Archive for the ‘mulching’ Category

Getting Rid Of Difficult Weeds

Some aggressive perennials like Chameleon plant (Houttuynia cordata), variegated Bishop’s weed (Aegopodium podagraria), along with many woody briars can be extremely difficult to eliminate from a landscape area or garden bed.  If a weedy garden bed contains no desirable plants, you can over spray weeds with glyphosate, a nonselective herbicide.(Roundup™ is common trade name). This […]

Steps In Planting A Hedge

Why Plant A Hedge: Living privacy fence offers privacy from street traffic and neighbors Serves as a sound barrier to reduce noise A windbreak to reduce harsh winds Snow fence to reduce snow accumulation Wildlife protection and food for birds from berries and seed. Planning: Select vigorous disease and pest free trees and shrubs that suit […]

Three Really Cool Shade Plants

What three wildflowers can handle intense woodland shade. To most gardeners, hostas, Solomon seal, coral bells (Heuchera spp.), brunneras, and ferns are popular favorites. Expand your plant choices with these three shady favorites which are long-lived, low-care gems – Fairy wings (Epimedium spp), bellworts (Uvularia spp.), and shredded umbrella plant (Syneilesis). Fairy wings (Epimedium spp.), aka barrenworts, […]

Love in A Mist (Nigella)

Love-in-a-mist (Nigella damascena) is a popular cool weather annual. It is also known by several other names including “ragged lady” or “devil in the bush”. Nigella belongs to the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae) and is native to southern Europe, North Africa and southwest Asia. In its natural habitat, nigella is found on neglected, damp patches of […]

Six Early Spring Wildflowers To Grow In Your Woodland Garden

Celandine poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum) is a popular Eastern U.S. native loved for its 12-18 inch tall 4-petaled, yellow flowers. Its blue-green, pinnately lobed leaves are silvery on the underside. It seeds-in readily, which is a good thing, as plants disappear by late May and comeback early next spring in abundance (USDA hardiness zones 4-9). Virginia bluebells (Mertensia […]

Growing Crinum Lilies

Crinum Lilies, aka “River lilies”, “Cape Coast lilies”, and “Creole lilies”, are native to Southeast Asia. Crinum lilies are more akin to Amaryllis (Hippeastrum) than true lilies (Lilium). Considered to be an old staple in Southern gardens, crinum lilies are seen growing around old cemeteries, old farmsteads, and in ditches (zones 7-10). Over time long-lasting […]

Growing Japanese Maples In Containers

Many slow-growing and compact cultivars of Japanese maples (Acer palmatum) and full moon forms (A. japonicum) grow for 3-5 years in containers. Japanese maples develop a decorative canopy, and their lacey foliage turns yellow, orange and/or red in autumn. Most Japanese maples perform well in partial to full day sunlight, but not in full shade. […]

Eastern Bluestar (Amsonia)

Eastern Bluestar (Amsonia tabernaemontana), aka blue dogbane, is a native herbaceous perennial that is becoming more popular with U.S. gardeners (USDA hardiness zones 3-9). This erect, clump-forming plant produces terminal, pyramidal clusters of ¾ inch, soft light blue, star-like flowers in mid- to late-spring atop erect 2-3 feet tall leafy stems. Narrow, willow-shaped, dull green […]

Winter-blooming Wintersweet

Wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox) is a landscape shrub offers four seasons of landscape interest. Also called Japanese allspice, this deciduous mid-sized shrub typically grows 10-15 feet tall and 8-12 feet wide and blooms during winter (USDA zones 7-9). You can also risk planting wintersweet in a protected courtyard garden in Zones 6 to minimize freeze injury […]

Seven Shrubs That Bloom In February

If you have ever dreamt of creating a year-round landscape garden, here are seven fine shrubs to start with. These shrubs bloom in late winter and are also important to early insect pollinators — native ground bees, bumble bees, and butterflies. In USDA hardiness zones 7-9, winter temperatures begin to moderate and some shrubs burst into floral […]