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…
I have this theory (I know, some of you are thinking, “OMG, what is he going to say next”), that gardeners possess a special “horticultural hormone” that I have dubbed “hortitostrogen”. This is a non-gender specific hormone that kicks in about this time of the year and causes my fingers to start twitching with an intense desire to go dig in the dirt. I wonder if any of you can relate…
Now that the frenzy of May plant-buying is behind us, I always wonder just how many of those beautiful Mother’s Day baskets and pots full of flowers are actually still alive. Or once the thrill of the purchase is gone, how many have at least been neglected to the point of near death? You see, no matter how healthy and beautiful a plant looks when it leaves the garden center, in order to keep it looking that way, it needs to be fed…
Sometimes I feel like the world is spinning out of control. There is all the fear over… If you are feeling a bit overwhelmed, I think I have the solution for you: spend more time in the garden! The sunshine will do you good, working in the dirt will help you build up immunities, breathing the fresh air will clear your lungs, and just communing with nature will clear your mind. Here are some things you can do while you are decompressing from all that life is currently throwing you…
Let’s face it, compared to other regions of our country, we have it pretty darn good when it comes to winter. Occasional snow rarely sticks around for more than a week or two, night time lows are usually above freezing and the day temps can even get up into the 50’s. Nothing stays dormant for very long, in fact we can have quite of variety of plants that actually bloom in our mild maritime winters. Life is good if you are a gardener in the northwest….
I have just spent this last week, and countless hours, researching the topic of ‘trends for 2020’’ in hopes of bringing you something of deep profundity. Unfortunately, I have to confess; it has been a struggle to find the perfect morsels of wisdom for your reading pleasure and I have come to the conclusion that perhaps I am trying to set the bar too high. The trends for 2020 are really just a continuation of what I have observed over the last 5 years, so here are some of the points that caught my eye that hopefully you will find informative and useful…
If you are the type that visits a garden center on a regular basis, then you have probably noticed that plants have their seasons. Most blooming plants will be featured front and center during the time of year when they are the showiest and the rest of the season either moved to the back or simply become “out of stock”. It’s no different than seasonal candy, like red and green M and M’s for Christmas or yellow and pink Peeps for Easter. Hellebores are a classic example of a seasonal perennial that is readily available throughout the winter and then missing during the summer months. I am excited to tell you that they are once again arriving on our benches and ready for planting…
The Golfing Gardener
Trevor Cameron
Over the course of each and every season, a myriad of gardening questions are thrown my way. I am always happy to answer them all because that it is what I truly enjoy – helping in any way I can, attempting to steer each unique gardener towards unbridled success. There are no black thumbs after all, just duller green ones that require some polishing to bring out the hidden shine. One consistently common issue that many gardeners inquire about is…