Garden
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How best to use seed catalogs
Seed and nursery catalogs are out and we’re on the road to planning our 2024 gardens. Catalogs are more than just pictures. They are reference books, telling us what will and won’t grow here or how long it will take for a plant to grow. Catalogs can be a resource to help you save time and money, so you don’t buy plants that aren’t designed for our growing conditions. Lots of information is available from catalogs. You can determine if a plant is an annual or perennial and understand the mature plant size, shape, and soil requirements. Color options, blooming period and cold tolerance will be listed. Most catalogs…
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Brookside Gardens – GreenScapes Symposium
Innovative Designs from The Field X Friday, February 16, 2024, 8:45 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. EST *Live Zoom Event X This symposium will offer new and innovative sustainable design and maintenance strategies to take your home garden or professional work to the next level. Join industry experts as they share practical and scalable lessons from the field representing a diverse range of natural landscapes and human environments. We’ll explore the latest research from the University of Delaware, including case studies from award-winning public gardens and museums. Designers will share the challenges faced and solutions discovered working on projects with leaders like Roy Diblik, Piet Oudolf, and Cassian Schmidt. Learn how…
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The Best Ways to Lay Out Your Vegetable Garden
Every gardener, from the apartment dweller to the farmer, has a finite allotment of planting space. What you want to grow needs to fit into that space, so planning is essential. With planning, you can thoughtfully consider when different crops will be ready to harvest and can be rotated. Your plants can benefit from being next to certain plants, and kept away from others. Most importantly, you will avoid the age-old problem of endlessly turning in a circle, in the middle of your garden, holding some starts that you have no idea where to plant. Block planting We all grew up with the idea of farms, with long rows or…
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10 shade loving varieties |
Space underneath trees can be notoriously tricky to cultivate. With the ground beneath often looking dull, shaded, and bare, the conditions make it tricky for some plants to thrive. However, there are plenty of shade plants that will grow quite happily beneath a canopy of branches. From sweet-scented shrubs and woodland-style bulbs to carpets of lush foliage. So, if you’re looking to make the most of your space with the best plants for under trees, read on to discover our suggestions. The best plants under trees: 10 of our favorite picks Perhaps you’ve recently added one or two trees to your plot. Or, maybe you’ve got a few well-established species…
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‘Looking forward to seeing this perform’
Rain gardens have exploded in popularity in recent years among both homeowners and businesses as people realize their numerous benefits. One landscaper got asked to install one at a church and posted the results for all to admire in the r/NativePlantGardening subreddit. A video of the finished project revealed a beautiful rain garden next to the children’s playground complete with several varieties of plants, river rocks, and boulders carved into a narrow section of soil to help funnel and absorb excess rainwater. “Procured some local glaciated boulders and native plants for this past week’s install. Looking forward to seeing this perform with the next rainfall,” the Reddit user captioned the…
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Minnesota native shares how to convert lawns to prairie scapes
Poetry professor turned prairie advocate and author Benjamin Vogt pinpoints a moment in his Minnesota childhood that influenced his current passions. As a boy, exploring a wood near his home in the yet-to-be-developed western suburbs, he was reveling in the quiet when a flock of geese flew overhead. “The sound of the wingbeats, the calls, woke something primal in me,” he said. Vogt gained a reputation — and following — for his philosophy on ethical gardening and innovative ways to approach home landscaping. Now he’s getting ready to release a book, “Prairie Up! An Introduction to Natural Garden Design,” on Jan. 24, outlining practical steps and detailed plans for creating…
