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In the cacophony of Spring when there are so many plants coming into bloom it is often easy to overlook some.
by Steve Smith Washington Certified Horticulturist Now that it is May we should all be busy working in the garden,…
Last week you got the primer on planting vegetables. Hopefully you have taken to heart what I said and gone…
You are frustrated or maybe even angry. You spent a ton of money on your landscape and the plants that you bought were supposed to be hardy for your area
First off let me say that I am not going to proselytize to you about reincarnation or the resurrection or…
Tis the night before Christmas
We live in the Evergreen State and we are blessed with an enormous variety of plants that retain their foliage 12 months a year. These plants we call evergreens fall into two categories. One we call “conifers” which technically refers to the “cone bearing” habit of a plant but practically speaking means they most of them have needle-like foliage. The common tendency is to refer to all conifers as ‘pines’ which of course drives all of us in the industry absolutely up the wall. The truth is that there are pines, spruces, hemlocks, cedars, cypresses, junipers, firs and several other lesser known flavors of conifers.
You will recall that a few weeks back I offered some sage advice on how to prune. I covered the basics which included the two main types of pruning cuts and a little bit of information on timing. Then I left you hanging on hydrangeas. So here is the rest of the story with a very brief review of the basics.
I know it seems way too early to be talking about holiday decorating but this is a really weird month in that Thanksgiving is so very late. Consequently, retailers are getting an earlier start bombarding us with Christmas commercials. And if you add in the fact that most of us are done with gardening anyway then you really can’t blame the local garden centers for shifting gears and trying to make a few more bucks before the end of the year.
I would imagine that most of you have read either in The Marysville Globe this spring or the Everett Herald this fall about the food bank garden we developed this year. They were both great articles about the garden but just in case you missed it I want to revisit the topic because in addition to all that information there needs to be a bit more about the sponsors that made it all possible.
As I promised last week, here are some plants well suited for the “lazy gardener” who for whatever reasons beyond my understanding can’t abide with the thought of raking leaves or looking at sticks. The following plants will keep their foliage all winter as they go through their act of changing colors as the temperatures get colder and colder. You get the best of both worlds, fall color and evergreen foliage.
