Herbs are a great way to landscape small spaces around the home or, if you don’t have any outdoor space they can be planted in containers. Plan ahead, as you would any garden. Keep it simple at first, choose just few varieties. Decide if you want you incorporate perennials and annuals in the garden. If […]
Weathervanes
Weathervanes were one of the first instruments to detect changes in the weather by pointing in the direction from which the wind was blowing. The earliest known weathervane is a large figure of the Greek sea god, Triton. It was mounted on top of the Tower of Winds in Athens during the first century B.C. […]
Invasive Plants and Their Alternatives
Many plants used in the gardens today can create havoc in our native landscape. Some plants, when they escape the garden, can crowd out our native species and take over entire entire ecosystems. There are, however, beautiful alternatives to these species. Lythrum salicaria – Purple Loosestrife AlternativesAsclepias incarnata – Swamp MilkweedEchinachea purpurea – Purple ConeflowerEupatorium […]
Cutting Gardens
Many perennials, annuals and even flowering shrubs not only make great garden plants but wonderful cut flowers as well. Shrubs such as hydrangea, lilac, viburnum, witchhazel and forsythia work well as cut flowers. Though, generally, they don’t last as long as perennials or annuals. To make flowering shrubs last as long as possible as cut […]
5 Great Vines For The Garden
For those wishing to add color to a terrace, walkway or any garden spot there are some truly stunning vines that can be trained over doorways, on trellises, on arbors or even on a wall. The following are a few of the easiest vines to grow. Trumpet Vine (Campsis radicans): Widely adaptable to heat and […]
The Edible Garden
When considering an edible garden the first thing most people will think of is the vegetable garden. Vegetable gardens are by far the most popular type of edible garden for the home gardener. There are, however, many garden trees, shrubs, perennials and groundcovers which are both edible and attractive enough for use in your landscape […]
Improving Garden Soil
Healthy garden soil is teeming with life: there are earthworms and micro-organisms by the millions, each with a particular function in making soil fertile. Like any living thing, the soil must have food. Without food, the life in soil either leaves or dies. Eventually, the garden itself weakens and dies. Soil life eats organic matter, […]
The Art of Heating Your Pond
Ice forming on the surface of your pond can kill your fish. Ice and snow accumulation on a pond greatly reduces the amount of dissolved oxygen in available to the fish in it. Ice cover prevents oxygen transfer from the atmosphere to the water below, and snow can filter out enough sunlight so that oxygen-producing […]
Plants For Fall Color
Trees Acer palmatum – Japanese MapleAcer rubrum – Red MapleAcer saccharinum – Silver MapleAcer saccharin – Sugar MapleAesculus flava – Yellow Buckeye, Sweet BuckeyeAesculus hippocastanum – HorsechestnutBetula papyri era – Paper Birch, White BirchBetula pendula European white birch, Weeping birchCarpinus caroliniana – American Hornbeam, IronwoodCarya glabra – Pignut HickoryCarya ovate – Shagbark HickoryCatalpa speciosa – […]
Clematis
Clematis adds a sense of depth and beauty to our gardens with their lush, fragrant blossoms and rich green foliage. The majority of clematis’ are climbers, with several hundred species worldwide. Many of these are hardy and well suited to nearly every landscape and every gardening skill level. More importantly, a selection of Clematis ensures […]