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Plants for Damp or Wet Shade
Gardening in soggy soil can be tough enough without the added challenge of shade. While the usual suspects in such conditions – ferns, iris, astilbe and hosta – are beautiful, if you’re looking for a more interesting or architectural planting, it can be tough to find varieties that will suit. Here are six under-used plants…
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Deer-Resistant Plantings You Can’t F*** Up
Planting for deer can be hard sometimes. You read all the books, buy “deer-resistant” plants, and the buggers still munch everything to the ground and give you that blank-eyed “what? I’m a deer!” stare when you shake your fist at them. No, it doesn’t always go as smoothly as the books would have you believe.…
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Monday Miscellany: Miracle-Gro Rant, Containers for Wildlife, Small Vines, and A Defense of Yellow
Trey Pitsenberger, owner of Golden Gecko Nursery, is a constant agitator in favor of independent nurseries, common-sense gardening, and truthfulness in marketing. His latest target? Miracle-Gro’s idiotic desire to stuff their bullshit blue fertilizer where it’s not desired. He says: Why are you mixing fertilizer with a product designed for drainage? In my mind this…
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Deer on a Diet: Deer-Resistant Gardening Tips
Let’s be clear: gardening with deer can be frustrating. You read all the books, plant all the right plants, and those hungry mowing machines just tear through your new deer-resistant plantings like they’re candy! And then leave poops on your lawn to further taunt you. They’re cute; I’ll give deer that. But they’re creatures of…
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Great Deal on Bahco Pruners
You all know how much I love my Bahco pruners. I usually recommend you buy from Amazon, which has the Bahcos without replaceable parts for only $17 before shipping ($22 with shipping). But an alert reader who is handy with the Google skills discovered a fantastic deal over at the Harry Epstein company. The Bahcos…
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Monday Miscellany: New Books, Lamb’s Ears, Succulents and Adorable Chickens
Jumping right into this week’s Cool Stuff, there have been some wonderful new books published recently that I’ve reviewed over on Amazon. Mark Diacono’s The Food Lover’s Garden was a hit with me – fuchsia fruit leather? Daylily fritters? Yes, please! Then, I got an early copy of Ruth Rogers Clausen’s new book 50 Beautiful…
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Variegated Rhododendrons Liven Up the Shade
My latest post over at the Christian Science Monitor garden blog Diggin’ It is about my favorite types of variegated rhododendrons. I’m lucky enough to have a rhododendron specialty nursery in my community, so in addition to the horrible, boring rhodies seen in parking lots, we also have access to some exotic varieties with glossy…
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Planting in Tight Spaces with Smart Pots
Recently I had a client who wanted some plants tucked behind her waterfall. The waterfall had been built right up against her fence, so there was no real planting area – you can’t just pile up soil against a fence, of course. Enter the Smart Pots. Because the spaces were so cramped and oddly-shaped, there…
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Monday Miscellany: Biennials, DIY Liquid Fertilizer, and Garden Tunes
It’s that time of the week again, where I find the awesome online and bring it to you. First off, the ever-brilliant Michael King from Perennial Meadows advises that this is the time of year to scatter seeds of all those old-fashioned biennial cottage garden favorites. Biennials, of course, grow foliage one year and flowers…
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Wicked Bugs: Video Interview with Amy Stewart
I am adoring Wicked Bugs, the latest from author Amy Stewart. She’s back with more deliciously morbid musings, this time about the insects, spiders, and squirmy things that have us so outnumbered that for each one of us, there are two hundred million of them. Eeep! While Amy’s a huge fan of bugs, she didn’t…
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Plant Natives in the Side Yard
If you’ve been wanting to incorporate more native plants into your garden, either for the wildlife benefit or simply for that touchpoint with your natural surroundings, it can feel like a challenge when you already have an existing garden. But the side yard, an often neglected area with tough conditions, can be an ideal place…