Painting is a lot of work. Once you finish, you must clean up. How do you wash your paintbrushes?
07.07.2023 - 14:37 / finegardening.com
Drought has become synonymous with gardening in the past several years. It seems like regardless of where you live, you will experience some sort of dry conditions in summer. This has led many of us to reevaluate our plant choices. Perennials we once relied on to fill our beds and borders may flag in July and August—or shrivel up and die altogether. In anticipation of drier conditions in the future, we’re talking about plants that thrive in drought. These selections have built in traits that allow them to sail through long periods of no rain, and/or soils that have little-to-no moisture retentive properties. And we’re not just talking about succulents and cacti here! Listen now to hear about an array of lush, floriferous perennials that thrive in desert-like environments.
Expert guest: Ed Lyon is Director of the Reiman Gardens in Ames, Iowa.
‘Drops of Jupiter’ oregano (Origanum ‘Drops of Jupiter’, Zone 4-9)
Sandpaper bush (Mortonia scabrella, Zones 8b-11)
‘Pink Champagne’ epimedium (Epimedium ‘Pink Champagne’, Zones 5-8)
‘Blue Paradise’ little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium ‘Blue Paradise’, Zones 3-9)
‘Pink Diamonds’ alpine bleeding heart (Dicentra ‘Pink Diamonds’, Zones 3-9)
‘Caradonna’ meadow sage (Salvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna’, Zones 4-8)
Bearded iris (Iris germanica cvs., Zones 3-9)
Undaunted® ruby muhly grass (Muhlenbergia reverchonii ‘PUND01S’, Zones 5-9)
Epimedium (Epimedium spp. and cvs., Zones 4-9)
Baptisia (Baptisia spp. and cvs., Zones 4-9)
‘Blackhawks’ big blue stem (Andropogon gerardii ‘Blackhawks’, Zones 3-9)
Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa and cvs., Zones 3-9)
Purple prairie clover (Dalea purpurea, Zones 3-8)
Painting is a lot of work. Once you finish, you must clean up. How do you wash your paintbrushes?
Natural precipitation rates vary around the world, but no matter how much rain a region gets annually, we all share the responsibility to use it wisely. Water-wise gardening – sometimes called xeriscaping – uses innovative conservation techniques and sound gardening practices to create a beautiful landscape while conserving water. For water wise landscaping ideas, read on.
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
THE ANNUAL VEGETABLE-GARDEN ARCHAEOLOGICAL DIG yielded the usual suspects—perennials and small shrubs I plunge in there for wintertime storage, things I use in summer pots: huge hosta clumps (I do love hostas) and Hakonechloa and other random bits. In went 3 inches of compost, 10 pounds of lime per 100 square feet, an all-natural organic fertilizer made of meals and manures, seeds for short rows of various salad greens, and a few-dozen onion plants.
Now Ruth Rogers Clausen, one author of that well-used 1989 book, has teamed with another longtime horticulturist and garden writer, Tom Christopher, to create a volume that better matches the palette of plants packing the benches of today’s nurseries—and also better serves gardeners in the hot, humid Southeast, not just cooler and drier regions, something the earlier book didn’t. (I’m sharing a copy in the latest giveaway; enter at the bottom of the page.)Their new book is “Essential Perennials: The Complete Reference to 2700 Perennials for the Home Garden,” and it is a collaboration with a special backstory: Ruth, a British-trained horticulturi
LESPEDEZA THUNBERGII: A 6-by-6 fountain of late-summer into fall purple glory. Easy, too.HAKONECHLOA ‘ALL GOLD’: The Japanese forest grass turns my shady garden areas golden tones from May into winter.HELLEBORE HYBRIDS: Dry shade? No problem. Forgiving, beautiful, extra-early blooming perennials with evergreen foliage to boot.SEDUM ‘MATRONA’: Maybe my favorite of the taller sedums, all blue-green and pinkish in that sedum-y way.GERANIUM PHAEUM ‘SAMOBOR’: Perennial geraniums are a must; this one’s perhaps the mustest, showy and cooperative.LATHYRUS VERNUS: A little perennial pea of early spring (above) that’s delicate and durable; one of my sprin
If I count my blessings from 2009, I’d count Andre right up there, along with starting A Way to Garden (and now The Sister Project), getting a book contract of my own (more on that someday) and letting Jack the Demon Cat in the house to sit at my feet while I work each day.Andre’s memoir is brutal and charming and uproarious all at once, sharing as he does in his words (sometimes starting with “F”) and pictures (sometimes involving turgid body parts) the journey through life’s inconvenient truths and low tides, as the book depicts:A line drawing of a bucket labeled “Happy Pills” and beside it the caption “Hard to Swallow.”
LATHYRUS VERNUS, the spring vetchling, is a non-vining, carefree perennial pea I cannot imagine spring without. Not familiar with it? Read on.PULMONARIA RUBRA has been at it for weeks here. No variegation in its leaves, like many of the showier lungworts (as pulmonarias are called) have, but hey, red’s pretty special in early spring, isn’t it?PACHYSANDRA PROCUMBENS, the American species (above), is bloo
For just $40, plus $10 for lunch, visitors can enjoy Nate and Berta Atwater’s modernist masterpiece, before heading to John Gwynne and Mikel Folcarelli’s rarity-stuffed hidden garden, Sakonnet. Amazing Opus Nursery, the place of master grower Ed Bowen, will be on hand all day for a plant sale that’s every bit as special as the palette of Dixter.For those within a day’s drive, this is a garden party not to be missed. Get glimpses of all the gardens (as well as of Dixter) and the event details in this pdf about the event. Best of all: Each dollar raised will be matched by the UK’s “lottery board” so that Great Dixter may carry on in its colorful, inspirational style.(Anthony Chammond photo of pots at Dixter from Flickr.)
Now as a rural dweller I mostly talk to the birds outside, so Skype and phone sessions have to substitute. My friend Katherine Tracey and I got into it the other day–lots of, “Have you ever grown (fill in the blank)?” or, “Did you see the new color of (insert Latin plant name)?” and then wondering aloud if each one is really a good performer or not, and worth trying.I thought it would be fun to bring all of you into the conversation, too, so once you listen to our chat, tell us your own powerhouse plants, in the comments. Read along as you listen to the Feb. 15, 2016 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).Background on
Kathy, of Avant Gardens retail and mail order nursery in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, also helps clients design and refine their landscapes, creating spaces she describes as intimate but not fussy, like her home garden. She relies on a wide palette of plants—including lots of dramatic perennials.We talked about best practices for proactive cutbacks starting in June, and continuing now. About perennial mums to invest in (and how to care for them). About all the really tall guys of late summer—lots of sunflower relatives, and also the ironweeds or Vernonia, among others. That’sVernonia letermannii blooming above around a variegated yucca in her garden top of page.Read along as you listen to the Aug.
I’ve rounded up some of the best to tackle in the monthly Q&A segment with help from my friend Ken Druse. Ken, an award-winning garden photographer and author of more books than I can count, including “The New Shade Garden” and “Making More Plants,” produced his own “Real Dirt” podcast for 10 years, all available on KenDruse dot com (and still available on iTunes, too).Read along as you listen to the March 6, 2107 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here). This is the second segment of the March Q&A program—find the first