Although gardening is an excellent hobby, sometimes you’ll run into challenges along the way. For instance, the soil in your yard may not be suited for the plants that you want to grow. Maybe you live in an apartment, and you don’t even have a yard to begin with. Or perhaps, you’re getting overwhelmed dealing […]
NASA Study House Plants Clean Air
Common indoor plants may provide a valuable weapon in the fight against rising levels of indoor air pollution. Those plants in your office or home are not only decorative, but NASA scientists are finding them to be surprisingly useful in absorbing potentially harmful gases and cleaning the air inside modern buildings. NASA and the Associated […]
Buddleia The Colorful Butterfly Bush
The buddleias or butterfly bush, are popular plants in the North, coming originally from Asia. Although generally classed as rather coarse shrubs, they are now widely planted because of their pleasing color range. One factor that has made them undesirable until recently in restricted spaces was their rampant growth. I have found only one kind […]
In The Month of March Now Is The Time
All gardeners at this time have an urge to get their hands into the rich, warm earth. Though a hit of frost may still be in the ground, we can sow seeds of hardy plants, especially kinds that resent transplanting. These include poppies, larkspurs, spinach, lettuce, peas, beets, radishes and parsley. Start the Coldframe In […]
March Gardening Task In The Southwest
Many areas of the Southwest enjoyed a warm winter, but as a result the growing season has been advanced. There is a lot to be done, and now is the time to start, if you want to finish in time. Complete landscape planning. Best selections of azaleas, camellias, rhododendrons, yews and other choice shrubs and […]
March Garden Things To Do In The South
This is a busy month in the garden with everyone full of ambition for spring planting chores. While there is still some chance of a late frost, many gardeners will be setting out tomatoes and bedding plants in the hopes of early results. This is the month, too, for harvesting many of the cool season […]
Things To Do In March In The Northwest Garden
Spring gardening, in full swing along the coast, moves progressively inland with the last killing frosts running from March 1 at the extreme western edge of this region to late May in Idaho and Montana. Work the soil as soon as it is workable and fertilize it to take care of the spring growth. Get […]
March Garden Chores For The North
When March comes, spring isn’t too far off. So plan your weekend activities ahead. The more you can get done before the season changes, the farther along you will be with your gardening when the warm weather really comes. Get your equipment lined up and ready. Clean out the tool shed or garage and discard […]
Christmas Decorations – Not How Much But How Well
Etched very clearly on my mind is the time I laid eyes on the Christmas rose, some years ago. It was a below-zero day in late December, and bitter winds blew in from Lake Erie, as I walked on the hard frozen ground around an estate in Cleveland, taking notes for a descriptive story. I […]
Christmas Letter To Gardeners
Christmas is a wonderful time of year. As the north wind blows, as snows drift ever deeper, and as the cold strengthens, human hearts beat all the more vigorously. Under the sparkling stars, white, blue, red and yellow, that grim tension we all suffer far too much seems to relax. Gratefully, we push away all […]
Before The Ground Freezes – Water, Water and Water!
Last Summer’s serious drought has already killed some plants and injured countless others. In the vicinity of Boston, practically no rain worth mentioning fell during July and August, some places having little or none even in June. The deficiency in rainfall on September first, was somewhat reduced by fast and heavy rains during September – […]
Plants Make It Christmas
Who would want to celebrate Christmas without the traditional evergreens, holly and mistletoe or the lovely poinsettias and Christmas roses? Without these plants and many others, the season would be stripped of its many gay and pleasant associations. Although historians disagree, tradition places Jesus’ birth during the Saturnalia, one of the ancient celebrations which closely […]
