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…
Starting in late March our native dogwood tree, Cornus nutallii, starts bloomin and then in the month of May we can observe the eastern dogwood tree, Cornus florida. Finally, in the month of June the Korean dogwoods, Cornus kousa, come into bloom. They are a slightly larger tree with more of a rounded form and can also bloom in either white or shades of pink…
The Golfing Gardener
Trevor Cameron
I thought it might be a nice change of pace to move indoors this week and talk about some of the outstanding tropical plants that we can grow in our homes. As the rain pounds on the roof while I write this, a tropical destination does sound nice… perhaps with golf clubs in tow and my camera in hand to take a bazillion photos of all the cool plants I encounter… Sorry, got distracted there for a moment. As you consider which tropicals to cultivate indoors, keep in mind that many of them love to do one of two things…