tucked in with my begonias: a recap of their care

Amy Batog

A happy and pleasant surprise has just arrived through the post at home.

(click any green type to link to the profile of that plant)Golden hinoki cypress, Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Crippsii’Japanese umbrella pine, Sciadopitys verticillataConcolor fir, Abies concolorWeeping Alaska cedar, Chamaecyparis nootkatensis ‘Pendula’Korean fir, Abies koreanaLacebark pine, Pinus bungeanaFavorite Coniferous ShrubsRussian arborvitae, Microbiota decussataGolden spreading yew, Taxus baccata ‘Repandens Aurea’Dwarf white pine,Pinus strobus ‘Nana’Conifer SlideshowIf you missed it earlier this year, tour the above favorites and more in my slideshow of favorites conifers.Categoriesconifers for beginners trees & shrubs

Andrew, who is now assistant director of the Chicago Botanic Garden, is past president of Magnolia Society International’s board of directors, and remains a member of the society’s board. In his tenure over 20 years as curator at Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania, Andrew built the magnolia collection from about 50 to more than 200 cultivars. That’s a lot of magnolias.Now Andrew Bunting is author of a book on the queen of flowering trees, called “The Plant Lover’s Guide to Magnolias,” just out from Timber Press as part of an ongoing series on various distinctive genera of plants.We talked magnolias on my public-radio show and podcast. Read along while you listen in to the April 25, 2016 edition of the podcast using the player below (or at this link)–and even learn how to train a magnolia or any w

EVERYONE’S COME HOME FOR THE WINTER and there isn’t much navigating space in some rooms here–sound familiar? If there were a few more tender plants to accommodate, I’d need to build an addition, to overwinter them all. Until Andre the doodler pointed out the parallel with this weekly doodle, I didn’t know about the show “Hoarders,” oh my oh my.

Thanks to Lisa, I got helpful advice about shopping for bulbs, and the importance of choosing perennial companion plants that work well with them—creating dramatic backdrops, or hiding faded bulb foliage—plus tips for making our tulips last longer and more.  We also talked about gardening by subtraction—the essential process of editing, especially in a looser “wild garden,” as the Gravel Garden style represents.Lisa, at Chanticleer since 1990 after graduating from Longwood Gardens’ Professional Gardener Program, is also one of the co-authors of lavish book about Chanticleer called “The Art of Gardening.” (Enter in the comments box at the very bottom of the page, after the last reader comment, to win a copy.)Read along as you listen to the Aug. 29, 2016 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the

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.

THEY’RE LEAVING (OR COMING BACK) in increasing numbers these days. The birds, I mean.

THINKING OF CREATING SOME NEW BEDS next spring? Or as you’re cleaning up this fall, have you noticed that you need to smother some pesky weeds and turn existing beds back to tame? Don’t wait till winter ends; starting now–in autumn–make (or smother) a bed with cardboard, or newsprint. Here’s how to kill weeds and prep new gardens easily and without chemicals–perhaps where lawn grows now–and without having to till.

I’m gathering green herbs—parsley, basil, sage, cilantro, chives, you name it—and freezing them in various ways.Have you put your white potatoes into storage? I leave mine in the dark, insulated ground awhile longer, but sooner or later…With sweet potatoes, what to do when it’s time to dig and store.Where to stash onions and garlic (and soon we’ll be planting the latter—along with multiplier onions—so have you ordered your bulbs?).Freeze some peppers while they’re plentiful and cheap.I’m ripening all the tomatoes I can (the tactics, on and off th

Quick note: The green text links will take you to full profiles of most of the plants mentioned, if any of them sound like something you’d like to add to your extra-early garden, whatever month it happens to happen in from year to year.january beginningsWE ALREADY TALKED in January 2012 about the witchhazels, or Hamamelis xintermedia, that began flowering about January 20, and continued all through February until halfway through March.Helleborus foetidus, above, the stinking hellebore, has been at it that long, too—and shows no signs of stopping.  Apparently no winter is what this plant, which sows itself around the garden and is far less robust most years i

When do I feed flower bulbs? Generally feed bulbs when their foliage pokes through the ground, in early spring, with an all-natural organic formula labeled for bulbs. You basically topdress the area; that is, sprinkle it and maybe scratch it around gently at most, but don’t work it in roughly, so as not to harm the bulbs, but let the fertilizer mellow gradually itself. Don’t forget to feed your garlic bulbs in the vegetable garden, too.When can I cut off flower bulb foliage? Don’t trim back foliage until the bulb is done with it—until the foliage fades naturally, nourishing the bulb below in the process. If the bulbs didn’t need its foliage it would wither it sooner itself. Be patient, because trimming back foliage too soon is one possible reason