Horticulture Ideas, Tips & Guides

Our transatlantic cousins still benefit from the Pilgrim fathers gardening knowledge taken to their shores centuries ago. The potato famine of 1845-50 caused Irish farmers to discover the Idaho potato. Now these and other horticultural favours can be returned by this book of organic homespun tips.

It is interesting to see how gardening adverts have changed with the horticultural industry and modern developments. Yet a top fruit business has in some ways stayed the same.

You are unlikely to be able to recreate the conditions and zones of Hawaii in your garden but you can still gaze at some of the exceptional plants and study their habitats. Isolated by thousands of miles of ocean for millions of years, the Hawaiian islands are home to many unique plants and flowers described with great photographs in this book

I wanted something to look forward too and another trip to Madeira seemed appropriate. For the time being a virtual trip to this garden paradise of an island must suffice.

As befits a town with the sobriquet ‘Britain’s Floral Resort’ Harrogate is again a picture of vibrant colour in most of its green public spaces. Despite the crown (hotel and garden bed above ) it can not be called Royal Harrogate nor can it usurp Britain’s Floral Resort for it’s exclusive use.

Zonal Pelargonium aka Geranium

I have been reading the Penguin Encyclopedia of Gardening which aims to provide ‘….an explanation of words used in a technical sense in a horticultural context in the UK and USA.’ Set out as an A to Z this resulting post, missing a thousand definitions, is unlikely to rank highly with search engines.

The biggest butterfly in my garden is undoubtedly me the gardener. Whilst working on the beds or landscape I can flit from task to task or pause and forget what I intended doing. Even with ‘to do’ lists at the starts of the day I complete very few and add on  many supplementary things instead. The garden’s requirements take precedent as I flit about with spade or watering can but I also ‘butterfly’ in another key direction.

Do you have dark succulents and wondering how to ensure they stay that way or maybe even get a shade darker? Follow these tips on How to Keep Black Succulents Blacker!

Sansevieria Wintergreen is a snake plant with a twist – thanks to its dark foliage that sets it apart from other houseplants. Here are all the details about growing it.

Have a look at the Different Types of Arborvitae Varieties that you can use for privacy in the garden. They are easy to maintain and also look quite charming with their height.

Are you interested in learning how to garden more effectively? Would an online gardening class fit more easily into your schedule? Want to garden, but don’t have the time to volunteer? Would you love to become a Master Gardener, but can’t make the in person classes?If any of these questions apply to you, then maybe it’s time to think about taking Master Gardener training in an online environment!

Have you ever seen a century plant bloom? If not, put it on your horticultural bucket list! Century plant is a common name for a number of species of agave (Agave sp.), usually Agave americana in South Carolina. Most agaves are monocarpic, meaning that an individual plant only flowers once in its life and then dies. In fact, the name “century plant” is a much-exaggerated reference to the long time it takes for the plant to flower. In SC, agaves generally require 10 to 15 years to grow large enough to bloom.

The study of native plants, the ecosystems of South Carolina, and sustainable landscaping practices form the focus of the South Carolina Native Plant Certificate Program. A partnership between the South Carolina Native Plant Society and the South Carolina Botanical Garden, this program gives participants insight into South Carolina’s rich and complex botanical heritage, and offers ways to bolster the states’ biodiversity. This program began in July 2015, and to-date over 300 participants from all over the state, from all walks of life, and of all different ages, have enrolled in the program.

2020 Master Gardener Training Course registration is OPEN

Meet some of the Clemson Horticulture Agents and their fur babies!

Asking Clemson Extension Horticulture Agents what their favorite plants are is a difficult request!.. Here are a few favorites.

Here are some more favorite plants of Clemson Extension Horticulture Agents.

Horticulture Agent Barbara H. Smith’s Favorite Summer Annuals.

Interest in home gardening has flourished throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. In response, Clemson Extension’s Horticulture team is evaluating the best ways to meet the growing public demand for gardening knowledge.

The box tree moth, Cydalima perspectalis, is a non-native moth that has recently been found in a nursery in South Carolina. Native to eastern Asia, the box tree moth has been present in Canada since November 2018. From August 2020 through May 2021, infested boxwood (Buxus sp.) plants were inadvertently shipped from a grower in Canada to several nurseries in the U.S.; a retail nursery in South Carolina received infested plants in May 2021. As of June 1, 2021, the South Carolina detection is being treated as a regulatory incident, and this pest is not thought to have escaped into the landscape. Clemson’s Department of Plant Industry is investigating plant shipments into and out of the South Carolina nursery to determine if infested material may have been inadvertently sold to homeowners and will be monitoring in and around the nursery to ensure this moth has not escaped. If populations are found, a survey and eradication effort will follow.

Meet Your Clemson Extension Horticulture Agent Team

Here, at the beginning of 2022, some of us may resolve to make meaningful life changes. At midnight on December 31st, marketing campaigns switch from ‘indulge in holiday cheer’ to ‘new year, new you.’ For me, after the past two years, the wellness industry can keep their diets and gyms, and the self-help industry can sell their ‘ten-step program to be the best version of me’ to someone else. These days, I’m over here just trying to be.

When I was a child, my Mama would often say, I feel like a broken record! after reminding my brother and me several times of tasks we did not complete. As a parent, I now know firsthand the frustration she felt after repeatedly imploring us to turn off lights, close doors, pick up clothes, and so on and on and on…

The horticultural world lost Rick Berry, a remarkable plantsman, in November. I had the honor of being Rick’s friend and sharing years of plant exchanges and stories. Looking back, my last visit in April 2021 to Rick’s nursery, Goodness Grows in Lexington, GA, was a poignant one.

I read a recent article in Forbes magazine introducing a new book, Wild: The Naturalistic Garden by Noel Kingsbury. It nudged me to share a gardening concept that I have grown more passionate about as I have matured in horticulture. The idea is to introduce a little ‘wild’ into our home landscapes by adding native plants to improve environmental health.

Gardening and health are intrinsically linked. In order to eat healthy, we must first grow healthy foods. Working in the yard or the garden can provide us with physical activity. And, of course, the foods we grow can provide us with essential vitamins and nutrients to power our bodies.

Do you want to start farming but don’t know where to start? Would you like to grow vegetable crops to sell at a local farmer’s market? Would you like to develop a farming side hustle? The Food Crop Horticulture Team at Clemson Extension has been hard at work the past few months developing an online course designed to educate the beginner farmer on the foundational management practices that will help them in their farming journey. The online class, Farming Foundations is free and consists of fourteen learning modules. Each learning module consists of videos, presentations, and resources that aim to provide the basics to beginning a farm. Each module takes approximately one hour to complete and includes concepts such as soils, fertility, land preparation, irrigation, and many more. The class has a strong focus on vegetable production. Participants have 120 days to complete the online course. In the class, participants have the option to participate in homework assignments. Homework assignments include:

Most people know K.I.S.S. is an acronym for Keep It Simple Silly (or something very similar). K.I.S.S. is great because you can apply it to just about any situation in life. Horticulture is no different. Sure, some horticultural pursuits, like growing certain exotic ornamental plants, fruits and vegetables, or houseplants, are complicated. But most people can save themselves a lot of time, money, and headaches by just sticking to the basics.

Part of the Clemson Horticulture Team recently visited the Landsford Canal State Park in Chester County.  It was established in 1970 when Duke Power donated 194 acres. The park has now grown to 448 acres and contains the original 2 miles of the Landsford Canal. The canal was built between 1820 and 1825 to bypass the Catawba River rapids. The rocky shoals of the Catawba River contain one of the largest populations of the Rocky Shoals Spider Lilies.

OK, SO I HAVE A TWISTED SIDE. No big surprise to most of you, probably. And that being the case, I have some off-color favorites in various realms…including illustration. My all-time love is Andre Jordan from the UK (don’t know him personally, but he replied to my cold-call email saying it’s OK I post this). Jordan is a great talent, and since I had just left the city to live in the woods when I first came across this piece of his, I have adopted it as my motto. His doodles tackle life’s challenges, like love done in (or never achieved), depression, and other things that pull at my heart strings, including a popular if quite startling series for the BBC on disabilities. But caveat emptor: He can get a little wild, and is not PG. You are all grown-ups, no? So go see his A Beautiful Revolution site (or don’t, up to you), and especially his “Postcards I May Send” section, oh my.

ABOUT THIS TIME OF YEAR I GET FED UP with holiday to-do’s, and need a solid dose of horticulture instead. What better task to treat myself to than getting ready for seed-catalog shopping season: making an inventory of leftover things, testing for germination, writing a wishlist—and ordering a few new catalogs to widen my winter world.

M AY IS MADNESS. I have already said that in the monthly chores column. But it’s madness otherwise, too: garden tours to prep for; workshops I’m giving with friends; a garden contest I’m judging (as in, free prizes!); a sister in the news to brag about…and oh, I need your help with the Urgent Garden Question Forums here, too.

THE POPULAR SPRING GARDEN WORKSHOPS I teach with my old friend Bob Hyland, former head of horticulture for Brooklyn Botanic Garden, are now listed on my 2011 Events Calendar page, with links to registration and ticket information. A full-day spring garden tuneup workshop April 16, and two half-day container-gardening workshops May 21, are scheduled (along with all my garden lectures–including some new ones just posted).

The boys and I extend a huge thanks to Adrian, whom you can meet in the videos he’s been creating on The Post’s website. I loved this video about tomatoes, in which he combined visits with DC-area community gardeners and with our mutual friend Amy Goldman, the heirloom tomato queen who lives not far from me. Adrian’s recent story on Amy is a must-read as well.Also thanks to my very dear friend Erica Berger, who performed trick photography during the Washington Post photo shoot, so that (finally) a photo of Mother of the Frogboys that’s more recent than me at age 3 appears here.  I didn’t see any of Erica’s photos that ran in the paper, or others from her shoot including this one, on The Post’s website…just the story itself is there…

IT’S THAT TIME OF YEAR: Everybody’s got an Urgent Garden Question (or 20!). What better place to ask them than in person at one of my upcoming events? The car and I start another run starting tomorrow morning with an appearance at my favorite plant sale, Trade Secrets in Sharon, Connecticut, before we head north for Manchester Center, Vermont, for an evening lecture (whoosh)! And there many other stops in the weeks ahead, too—including a much-overdue one at the historic home of The Fabulous Beekman Boys and their adorable goats:Saturday, May 14, 9-11 AM: Garden Q&A’s and book signing at Trade Secrets, Sharon, CT.