Now’s prime time for annual flowers. Are you choosing wisely? I’m all for saving money, but this is one area where you really do get what you pay for. A few of those cheapo 99-cent packs of flowers might do halfway decent in a pot, but most of the time they just […]
There’s more to pruning than heading out in the spring with a chainsaw in hand. Here are a few important how-to’s from an expert who prunes the topiaries at Longwood Gardens.
I’m just back from leading a group of central-Pennsylvania gardeners to the Netherlands and its Floriade garden show, held only once every 10 years. Floriade 2012 was worth a look, but to be honest, I didn’t think it was nearly as impressive as the last one in 2002. This show had a […]
I have no good answer for the question, “How big does this plant get?” It depends. Here’s a look at what to make of this sticky plant-picking issue.
You’re not imagining things if it seems like weeds are getting worse than ever. These botanical invaders are flourishing across the United States for a variety of reasons, such as…
April is such a nice time in the garden. Each day a different plant comes back to life or pushes out flower buds or takes one step more toward peak beauty. I’d have to rank it as my favorite time of year. I thought I’d share some pictures and observations of […]
We made it through March with no kill-off-the-tender-stuff cold snaps, and this week’s forecast is looking frost-free as well. Can we pull off this super-early start to the growing season? Every day we inch closer to May is one step closer to safety and getting away with a scam against Mother Nature. […]
Hershey Gardens opens for the season this coming Saturday (March 31), and it’s a milestone year for our area’s only botanical garden. 2012 marks the 75th year since chocolate icon Milton Hershey decided to build a “nice garden of roses” on the hillside just below Hotel Hershey (and now overlooking Hersheypark). I’m […]
I’ve never seen this long of a run of unusually warm weather this early. I’m getting all kinds of questions from gardeners wondering whether they should move up their planting and yard-care schedule and what’s going to happen if a cold spell occurs. I could answer a lot better if I knew […]
I’ll probably be sorry for saying this, but I think spring is here. At least nature and its plants are acting like it is. After three weeks of non-stop talks and garden shows, I finally got outside on Sunday to notice blooming daffodils, a nice crop of newly germinated weeds and even […]