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Monday Miscellany: Bawdy Hymenopteras, Beautifying Barbeques, and Brilliantly Bad Plant Names
The ladies over at Garden Rant are having far too much fun again, first running a Bawdy Hymenoptera Limerick contest for the new Timber Press book Bees, Wasps, and Ants, then challenging the folks over at Timber to recite the winners on video for the gardening public’s enjoyment. I believe bee suits were mentioned in…
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Are You a Drifter?
As a garden designer, many of my design requests from clients come with a list of plants as long as my arm that I must somehow cram include in the garden plan. Being an inveterate plant addict lover myself, I always find it fun to help these folks fit each of their plant friends into…
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Plants to Love: Neon Flash Spirea (Spirea ‘Neon Flash’)
Spirea ‘Neon Flash’ (USDA Zones 4-9) is a Bright! Magenta! Pink! flowering shrub to about 4’ tall, which loves full sun and blooms off and on throughout the summer. It does lose its leaves in winter and gets a bit of reddish-yellow fall color, but the fall color isn’t anything to rave about. I love…
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Guest Post Over at Studio G!
Rochelle over at Studio G has been on vacation this week, and so invited me and some fellow landscape designers over to guest post on our favorite things! Mine is here, and I had a blast ranting about the importance of good tools, the similarities between creating mosaics and designing a garden, and the mistakes…
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Plants to Love: White Parahebe (Parahebe linifolia)
White Parahebe (USDA Zones 8-11) deserves to be one of those plants like Geranium ‘Rozanne’; a plant that’s totally overused but nobody’s actually sick of because it is so ridiculously charming. It has deep green, glossy foliage that’s evergreen and very attractive, its delicate white blooms are lacy yet sturdy and incredibly profuse – and…
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Plants to Love: Purple Pixie Hebe (Hebe ‘Mohawk’ or ‘Purple Pixie’)
This Hebe is a lovely little evergreen thing which gets to about 3’ around and blooms off and on a good part of the year. It takes shearing well and usually comes back well from hard pruning during the growing season, though I try to avoid pruning into the wood if I can avoid it.
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Shamelessly Tropical: Hawt Plants for a Variety of Climates
I admit it. I’m in zonal denial. I love the huge tender leaves of bananas, the glorious hanging trumpets of Brugmansia, and anything so wild and lush that it makes me feel like I’m on vacation to the kind of rainforest-y tropics that have monkeys and great winding green snakes and crazy bugs that remind…
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Monday Miscellany: Pacific Northwest Plants, Homemade Deer Deterrent, Book Rec’s, and MORE Garden Cocktails
Great Plant Picks This week I’ve re-discovered a fantastic resource for Pacific Northwest Gardeners: Great Plant Picks. Plant info online can be hard to rely on – either nurseries are stretching the zones and touting a plant’s greatness so they can sell more of them, or home gardeners are giving anecdotal information that is useful,…
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Plants to Love: Autumn Fern (Dryopteris erythrosora)
I LOVE the Autumn Fern. Orangey foliage in spring and summer? Cinnamon-colored spores on the underside of the plant? A neat habit and a plant that’s simple to prune down in winter? It’s got it all.
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Monday Miscellany: Strawberries, Succulents, Fellini Baby and Energy-Efficient Landscaping
Loads of cool stuff kicking around the internet this week, from ideas of what to do with all your excess strawberries, how to create your own succulent container design, to some great podcast interviews. DIY Strawberry Jam – with Balsamic Vinegar and Black Pepper! Stevie over at Garden Therapy has a fantastic tutorial for those…
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Do Now: Pruning Suckers off Tomatoes
Just found this excellent tutorial from Mr. Brown Thumb about how to prune the suckers off your tomatoes to contribute to a good form for your plant and better production. Here on the north coast, we can start doing this right now! You can follow Mr. Brown Thumb on Twitter for some funny gardening insights…