Orchids are probably the largest genus of flowering plants with nearly 30,000 species. Because these plants are fairly easy to hybridize there are somewhere around 100,000 hybrids. Orchids grow almost all over the world, yes, even in the arctic circle, but mostly they grow in tropical rain forests. That said, orchids can be found in […]
Water in the Western United States is a fast-diminishing resource. Just ask Cynthia Bee, Outreach Coordinator at the Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District in Salt Lake City. Last summer, I got so excited when she shared the district’s new creative solutions for reducing water use through garden design. These tips can also save you other […]
When deciding where to put a greenhouse, the first question to ask is what do you plan to grow. If the answer is orchids, for example, your greenhouse should probably not be in bright sun for too many hours each day. On the other hand, if growing out-of-season vegetables is your goal, you’ll likely want […]
At the advent of solstice as I sit in my sunroom/conservatory, staring out over a snowy landscape that’s framed by a sapphire blue sky, with the sun beating down on the Rockies and the neighborhood buried under a foot of white fluffy stuff, thoughts turn to the coming year’s gardening: Will the Woodward junipers that […]
At this time of year, whether you’re gifting or getting, here are some unusual ideas to warm gardeners’ hearts. Tickets to Flower and Garden Shows Events like Seattle’s Northwest Flower & Garden Festival (Feb. 26-March 1) or the Philadelphia Flower Show (Feb.29-March 8) feature advance single-day tickets ($20–$35). For extravagance, purchase multi-day tickets because there’s […]
I’ve been baking, as one does at this time of year, and got a whiff of vanilla: sweet, rich, flowery. Of course, it’s the scent of a flower. I had seen the yellow flowers of the vanilla orchid, Vanilla planifolia, just days before at the Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago. The vine, with its broad, […]
One of the attractions that’s fed the “influencer’s” fiendish passion for promoting houseplants is probably that, in general, it’s hard to kill one – a houseplant that is. Anywhere that you are comfortable, be it conservatory, greenhouse or light-filled room, so will be whatever pet plant(s) you nurture. Three years ago, I acquired a rubber-tree […]
Heating a greenhouse can be expensive over a long, cold winter, and not just at night. Winter sunshine doesn’t provide a huge amount of heat, and the cold air outside lowers greenhouse temperatures even more. Inside my greenhouses here in New England, summer temperatures outside can easily soar to over 100˚F, but during winter the […]
When you’re transplanting in the greenhouse this fall, your soil mix will probably be peppered with small white granules. Yes, that’s perlite. But, after years of using it at my own potting bench, I realized I didn’t actually know what it is, or where it comes from, or whether its environmentally sustainable. For answers, I […]
Having decided on the power source you want to use to heat your greenhouse (see my Greenhouse Heating, Part 1 article), you still have another major decision to make: What heating unit are you going to buy? The options are often numerous and not easy to narrow down. Here are some factors to consider as […]
It’s been an exceptional season for peaches; my battered old tree produced its juiciest crop of fat, red ‘Elberta’ peaches ever—at least the ones that survived the squirrels. Daily combat with these rogue rodents reminded me of the fruit trees I’d seen grown in conservatories in England, often as espaliers against a warm wall. Protected […]
There’s an Instagram-fueled boom in houseplants today, which means I’ve come back into fashion for a while. This tends to happen to me every few decades if I just keep doing what I’ve always done. I come from gardening people, who tend also to be houseplant people. Even in the middle of winter, we’ve always […]
