Let’s face it, a real joy of gardening comes from buying plants. However, consider taking cuttings from tried-and-true plants in your own garden or greenhouse. It’s a game of numbers. This replication allows you to design with large drifts of the same plant, or repeat certain plants in various containers in order to visually unite […]
The other day, I joined my grandchildren’s outdoor school class as they visited a nearby, but remote, Oregon nursery, The Thyme Garden. To get there necessitated an hour-and-a-half car trip, part of it on roads that twisted over the side of Marys Peak, the tallest mountain in the Coast Range of the Siuslaw National Forest. […]
It’s seed starting time! Whether sowing vegetables or flowers, gardeners are anxious to get seeds going. But what happens when you carefully sow seeds out in your garden—or in flats in the greenhouse—and the plants don’t show up? This month I’m following the advice of Ed Hume and his son Jeff Hume. They head up […]
Let’s say you’ve got your greenhouse. Now, let’s figure out the furnishings. Much depends on how you plan to use it. Is this the space where you will start your early vegetables? Is it going to be home to happy houseplants and your tender tropicals in the winter? Is it a light and bright extension […]
When I was six years old, living in a small town in Pennsylvania, the local garden club put on an indoor flower show with display gardens created on the gym floor of the YMCA. I was entranced by the artifice—little picket fences surrounded neat plots of flowers, bordered by sod pathways, and festooned with glass […]
It’s that time again! From coast to coast, indoor garden shows are offering solace to those who are winter-weary. These exhibitions are bursting with color and fragrance, great plants to buy, and great ideas to take away—especially from the extravagant display gardens that make up the heart of the shows. And for several years now, […]
Confined spaces, like in most greenhouses, need organization. The goal when working—seed sowing, transplanting, potting up —is to be able to grab the best tool for the job as soon as you require it, and smaller sized tools are easier to store. You can line them up, place them on a shelf, hang them on […]
Last month I attended the Garden Communicators International online conference. One of the presentations by the National Garden Bureau and All-America Selections featured the best new plants that will be available in nurseries next spring. These introductions are the result of years of development—chosen for better form, tougher hardiness, or disease resistance. So, as the […]
Shrubs are the easy-care backbone of any garden, whether you have sun or shade. And the National Garden Bureau (NGB) knows how to pick the most outstanding. Recently, I attended a virtual Garden Communicators International conference, where we were given a presentation of the NGB’s 2023 choices, from ornamentals to edibles. The official rollout for […]
A few weeks ago, I took a day trip to the tiny town of Elkton, Oregon to visit butterflies. The Elkton Community Education Center includes Elkton’s library, community meeting area, and other historic buildings, but the Butterfly Pavilion, a netted hoop house that shares the open parkland on the Umpqua River was my goal. But […]
With that glorious scent, and unusual habit of flowering and fruiting at the same time, it’s no surprise that citrus plants are often the first choice to grow in a home greenhouse. To discover the best tips for success, this month I’m turning to Sam Hubert, Nursery Manager for the West Coast mail-order company, One […]
In the past two years, I’ve been listening to podcasts as part of my gardening routine. They give me companionship and inspiration, as well as new information—especially for unfamiliar gardening practices. For instance, I don’t keep bees, but I enjoy the deep dives into the world of pollinators on the podcast Pollination. An added benefit—when […]
