Some Harmless (but interesting) Garden Pests
I’m sticking with it, but looking back at the title I just wrote for this blog, I see right away a classic oxymoron – if they are ‘harmless’ they can’t be ‘pests’. But…
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The special Story of a Special Plant, the Pillar Hibiscus
The Hardy Hibiscus, or Rose of Sharon, is a shrub that’s familiar to many gardeners. It was once wildly popular but then fell from favor, returning recently with many new varieties. For long-blooming…
Climate Change and Your Garden
Much of the world has been looking in alarm at recent events in Texas. No lights, heat or water for days for millions of people doesn’t sound like America. We can point the…
Jean Iseli – King of the Conifers
The world of conifers is an enormous and diverse one, from the many hedges of Green Giant to the tiniest miniature collector’s tree, and from towering redwoods to flat groundcovers – there is…
Trees and Shrubs for Alkaline Soils – Part 1
The Right Plant in the Right Place is a slogan that you will often hear from professional landscape designers and horticulturists. It’s a simple principle, but one often ignored in the rush to…
The Weeping Willow
In today’s global world we can easily make the mistake of thinking that international trade is something new and exciting, that ‘we’ recently discovered. How wrong we would be! The volume may be…
Nothing Says ‘Holidays’ like a Citrus Tree
I’m fortunate. I spent years living in zone 3, but today when I look out my window I see golden balls hanging from a green tree in my small yard. No, I haven’t…
Beautiful Trees for Wet Ground
It doesn’t take much looking for plants to meet the dreaded phrase – grow in ‘well-drained’ soil. It sometimes seems like every tree or bush needs these mythic conditions. Look at many gardens,…
Why Does My Holly Tree Have No Berries?
There is no doubt that holly bushes are super-popular, not just for their dense, glossy foliage, but especially for their bright red berries, that brighten the holiday season. Yet in garden after garden…
White Birch is Back, and It’s Borer Proof
Back in the days when throwing chemicals at your garden was the standard way to deal with any problem, from lawn weeds to tree diseases or pests, you used to see many white…
Miniature Roses Come to Town
Most gardeners have some idea of the main groups of rose – hybrid teas, floribunda, climbing roses, and so on – even if with new varieties those old borders have become a little…
How To Prune Your Wisteria
A Wisteria is a gorgeous plant when it is in bloom, a highlight of spring and a truly wonderful sight. But a lot of people buy one and within a few years become…
April in the Garden
By April, wherever in the country you live, spring has arrived in some form. In the north it is still tentative, and there may even be persistent patches of snow lying in deep,…
Montezuma Cypress – a Gift from the Aztecs
If asked what the largest living thing on the planet is, most people will answer, “Whales.” The more adventurous might talk about the enormous soil fungi that cover acres of woodland, as wispy…
The Basics of Tree Trimming
In our previous blog, Should I Trim My Trees? we talked about how to look at a mature tree and decide if the time has come for some trimming. On a larger tree…
Should I Trim My Trees?
Trees are great to have on your property, bringing beauty and shade, cleaning the air and removing CO2 from the atmosphere – we should all be planting more of them. Older trees, though,…
Grow Versatile Tree Roses in Your Garden
There are many kinds of roses – Hybrid Tea, Floribunda, Landscape Rose, and many more – but the same rose can come in different ways too. Typically, they are grown to produce stems…
Fringe Flowers – Everything You Need to Know About Loropetalum
I remember well the first time I saw a red Fringe Flower bush. Even as a pretty knowledgeable gardener I was blown away, so I understand why this plant has become such a…
Save Space and Add Beauty – Grow Shrubs Against a Wall
So many plants – so little room! The challenges in small gardens are considerable, but they all have to do with space, such as how to choose plants that won’t grow too large,…
Classic Trees for a Japanese Garden
The Japanese style of garden is enjoying huge popularity in the West. Perhaps it’s the huge interest in mindfulness and Zen, the desire for simplicity, or maybe the realization that it is the…
Nuts About Pecans? – Then Grow Your Own
These days it seems everyone is talking about – and eating – nuts. The peanut – not a nut at all, but a type of bean – is of course central to American…
Crab Apples – the Best Flowering Tree for Cold Climates
Spring and flowering trees go together – it wouldn’t be spring without them. But the classic flowering trees like cherry trees and magnolias are hard to grow in colder climates, below zone 5…
Plan Ahead for Winter Interest in the Garden
While we enjoy the last balmy days of summer, it is hard to think of the winter to come, but it will come, and our once-green gardens will be a lot barer when…
Give Them Room! Spacing Trees Correctly
A drive around any older neighborhood will quickly show you giant trees right up against houses, blocking windows, damaging foundations and drains, and making rooms dark and gloomy. Bad decisions about planting distances…