Hartley Magazine

All the latest news, hints, tips and advice from our experts

Growing and Propagating Chrysanthemums

Stores full of beautifully mounded chrysanthemums is a sign that fall is arriving. If you buy some of these mums for a colorful fall display, you shouldnā€™t just toss them out when the flowers fade. Greenhouse owners can easily keep these plants going and also propagate more of them. Hereā€™s how. First, you should know […]

Conserving the Autumn Garden: a southwest consideration

Golden leaves are beginning to cloak the upper slopes of the Rockies, and with the aspens turning so turns the season. As the British poet, Philip Larkin, would have it, ā€œAutumn has caught us in our summer wear.ā€ Just like itā€™s caught generations of gardeners before us. Turning to my treasured 240-year-old edition of the […]

Written in United Kingdom

Last flower from a lost tribe!

If you were a greenhouse gardener one hundred and fifty years ago you could have been growing twenty seven different species of the beautiful Spider flower. Listed in Paxtonā€™s Botanical Dictionary as Cleome with another eight registered under the apparently near synonymous Gynandropsis there were three dozen or more available. Seventy five years ago Roy […]

Written in United Kingdom

Talking tomatoes ā€“ and moreā€¦

Early in the month, especially if it is warm and sunny, sow trays, pots or old growing bags with ā€˜cut and come again cropsā€™ to harvest through autumn and into winter, think land cress, oriental salads, like pak choi, mizuna and mibuna greens plus lettuce, lambā€™s lettuce, chicory and radish. You can also use whatā€™s […]