Fall has arrived, and with it, cooler weather and shorter days. Thankfully, we’ve had some much-needed rain. The pink blossoms of the fall asters ‘Alma Potschke’ are spectacular. Although the lower parts of the plants always seem to dry up early in the season, when their tops are in bloom, they are a joy for … Continue reading Fall Trimming & Blooms
Year of the Coleus
Every year, The National Garden Bureau, the non-profit organization that promotes gardening on behalf of the horticulture industry, selects one annual, one perennial and one edible to recognize. Those chosen for “The Year of the …” program are easy to grow and genetically diverse with many new varieties. Chosen as the “annual” for the Bureau’s … Continue reading Year of the Coleus
Second Season Vegetable Garden
For many gardeners “summer is starting to wrap up,” and for some it’s time to plant their “second-season vegetable garden.” Incredibly, we still have some green daffodil spring foliage that we’re not removing, just to see how long it will last. We usually prune it all about six weeks after the daffies bloom. Some of … Continue reading Second Season Vegetable Garden
Help our Bees and Butterflies
Since 2006 we have heard about the unfortunate loss of honey bee colonies in North America and elsewhere. The decline in the number of bees is both shocking and frightening and blamed on a number of causes. Additionally, there’s been much discussion about the lack of Monarch butterflies this past summer. Anyone can implement a … Continue reading Help our Bees and Butterflies
Low-Maintenance Gardening
If you’re like many gardeners, you get overly zealous in the spring, creating larger flower beds, carefully edging existing beds, meticulously spreading mulch where needed, trimming the grasses, tending to newly sprouted perennials, etc. Then by mid to late summer, you realize your energy isn’t quite the same and there are certain areas of your … Continue reading Low-Maintenance Gardening