Special Thanks:
Tim Currier, Sticks and Stones Farm
Special Thanks:
Christine Cook, Mossaics
Sometimes we forget the original use for something. We have used strawberry pots to grow everything from a mixed planting of herbs to hens-and-chicks – only to rediscover that they are ideally suited to growing their most obvious crop: strawberries.
During the fall and holidays, decorating with bittersweet and a variety of red berries comes naturally. But because of the abundance of colorful berries to choose from in the summer, we should think of them as a great option for arrangements in the other seasons as well.
Special Thanks:
David Fried, Elmore Roots Nursery
Herbs are so useful to us in our everyday lives that it’s easy to forget that they’re beautiful and ornamental plants in their own right. There are lots of varieties of common herbs that have unusually colored or variegated leaves that make a great addition to a window-box herb garden.
Pole beans can be grown up trellises, on simple netting held up with wooden stakes, along chain-link fences, or on bamboo pole tripods. Unlike bush beans which bear their crops all at once, pole beans will provide a gardener with their bounty for weeks on end. They range in shape, form and taste from yard-long Asian varieties to purple flushed pods and an array of heirloom varieties.
As our concern for the environment grows, every industry has become aware of the importance of being as green as possible. And for mushroom producers, the substrate or compost in which they grow their mushrooms is the perfect green material for improving a garden’s soil or for mixing a customized, healthy, organic potting mix.
Growing delicious mushrooms at home can be as easy as adding water to a mail-order kit or as advanced as isolating your own mushroom spores. David Falkowski from Open Minded Organics Farm in Long Island explains the differences.
What do you do when faced with a rock outcrop and lots of brambles in your garden? Robin Magowan was stymied by the stones beside the studio on his Connecticut property until he finally decided that: if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. His property now bristles with screes and crevice gardens for a variety of rock garden plants.
Given that the Newport Flower Show is held at Rosecliff, it seems appropriate that David Austin Roses takes center stage. David JC Austin has worked alongside his father – the famed British rose breeder, David Austin – for fifteen years and designed the rose exhibition for the Newport show.
Planting trees is one of the most satisfying tasks a home owner can take on. With a minimal investment of labor and money today, a properly planted and selected tree will continue to prosper for years to come. Tree expert Gary Koller has some insight on factors to consider in selecting the right tree to plant and in choosing a location for your tree to thrive.
All too often rose gardens are stiff looking and overly formal. Each plant is set in rows in a bare bed of soil or mulch. The beautiful rose garden at the Morris Arboretum at the University of Pennsylvania demonstrates how roses can be incorporated more successfully into the garden.
What are porches for if not to spend sleepless summer nights rocking and sharing stories and memories? When you need a dense, concealing curtain of green wrapped around your porch to nurture clandestine conversations, enlist a summer vine equal to the task.
Known as catnips or catmints because of their effect on cats, nepeta is a flowering plant known for its fragrant gray-green foliage and white, blue, pink, and lilac flowers clustered at the tip of the stems. Interesting because of cats’ reaction to their smell, catmints also are thought to repel deer and mosquitoes.
If ever there was a plant family that’s going places, it’s the Lilium genus. In addition to the Orientals, Asiatics, and Trumpets that have regaled us for decades, hybrids are becoming readily available. Dianna Gibson of B & D Lilies in Port Townsend, WA offers advice on growing and propagating different lilies.
Many orchids are epiphytic, meaning that they grow in the air – in the crooks of trees up in the canopy above the forest floor. Pollinators become trained to look up for the beautiful exotic flowers. When Marguerite Webb taught us a simple technique for mounting miniature orchids so that they could be hung from the wall, a plant rack, or even a shower rod, we knew we were finally seeing them as they were meant to be seen.
Threatened in the wild and problematic to propagate, lady’s slipper orchids not so long ago were a rare find. But starting with wildflowers in 1989, Peter Joppe of Hillside Nursery in Shelburne Falls, MA was among the first in the field to crack the code for germinating and nurturing Cypripediums for commercial growing. They’re still expensive, though, because the pollination, germination, and embryo culture process for propagating lady’s slipper orchids takes a minimum of four years.
Rob Gennari has spent more than ten years focused on paphiopedilums,or tropical lady’s slipper orchids. One of the places Rob keeps his plants is the lovingly-restored pocket greenhouse at The Mount, the 1920s home of author Edith Wharton in Lenox, MA which is open to the public.
For gardeners on the run, succulent plants that can withstand dry conditions are ideal container plants. And while most people think of cacti when they think of succulents, there are many other succulents worth considering.
In Austin, Texas, fresh organic produce is available within the city limits thanks to Carol Ann Sayle and her husband Larry. At Boggy Creek Farm, they grow seasonal produce all year long from cool weather greens in the winter to heat-loving okra and tomatoes in the warmth of the Texas summer.
Microgreens have become increasingly popular for their delicate flavors and their wonderful taste. Grow on sprouts that you’ve grown to produce greens with colorful leaves that can be harvested and eaten. From red cabbage and arugula to cress and mustard and radish greens, these baby greens are filled with nutrition. For the space challenged, they can even be cultivated on a windowsill provided there is good air circulation.
When it comes to wildflowers, a common question in the nursery trade is: “Is this a weed or a good plant?” Many shoppers don’t realize that there is no botanical definition for “weed”. They are also afraid that a plant with the dreaded “W” word in the title will grow too aggressively. Really it’s just a matter of learning which wildflowers are garden-worthy and then choosing the right plant for the right location.
At Kudzu Kabin designs, artisan Nancy Basket turns a Southern nemesis – the invasive kudzu – into a natural (or unnatural) resource for her papermaking and basketry business. By harvest the vine and using its leaves for pulp to make colorful art paper and using its vines for weaving rustic baskets, Nancy claims to take the Native American tradition of using natural resources into new territory.
Rain lilies have an ephemeral beauty that makes them much loved in the South. Chirs Wiesinger from the Southern Bulb Company has been a fan of these resilient bulbs since he was a child. These heat and drought-tolerant bulbs make a wonderful planting in a bowl with decorative mulch (bulbs are set in plastic pots underneath the mulch) and come into bloom shortly after they receive a nice rain.
Espaliers are a time-honored way to grow apples and create a living fence out of trees. A Belgian fence is a style of espalier in which limbs are trained into a lattice-like pattern.
Whether from roadside salt or seaside conditions, salt can takes its toll on many species of plants. Heaths and heathers are some of our favorite salt tolerant plants.
