This week is shaping up as peak week for fall foliage in our section of southcentral Pennsylvania – and I’m not just talking about the forests. Lots of landscape trees and shrubs also turn spectacular shades of red, gold, purple and yellow this time of year. Of course, that’s assuming you planted enough […]
I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen our weather stay so pleasant for such a long stretch. We’ve had weeks of blue skies, 70-degree days, comfortably cool nights and scarcely any of our usual stifling humidity. I can’t complain. Well, I could, but I’ll take this pleasantry in exchange for the […]
Here’s my list of shrubs that I wouldn’t plant again… in other words, my “Bottom 10 Shrubs.”
Here’s my list of perennials that I wouldn’t plant again… my Bottom 10 Perennials list.
I talk a lot about my favorite plants and other great choices worth trying. But what about the stuff at the bottom of my list? Here’s a look at the plants that earn a spot on my list of Bottom 10 Annual Flowers.
How do you know if you’re a crazed gardener? Lower Swatara Twp. uber-gardener Joe Mateer came up with this qualifying exam…
The biggest issue I’ve had in the garden since mid-summer has been the sneaky dryness. Some years we get weeks of heat, sun and not a drop of rain, and everyone knows it’s dry. Plants wilt, the leaf edges of trees and shrubs turn brown, and the lawn goes crunch when you […]
Pardon me if I seem a little distracted the rest of this season. I just signed a contract to write a plant book for Cool Springs Press, and the manuscript is due by the end of the year. The book will be called the Pennsylvania Getting Started Garden Guide, and it’s actually […]
Plants are objects of great beauty when they’re artfully arranged in a garden and skillfully maintained. Then there are Mosaicultures. If you’re not familiar with that term or have never seen a Mosaiculture, picture metal frames stuffed with tightly packed potting mix and planted with assorted colorful plants to create a living […]
Few events in the botanical world create as much stink (in more ways than one) than when a Titan arum opens. Also known as the corpse flower for its rotting-flesh-like scent, this plant created much ado when Pittsburgh’s Phipps Conservatory got one to bloom.