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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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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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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-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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Disease-Resistant Roses for the Pacific Northwest
As a professional gardener, my philosophy leans more towards making organic and sustainable choices in the garden, not only because I’m afraid of what long-term repeated exposure could do to my health, but also because I have the power to help so many people make better choices for their gardens. The organic philosophy can be…
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Container Plants that Birds Love
Finishing off our series on planting to attract birds, here’s my love poem to container gardeners – some of my favorite plants to attract birds and hummingbirds to your urban or patio garden. Fuchsia thymifolia or Fairy Fuchsia This is the fuchsia that makes me go starry-eyed with love. Blooming all year long on the…
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Nectar Plants for the Hummingbirds to Enjoy
If you’ve been following my series on Planting to Attract Birds, you may already have a few plants in mind to attract hummingbirds to your garden. Who wouldn’t want to bring that energy and life into their garden? Even though I’m a landscaper and get to see hummingbirds every day, they never lose their magic…
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Smaller Plants to Attract Birds – a Few Favorites
We’ve covered my favorite trees and larger shrubs to attract birds; now I want to talk about some of the smaller plants to bring the birds and hummingbirds flying to your garden. These are just a few of my favorites to use as a starting point – there are so many gorgeous small shrubs, perennials,…
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Shrubs to Attract Birds – Planting for Year-Round Berries and Habitats
Now that we’ve talked about trees to attract birds, and how to attract birds using feeders and birdbaths, I want to get on to some of my very favorite shrubs. From the rich purple berries of Callicarpa to the hanging clusters on Leycesteria, I’ve chosen my top five shrubs to plant for the birds: Berberis…
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Trees to Attract Birds: New Stars and Old Favorites
We talked earlier this week about how to attract birds using feeders and water. Since we’re all plant geeks here, I’m dying to share some of my favorite trees for the Pacific Northwest to attract birds. Do remember that any tree that has fruit or berries is going to be messy, so you should place…