At the advent of solstice as I sit in my sunroom/conservatory, staring out over a snowy landscape thatâs framed by a sapphire blue sky, with the sun beating down on the Rockies and the neighborhood buried under a foot of white fluffy stuff, thoughts turn to the coming yearâs gardening: Will the Woodward junipers that […]
A deep winter freeze can be filled with challenge, surprise, sadness â and moments of unfettered joy. My tips, and findings from winters past, will help to keep your greenhouse and garden ticking over when temperatures plummet, keep wildlife safe, and keep you cheerful through the bleak months ahead. Snow load Most greenhouses are strong […]
As a busy journalist you get to meet a lot of gardeners and garden lovers and sometimes they make an enormous impact on me, despite the fact that I may only spend a short time in their company. The late Felix Dennis, who passed away in 2014, was one such person. He had built up […]
If thereâs a greenhouse on your Christmas list you might need to convince a non-believer in their worth. Jean Vernon helps you state your case A gardener without a greenhouse is a bit like a cook without a stove. Yes you can manage, improvise and still be creative, but the greenhouse facilitates much more than […]
At this time of year, whether youâre gifting or getting, here are some unusual ideas to warm gardenersâ hearts. Tickets to Flower and Garden Shows Events like Seattleâs Northwest Flower & Garden Festival (Feb. 26-March 1) or the Philadelphia Flower Show (Feb.29-March 8) feature advance single-day tickets ($20–$35). For extravagance, purchase multi-day tickets because thereâs […]
Iâve been baking, as one does at this time of year, and got a whiff of vanilla: sweet, rich, flowery. Of course, itâs the scent of a flower. I had seen the yellow flowers of the vanilla orchid, Vanilla planifolia, just days before at the Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago. The vine, with its broad, […]
To grow this really pretty bloom year after year you want a warm greenhouse or conservatory as it is tender. (Though to be fair some have succeeded for a while in sheltered sites outdoors.) Long loved in China and Japan the first Golden Spider lily bulbs arrived in the seventeen hundreds on the clipper ships […]
I have been rummaging around for my favourite seeds that can still be sown now, in the green house and outside, so that I can make sure spring is off to a good early start in the vegetable patch next year. Broad beans and hardy peas are the obvious ones, and both real favourites of […]
Daily tidings of impending ecological catastrophe make it hard to stay positive â but gardeners have can-do ways to mitigate the crisis. Down one day, up the next. Gloom and doom gathers, before some light shines in. âWhy bother?â worms its way in, and then is cheerily ousted (usually) by a jolt of âYes!â can-do […]
One of the attractions thatâs fed the âinfluencerâsâ fiendish passion for promoting houseplants is probably that, in general, itâs hard to kill one â a houseplant that is. Anywhere that you are comfortable, be it conservatory, greenhouse or light-filled room, so will be whatever pet plant(s) you nurture. Three years ago, I acquired a rubber-tree […]
Heating a greenhouse can be expensive over a long, cold winter, and not just at night. Winter sunshine doesnât provide a huge amount of heat, and the cold air outside lowers greenhouse temperatures even more. Inside my greenhouses here in New England, summer temperatures outside can easily soar to over 100ËF, but during winter the […]
Those of us who garden, know that there is something very special and very healing about our hobby. Gardeners have known that gardening has health benefits for years but sometimes find it difficult to quantify or justify it. Finally scientists are now agreeing that nature bathing, or spending time in nature is good for us […]
