Monthly Archives: February 2009

Optimism on the Loose

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Convention is a source of inspiration to green industry professionals. The jam-packed exhibition hall at the New England Grows event in Boston.February is a slow month for garden and landscape businesses in New England. That makes it a perfect time for people in the gardening business (like me!) to visit New England Grows, the biggest winter gathering of green industry professionals in the Northeast. The three-day trade show and educational event in Boston is the place to catch up with colleagues Read more [...]

Growing Potatoes by the Bag

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Even first-time gardeners can succeed with a Potato Bag. Our Potato Bins shown late in the summer, growing in our Burlington, VT, display garden. Last year, we used the bag to grow some purple potatoes. A good blend of varieties can be found in our Flowering Potatoes. Harvesting is easy: Just pick up the bag and dump it. Maybe you're not ready to jump into vegetable gardening just yet. But what about a small adventure? How about growing some potatoes in a bag? The Potato Bag allows Read more [...]

Nothing Like a Blue Flower

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Photo Contest winners offer inspiration to winter-weary gardeners. Himalayan blue poppy by Ann S. of Southworth, WA: "I took it with a Nikon D50, a digital SLR. The shady location, and the often gloomy weather we have here, seems to work well for shooting plants." Take a look at the full-size photo or See more photos from the 2008 Dutch Gardens Photo Contest.In the middle of winter, this gardener's heart longs for flowers. Unfortunately, it'll be awhile before I can get out into the yard. But Read more [...]

Cannas in the Garden

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If you read this blog on a regular basis, you may be aware of my fondness for canna lilies. This winter I am overwintering eight large trash bags filled with canna roots. Friends are starting to place their requests for planting-size chunks this spring! I wasn't always a canna fan and I still don't like the full-size flowers very much. My friend and fellow blogger David Grist got me started with two of the smaller-flowered varieties. Intrigue has delicate, bright orange flowers that create Read more [...]

The Butcher of the Bushes

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When it comes to hedges, shearing isn't always the best technique. Before: Annual shearing had left this hedge with leafy, twiggy "crust" and a leafless interior. Last summer, I started working for a woman who needed a little landscaping help. Her trees needed a tune-up, the perennials needed dividing and she had a hedge that was about to close off the entrance to her front walk. The opening was getting smaller and smaller. Within weeks, it would be a solid green wall. Drastic, immediate Read more [...]

Terrariums with History

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Miniature greenhouses make indoor gardening stylish and easy. A slim, unobtrusive T-5 fluorescent light fixture in the peak of the roof provides enough light for nearly any plant in the Wardian Case ($249). Wardian cases revolutionized tropical plant collection and cultivation in the 19th century. After Dr. Nathaniel Ward discovered that ferns enclosed in glass cases could survive London's coal-smoke-laden air, explorers and merchants adapted the enclosures to transport and profit from exotic Read more [...]

Getting Orchids to Rebloom

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Pay attention to light, water and fertilizer and your phalaenopsis will rebloom. When it comes to orchids, phalaenopsis (moth orchids) are among the most easy to grow. Blooms can last for several months and you can get them to rebloom without a lot of effort. Well, some folks can. I haven't had such good luck with getting another bloom, and I have the shelf of non-blooming phalaenopsis to prove it. Frankly, I'm a little bit embarrassed. In an effort to succeed in getting rebloom, I checked in Read more [...]

Sticky Houseplants

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When aphids strike your houseplants, it's fairly easy to gain control. Aphids suck the juice out of tender leaves, flowers, buds and stems, leaving sticky residue and discarded exoskeletons. Stickiness. Uh-oh. Tropical houseplants jostle for space under the grow lights in my basement from October to May, waiting for the summer warmth to return. Like any population living in a crowded, unnatural environment, these plants are prone to pests and disease. Sticky spots on the foliage usually Read more [...]