Gardeners Journal

Glads are Good

2008-05-16T08:00:00.002-04:00

Green Star gladiolus The first time I saw a gladiolus was back in the ’60s at the Minnesota State Fair. At that time, every farm family worth its salt grew them. The fair is at the very end of August when glads are at their prime, so along with dahlias, they were always (and probably still are) the most popular entry in the floral competitions. My next encounter

All-Summer Strawberries

2008-05-14T08:00:00.001-04:00

Strawberry flowers bloom in spring; the fruit begins ripening in early summer. As far back as I can remember, strawberries have been part of my family’s traditions. My grandparents grew a large patch of strawberries to help supplement their income. Grampa peddled the brimming wooden baskets of fruit door-to-door. Other customers stopped by the house and left their payment in the cigar box

Perennial Diva: Stephanie Cohen

2008-05-12T08:00:00.000-04:00

Stephanie Cohen touts her book, The Perennial Gardener's Design Primer. “Good things come in small packages” is an apt description of perennial plant expert Stephanie Cohen. She calls herself “vertically challenged” and named her own perennial place Shortwood Gardens in a tongue-in-cheek nod to nearby Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pa. Often called “Dr. Root” in reference to Dr. Ruth

Mulch in Moderation

2008-05-09T08:00:00.000-04:00

After spreading cocoa mulch, I like to water the area so the tiny hulls will knit together and are less likely to blow around. I used to disdain people who spread mulch on their flower beds and shrub borders. I thought, "Are they too lazy to weed?" My own flowerbeds were always mulch-free. I did have to spend a lot of time weeding though, especially during May and June. However, after many

Meet Utah Gardener Nancy Noble

2008-05-07T08:00:00.000-04:00

Nancy Noble, surrounded by her gardens in southern Utah. As a professional biologist, Nancy Noble knows more than the average bear about plants. Though she has fond memories of gardening with her grandmother in Missouri and her parents in Wisconsin, her own passion for gardening didn’t blossom until she was in post-graduate school. Now she says, “I’m just a gardening nut.” Nancy’s fervor for

Patio Project

2008-05-05T08:00:00.000-04:00

You can see my patio take shape in a Flickr slide show. Every year, I try to take on one big garden project. A few years ago, the project was a round patio, designed to accommodate a dining table we'd purchased. Our backyard was already set up as a series of outdoor rooms, but adding this new "floor" was transformative. The beautiful stone surface added a sense of permanence to the changing

Spinosad: a New Option for Control of Lily Leaf Beetles

2008-05-03T08:00:00.000-04:00

Products with spinosad offer one more control option for lily leaf beetles. Flower gardeners are a peaceful lot—at least until someone comes between them and their favorite blooms. Then, they get mean. At least some of us do. It was about three years ago that I first heard whisperings in the halls at Gardener's Supply of a new pest: "Something is destroying my Oriental lilies! What can I

Trellises Take Your Garden to New Heights

2008-04-28T07:30:00.008-04:00

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

Dividing Vigorous Perennials

2008-04-25T06:00:00.000-04:00

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

Beyond Pansies

2008-04-23T08:00:00.004-04:00

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

Piet Oudolf: Dutch Plantsman and Designer

2008-04-21T08:00:00.005-04:00

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'

Miniature Daffodils

2008-04-17T08:00:00.008-04:00

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

Planting Bareroot Roses

2008-04-15T13:00:00.005-04:00

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

How Do YOU Support Your Peas?

2008-04-11T08:00:00.002-04:00

Our Expandable Pea Fence has been a longtime favorite. New this year is a taller version that stands 5'4". Greentwist Garden Twine makes it easy to add extra support where it's needed Most peopleme includedfind 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

Nipping Weeds in the Bud

2008-04-09T08:00:00.003-04:00

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

Fits Like a Glove

2008-04-07T08:00:00.003-04:00

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

The Lotus: Simple and Sensational

2008-04-04T07:45:00.003-04:00

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

Speaking of Spuds

2008-04-03T15:30:00.000-04:00

Harvesting a crop of Elba Potatoes. Potatoes give me more garden satisfaction per square foot and time invested than any other vegetable I grow. A few years ago I planted six different potato varieties and kept records on how many pounds I harvested from each. The project made a good County Fair exhibit and won a blue ribbon, which paid for my much of my investment in seed potatoes.

Yummy New Container Plants

2008-04-02T10:24:00.009-04:00

Angelonia 'Angel Dark Face Violet'. For more inspiration, read the Container Gardening How-To. Proven Winners has introduced so many fabulous container plants over the past few years. Some favorites that I now consider “must haves” include Diamond Frost euphorbia, Sedona coleus, Vanilla Butterfly argyranthemum, Toffee Twist carex, Rubrum pennisetum and Angelina

Tomato Cages and Ladders Face Off

2008-04-01T08:00:00.006-04:00

Send a Photo See how other gardeners are supporting their tomatoes and share a photo of your own. Visit our Photo Center. What's your favorite tomato support? Take our poll and let us know. (You can find the poll at the top of

What’s Your Favorite Source for Seeds?

2008-03-31T15:26:00.003-04:00

The seed catalogs start piling up in January. We speak with tens of thousands of gardeners over the course of a year, and one of the questions we’re often asked—especially by new gardeners and people who have relocated—is "Where should I purchase my flower and vegetable seeds?" If it’s a gardener from New England, the task is easy. We tend to recommend regional

Starving at the Salad Bar: Testing Soil pH

2008-03-26T09:00:00.004-04:00

Healthy turf grows on healthy soil. It starts with a simple soil test. It’s been quite a while since I tested soil samples from my lawn, but it’s clearly time to do so. The turf is looking a bit thin and the weeds seem to be gaining ground. I suspect that soil pH is the source of both problems. When the pH is out of kilter, plants can’t use the nutrients in the

Alliums—the Ornamental Onions

2008-03-24T08:00:00.001-04:00

The Purple Sensation allium bridges the gap between spring and early summer-flowering perennials. Deer discovered my garden a few years ago, so I’ve been growing more plants from their do-not-eat list. It turns out that deer, voles, chipmunks, and rabbits find alliums— plants in the onion family— distasteful. That’s great news because alliums offer a broad palette of colors, heights, bloom

Parsnip Season

2008-03-21T08:00:00.007-04:00

Freshly dug parsnips By the middle of March, the only food I’m still eating from last year’s garden are onions, shallots and garlic. I feel pretty good about that until I think about the fact that some lucky gardeners out there are digging parsnips right around now. I love parsnips (roasted or roasted and then pureed), but have never been able to produce more

Windowbox Inspirations

2008-03-19T08:00:00.012-04:00

Windowbox by Suzanne Dandeneau, Denver, Colo. Spring is almost here and now is a great time to drag out your pots, planters and window boxes and get them prepped for another year. Of course the best part about this job, is it means you can start dreaming about all the great new plant combinations you're going to put IN those containers. With that in mind, we’ve