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Do Landscapers Listen to Our Own Advice? Plants We’d Never Plant at Home (Part One)
I was gardening recently with one of my employees, and she groaned in the middle of pruning a Mexican Feather Grass and said firmly, “I will NEVER plant these things at my house. Never!” It’s not a bad plant – in fact, it’s fantastic – it has seasonal interest, adds a sense of motion and …
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Video Review of the Fiskars Pruning Stik, My Favorite Pole Pruner
Lightweight’s the name of the game for this pole pruner. I’ve been using these Fiskars Pruning Stiks for many years in my landscaping business and have not yet broken or had to retire one. Many pole pruners fail because they try to do too much – they have a saw, a lopper, they extend, and…
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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…