September/October 2020

Horticulture

Horticulture Magazine

Horticulture3 min read
Second Helpings
THE IMPENDING ARRIVAL of autumn doesn’t mean the harvest needs to end. I garden in USDA Zone 5 and I’m still seeding and transplanting in September for vegetables that we’ll eat later in autumn as well as throughout winter. I pair cool- and cold-seas
Horticulture1 min read
Fall Checklist
Save! As summer winds down, my seed saving ramps up. I love to collect seeds from the annual flowers in my vegetable garden—nasturtiums, calendula and poppies—as well as from herbs and vegetables. Easy vegetable seeds to collect include peas, beans,
Horticulture4 min read
Our Endangered Prairies
WHEN PEOPLE THINK about endangered or threatened ecosystems, often the Amazon rainforest or the Great Barrier Reef comes to mind. And those places are important. But there’s another, less well-known yet very important ecosystem that’s endangered: the
Horticulture4 min read
Plum Perfect
WHEN I MOVED to Sonoma County, Calif., from the East Coast in 1985, I was surprised by what a presence Luther Burbank still had around the county seat of Santa Rosa. Yes, he died in 1926, but there was the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts, the Luth
Horticulture1 min readArchitecture
Chicago Botanic Garden
THE CHICAGO BOTANIC GARDEN opened more than 40 years ago as a beautiful place to visit, and it has matured into one of the world’s great living museums and conservation science centers. One of the treasures of the Forest Preserves of Cook County, Ill
Horticulture2 min readArchitecture
Fall Container Gardens
As summer draws to a close, it’s time to remake container gardens with fall-flavored plants that provide texture, form and long-lasting color. Good news: There are plenty of options! I love combining purple or blue asters (Symphyotrichum) with orname
Horticulture2 min readArchitecture
5 Favorite Plants For Fall Containers
‘Sweetly’ Japanese anemones are perennials that begin blooming in late summer and continue into the fall, with flowers ranging from white to magenta. ‘Sweetly’ is a relatively compact selection at two feet tall and wide, with semi-double flowers in a
Horticulture6 min read
The Olive Branch
I’M NOT REALLY a plant snob, but on occasion I do perversely enjoy it when a visiting gardener recognizes something I have that doesn’t belong in Rhode Island. “Oh, that! That’s just a golden bougainvillea. You have one of those, as well, don’t you?”
Horticulture1 min read
The Long-lived Olive
An indication of the toughness of Olea europea is its longevity. Olive trees can live for more than 2,000 years. I’ve seen huge, venerable-looking ceramic pots, in which grew even more venerable-looking thick-trunked, gnarly olive trees that seemed t
Horticulture5 min readArchitecture
An Easy Trade
These days people are looking for more from their gardens than ever before; gone are the days where “pretty” is enough on its own. Facing up to worldwide habitat loss, the huge decline of insects and songbirds and a changing climate, many folks are d
Horticulture1 min read
Lazy Fall Skipping Cleanup Does Good
We can make our lives easier and insects’ lives better with a second look at our fall cleanup practices. From an ecological point of view, being lazy in fall is a fabulous idea. We’ve been taught for a long time that leaf cleanup and stem cutbacks ar
Horticulture1 min readArchitecture
A Note On Natives Go Local!
This article describes ways that native plants can reduce routine garden maintenance. The species mentioned herein are based on a northeastern United States landscape. Readers from other parts of the country and world will want to replace these examp
Horticulture3 min read
The Providers
as fall arrives, many of us will hang bird feeders and fill them for resident wild birds and those returning for the coming winter or passing through on their way farther south. However, this season can also be a time to support the birds in another
Horticulture1 min read
Grasses
Blue-green blades form dense mounds to three feet tall, turning red in the fall as white tufts of seed ripen. NATIVE RANGE: Wood edges, hillsides and prairies from Quebec south to southeast Mexico and west to Alberta through the Interior West. WILD
Horticulture1 min readArchitecture
Recommended Reading
To read more about the relationships between plants, birds, insects and other wildlife, and how gardens and gardeners can support these connections, see: The Living Landscape by Rick Darke and Douglas Tallamy Bringing Nature Home and Nature’s Best
Horticulture1 min read
Horticulture
Editor Meghan Shinn Contributing Editor Jennifer Howell Scott Beuerlein | Greg Coppa | Jeff Cox Niki Jabbour | Daniel J. Hinkley Associate Art Director Carrie Topp Peter H. Miller, Hon. AIA Brian VanHeuverswyn Kristin Beane Sullivan Eric Flynn VP
Horticulture2 min read
Editor’s Note
Teakettle—teakettle—teakettle! A Carolina wren was our neighborhood alarm clock this summer, hollering this tune no later than 5:30 most mornings. (That’s their call—it really does sound like “teakettle!”) I’m up with my coffeepot—coffeepot—coffeepot
Horticulture4 min readArchitecture
Truly Trusty Shrubs
Shrubs are the backbones of the landscape. Their larger size gives the design a framework and imbues the area with life, particularly when their own flowers bring a particular “wow” factor to the rest of the plantings. Because shrubs are such an impo
Horticulture1 min readArchitecture
Fall Planting Shrubs
Autumn is an excellent time to install new shrubs. It allows you to take a look back over the summer to see where you needed more heft. Plus, planting in the fall gives the shrubs a healthier start than plunking the plant into spring’s cold soil, set
Horticulture6 min read
Sheer Beauties
Homeowners often express a desire to include plants with winter interest in their landscapes. The term “winter interest” in these instances is shorthand for shrubs and trees that hold their leaves year-round. While I am a big fan of evergreens trees,
Horticulture1 min readArchitecture
Pruning For Form Thin, Don’t Head
There are two ways to prune: heading cuts and thinning cuts. Heading cuts occur at an intermediate point along the length of a stem to encourage bushy new growth. They can be haphazard and they are easily accomplished with shears to create hedges or
Horticulture4 min readArchitecture
Seize The Leaves
ONE OF MY FAVORITE gardening tools, so to speak, is the camera on my phone. I love to take quick snapshots of various garden areas at different points in the seasons, since I learned years ago to trust neither my memory nor my will power when I’m pla
Horticulture1 min read
Shred To Get Ahead
It’s tempting to simply rake or blow leaves into beds without shredding them first, but that step is essential for certain kinds of leaves. Large, flat leaves, like those of maple trees, may stick together and form mats that prevent water from penetr
Horticulture1 min readArchitecture
Sheet Composting
If you don’t have space for a compost pile, try sheet composting. This can be done on top of a vegetable garden or annual bed that has been cleaned out at the season’s end. Simply shred some leaves and other debris and spread the material over the so
Horticulture3 min readArchitecture
Plants We Love
HYBRID TULIPS DAZZLE winter-weary gardeners in spring, but many decline (or disappear) after their first year. To avoid disappointment, gardeners can treat hybrid tulips as annuals, pulling the bulbs after they bloom and planting fresh ones each fall
Horticulture2 min read
Tooling Around
IN MOST RELATIONSHIPS, there is the one who loves tools and will sometimes buy them with merely some nebulous, vague future need in mind. They do this knowing full well that their spouse might notice. And then ask questions. Hard questions. And that
Horticulture4 min readArchitecture
Adventurous Annuals
Annuals represent a wonderful, commitment-free way to experiment with color, height and texture, but more often than not, shopping for annuals results in a predictable mix of impatiens, wax begonia and petunia—the plants found at every garden center
Horticulture1 min read
Make a Planting List
https://www.audubon.org/native-plants At this webpage you’ll be prompted to enter your ZIP code and e-mail address, resulting in a list of plants native to your area, each with a description and its growing requirements, plus what kind of birds it ma
Horticulture3 min read
Perennials
Many of the listed species belong to genera that are widespread across North America, so if one does not match up with your region, it is worth looking for a related species that does, using tools such as those listed in “Make a Planting List” on the
Horticulture1 min read
Nativar
A native plant (or “straight species”) occurs naturally in a given location or region. A “nativar” is sometimes a natural variant that has been found in the wild and brought into cultivation, but often it has been developed by a plant breeder and wou

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