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 […]
Nowadays, the seed catalogs start to fly before the snow does. It can be hard to focus on Christmas shopping done with visions of heirloom watermelons and container carrots dancing in your eyes. But in January, it’s time to take down the tree and set up to start seeds. In the Midwest, the short growing […]
Eight youngsters at the International Flavors Community Garden plot on West 18th Street in Erie, Pennsylvania, have helped clear away their patch for the winter after a fruitful summer. The children worked on the garden through an Erie School District after-school program called Creating Healthy Active Members Planning to Succeed. Garden supplies were paid for […]
Why is it that most garden books debut in February? I have to wait until then for Willy Galloway’s terrific vegetable book, Grow, Cook, Eat—A Food Lover’s Guide to Vegetable Gardening. Is February the month when publishers assume gardeners’ hearts turn to spring? This gardener’s heart is warmed by new books in deep winter, when […]
White Christmas? We can only hope. Not just because snow makes the holidays so much more picturesque, but because it does wonders for a garden. Last year we had snow cover almost all winter — common up north, but unusual in more southerly parts of the Midwest. Then we had the most spectacular spring. Bulbs […]
