I HAVE BEEN THINKING about garden “rooms” lately—about how it is that even a homemade and very informal garden like mine, built without any master plan or design expertise, ends up having defined spaces, anyhow. So when I saw news of a lecture by the manager of Hidcote Manor Garden in Gloucestershire, a century-old British treasure of 28 rooms, I wrote to ask the speaker some questions. Perhaps you’ll want to come to Berkshire Botanical Garden’s winter lecture–or if geography’s a challenge, and you’re not near western Massachusetts on Saturday, February 23 (or Philadelphia February 20, where he’s also speaking for the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society), just come learn a little on the jump page about the making of garden rooms from Glyn Jones. [read more…]
types of gardening
From container gardening to shade gardening to organic gardening and even lawncare basics, a range of gardening styles and practices are covered in this archive.
on garden rooms: a talk with hidcote’s manager
winterizing the water garden: top tips
IN MORE THAN 20 YEARS of operating two homemade in-ground water gardens, I have probably broken lots of rules—especially about winterizing. But there are some rules I never break, and keeping the surfaces from freezing over is the most important one of all. [read more…]
rethinking how i mow, and late-fall lawn tips
I MENTIONED IT IN MY resolutions (the ones I made extra-early, when I started fall cleanup weeks ago). It’s time to rethink some of the ways I mow. For me, part of the revised plans are aesthetic (that’s the evolving view out the upstairs window, above), but wildlife appeal and less work also figure in, since longer “lawn” may flower and set seed and of course requires less frequent attention. It’s a good time for some tips for the last mowings of the season—and an overall approach to season-long organic lawncare, including some do-it-now reminders about your mower blade, a soil test and more. [read more…]
chasmanthium, a native grass for shade
IN THE WAY THAT PINE CONES fascinate me, I’m taken in by the seedheads of Northern sea oats, too—and actually, they’re a little bit like a flattened cone, aren’t they? One of three shade-tolerant ornamental grasses I grow, Chasmanthium latifolium is an American native. Chasmanthium latifolium, up close: [read more…]
pineapple-lily season: easy eucomis bicolor
NEXT TO CANNAS, which are about the easiest non-hardy bulbs or bulb-like plants to carry over year to year carefree in the cellar, I’d have to say that Eucomis bicolor, the pineapple lily (Zones 7 or 8 to 10), is winning me over for its similarly cooperative nature and long season of showing off. I enjoyed the potful that a friend gave me so much that this spring I ordered a dozen bulbs, and put three or four in each of several 12-inch containers. From the first purple-spotted leaves and stems to the crazy flowerheads, above, a winner. How to grow, and overwinter, Eucomis in pots.
