Native Shrubs in Your Landscape

HAPPY SPRING!

Now that 2024 is in full swing, it’s time to refresh more than our calendars and wardrobes—our homes could use some love, too.

AS SHE OFTEN DOES, naturalist and nature writer Nancy Lawson—perhaps known better to some of you as the Humane Gardener after the title of her first book—caught my attention the other day.

Q: I have a winter flowering jasmine, growing profusely on a 3m-high north-facing wall. For most of its six years, it has produced an abundance of flowers, from early November until March. During the recent summer, I took a lot of its stems, which had bunched at about 2m, and gently stretched them out along a series of horizontal wires. This November I can only see a handful of flowers (less than 10). Did my gentle summer manipulation cause this drop in flowers and if so, how? CD, Co Dublin

In a world being reshaped by climate change, gardeners are increasingly asking themselves what can be done to counter the destructive effects of extreme weather events. The answer, as we’re discovering, is to take a nature-friendly approach that supports and nurtures resilience.

TikTok has a new design theory on the rise: anyone whose couch doesn’t touch their walls is living in luxury. Having your couch in the middle of the room, according to many TikTok users, is the mark of an expensive home.

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Against a backdrop of gently swaying tall Grasses, this garden recreates the look of a prairie wildflower meadow. Make sure you have enough room for the Saccharum Grass-it gets huge! If space is limited, you may want to use Calamagrostis `Karl Foerster’ in its place. Give this garden a full day’s sun and average soil. Before planting, clear the area of existing grass or weeds. After you have installed the perennials, sow seeds of a nonaggressive Grass, such as Little Bluestem, between them. These will grow into tufts of pretty meadow Grass, lending even more of a naturalistic look while helping to suppress weeds. Just a late-winter cutting of the dried Grasses and stalks is all the maintenance you’ll need to do. Since all of these wildflowers are from sturdy stock, they’ll need supplemental watering only during periods of drought. From midsummer through fall, this little piece of prairie will sing with color.

While many of us think of trees as super-tall giants or stand-alone specimen plants, we also know that most trees naturally grow in forests and that forests aren’t all made up only of tall trees. There are trees that mature at different levels, and certain trees prefer growing in the dappled light of their taller neighbors. We call these understory trees, and there are many that work well in our home gardens, adding interesting forms and structures, colorful blooms, or intriguing foliage. They also can provide food and shelter for wildlife. The following trees and shrubs all take full sun to partial shade. So if you’ve got some dappled shade under a tall canopy of trees, consider one of these excellent options.

If you are planning to set up plants in a way that makes you room look neat and tidy – then you gotta have a plan. If you don’t have one – well, we have some cool ideas!

Tool maintenance is often regarded as a chore to be done only when other gardening jobs are exhausted, usually on rainy or bitter days when the great outdoors is less than inviting. Sometimes it is avoided altogether, although deep-down most gardeners know their tools deserve better treatment. Modern tools are made either from carbon steel or stainless steel. Carbon steel tends to be stronger but can suffer from corrosion; stainless steel tools have gleaming blades that remain rust-free and prove easy to clean without need for oiling, although they are not suited to the toughest jobs.