Fresh off the MANTS (Mid-Atlantic Nursery Trade Show) floor in Baltimore, I made lots of fresh contacts and found many exciting plant introductions that I want to use in my future landscaping projects. I am stoked for the 2023 gardening year and the new plants and ideas that are hitting the nursery and garden center …
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In the landscape business for over 25 years, I have seen it all. I have worked for large landscape businesses and now run my own landscape design/build service. Meeting with many clients over the years, working on large estates to small courtyard jobs, I feel that I have observed every mistake in the book before …
Continue reading "Crimes Against Horticulture – Landscaping Mistakes to Avoid"
Gardener's Dictionary Hypertufa (n.): An artificial and lightweight stone that gardeners can create from a recipe and mold into plant containers, troughs and any other shape. If you mention hypertufa to a non-gardener, you would probably get a blank look. But in the gardening world, it is very trendy and a sign of a serious …
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Everybody is into seed starting this spring because of renewed interest in gardening and there are tips and tricks to this great money saving hobby. New gardeners frequently think that you just throw some seeds from a seed packet into potting soil and place them in a bright window and hope for the best. But …
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Fig feasts were part of my late summer meal planning. Growing figs was always something I thought was beyond my reach here in MD zone 6b, but I harvested for the first time an avalanche of tasty large brown turkey figs this summer. Rarely found in stores, occasionally at farmers markets, there is nothing better that …
I have a long lasting love affair with perennial Nepeta or Catmint. I have used this under-the-radar perennial for years as a deer resistant plant that gives a long season of color for the entire season. My garden design career of over 25 years means the selections have only gotten better. 'Walkers Low' and 'Six …
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The grass is starting to green up and bulbs are peeking through the soil and spring is around the corner. Gardening chores come fast and furious once warm weather hits and sometimes you don’t have time to fit all the tasks in. To jump-start your gardening year, you can hit the ground running early to …
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Late winter is always a tough period for me. Patrolling my property on warm sunny days in late winter, I am ready to see something blooming and if at all possible - fragrant. This seems a difficult task in late February and early March, but there are three candidates that came through with flying colors. …
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A cutting garden - a piece of earth used primarily for cutting flowers and bringing into the house for arranging in vases - sounds kind of elitist. Like a prim and proper English lady who has a team of gardeners, and ventures out to the garden with a floppy straw hat with her "secateurs" to …
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If you are on the fence about starting a garden in 2021, and have watched all your neighbors jump into growing everything under the sun, then read the following guest post from Carrie Spencer of TheSpensersAdventures. The images are property of TheGardenDiaries. Gardening can seem intimidating when you’re just starting out. Fortunately, most plants are …
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