How and When to Prune Star Jasmine

Colorful and ornamental, easy-care Echeveria species, hybrids, and cultivars are flowering succulents that thrive on neglect and arid conditions in the garden.They can be raised as houseplants as well.

It should be no surprise to me that it was Dave who created this new online application, since besides his garden expertise, Texas-based Dave is a programmer (and the founder of Dave’s Garden, which he ran before moving on to start All Things Plants). Dave was the guest on this week’s “A Way to Garden” public-radio show and podcast, where we discussed the new Garden Planting Calendar app. (Stream the show now; get it on iTunes, or Stitcher, or at RobinHoodRadio.com.)“My wife, Trish, is actually the one who pushed me to do this,” says Dave, adding that the Garden Planting Calendar took him only two months to develop and launch. It gives you first and last frost dates (where applicable) and sowing and/or planting dates by crop, based on the location you enter.The app started with just U.S. weather data, but Canadian users quickly said, “What about us?” so Dave added that i

BY LUMPING THE CROPS I SOW INDOORS in spring into three simple groups with similar time needs, I streamline my seed-starting. You’ll need to memorize only one fact to use my “lumped-together” countdown formula, and that’s your local date of average final frost (mine isn’t until close to June).The brassicas, like broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower and kohlrabi, all have the same requirements: a month to six weeks indoors under lights before they go outside, which is safe about a month before final frost. This group therefore gets its start between March 15 and April 1 in my household. (Note with Brussels sprouts: many resources say sow them later, like May 1 or so, so they stand well into frost, when they achieve their best flavor. Today there are varieties requiring as few as 82ish days to maturity and as many as 100-plus, so take into consideration which you’re growing when you plan when to sow.)Tomatoes, peppers and eggplants make up my second group, each getting si

I HAVE TO HAND IT to extra-early and extra-late garden performers for knowing to do their thing when it’s really needed—just when the gardener may be giving up hope. Today’s star: Spiraea thunbergii ‘Ogon,’ just beginning to turn brilliant butterscotch seven months after flowering, then sporting chartreuse foliage since; the butterscotch phase will last till around Christmas, when the leaves will drop).

I THOUGHT IT WAS TIME: time to give A Way to Gardeners a tool right here on the website for calculating when to start seed for vegetables, common flowers and herbs in spring.  Like everything I publish and most everything in gardening, the new feature is based simply on how I think about things, not some hard-and-fast set of rules; all I can offer is my best guidance, not doctrine.

‘HALLELUJAH, the garden saved me,” I said, and also, “What’s not to love about a frog?” Those Margaret-isms are among the snippets from my recent appearance on “The Leonard Lopate Show” on WNYC, the New York NPR affiliate I have listened to daily my entire adult life, and a fun Q&A interview in the latest issue of “Folk” magazine. Listen to the Lopate segment, and read the “Folk” piece by Andrew Ritchie (pdf format, page 18 onward).

You can ask us anything, urgent or otherwise, on Facebook, or in comments on this website or on Ken Druse dot com, or by using the contact form on either one of our websites.Read along as you listen to the February 19, 2018 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).q&a with ken drusehow soon to start the cleanup?Q. Fro

I’VE BEEN SCOUTING around in my garden for orphaned plants, ones that used to be in visually pleasing clumps or masses, but because of expanding shade or a naughty vole or who knows what, aren’t looking as good as they used to. Over in New Jersey, Ken Druse has been digging and dividing some perennials, too, but for different reasons.

Showy and vibrant, fiery Crocosmia flowers are ideal for the late summer garden, blooming for weeks when many other perennials are fading and spent.Summer-flowering corms, they quickly form vibr

Blueberries are one of those easy-to-grow garden plants whose fruit provides you with incredible nutrition – and tasty treats!If you fertilize them correctly in the s

Don’t you love showy plants that provide multiple seasons of interest?Cotoneaster shrubs are hardworking an

Growing Scarlet Rosemallows  in the garden and landscape can be a rewarding experience. Learn all about  How to Grow Texas Star Hibiscus. From propagation methods to care tips, and understanding the growing requirements, here is everything you need to ensure its healthy growth and blooming.