What to Plant?

Gardening Under Redwoods: Dealing With Dry Shade, Acidic Soil, and Root Competition

May 5, 2011 15 comments
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Humboldt County’s known for its majestic redwoods, and many of the gardens that I design and care for have a few towering specimens setting the scene. But lovely though they are, gardening under redwoods presents some serious challenges. Shade For one, redwood trees cast some fairly dense shade. This isn’t such an issue if you [...]

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Amy and Gen Tropicanna the Garden: a Giveaway!

March 10, 2011 30 comments
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***Giveaway below*** Outside of the garden, I’m attracted to cool, subdued colors, like purples, blues, blacks and greys. But lately, in the garden? Give me some color! Wild, exuberant color, that shocks the eyes and cheers the soul. So when the kind folks out at Tesselaar Plants offered to send Amy Stewart and I some [...]

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Golden Conifers Brighten Up Winter

March 4, 2011 6 comments
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With the winter doldrums in full force, I went to my local rhododendron nursery the other day to pick up spring color for a few jobs. Usually, I’m blown away by the blooming rhodies or the summer-flowering heathers. But this visit, what really struck me was the conifers. Specifically, the golden conifers. They just looked [...]

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Ferns for Every Garden

February 1, 2011 11 comments
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As we settle more deeply into winter, I’ve been really noticing the beauty of all the ferns in the landscapes I care for. They’re low-care, often have great winter interest, and seem to go with just about every type of plant or style of planting. The neat thing about ferns is they look great both [...]

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The Ten Best Native Plants for Coastal Northern California Wildlife by Peter Haggard

September 3, 2010 8 comments
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On the heels of our recent Garden Designers Roundtable on Inviting Nature Into the Garden, I wanted to share a resource that I’ve been finding incredibly helpful in recent months. While we all know that planting natives is a good way to attract more life into our gardens, if we only have space for a [...]

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Shamelessly Tropical: Hawt Plants for a Variety of Climates (The Garden Designers Roundtable on Under-Utilized Plants)

July 27, 2010 21 comments
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I admit it. I’m in zonal denial. I love the huge tender leaves of bananas, the glorious hanging trumpets of Brugmansia, and anything so wild and lush that it makes me feel like I’m on vacation to the kind of rainforest-y tropics that have monkeys and great winding green snakes and crazy bugs that remind [...]

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Bulletproof Rhododendrons: Rhodies for Sea Coast Wind and Other Tough Conditions

July 9, 2010 2 comments
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Rhododendrons are tough performers in our Pacific Northwest climate, and have become a standby for landscapers looking for a plant that’s sure to thrive. But not all Rhodies are created equal; some are more suited to tough conditions than others, as evidenced by the horrible-looking Rhodies in so many local parking lots. Finding the right [...]

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Coastal Gardening: Screens and Hedges for the Sea Coast Garden

June 10, 2010 3 comments
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If you’re gardening on the sea coast, the wind can make it hard to enjoy being outdoors. Using fast-growing hedges or screening plants can help you block the wind and enjoy hanging out and working in your garden. How to use hedges and screens successfully to block wind: First, think of what direction the wind [...]

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Coastal Gardening: Groundcover Plants for the Sea Coast

May 8, 2010 9 comments
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Using groundcovers in sea coast gardens can give you easy low-maintenance color. I love to use ground-covering plants in masses because the waves of color kind of echo the broad waves of the ocean. Planting groundcovers also avoids a lot of the issues found when planting individual shrubs or trees. When planted in masses, the [...]

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Coastal Gardening: Shade-Loving Plants for the Sea Coast

May 1, 2010 6 comments
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Sea coast gardening is challenging enough in full sun, but choosing wind- and salt-tolerant plants for the shade can be downright daunting. Most shade plants didn’t evolve in unprotected, windy zones – they are used to the shelter of trees. Not to worry – there are a few beautiful plants that can help give your [...]

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