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March 31, 2008

killer cut flower

Filed Under cut flowers, houseplants | 1 Comment

cymbidiumI DON’T REALLY need to say more than that. Killer cut flower: the Cymbidium orchid. By February, when winter gets tiresome, I pace myself the rest of the way to full-on garden season by buying a stem or two of these extravagant (though not expensive) orchids each month. They last many weeks in water; each stem is a few feet long with dozens of blooms, a bouquet in itself for about $10. I prefer the gaudy gold-and-wine ones to the pastels, but I never claimed to be discreet. Want to see more, or try growing them?

March 30, 2008

tiptoe through the hellebores

Filed Under annuals & perennials, from seed, hot p(l)ants | 2 Comments

black orientalis hybridYES, YES, I KNOW: I have already told you I love hellebores. While waiting for mine to reach full bloom, I took an online tour this very cold morning of other hellebore plantings that are enviably farther along. Even if you cannot visit Ernie and Marietta O’Byrne’s Northwest Garden Nursery in Eugene, Oregon, a visit to their website is a must. Read more

texas-style tomato cages

Filed Under edibles, tools & techniques | 3 Comments

OK, SO THIS VIDEO won’t edge out Obama or the latest celebrity trash on YouTube anytime soon. But it’s life-changing in its own way. Go see why you simply cannot garden for one more summer without Texas Tomato cages. (Hints: Like the saying goes, they grow them big in Texas…and they fold flat for winter storage.)

March 29, 2008

waiting, waiting (part 2)

Filed Under 'woo-woo' (essays and such), annuals & perennials | 2 Comments

hosta shootsAS I KNOW I have already mentioned (do I sound desperate yet?), I am waiting for things to happen, for sure signs of life as I crawl around the leaf litter these tenaciously cold days, uncovering possibilities. What am I waiting (hoping) for? Things like the fiercely alive, sharpened-looking shoots of hostas. What are you waiting for in your garden?

asparagus: an all-male cast

Filed Under edibles, organics, tools & techniques | 8 Comments

purple asparagus IT SHOULD COME as no surprise, since it’s true so many other places still: In the asparagus rows, males are in charge. ‘Martha Washington’ and ‘Mary Washington’ were names you used to see most often in catalogs, but no more. Their weakness: The Washington strains include both male and female plants, and the males are far more productive if what you want is lots of spears (perhaps to make something as delicious-sounding as Heidi Swanson’s Spring Wild Rice Salad with fresh asparagus, posted this week on 101 Cookbooks, which is what got me started thinking asparagus in March).