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…
Last week I mentioned that August was a good time to plant all sorts of plants, but I failed to mention vegetables. It might seem hard to imagine that in the heat of August we would be planting vegetable crops that thrive in the cooler time of the year, but in reality this is the time to get them established…
There is an old expression that goes like this: “Doctors bury their mistakes, architects plant ivy”. Admittedly, this is a crude analogy but it is very true that vines can cover a multitude of sins. Perhaps a more positive way to put it is that vines have the ability to soften the edges of our structures, be they buildings or fences, and in the process create a more pleasant environment in which to recreate. A classic example of this would be ‘Boston Ivy’ or ‘Virginia Creeper’, both of which…
Anyone who has followed me over the years knows that one of my many mantras is “There is always room for one more plant”. No matter how packed my garden is, on any given day I can find a little patch of bare earth that is just screaming for something to be planted in it. My wife often fondly refers to me as her “hortiholic with a planting addiction” and I suppose it is true…
I know I mentioned last week that I always hesitate to spend too much ink on just one variety of plant, so it was my intention to discuss some summer chores for us to complete this month…. However, I found myself distracted by an article in the September edition of my wife’s ‘The English Garden’ magazine about the glories of the perennial Echinacea, or as we Yanks prefer to call them, cone flowers. That got me to thinking about this wonderful late summer bloomer…
It is always hard for me to focus in on one variety of plant this time of year. There are so many fabulous summer blooming perennials (and a surprising number of shrubs) that are strutting their stuff in the months of July and August, that to dedicate a whole column to one variety seems impossible and maybe even a little unfair. But fair or not, this little treatise is going to zoom in on the genus Crocosmia - mostly because they are coming into full bloom now and there isn’t a day that goes by that someone doesn’t come into the store with a sample flower (that they probably liberated from someone’s garden) and want to know what it is….
If you are looking for a perennial that will bloom from June until frost, will tolerate full sun or part shade, comes back every spring (unless Mother Nature is really nasty to us) and makes a wonderful companion to so many other plants, then what you need is a hardy fuchsia! They are hard to beat for nonstop blooms all summer long…
There is a certain fact that northwest gardeners are going to have to start embracing: our summers are getting longer and drier and our plants are only going to get more and more moisture stressed. It is up to us to help our landscapes get through the summer months, so here are the basics of proper watering. Yes, I know this could turn out to be a real snoozer, but it’s important, it could mean the difference between life and death for your plants…
I couldn’t help but notice the other day while driving around town, that lavender was coming into bloom. That of course got me thinking about growing lavender, choosing varieties, and how to actually use the plant other than just to look at it. It turns out lavender has been in production for over 2500 years and there is quite a bit of info out there to share…
The Golfing Gardener
Trevor Cameron
After a couple decades of selecting, breeding and evaluating cultivar after cultivar, there are some very unique flavors of hybrid maples to choose from…