A greenhouse can be an ideal place to force daffodils into bloom in early spring. If the bulbs have been potted in fall and kept in a place that is cold but not freezing, they will have gotten the 12 to 14 weeks of chilling they need. Now they can be brought into the warmth […]
As part of an annual tradition at Smith College, in Northampton, Massachusetts, rooted ivy cuttings are distributed to each incoming first year student–just one indicator of the botanic leanings of this prestigious women’s college. With late winter’s days lengthening, Smith’s Lyman Conservatory– one of the few remaining plant conservatories in the United States built in […]
Having decided what species of orchid you want, you need to consider how to heat your greenhouse. Many orchids have an aversion to the byproducts of propane or natural gas heaters, so this aversion limits the options in designing a heating system. In my opinion, the best way to heat an orchid greenhouse is with […]
With trees, size matters. Sometimes towering behemoths block light to gardens and greenhouses. Pruning with a chainsaw may be the only option. Or sometimes a lack of trees results in homes and outbuildings bereft of unifying plantings. In both cases, the best garden design strategy—plant the right-sized trees now. I talked with Nancy Buley, Communications […]
It may be cold and bleak outdoors, but this is definitely a time of year when it’s easy to appreciate the advantages of greenhouse gardening. Just take your cue from the Conservatory of Wave Hill, a public garden located in the Bronx, New York. Here, the fragrances and colors of other climes help us momentarily […]
Early March is about when I ought to be perking up and getting out in the garden a little. I should be cutting back the dead hosta flower stalks and all the other debris I didn’t get cleared away in fall. I should be chopping ornamental grasses off at a couple of inches to make […]
It’s time to plan for seed starting, whether you have a greenhouse or an indoor light setup. And it looks like this year, once again, I will be starting my own tomatoes instead of buying grafted plants. I have looked on longingly over the last couple of years as the developing technique of grafting has […]
It’s indoor seed sowing time! Whether you set up a small table, or a full-size greenhouse, seed starting can sometimes be fraught with challenges. Just when you think your seedlings are growing well, they can turn up their toes. It all comes down to the fungus among us, says Rose Marie Nichols-McGee, president of Nichols […]
Many a greenhouse owner wants to grow orchids. Orchids, after all, are the largest family of flowering plants. They can be found on every continent and in a wide range of settings – in rainforests, in temperate climates, and even in rather harsh environments, such as deserts and alpine regions. Many orchids are epiphytes, which […]
Recent years have seen renewed interest in vegetable gardening everywhere, but perhaps nowhere is this more pronounced than inside our larger cities. Despite the challenge of growing in the densely populated confines of city spaces—and subject to the often intense growing conditions within these microclimates, some New York City gardeners appear to embrace their limitations. […]
You water, you feed, you cajole. But despite your best efforts the limp leaves of red and green relax into their juvenility. You estimate the time it will take your baby lettuce to reach salad size. Five, six, seven weeks! By then your crop will be “wise-beyond-its-weeks lettuce,” battle-weary from encounters with aphids and whitefly, […]
The first time I tramped a trail in a Costa Rican rain forest, while being buzzed by hummingbirds as thick as mosquitoes in Michigan, I looked at a vine clambering over a nearby tree and realized: Hey, that’s a philodendron. It was the same plant with heart-shaped leaves that can be found in greenhouses, fern […]
