Many folks are hesitant to plant perennials and other frost hardy trees and shrubs before the last average frost date of the spring. “What if it freezes”? “The cold weather will kill my new plants.” And so on. But the bottom line is that many perennial plants (as well as trees, shrubs and evergreens) prefer [...]
Continue reading about Oh no, there’s snow on my new transplants
Two Outstanding Native Shrubs for the Western US Native plants are a passion for my staff and I, particularly western native plants. And yet many of our great Western natives are virtually unknown among amateur and professional gardeners and landscapers. Such is the case with these two species native to the Great Basin of UT [...]
Kintzley’s Ghost ® Vining Honeysuckle (Lonicera reticulate ‘Kintzley’s Ghost’) Vines are so useful in our landscapes. They provide coverage for fences (especially unsightly ones) and make a wonderful trellis plant to cover walls and narrow upright spaces with attractive foliage and colorful flowers. Kintzley’s Ghost is a very unusual native vine that gives us [...]
Now that it’s officially summer, and the heat has arrived, we’re all looking for ways to stay cool. Well your garden plants are feeling the same way. And that’s where putting a blanket down can help; a blanket of mulch. Mulching is a well practiced gardening technique of covering the soil with some type of [...]
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I was once asked, “ Shouldn’t you be doing more important things than growing plants?” Well, that question got me thinking. And in a nut shell, here is my answer. “No, there IS nothing more important than growing plants!” Share on Facebook
Continue reading about The Importance of Plants; a Global View
I feel in general that the Buckwheats (Eriogonum) are woefully underutilized both ornamentally and as important plants for providing habitat in the garden. As ornamental perennials/subshrubs (small woody plants), they are dependable garden plants in terms of cold hardiness, ease of cultivation and reliable blooming with flowers that turn into attractive seed heads. The flowers [...]
With the recent extreme winter cold that gripped much of the Intermountain West, Texas and beyond several weeks ago, this topic is on the front burner of gardening conversation. While most of the country uses the USDA winter cold hardiness numbers as a measure of cold tolerance, this system should only be used as a [...]
Continue reading about The Winter Cold Hardiness of Plants; It’s More Than Just the Cold
Most if not all front yards planted with a lawn are using the lawn as nothing else but a green “placeholder”, a cookie cutter solution to landscaping the front of a house. Share on Facebook
Continue reading about Front Yards without turf. What a concept!
In the quest to make lawns more sustainable and input efficient, we need to pay attention to where a lawn makes sense in the landscape. One place a lawn most certainly doesn’t belong is in what I refer to as the “inferno strip” or “hell strip.” Share on Facebook
Continue reading about Inferno Strips; Go from useless to Wow!
It’s hard to believe that September has arrived. Just where did the summer go? Here in the high elevations and mountains of New Mexico, fall is in the air. The light has changed, with the sky turning bluer and clearer and the air getting drier and cooler. It was 50°F this morning in Santa Fe. [...]
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