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Fall Leaves: Leave ‘Em and Weep
To read about why fall leaves are so beneficial to wildlife, and how to leave them in your garden without adverse effect, check out this article: Fall Leaf Raking: Finding the Middle Ground. Once upon a time some newbie garden writer thought it’d be a great idea to encourage people to leave their fall leaves on the…
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How to Prune Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ (Video Tutorial)
Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ is a true garden classic, especially paired with ornamental grasses, lavenders and colorful sages. It’s particularly great because during the summer when everything else is blooming, its greenish-white buds are getting bigger and bigger, creating a subtly beautiful show, then as everything else slows for the fall, ‘Autumn Joy’ bursts into bloom…
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Calculating How Much Mulch or Compost You Need
So your garden’s mulch is getting thin, and you’ve decided that you want to add 2 inches of wood chips to top it up. Great! But how much mulch do you need to buy to make that happen? You can do this using math (yuck!), or you can use these great calculators I’ve found online.…
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Your Gardening Body: How to Rake and Sweep Without Strain or Pain
Anne Asher, a movement specialist from The MOVE! Blog, has been kind enough to answer some common questions about how professional and/or passionate gardeners can reduce the strain that comes from repetitive gardening tasks. Here’s this month’s installment: Dear Anne, By November, fall leaves are piling up around perennials and shrubs. I like to rake…
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Plant Some Asian Greens for your Winter Veg Garden
Fern over at Life on the Balcony suggests some great Asian greens to grow for winter. I’m definitely growing some Bok Choi for my favorite – won ton soup! http://lifeonthebalcony.com/asian-vegetables-for-your-cool-season-container-garden/
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Delicate Flowers: What NOT to Plant in Fall
Recently I read an article on Sunset’s website, suggesting that we all rush out and buy those discounted perennials to plant for fall. We all know by now that fall planting is a great idea, but is fall really the best time to plant everything, even perennials? Many perennials don’t actually live all that long…
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Forget Halloween: Try These Dark Beauties Year-Round
I always wanted to be a goth girl – wearing all black, dying my hair purple, and listening to moody music while pondering the deeper mysteries in life. Sadly, I had three strikes against me: I’m a total wuss, so piercings were out, I’m ridiculously cheerful, and since I started my landscaping business when I…
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Fall Color Container Planting Idea
A client came up with this pretty container planting idea for summer and fall. The spiky Phormium/ Flax Grass makes a vivid centerpiece, then she used red Coleus and orange Impatiens to pick up on the Flax’s colored stripes. Last, she used some purple trailing Petunias to cool down the combination and spill over the…
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Your Gardening Body: Digging Without Strain or Pain
Anne Asher, a movement specialist from The MOVE! Blog, has been kind enough to answer some common questions about how professional and/or passionate gardeners can reduce the strain that comes from repetitive gardening tasks. Here’s this month’s installment: Dear Anne, Fall is a great time to plant shrubs and trees, because plants can get their…
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Fall-Blooming Heathers for Autumn Color
In all the time I’ve been designing gardens, I have never had anyone tell me, “please, no heathers!”. Thank goodness, because heathers are my secret weapon for extending any season’s interest. By the end of summer many perennials have stopped blooming, but the winter bloomers and fall colors haven’t started in earnest to continue the…
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Rubber Mulch: Where the Rubber Meets the – Soil?
At Costco recently, I was happy to see some acquaintances coming out of the garden section, until… what in the WORLD was in their cart? It looked like bags of mulch, but… wrong somehow. They patiently explained to this landscaper that recycled rubber mulch is the newest thing and would look very pretty in their…