Planting Ideas

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Weeping Larch, Larix decidua ‘Pendula’, Like a big Bonsai

Somewhat as a followup to my previous post Niwaki: Bonsai in the Garden, about training unpotted garden trees in a bonsai fashion, today I bought a weeping larch.

Long time readers of this blog will I know that for years and years I have wanted a Weeping Blue Atlas Cedar, Paul James had one on his [...]

How to Grow Hardy Hibiscus or Rose Mallow

This is a plant with many names, hardy hibiscus, rose mallow, swamp mallow, etc. It is a wonderful plant and should be in almost every garden.
A North American native it can be found growing wild in the south, but it has been hybridized and many beautiful cultivars are available for the entire country. It is [...]

Front Yard Farming

I’ve seen articles recently about global food shortages and feeding our populations and whatnot, bunch of scare tactics mostly, but when you sit down and think about it, there is a lot of land that could be used to grow food, but isn’t.
Highway medians, roadsides, parks, but mostly, front yards.
Some backwards and oppressive cities have [...]

Kudos to Stark Bros

My first plant of the year has arrived, a ‘Goldcot’ Apricot Dwarf from Stark Bros, and I need to sing their praises.
I’ve talked up Stark Bros before, mentioning them as my favorite place to get fruit trees, but they beat themselves in quality this time. This dwarf apricot was around 4 feet tall, and nicely [...]

Japanese Irises are Better than Bearded Irises

There can be no discussion, the Japanese iris is superior, in fact, I think I hate bearded irises now, and they used to be my favorite flower.
Bearded Irises, Falling Down on the Job
So, seriously, what kind of slob falls down on the job? The bearded iris, thats who! These beautiful flowers used to be my [...]

Fall is for planting….. Fruit

Fall is for planting they say, you’ll see it all over when you go to the nursery or look at mail order catalogs, and why? Well, despite anecdotes about Spring showers, Fall actually has more rainfall AND the ground is also warm. Which all told makes it a good time to plant something, especially trees [...]

How to Grow Raspberries

I’ve blogged about raspberries many times before, which you’ll see in the “related posts” links at the bottom of this post. But I don’t know if I ever really went into depth as to how I grow them. In anycase, now is the time.
First, a little bragging. This picture was taken like the second week [...]

Train Clematis up a Post

File this under “other things you can do with fencing other than actual fencing.” Like my trick for saving shrubs from the ravages of rabbits I like to use fencing to form little cages, trellises really, around posts.
Posts, poles, supports, columns, whatever you want to call them, we all have them, we all need them. [...]

Grow your own food to save money

Food prices are growing like pole beans, and many people are planting more edibles in their garden, or taking up gardening for the first time, in an effort to save money. So, I thought a blog post on the subject would be both timely and useful.
Oil & Ethanol
First, why are food prices going up? Two [...]

Use Black Mulch to Brighten Up Shady Areas

Mulch comes in many colors, people have long been using the ever present red mulch, and in fact I would venture it probably rivals plain mulch in volume. There are also golden mulches, that look like very fresh wood. Then there are more subdued brown mulches that look like slightly older wood.
The main advertised benefit [...]

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