Winter Outlines Garden Bones

Posted in Featured Articles, Seasonal Interest, garden design, trees Winter is a stark time for most of us in a temperate climate. Doubly so when a fresh snowfall creates lines and shapes, filled in with snowy white. We then see our garden in silhouette, and all its features are outlined for us to better judge the proportions and dimensions of our larger plantings and hardscaping. This is when we can decide how to improve the garden’s structure to...
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Ten Winter Features

Posted in Seasonal Interest, plant profiles, shrubs, trees Everyone has their opinion of what makes something a joy to the eye. In winter everything is finely edited by our cold weather and killing frosts, but that only means we have a showcase for some plants that make the winter landscape beautiful and interesting. Trees: Crabapples- the bigger and brighter the fruits the better, but all of them lend a cheery spot to the landscape. Try...
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5 Choices for Living Christmas Trees

Posted in Seasonal Interest, plant lists, trees You have to plan a little early for success with living Christmas trees. Dig your planting hole before the ground freezes and be sure to keep your soil in unheated storage. Decide which tree you wish to put into your landscape plan this year.
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Flowering Cabbage & Kale

Posted in Featured Articles, Seasonal Interest, plant profiles Time to think of the autumn phase of the garden already. When we picture autumn we picture the trees ablaze with color here in the Midwest, and in the Northeast of the USA, but there are other players on the stage. Perhaps theirs is a supporting role, but many bring lots of surprising color and add to the grand tapestry of of the season. Flowering Kale I tried growing my own flowering kale one...
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Alberta Spruce

Posted in Seasonal Interest, landscaping, plant profiles, shrubs Alberta spruce, Picea glauca ‘Conica’ is a favored dwarf evergreen for foundation and landscape use. I have grown them in both my rural and city garden. Their greatest drawback is the spider mite infestations they are prone to- which I never suffered in the city because I was in the habit of hosing off the bushes regularly. Out in the country it was a different story, but read on to...
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Drying Flowers for Decoration

Posted in Featured Articles, Seasonal Interest The art of drying flowers can yield indoor decoration throughout the colder parts of the year and inspire some unique and creative decorations for wall art, stationary, and other uses. Although not the fad it was some years ago, dried flower arrangements and other forms of preserving the beauty of flowers can be easy to learn, and fun. You might even create something that could make a nice gift,...
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