March 18, 2021
Siting Shrubs
Shrubs are easy-care and long-lived stalwarts in our landscapes in all seasons of the year.
March 11, 2021
Avoiding Chaos
How do we avoid a messy medley of too many plants creating chaos in the garden? I can tell you from personal experience that it isn’t easy!
March 4, 2021
Imports
Now, only about 20% of our cut flowers are grown in California, Washington State, and Oregon, where most used to be grown for domestic sale.
February 25, 2021
Harvesting Flowers
Where do our cut flowers come from? Often, South America. Workers in greenhouses cut each stem individually and immediately place each flower in a bucket of water...
February 18, 2021
Flower Longevity
Refrigerated trucks and unheated holds of planes are cold, helping cut flowers from abroad to stay fresh during their journey to the U.S.
February 11, 2021
Valentines Flowers
Over one-hundred million roses are purchased in the United States for Valentine’s Day each year, and nearly all are red and long stemmed.
February 4, 2021
Winter Landscapes
What we see from our windows all through the cold days of winter is our garden’s architectural structure formed by the trees and shrubs that are the long-term residents of our gardens year round.
January 28, 2021
Henry Mitchell Says...
For twenty years Henry Mitchell’s column “Earthman” was a weekly feature in The Washington Post.
January 21, 2021
African Violet Propagation
African violets are quite happy growing in pots in many of our homes and are easily propagated.
January 14, 2021
The Duke Gardens
Visitors are not charged to see the 55 acres of gorgeous organic plantings in the heart of this major research university.
January 7, 2021
Emily's Garden
Emily Dickinson was a renowned poet, but during her lifetime she was known more for her gardening skills.
December 31, 2020
Flowers in Verse
Here are few poems written, most of them, very long ago.
December 24, 2020
Holiday Cactus
There has been so much hybridizing, that the differences between a Thanksgiving and a Christmas cactus have become blurred, so it seems reasonable to refer to them all as Holiday Cactuses nowadays.
December 17, 2020
Holiday Decorations Reinvented
This may be the perfect year to simplify our holiday decorations. Rather than buying new items, dig around in your closets and see what you can reinvent.
December 10, 2020
Gifts for Gardeners
If you have gardeners on your holiday gift list, you can easily accommodate them from the comfort of your own home. Gift certificates to nurseries in the hometown of your recipients, or from catalogues, are always well received.
December 3, 2020
Clivia Care
Most clivia plants produce orange flowers, but you can impress a gardener by ordering a clivia for them as a holiday gift that produces yellow blooms, as yellow is quite rare and treasured by knowledgeable gardeners.
November 26, 2020
Assessing & Planning
As we look back on the gardening season, we can assess what worked and what didn’t – our successes and challenges in the garden.
November 19, 2020
Fall Clean-Up
In the fall, I leave a few cone flowers and sunflowers for the birds, otherwise I cut spent flowers right to the ground and clean up the debris. I want the beds clear before the spring daffodils and other bulbs bloom.
November 12, 2020
Planting Bulbs
My garden is very crowded, and so in the fall, I am always wondering where I can plant more spring bulbs without cutting into the existing ones.
