News
Planters, Pots & Containers
Choosing the Right Decorative Container Plants grown in containers offer homeowners flexibility, whether the plants are houseplants indoors or colorful annuals on your porch or patio. Planting in containers allows you to easily move plants around, or change them out, if they don’t thrive. Tall planters allow you to garden without kneeling on the ground. Rabbits don’t nibble on container plants, and weeds don’t grow in them if you use sterile bagged potting soil. In our gardens we use containers in
Growing Flowers in Containers and Planters
Growing Flowers in Containers and Planters Most home gardeners agree that perennials are less trouble than annual bedding plants, because “they come back every year so you don’t have to plant them again and again”. We agree with this sentiment, however very few perennials provide all-season color, so the best flower gardens have both annuals and perennials. Marjorie does most of the home gardening at our house, and over the years she has settled into a really good routine that combines annuals
Fire Blight on Ornamental Pears
Do Your Tree’s Leaves Look Scorched? Do you see patches of dark, almost black foliage on your ornamental pear trees? Are the branch tips turning black and wilting into a “shepherd’s crook shape? Are the fruit turning black, shriveling and falling off? Chances are your trees are suffering from fire blight. It’s a very common disease of ornamental pear trees like Bradford and Cleveland Select, as well as orchard trees like apple and pear. Fire blight is especially common when spring and
Jasna Polana Part II
Estate Gardens – Cost No Object!In last week’s column I wrote about my short career as an estate gardener at Jasna Polana, the 200-acre Johnson estate near Princeton, New Jersey. I worked there less than a year, but I had experiences I will remember for a lifetime. Jasna Polana was modeled after a traditional European estate; some called it “the American Versailles” after the world-renowned French palace. Construction went on for years. The landscaping alone cost over three million dollars, and included
Jasna Polana Part I
Estate Gardener – A Dream Job? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be an estate gardener? Perhaps you’ve visited the Biltmore Estate, Longwood Gardens or other private estates that are now open to the public. These places have “cost no object” buildings and landscaping, maintained by professional groundskeepers along with a small army of seasonal help and volunteers. To visitors, these estate gardeners probably seem to enjoy dream jobs. I once worked as a groundskeeper on an estate near
