Monthly Archives: April 2008

Trellises Take Your Garden to New Heights

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A tunnel of laburnum outside the Palace at Kew Gardens in London. There are all sorts of good reasons to consider adding an arbor, pergola, tuteur or another type of freestanding trellis to your garden this spring. Here are just a few: 1. Create instant impact. Trees and shrubs serve an important role in a garden or landscape. They create focal points, add vertical interest, enclose a view and define spaces. When establishing a new garden or new area, there’s often a period of waiting Read more [...]

Dividing Vigorous Perennials

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Beebalm (monarda) spreads to form large colonies that need frequent dividing to keep them within bounds and blooming vigorously. Customer photo from Cheryl S. of Copley, Ohio. See the full-size photo in the Dutch Gardens Photo Center. Community plant sales and swaps are a highlight of the gardening season at this time of year. These events are ideal places for new gardeners to hook up with seasoned veterans and for surplus plants to find new homes. Perennials that spread readily and those that need Read more [...]

Beyond Pansies

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This planter features rose-blotch pansies, pink hyacinths and blue muscari.There are a few weeks (or maybe a month) in spring when it's too cold for annuals, but nice enough for something. Usually, that means pansies —especially up here in Vermont, where we usually have to wait until Memorial Day to feel safe about putting out annuals. However, you can make a container planting that will thrive despite the changeable conditions of spring. While looking for planters at the garden center, I noticed Read more [...]

Piet Oudolf: Dutch Plantsman and Designer

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Perennials in Piet Oudolph's nursery in Hummelo, Netherlands.Garden travel is one of my passions and, over the past 25 years of travel to gardens in Europe and North America, I’ve witnessed a shift in design and planting emphasis toward more naturalistic, low-maintenance landscapes. The new designs are based on sweeps of structure, texture, and color that change with the seasons and gardens' maturity. Plants are chosen for their durability and adaptation to the site as well as their contribution Read more [...]

Miniature Daffodils

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A Dutch breeder holds some new, unnamed miniature daffodil cultivars. For the past 20 years, I’ve been adding a few new daffodils to my home landscape every fall. Now, more than 60 varieties bloom in my borders and under trees and shrubs from late March to early June. It’s a show that my neighbors and I look forward to as the snow melts and the days finally get longer and warmer. Of all the varieties that I’ve collected over the years, I find myself increasingly fond of the miniature daffodils. Read more [...]

Planting Bareroot Roses

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Falling in Love™ Rose is new this year, available from Dutch Gardens. “Petals are a romantic shade of warm pink with a creamy reverse. The perfume is a heady blend of traditional rose fragrance and the aroma of fruit” That’s how the catalog describes the new rose variety called Falling in Love. The dormant shrub—newly arrived on my doorstep—reveals none of this potential. It’s difficult to imagine that the bare roots and leafless canes in the plastic bag will ever deliver on the catalog’s Read more [...]
Pea vines on the Tall Expandable Pea Trellis

How Do YOU Support Your Peas?

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Most people — me included — find that the toughest part about growing peas is figuring out how to support them properly. In my garden I grow only one type of peas: edible pod peas (rather than shelling peas or snow peas). I eat most of my peas raw rather than cooked, and that's not something you can do with the other types. I've tried several different varieties of edible pod peas and always come back to sugar snaps. In the fall, I grow the bush variety Sugar Ann, but for my main midsummer Read more [...]

Nipping Weeds in the Bud

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Stopping weed seeds from growing makes lawn and garden care easier and less time-consuming. The snow has finally receded enough to reveal the flattened remnants of last year’s gardens. Brown daylily and hosta foliage lies pressed to the ground and phlox stems look like a tangle of pick-up-sticks. The lawn is still tawny brown, too, except for the green patch over the septic tank. Signs of spring are emerging slowly from the still-frozen ground: blooming crocus, daffodils poking through Read more [...]

Fits Like a Glove

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Nitrile Gloves 2008 will be my 30th year in the garden. But it's only my third year wearing garden gloves. Until a couple years ago, I never wore gloves in the garden unless I was pruning roses or raspberries. There are a couple of reasons I was so resistant to wearing gloves. First is that living in northern Vermont, I already have to wear gloves five months a year just to keep my hands from freezing. When winter is finally gone I want nothing to do with coats, hats or gloves. The main Read more [...]

The Lotus: Simple and Sensational

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Nelumbo nucifera 'Alba Striata' bloomed the first season. The lotus is definitely one of the most dramatic blooms in my garden. The distinctive bloom—held high on its stem—is one of those things you really can call "startlingly beautiful." Its form is striking, yes. But look inside, and you'll be amazed by the bright-yellow seed capsule, surrounded by golden filaments that support the anthers. Another one of its startlingly qualities is the fragrance. To my nose, neither good nor Read more [...]