What to Plant?

Podcast on Natives with Doug Tallamy

by Genevieve on February 16, 2010

Post image for Podcast on Natives with Doug Tallamy

Douglas Tallamy, author of Bringing Nature Home, wants to change the way we landscape- radically. He’s a native plant buff and makes a scientific case for planting more natives in our gardens to preserve biodiversity.

This five-part podcast (it’s only about 45 minutes long all put together) presented some game-changing info that’s making me really re-think how I garden.

Some highlights:

Bugs are good. They pollinate, birds eat them, and much as some folks don’t like them, it’s not overstating things to say us humans would be in serious danger without them.

Bugs are also very picky. They can sense the chemical composition of plants with their legs, and when it comes time to reproduce, many bugs will simply die if they can’t find a plant with the exact chemical signature they are looking for.

[Click here to continue reading…]

{ 6 comments }

Disease-Resistant Roses for Damp Coastal Climates

by Genevieve on January 19, 2010

Post image for Disease-Resistant Roses for Damp Coastal Climates

It’s bare-root season, guys, and the roses are cheap and plentiful! I’ve written before about how to select a bare-root rose and about some disease-resistant rose varieties for the coastal Pacific Northwest.

I wanted to follow up with some additional suggestions that our local rose expert, Cynthia Graebner of Fickle Hill Old Rose Nursery, left in the comments of one of those posts.

She suggested these varieties, many of which I had never heard of, as being both gorgeous and disease-resistant in our cool coastal climate:

[Click here to continue reading…]

{ 6 comments }

Do Landscapers Listen to Our Own Advice? Plants We’d Never Plant at Home (Part Two)

December 28, 2009
Thumbnail image for Do Landscapers Listen to Our Own Advice? Plants We’d Never Plant at Home (Part Two)

In part one, I discussed some of the beautiful and useful plants that landscapers recommend or maintain for clients, that we wouldn’t plant in our own home gardens. Whether hard to maintain, prickly, or just overused – these are perfectly good plants in many ways – but often have one fatal flaw us pro-gardeners just [...]

Click here to continue reading →

Do Landscapers Listen to Our Own Advice? Plants We’d Never Plant at Home (Part One)

December 19, 2009
Thumbnail image for Do Landscapers Listen to Our Own Advice? Plants We’d Never Plant at Home (Part One)

I was gardening recently with one of my employees, and she groaned in the middle of pruning a Mexican Feather Grass and said firmly, “I will NEVER plant these things at my house. Never!”
It’s not a bad plant – in fact, it’s fantastic – it has seasonal interest, adds a sense of motion and  life [...]

Click here to continue reading →

Delicate Flowers: What NOT to Plant in Fall

November 7, 2009
Thumbnail image for Delicate Flowers: What NOT to Plant in Fall

Recently I read an article on Sunset’s website, suggesting that we all rush out and buy those discounted perennials to plant for fall. We all know by now that fall planting is a great idea, but is fall really the best time to plant everything, even perennials?
Many perennials don’t actually live all that long (I’m [...]

Click here to continue reading →

Forget Halloween: Try These Dark Beauties Year-Round

October 31, 2009
Thumbnail image for Forget Halloween: Try These Dark Beauties Year-Round

I always wanted to be a goth girl -  wearing all black, dying my hair purple, and listening to moody music while pondering the deeper mysteries in life.
Sadly, I had three strikes against me:
I’m a total wuss, so piercings were out,
I’m ridiculously cheerful,
and since I started my landscaping business when I was 17, I made [...]

Click here to continue reading →

Fall Color Container Planting Idea

October 24, 2009
Thumbnail image for Fall Color Container Planting Idea

A client came up with this pretty container planting idea for summer and fall.
The spiky Phormium/ Flax Grass makes a vivid centerpiece, then she used red Coleus and orange Impatiens to pick up on the Flax’s colored stripes. Last, she used some purple trailing Petunias to cool down the combination and spill over the edges.

This [...]

Click here to continue reading →

Fall-Blooming Heathers for Autumn Color

October 10, 2009
Thumbnail image for Fall-Blooming Heathers for Autumn Color

Calluna vulgaris ‘Sister Anne’
In all the time I’ve been designing gardens, I have never had anyone tell me, “please, no heathers!”. Thank goodness, because heathers are my secret weapon for extending any season’s interest.
By the end of summer many perennials have stopped blooming, but the winter bloomers and fall colors haven’t started in earnest to [...]

Click here to continue reading →

Disease-Resistant Roses for the Pacific Northwest

July 20, 2009
Thumbnail image for Disease-Resistant Roses for the Pacific Northwest

As a professional gardener, my philosophy leans more towards making organic and sustainable choices in the garden, not only because I’m afraid of what long-term repeated exposure could do to my health, but also because I have the power to help so many people make better choices for their gardens.
The organic philosophy can be difficult [...]

Click here to continue reading →

Container Plants that Birds Love

March 21, 2009

Finishing off our series on planting to attract birds, here’s my love poem to container gardeners – some of my favorite plants to attract birds and hummingbirds to your urban or patio garden.
Fuchsia thymifolia or Fairy Fuchsia

This is the fuchsia that makes me go starry-eyed with love. Blooming all year  long on the coast, this [...]

Click here to continue reading →