with 33 forecast, i’m stashing tender plants

geistreiches / Getty Images

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.

Native bees species (like the mining bee above on the wildflower boneset) don’t get as much attention, and other insect pollinators even less, but without our wild pollinators we’d enjoy far less biodiversity, both in plants and animals—because they’re key to the food web, which would otherwise break down. To get to know some of these unsung heroes and the critical roles they play, I spoke with Heather Holm, author of the book “Pollinators of Native Plants,” which teaches us how to identify and attract and appreciate them in our gardens and beyond. (Enter to wi

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

Its native range, says the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, is New York and southern Ontario to Wisconsin, and northeast Iowa to Maryland, also appearing in the mountains from Georgia to Tennessee.  Depending whom you ask, twinleaf is hardy in Zone 4 or 5 to 7 or 8.The New England Wildflower Society’s Garden in the Woods, in Framingham, Massachusetts, was the first place I saw it in profusion, though it is apparently not technically 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.

Lately I have a lot of little fuzzy black and white creatures eating the leaves of my cannas (above), which is what got me started wondering who’s who. Turns out that’s the larval form of a hickory tussock moth, I think, whose usual diet is ash, elm, oak, hickory, maple, willow, and other trees.Though he looks velvety, look but don’t touch, apparently: The long “lashes” of the hickory tussock moth, Lophocampa caryae, are hollow tubes connected to poison glands, and can give susceptible people a stinging nettle-like rash or other reaction. The rest of the bristles, or setae, may also be irritating.This extensive University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee article offers a full portrait of the life of the hickory tussock moth, which apparently will spend the winter in a silk cocoon under tree bark or on the ground, then eventually works its way gradually n

First, some background: Great Lakes Worm Watch is a citizen-science outreach organization, working to map the state of the earthworms—and the habitats they’re living in.“We want to know where earthworms are across the landscape,” says Ryan—and that means even beyond the Great Lakes area, where the project began.  (There is a Canada Worm Watch, too, for those across the border; researchers at the University of Vermont, at the Cary Institute in Millbrook, New York, and elsewhere are likewise studying earthworm invasion.)Individuals, schools or garden groups can sign on help collect data on what worms are fou

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center says Mertensia is native from southern Ontario to eastern Minnesota, down to North Carolina, Arkansas and eastern Kansas, and “naturalized northeastward.” I have never seen it in the wild, but even a grouping of five or so plants can be dramatic in the early spring home garden.Virginia bluebells (Zones 4-7, maybe warmer) is summer-dormant, but before its long late-June-to-April nap, it shows off bigtime. A beautiful clump of foliage comes first—tender looking, with a blue-green cast. Then come the flower stems (temporarily making the plant not just a foot tall but almost tw

You may recall the popular interview Kathy and I did about looking at our own gardens with a critical eye to design improvements. (If not, it’s at this link.)  We also spoke on my radio show and podcast on Oct. 13, 2014 about what to stash and how, and what to toss, just as temperature at her Massachusetts location at Avant Gardens and mine were flirting with the mid-30s at night.Plus: Links to in-depth articles by Kathy and by me on aspects of overwintering–from succulents to figs, and even if you started earlier by taking cuttings from things like coleus–are at the end of the page.overwintering q&a, with kathy traceyQ. I know you have greenhouses at Avant Gardens, but nobody h

I called Dennis in late September, as my Zone 5B weather threatened to frost, because he has more experience with carrying over stock of tropicals and sub-tropicals than anyone else I know, after operating Landcraft Environments, a specialist in unusual tender things, since 1992. (Our conversation was the Sept. 23, 2013 edition of my public-radio show and podcast, and is summed up below with all his advice.)The to-the-trade business, located on the North Fork of Long Island in Mattituck, resulted from what Dennis calls, “a hobby that went wild,” a love of houseplants that led him to school for landscape design and nursery/greenhouse management, and eventually to start a design business and then the wholesale operation with his partner, Dennis Smith. Bold, colorful foliage is a signature of the Landcraft online catalog (which you can use as an inspirational encyclopedia of plants worth lusting over, even if you can’t shop there directly).“We’re kind of foliage-driven,” says Dennis, “a

A candid head’s up: Like Jeff, I am less-than-enthusiastic about the seemingly widespread desire among gardeners to shop their way out of issues with pests, disease, or soil imbalances. I buy a lot of seeds and bulbs and plants–but not a lot of “stuff.”Jeff and I had a funny email exchange, when I invited him to join me on the radio show and podcast, and asked about what topics he’d most like to cover together.“The topics that I speak on most frequently are garden remedies and thoughtful organic gardening,” Jeff replied. When I read that, my slightly dark humor zoomed in on the phrase “thoughtful organic gardening.”Except I thought he said, “thoughtless organic gardening.” I g