One of my favorite native genera is Zauschneria, also know by its common names such as Hummingbird Trumpet, Fire Chalice and California Fuchsia. (To botanists and botanically informed gardeners who read this blog, you’ll note that I have refused to lump them into the Fireweed genus Epilobium)
Continue reading about Pour on the Orange; Planting Zauschneria for Hummingbirds
Fall is in the Air
I look forward to my gardens this time of the year. Many of my favorite native plants and ornamental grasses come into flower as the summer transitions to fall. Living and gardening at an elevation of nearly 7, 000 ft. here in Santa Fe, you can already feel a hint of [...]
Continue reading about Cold Hardy, Late Summer / Early Fall Blooming Sages
It’s no surprise that gardeners across the country are bringing Agastache plants into their gardens. Some of these new hybrids are worthwhile while others appear to not be anything really exciting. Never-the-less, I’m excited that this genus is becoming more widely grown.
Continue reading about Agastache: “Super Stars” of the Perennial World – Part 2
Growing plants of the genus Agastache (A gas’ ta kee or A gas tack’ e), commonly known as hummingbird mint or hyssop, has been an obsession of mine for the last 15 years. They have everything I love in a perennial; aromatic flowers and foliage, stunning spikes of tubular flowers that attract hummingbirds, bees and [...]
Continue reading about Agastache; “Super Stars” of the Perennial World
Oenothera fremontii ‘Shimmer’ PPAF is one of my favorite new native plants. Originally selected by Lauren Springer Ogden and Scott Ogden, from a seed grown crop of Oenothera fremontii, this vegetatively propagated cultivar selection is a standout. Lauren and Scott picked the original plant from all the others because of its unusually narrow foliage that [...]
Continue reading about Oenothera ‘Shimmer’; Keeping the Wild Spirit of the Prairie in Your Garden
To date, the Santa Fe area has had about 3-4″ of total precipitation (rain and snow) since this past January; a very dry year! (We usually average about 12″ annually.) Well, after this last week with daytime highs in the upper 90’s, our gardens were wilting and the native grass prairie all around us [...]
Continue reading about Finally a Monsoon Rainstorm to Fill My Water Harvesting System!
In just the past two weeks, the hummingbirds have suddenly made their summer appearance in my gardens. And they will be staing around until moving south in October. At first it was one bird and now there are 3 or 4 hanging out, sipping, fussing, and moving deliberately from flower to flower on their favorite [...]
Composting is the decomposition of once living things to make an excellent garden soil amendment. Dark and rich, it’s everything that the Santa Fe soil doesn’t have.
Continue reading about Composting: A Lovely Bunch of Garbage
The other morning took me by surprise. I woke up sneezing. And for several days more I continued sneezing. Even my new puppy was sneezing on a hike one afternoon. I was surprised for both of us because isn’t it supposed to be winter? But it seems the juniper trees are at it again, and [...]
With the short growing season of Northern New Mexico, Katherine O’ Brien, our nursery manager prefers planting potted roses rather than bare-root roses. With a mature root system, container roses will be well established in the garden by the time the ground freezes in the fall. Planting roses is as easy as planting other container [...]
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