It pains me to see customers spending hundreds of dollars on new plants and simultaneously refusing to spend a few more on a bag or two of compost and a box of starter fertilizer. These two items are not unnecessary “add-ons” that the retailer is just trying to add to the sale, they are critical components of a successful transplanting process - or as I like to refer to them as “plant insurance”. Unless you have phenomenal soil, you should always add compost and starter fertilizers when you are planting new plants. Here is why…
What is the image that comes to your mind when I say the word ‘tree’? Is it one of our towering conifers like a Doug Fir or Western Red Cedar, or maybe our native Big Leaf Maple? Or perhaps your thoughts go to the mighty Oak or Weeping Willow or Sycamore. These are all large specimens that have the classic morphology of what most of us think of as a tree. But, can a ‘tree’ also be…
The Golfing Gardener
Trevor Cameron
Rhododendrons are not only the state flower for our Washingtonian homeland, but they are perhaps the most widely planted shrub in our region. Now that we are in the heart of springtime in the PNW, Rhododendrons (and their cousins the Azaleas) are…