Outside,Oregon gray skies dump cold and windy rain-it’s that moment of no-color, before spring’s panoply of blossoms. But inside my sunroom, I’m greeted with colors-not only shades of green, but reds, yellows, blues and bright whites. This month I celebrate my top reliable winter bloomers for greenhouse or sunny windowsill. These are the toughest survivors […]
The summer’s too dry, or the summer’s too wet—weather swings across the U.S. are dramatic. Now more than ever, gardeners should consider steady and efficient water delivery for the times when plants need it. In the past, a permanent installation involved a choice—either underground pipes with sprayer heads, or drip with flexible half-inch pipe and […]
In the colder months, birds bring color and motion to gardens at rest, whether you watch them from a kitchen window or enjoy their antics through the glass of a cozy greenhouse. When I have questions about feeding my winged denizens, I turn to Dan Gleason, owner of Wild Birds Unlimited in Eugene. Dan taught […]
Colour is such a personal thing and most of us have a favourite. Mine of course is orange and it’s the choice of an exuberant Leo lady. You see I was born on the hottest day of the year, in July, and my mother never let me forget it. I’m unusual I know, for orange […]
Before all our minutes are swallowed by the holidays, and while there’s still space in the greenhouse—pending the onslaught of spring seedlings—let’s consider a special winter bonus for greenhouse-owning gardeners—the privelege of enjoying winter-blooming plants! All the plants suggested below will thrive in bright sun and cool temperatures—ideally between 40 and 50 degrees. Remember that […]
Finally—after a notably cold spring, it’s time to shift my sun room plants outdoors. Over the years I’ve noticed that certain plants make the move more easily than others. Some show their displeasure by dropping leaves (the brunfelsia), getting sticky indoors before winter’s end (the Meyer lemon) or simply not thriving outside (the dracaena). So […]
A glasshouse gem often seen on a kitchen window sill is the Hot-water plant with its long flowering display of pastel trumpet blooms. Related to Gloxinias several dozen species were introduced from Central America in the late 18C early 19C. These were tropical plants requiring hot house conditions and were soon hybridised to be more […]
In the last 30 years I’ve had two gardens and, although there were only 20 miles apart, they were as different as chalk and cheese, a bit like my children! My old garden in Hook Norton in Oxfordshire, famous for its beer, was a stone’s throw away from the church. The one-acre garden was on […]
Most of the plants I’ve ever received as holiday gifts have been temporary pleasures, best enjoyed while they’re at their prettiest and then composted like cut flowers after they fade. The amount of fuss and bother required to get poinsettias to color up another year is hard to justify when you can buy them for […]
If you’re a gardener like me, who read The Secret Garden as a child, the longing for a place of enclosure was planted early. Of course, a greenhouse is one of the best ways to satisfy our desire for an indoor/outdoor life-among-the-plants kind of space. Another is a courtyard. I was reminded of this recently […]
There are many steps keen gardening enthusiasts can take in order to introduce a little color into their greenhouses. In an article for the Daily Telegraph across the pond in the UK, celebrated landscape architect Bunny Guinness said that tender perennials are often a strong choice for this purpose. She explained that the species is […]
For a number of years, I’ve grown lettuce in plastic gutters in my greenhouse. The installation is simple: Each ten-foot-long gutter hangs from brackets on a greenhouse wall, with one end four inches lower than the other. I fill the gutters with clay pellets to give the plant roots something to grip. A fish-tank pump […]
