TWO CLASS SESSIONS FULL OF YOU visited yesterday to talk about container gardening, but for those who didn’t take the workshop in person, a recap seemed in order since it’s that time: everything into the pots! [read more…]
houseplants
My houseplants are true 365-day garden plants, keeping me company all winter, then joining me outdoors in the garden to add color and texture each spring-into-fall.
missed the workshop? container-garden 101
May 21, 2012 at 11:17 am
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windowfarms: grow a micro-gardening dream
December 4, 2011 at 9:42 am
TO A VEGETABLE PLANT, my apartment has to be about as foreign as outer space,” says Britta Riley, who nevertheless gardens it with a vengeance—in a vertical hydroponic system she conceived called a Windowfarm. How to get your own system—and help kickstart the success of this dynamic startup project. [read more…]
zone pushing: overwintering, in 2 podcasts
October 18, 2011 at 8:46 am
IT WILL SOON BE LAST CALL around here, though an Indian summer has lulled me into inattention to some about-to-be-urgent chores. My houseplants have been indoors since an early scare last month, but there are miles to go before the garden’s tender things sleep. A two-part podcast and some links to help you on your way to overwintering tender plants–in case you, like me, didn’t get ready last month when we sounded the first call. [read more…]
post-holiday cheer: alcohol for sturdy amaryllis
January 20, 2011 at 7:19 am
AREADER REMINDED ME THE OTHER DAY THAT SOME PLANTS (like their owners) enjoy a little post-holiday cheer. Similar to the tipsy (and therefore less tippy) paperwhites we’ve discussed before, amaryllis apparently also respond well to being grown in a dilute alcohol:water solution. [read more…]
sweet spikes of success: reblooming orchids
January 4, 2011 at 5:55 pm
I REMEMBER THE PHALAENOPSIS ORCHID I GAVE my sister at Thanksgiving a few years ago, one of two of the same variety, keeping one for myself. Mine never rebloomed, and as for my sister’s–well, hers never stopped. And she never stopped gratefully telling me, month after month, “The orchid you gave me is blooming again. It sent up another spike.” That embarrassed me into conscientiously following some simple rules for how to rebloom an orchid–the steps I’d told her to follow, and she had–and lately I’ve been having multiple successes. Three or four on deck right now (above)!
tucked in with my begonias: a recap of their care
December 11, 2010 at 11:40 am
MY OLD FRIENDS ‘MARMADUKE,’ ABOVE, and ‘Little Brother Montgomery’ and all the other fancy-leaf begonias I grow for double duty–garden display in spring and summer, houseplant service all fall and winter long–are tucked in safely with me, thank you, but neither they nor I are happy about it, truth be told. Low light and dry indoor air and a dry, frigid outdoors as the only alternative aren’t the happiest of times, but onward we trudge. It’s a good time for a reminder on how to make these rewarding plants as happy as possible in the offseason, and every time of year. (Plus, they make great holiday gifts…sources included along with all the tips and a begonia slideshow–all right here.)
growing fancy-leaf begonias, indoors and out
March 12, 2010 at 6:55 pm
IN LATE WINTER ‘YOU JUST TRY TO KEEP THEM BARELY ALIVE,’ Mobee Weinstein said the other day when we met at a professional event. I was lamenting my winter-weary collection back at home, and consoled to hear from a pro that I wasn’t abusing my begonias, plants that Mobee, longtime foreman of gardeners for the New York Botanical Garden, introduced me to early on in our gardening careers. My begonias are at their lowpoint foliage-wise but some are flowering anyhow—tis the season. What courageous, forgiving members of my household and garden. [read more…]
paperwhites on the rocks
November 4, 2009 at 8:57 am
I AM REMINDED BY MY ANNUAL EMAIL from a venerable gardener in Rhode Island that paperwhites are lushes, and need a stiff drink their first two waterings to stay compact and less tipsy than they would otherwise. Depending on the “proof” of the alcohol you use, the mixture can be about 1:8 alcohol:water; her recommendations for serving them on the rocks are on this old post, and a fact sheet from Cornell can be had here. We are, of course, talking about serving them on the rocks, as in pebbles. Cheers!
andre’s on vacation, but my clivia isn’t
July 30, 2009 at 3:56 am
OUR BELOVED ANDRE THE DOODLER IS OFF this week, muttering something as he trudged out about summer “holiday” with “the Missus,” but my oldest orange Clivia, which normally blooms in April, is present and accounted for (above). So are a pair of gray foxes, who decided to spend last weekend with me eating apples off my trees. True. I have a photo to prove it (not great, but hey, they were way across the yard; at least I tried). [read more…]
