how to store tender plants, with dennis schrader

Introducing the Best Colorful Hedge Plants, a vibrant selection of foliage that will add a burst of colors to your landscape. These eye-catching hedges combine beauty and functionality, making them a perfect choice for any garden or outdoor space.

Taylor Swift is in her Eras era, and the world is here for it. Whether you’re a die-hard Swiftie or just catch the occasional tune on the radio, you’ve probably heard all about the Eras Tour, along with its fantastical world-building and ambitious set design. The three-hour show takes the audience through an era-by-era recap of Swift’s 17-year musical career, covering all of her albums in a stunning and immersive 44-song performance.

Changing weather patterns due to climate change are resulting in longer and more frequent periods without rain, putting water resources under increasing pressure. Hosepipe bans are therefore becoming more frequent. Hosepipe bans are designed to restrict water consumption by banning the use of a hose for watering plants, as well as activities including cleaning the car, filling pools and hot tubs, and cleaning paths. But don’t despair, there are plenty of ways to keep your plants watered, especially with some prior planning.

And though most leaves are green—why are some not green at all, or at certain times of year?The new book, “How Plants Work: The Science Behind the Amazing Things Plants Do” answers those questions and more. (Enter to win a copy at the bottom of the page.)Its author, Linda Chalker Scott, joined me on the public radio show and podcast to explain. Linda is an Extension Urban Horticulturist with Washington State University, a

I SAID IT A FEW WEEKS AGO, when I saw a change of the guard at my feeders a couple of weeks ahead of “normal”–do the birds know something I don’t yet? Seemed to me then that winter’s first teases must be close at hand. And now the National Weather Service says it may drop to 33 one night this week, slightly higher the others (not as scary as parts of Wisconsin, the Dakotas, Minnesota and Iowa, where I see–egads!–winter weather advisories and freeze watches and warnings).

I’M SEEING SHADES OF BLUE ON THE WEATHER MAP (you know, the numbing color of lips exposed to too much cold) and thinking, No, not yet; please not yet. But there it is, in living (killing?) color, on the NOAA map: time to bring in the tender things, or else.

Prepping a bed without turning or tilling may actually help reduce the number of weed seeds that sprout, so in many situations, it’s my tactic of choice. If a sunny patch of lawn is destined to house a crop of summer tomatoes or a fall-planted bulb garden, or an existing border needs some smothering of weeds. how to make a bed with cardboardTHE EXPLANATION below assumes the underlying soil is fairly decent, neither bog nor wasteland nor highly compacted, and that the vegetation growing in it is mostly herbaceous (like lawn, not a thicket of blackberries or po

First, my general thinking: No two gardeners’ potential places to stash such treasures will match in temperature or humidity, so when I say the basement works well here, your cellar might not. I have identified my best spots by experimenting, and by killing many things in the process. But every year I score another victory or two because I don’t let failure stop me. (Isn’t all gardening like that?)And this: If I don’t have the right spot for a plant–often a combination of high light but cool, 50ish-degree conditions–try forcing dormancy or semi-dormancy versus forcing it to limp along, suffering. If you have non-hardy plants you’ve tried keeping as “houseplants” in your heated home, only to see them go wretched and leggy, think about letting them rest, or close to it, next time. Water very sparingly and keep them as cool as possible.Extra heroics: Adding a growlight hood for 12 hours a day in, say, a cool basement could make a

I AM IN DENIAL. It simply cannot be time to move over and make room for them again in here, can it? But yes, the nights are already cooler than my fancy-leaf begonias and bromeliads would like, and before long it will be colder than everybody tender will tolerate outside.

He visited my public-radio show and podcast to talk shrubs: what’s new, what’s coming next, and what’s going out of favor and why. There’s a tension between what we gardeners need to make great season-long gardens, and the fact that we mostly shop only in spring—meaning we mostly buy things that look good then.We covered why he’s excited about plants like a beautyberry with flashy foliage, not just fruit (to help satisfy the “looks good in spring” thing); new barberries that don’t seed and become invasive; a dream of better viburnums that resist the leaf beetle; new native Hydrangea arborescens varieties in different colors of flowers (like ‘Incrediball Blush,’ above; an Aronia that covers the ground, and lots more.Read along as you listen to the April 15, 2019 edition of my public-radio

One of the best resources ever for those wishing to know their weeds is the book “Weeds of North America,” published in 2014 by University of Chicago Press, and co-authored by Richard Dickinson, with France Royer. Since its release, it is always at the ready here—with information about 500 species, plus photos of most every one at every life phase from seed to seedling to full plant and leaf and flower detail. There will be no mistaking weed from wildflower or garden plant again. Toronto-based Richard Dickinson has taught plant taxonomy for more than 25 years, and he joined me to talk about every gardener’s favorite—or is it unfavorite?—subject, weeds. I learned how they get so good at being weedy, and what their environmental impact is beyond taking space awa

How do birds get their food, and what do they eat, anyway? Well that depends on the bird, and Ellen Blackstone of BirdNote.org has some answers. A million people a day and more than 200 radio markets hear the 2-minute public radio show called BirdNote, and now “BirdNote” is a book too, which Ellen edited.Read along as you listen to the Aug. 20, 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).how birds find foo