The last few years has seen a sharp increase in the number of people looking towards cultivating their own produce in a greenspace that is either theirs or a communal piece of land. There likely to be a number of reasons for this, one of which is the fact that more people are striving to […]
Have you ever wished your garden could feel more like a private hideaway? Perhaps your outdoor space has yet to be defined, or maybe the neighbors just added a second story that overlooks your back yard. Because winter is the best planning time for summer projects, this month I talk with Seattle garden writer Marty […]
With the days starting to get lighter in the coming weeks, people’s thoughts can quite rightly start moving towards what to do in their gardens in order to keep their green-fingered minds at ease. Winter is always the most boring time of the year for any keen horticulturalist but the one thing the time off […]
Trying to find something to fill the boredom of the winter and counting down the days until the garden is free to be set upon again can be an arduous task. To try and combat this, green-fingered folk among you should look to try and grow some plants in greenhouses and indoors. Doing this may […]
There’s a gardening aphorism—“The best time to plant a tree? Twenty years ago. And the second-best time to plant a tree? Now.” This month I’m looking back twenty years to my local Northwest experts—Roger Gossler of Gossler Farms, and Harold Greer of Greer Gardens who recommended that I plant these four small trees. Thanks, gentlemen, […]
There is an increasing number of people looking to get involved in gardening not only to feed themselves or for aesthetic reasons but also as a way to keep fit, it has been suggested. This is the claim of president and chief executive of the Chicago Botanic Garden Sophia Siskel after the institution announced that […]
We’re having a mild winter in the upper Midwest, or so they say. But it’s still cold enough to trap us indoors day after cold, dreary gray day. Those lucky enough to have a home “conservatory” or greenhouse (and a heater) still have a place to putter. The rest of us try to keep busy nursing light-starved houseplants […]
They were everywhere around the holidays—at groceries and big box stores— but despite their ubiquitous availability, Amaryllis can still surprise us. First, consider their name—it turns out they might not really be Amaryllis at all. Although Carl Linnaeus created the epithet Amaryllis belladonna in 1753, it was originally applied to both South African and South […]
The number of people looking to get in to gardening, be it at home or in the community, will continue to rise this year. In the last 12 months there has been a large increase in the number of community gardens springing up in different locations in the US. People will continue to see the […]
If you want to be the envy of your block this summer with a range of delicious vegetables , you should be starting your first steps towards creating your vegetable patch now. First-time gardeners must ensure that their patch is small to start with, as July should find people wishing they had made their garden […]
It’s getting closer and closer to that time where we need to dust down the trowels, rakes, cutters, mowers and strimmers and tend to the garden after the barren winter months. Jobs such as pruning fruit trees or other woody type plants in the garden can be done now as they need to be completed […]
What can you enjoy in your winter greenhouse that requires little care the rest of the year? In a recent conversation with Scott Canning, Director of Horticulture at Wave Hill– the public garden in Riverdale, New York– I learned about some South African winter-blooming bulbs growing in Wave Hill’s conservatory this winter. Since South African […]
