FOR AVAILABLE ARTICLES CLICK ON LINK(S) BELOW

Sort by seasons
Sort by date

You may choose more than one article. Just send us the link(s)!

We also have garden "primers"--shorter articles--available.
FOR AVAILABLE PRIMERS, CLICK ON LINK(S) BELOW

Individual primers list - you can click names on the list to look at each.
Sample newsletter with all primers included (for those who like to scan).

Bold in the front row, these shorties can make a huge statement. Do not underestimate a plant that is short, for a plant so short must surely be quite sweet!

The front line of most borders is composed of the lower growing annuals, perennials, shrubs, and even bulbs. These guys would simply be hidden if you planted them in the middle or the back of gardens that are designed with multiple plant heights involved.

Beautiful borders can be foliage or flowering groundcovers and nothing else. That works fabulously along a meandering walk through a garden. Sun choices include thyme, trailing rosemary, armeria, ground morning glory (convolvulus), beach strawberry (fragaria), gazania, and many, many more. Shade choices include sweet woodruff (Galium), green carpet (Herniaria), mondo grass, pachysandra, or baby's tears.

Or picture this: flowering border plants, low and mounding, such as nepeta (catmint), small (1-2 ft ht.) lavender, coreopsis, and Santa Barbara daisy or fleabane (erigeron) combined with button shaped pittosporum 'Crème de Mint' santolina in gray green or bright green, or curry plant (Helichrysum italicum) spilling over a stone walkway. The purple, yellow and green mounds will lead you to the pathway destination.

And not to be forgotten, succulents can be colorful not only for their flowers, but also for foliage color. The long succulent list includes many varieties of sedum, aptenia, iceplant and more. Low growing ornamental grasses such as Festuca glauca or Japanese blood grass can make a large visual statement.

You can design your borders using a single plant type or a monochromatic (all one color) theme, or instead, create a "border of many colors." The choice is all yours. We have presented a few suggestions, but there are so many more plants, we'd just have to take you on a tour of the garden center to show them all to you.

Border plants, short and low, can make an instant beautiful impression in your gardens whether they are along your pathways or the front line of your garden beds. They will bring simple delight. We'll see you soon in the garden center, selecting your favorites.

"We're in the middle and we are simply marvelous! We are the flowering perennials, shrubs, and grasses that catch your eye with our color, our form, our fragrance and sometimes, our motion. We provide many of the key elements of the garden design. We aren't the tallest, and we aren't the smallest."

As the eye falls upon any garden, be it a garden bed, pathway, entrance or outdoor room space, it may look upon the border babies but it will definitely drift upward toward themid-level plants. Much of the beauty and drama of the garden takes place here in the middle. Much of the structure of the garden takes place here, too.

Lucky gardener, you have almost an endless choice of plants from which to choose for this location and we cannot begin to name all of them. Instead, we'll give you a number of design tips to help in the selection of your "Marvelous Middle Collection."

1. Colors and Color Combinations: create a mood or match your home colors.
2. Fragrance: flowers and/or foliage with a nice scent.
3. Shapes: mounds, billows, spikes, and fillers to fill in empty spaces.
4. Textures: look at the flower and foliage shapes and sizes.
5. Motion: see the way the plants move in the breeze.
6. Garden Theme: xeriscape, cottage, cutting, natural, woodland, native plants...you can find mid-level plants for almost any theme.

We'll look forward to seeing you and when we do, ask us for suggestions for mid-level border plants for your kind of garden. We'll be watching for your arrival — see you soon!

Who is standing high above the bright flowering faces of the garden? The "tall and sassy" guys. These plants are the ones that first catch your eye. And these tall plants in the background of your gardens may be selected from the perennial group, grasses, shrubs or small-scale trees. As you make your selection, remember — they can have the important role of creating the theme of the garden design. It could be a single plant as the focal point, one with strong architectural form or a colorful grouping that stands high above the other flowering plants in a perennial bed.

A strong focal point, such as the beautiful lacy and waterfall structure of a Japanese maple called 'Waterfall' (weeping form, 4-6 ft) is a good example of a single plant creating a garden theme. An observer will be expecting to see a bubbling stream with a waterfall directly beneath its weeping branches. The maple and the stream could be surrounded by a woodland garden of columbine, hosta and trillium. Or perhaps the focal point is created with a different tree; envision a semi-shady meadow garden with your tree surrounded with daylilies, ornamental grasses, rudbeckia and more.

Another function of the tall member of the garden is architectural interest or structure. The butterfly bush (Buddleja), flax (Phormium), or small trees are examples of structural plants, each creating a different mood or type of garden. All offer garden interest, many even in the winter.

Perhaps you have a perennial garden without a tree or large architectural plant. Height, drama, color, texture and motion can be achieved in no time if you choose from the many different tall-growing perennials such as buddleja, canna, lavatera, verbena (bonariensis), watsonia, and ornamental grasses.

Whatever your garden design and whatever the plant function that you desire, we have a large selection of "tall and sassy" plants available today. Come in and take a look!

Lawns are put to the test this time of year. Any weakness in water coverage, soil nutrition, or weed control shows up in the heat of summer. Now is the time to recheck your sprinkler system. Plugged or broken heads need to be fixed or replaced. Brown patterned circles in your lawn generally indicate a sprinkler head has been plugged by a grain of sand or has become a victim of a vicious lawn mower attack.

The irrigation system in flower beds should also be inspected. Many times we plant in front of a sprinkler. This is not a problem when the plant is small, but it can result in disaster for other plants in the bed as the new guy grows and blocks the water for the others. Make the necessary adjustment and watch your plants flourish.

Let's face it, working in your garden or watering your lawn is not easy while yellow jackets are buzzing around you. The yellowjacket could be searching for food or trying to protect the nest it carefully constructed during the past season.

Although wasps are helpful in pollination, and some varieties actually feed on insects such as caterpillars and other crop-destroying bugs, their venom can be harmful to those who are allergic to stings.

There are several ways to protect your garden visitors from the yellow jacket. The most natural way is by prevention. Wasps are attracted to food sources by smell, so eliminating any type of food such as soda or protein will keep these critters away. Do not squish a wasp, as the bug releases a pheromone that attracts others of its kind. Even worse, if you swat at the yellowjacket and miss, it will only defend itself by trying to sting you.

The easiest way to remove yellow jackets from your garden is by using a trap. The yellow jackets will enter the trap and get stuck. When using a trap, be sure to empty it weekly. We recommend the _Y2007_ trap and suggest placing a few strategically in different parts of the garden (away from entertaining areas) for best results. You can also spray the nest, if it is not near any vegetables or herbs. Note that spraying does put you in danger of being stung.