Have You Checked Your Soil pH Lately? You probably don’t think much about it, but the pH of your soil – its acidity or alkalinity – can matter greatly to how well your plants grow. And what many gardeners don’t realize is that they can be inadvertently altering soil pH every time they water their […]

How do you turn a stranger into a friend? You reach out and create a relationship, of course. And if those strangers are tropical plants? Marianne Willburn, author of the book, Tropical Plants and How to Love Them, has light-heartedly and cleverly introduced tropicals by categorizing these plants into five recognizable relationship stages—from summer flings […]

What does planning ahead for work in the autumn garden mean for you? Outdoors or in a conservatory does it amount to a quick tidy up? A bit of dead-heading, leaf-raking and winterizing the irrigation system? At the Clarke household, the Head Gardener (me) wracks her brain and wrecks her back to improvise and execute […]

This year my wood-framed greenhouse needed repairs after several big storms, including a hurricane, as well as 40 years of constant use. It leaked and required some serious attention. In fact, in one area the wood had rotted to such an extent that I could push a finger through it. This highlights the problems with […]

Stores full of beautifully mounded chrysanthemums is a sign that fall is arriving. If you buy some of these mums for a colorful fall display, you shouldn’t just toss them out when the flowers fade. Greenhouse owners can easily keep these plants going and also propagate more of them. Here’s how. First, you should know […]

Golden leaves are beginning to cloak the upper slopes of the Rockies, and with the aspens turning so turns the season. As the British poet, Philip Larkin, would have it, “Autumn has caught us in our summer wear.” Just like it’s caught generations of gardeners before us. Turning to my treasured 240-year-old edition of the […]

As I walk my neighborhood in summer, I wonder: Why don’t I see more lilies? They have so much to offer a garden—color, elegance, fragrance. And yet mine is the only yard on my block with visible lilies, and I’m too sun-deprived to have many. Maybe people think that because lilies are elegant, they must […]

Keeping records of what goes on in a greenhouse can be an enormous help. It’s how I’ve learned precisely when to start my vegetable and flower seeds, as well as which potting medium and lighting conditions will give optimal germination and growth. From looking at my records, for example, I know that I get the […]

Optimal use of a greenhouse depends upon a careful balance of temperature, water, and light to maintain the ambient gases that keep the plants living within healthy, productive and happy. At this point in the proceedings I’ll climb up on my soapbox, so you’re excused if you don’t wish to hear about how we’re all, […]

Each year, at some moment in the gardening season, I’m overwhelmed by what needs to be done. The weeds are burgeoning, the midday heat limits my garden time, and every border or bed demands attention. But I have a work-around for overwhelm. The secret? I think small. I choose one area, one tiny area, and […]

I was rushing to plant shrubs on a recent hot day when the heavens opened. Thunder boomed, lightning flashed, rain ran down my neck and dripped off my nose. I kept at it for a while, because gardeners are waterproof and the shrubs desperately needed planting. I’d been putting it off through weeks of June […]

It’s a time-honored tradition to sit down and enjoy a cup of tea among your plants in the greenhouse. But what about growing tea there? Tea (Camellia sinensis) has been cultivated around the world for thousands of years, but in the United States it is a relatively new crop. With the resurgence of interest in […]