also delicious to eat. So, last month, at a Hardy Plant Study Weekend in Portland, OR, I was happy to attend a presentation by Stacey Hirvela called âIncidentally Edible.â Stacey is a marketing specialist for Proven Winners Colorchoice Shrubs, and the […]
A classic greenhouse and conservatory flowering shrub Nerium oleander has adorned gardens in its native Mediterranean since Classical times. First noted as âintroducedâ here in the sixteenth century Neriums became popular in early glasshouses for their very long flowering period. More so when they found Oleanders will force out of season. Thus Neriums soon became […]
