I have freesias of all colors from lemon to deepest yellow, blush to cerise, many tints and shades of mauve and lavender, and purest white. All are exquisitely scented. All I grew from seed, the most inexpensive way to get a big stock of bulbs. I planted seeds in early March (our autumn) in modified […]
Archives for April 2011
Natural Pest Control From Four Garden Friends
Have you ever heard the childhood ditty “Lady Bug, Lady Bug, fly away home | Your house is on fire, | Your children will burn”? Little did we realize this diminutive red, black spotted insect was our good friend. Later we learned the lady bug, lady bird or lady beetle feeds on destructive scale insects, […]
Greenhouse Seeds For The Outdoor Garden
Seeds for the outdoor garden must be sown at once (March) or it will be too late to get a headstart indoors. Four to eight weeks before the last frost in your area is the ideal time. To curb the tendency to sow more seeds than you have room for, you can use peat pots […]
How to Choose Your Tractor or Tiller
Summary: The garden tractor or tiller come in many shapes, horsepower ranges, sizes from push type rototillers to self-propelled and a dazzling array of attachments, but what is best for your needs a rototiller or lawn tractor? Garden tractors and rototillers come in a bewildering range of sizes, horsepower ratings and with assorted mechanical features. […]
Begonias in the Living Garden
Summary: Begonias are one garden plant that will thrive in shady spots found in every garden, when other plants will not thrive under those conditions. What will you plant under high-branched trees or on the north side of your house reached only by morning sunlight? What you need is a plant that likes semi-shade, and […]
Peonies in the Living Garden
Summary: Peonies are pretty in and out of bloom, good mixers, hardy, love-lived, easy to care for and peonies are the perfect perennial for your outdoor living room garden Like the indoor living room, the outdoor living room – the garden – is most successful if it is pretty, comfortable, and no great chore to […]
My Peculiar Pumpkin Vine
I reserve one of my planting beds, a pear-shaped plot near the patio/terrace, for experimenting. Last spring I planted a pumpkin seed. As its tendrils sprouted and grew longer, I carefully pulled them over the wall and trained them to grow on a piece of wire fencing. Watered lavishly the vine grew and grew, producing […]
Clematis Vines in the Living Garden
Mention vines and people picture great, creeping things which must be forcibly restrained from overrunning the place. Not so clematis. Unlike those Jackand-the-Beanstalk, Tarzan-swinging imagined vines, clematis is the soul of refinement, well-suited to the small living garden. If anything it appears frail, its brittle stems rather too weak for swinging. But for floral beauty, […]
Aster Plants and Aster Flowers As Cover-up Plants
Let your asters play a dual role. The foliage of these plants was useful all summer in hiding spaces left by Oriental poppies and spring bulbs. The two dozen hardy aster plants in our garden play two important roles. Not only do they furnish fall color but they earn their keep all summer by hiding […]
Hardy Aster Plants
April is the month to add color to your fall garden. Perennial asters set out now will provide month long beauty in late summer when a splash of color is most welcome in the perennial border. There are several hundred species of hardy asters, sometimes called starwort and michaelmas daisy. They range in height from […]