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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
An ever-changing floral extravaganza in a conservatory of some consequence is one of the The Strip’s sites worth seeking out. I’ll be honest. Las Vegas was not high my bucket list of Must-Visits. But a family reunion and the lure of checking out the Bellagio ’s fabled glasshouse was a win-win. And in Vegas you […]
Decorating a conservatory, garden or patio doesn’t begin and end with fussy plants and lawn chairs. And in this month’s article let me revisit my favorite trick – decorating with light: for me, luminarias and Christmas twinkle lights (see December’s article) are just the tip of bulb. With this article, I hope to win even […]
Succulent plants are ideal for first-time gardeners and suited to growing outdoors in mild, low-rainfall, frost-free climates, or in cold, damp regions, in conservatories or just a sunny window. Succulents are those fleshy-leaved plants that thrive in well-drained soil in hot, dry, steppe to desert-like climates. They are not frost-hardy, like plenty of sun, and […]
In Phoenix, Arizona, a holiday luminaria display adds sparkle to the Desert Botanical Garden, showing off the local flora as well as the artistic talent. Time was when the most exhilarating event at a botanic garden was feeding the ducks. No more. This year you could stagger through any conservatory that had an Amorphophallus titanium […]
Veterans are back on the front lines; only this time they’re securing our nation’s food supplies and sustainability by unleashing their inner farmer and establishing small homestead and urban farms across the USA. Colorado Springs was recently ranked as #7 (of 100) in a Best and Worst Places for Veterans to Live. That it should […]
When inspired to grow something that just is not suited to their climate, many gardeners are seized by a Rube-Goldberg-like creative fever to come up with any contraption that will get them to their goal. Often it goes beyond growing under glass, and has done so for generations. Enchanted by the idea of growing lemons, […]
Successfully raising seeds in a greenhouse for next year’s crop is just one of the many pleasures and contentments of gardening. But there are others. The garden year is ending and it’s time we took stock of our gardens and the successes and failures experienced from which we can learn what works…and what doesn’t require […]
German bearded irises are ideally suited to dry conditions in bright sun; they’re easy-to-grow perennials, with a fleeting but fabulous early-summer blossom time. Each May for the past few years, I accompany my best-beloved to MahlerFest, held at the Boulder campus of the University of Colorado. It’s taken me a more than a moment to […]
