EACH YEAR, the powers that be in the horticulture industry declare what the trends are, what color is in, and what design styles we’re all meant to adhere to—and what plant is hot, or not. Dr. Jared Barnes and I beg to differ, and have decided to do some trend declarations of our own, from big, bold perennials (like Baptisia, silhouetted in the morning light, above) to why you should learn to propagate and share some plants.
Jared is an associate professor of horticulture at Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas, and the creator of the “Planted” blog and e-newsletter, and the monthly “Plantastic Podcast.” He’s been gardening since about age 5, and I was glad to chat with him, to do some forecasting together.
Read along as you listen to the February 27, 2023 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on Apple Podcasts (iTunes) or Spotify or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).
naming our own garden trends, with jared barnes
Margaret Roach: Hello, Jared. We have so many friends in common, and plants in common [laughter].
Jared Barnes: Yes, definitely. And I also want to say thank you so much for all that you put into the world to make the world more plantastic.
Margaret: Well, ditto.
Jared: So, I appreciate it.
Margaret: I’ve been subscribing to your e-newsletter, which I enjoy very much, and reading more and more of your blog, so it’s mutual. A little background, you just tell us quickly: You teach horticulture. Where do you garden? Do you have a garden, a home garden?
Jared: Sure. I live in East Texas. I am a professor at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. We’re a nice school. We’ve got about 12,000 students. And of
The website greengrove.cc is an aggregator of news from open sources. The source is indicated at the beginning and at the end of the announcement. You can send a complaint on the news if you find it unreliable.
Red Anthuriums, with their heart-shaped, bold red spathes and dark green foliage, are the epitome of tropical charm. However, coaxing these plants to grow larger and more vibrant isn’t always straightforward. This guide lifts the curtain on some of the lesser-known, specialist techniques used by master gardeners on How to Grow a Big Anthurium Plant!
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YOU CAN BUY ONE IN A CATALOG, or you can make your own seed-starting rig as I did 20 years ago. It’s still growing strong. I promised the details in a comment the other day, and got reminded of my stray remark, so here they are:
My original piece of Farfugium japonicum ‘Giganteum’ (then known as Ligularia tussilaginea ‘Gigantea’) came many years ago, from a friend at a New York City public garden. Summers, it was lusty and bold, growing mightily in a pot and showing off like crazy. But I could never make the plant completely happy in the offseason, or so I thought, and after torturing it in my house one winter and in my basement (trying to force dormancy) the next, I gave the exhausted creature to a friend with a greenhouse.I kept his likeness here with me, and I guess I pined for him: A mid-century tray I’d bought at at antiques store bore an image of Farfugium, though not to scale. The plant bears ultra-shiny leaves that get to about 15 inches across.When I saw its shining face not long ago in the Plant Delights catalog, which credited the same person I’d got
IN A RAINSTORM HE DEPARTED, AND IN A RAINSTORM HE RETURNED. One of my five beloved big bullfrogs (above) hopped back in the other wet night after a four and one-half month absence, with not so much as a single word of explanation, and just that same stupid smile on his face.
I used to grow Joe Pye weed, Eupatorium purpureum (above), in the back row of mixed borders with much smaller perennials. Eventually I relegated all these super-tall types to a bed of their own, where they could shine together instead of be the only bright light in beds with foreground companions who had seen better days, the sometimes-unavoidably tattered heroes of spring and early summer.One other resident of the big bed is Rudbeckia ‘Herbstsonne’ (I also see it listed various places as ‘Herbstonne,’ see comment from Yvonne after the post) or autumn sun coneflower (photo above). It gets to about 8 feet, with a wonderful linear quality and a graceful sway in every breeze.Both of