Podcast

May 16, 2019 Plant Tags, Growing Zones, Luigi Fenaroli, Charles Theodore Mohr, University of Winnipeg, Sara Teasdale, May, Wild at Home, Hilton Carter, Fall Blooms, the Kentucky State Flower, and Goldenrod

Do you know what to look for on a plant tag? The first significant thing I look at is the growing zone. Often the plant tag will give a range for the growing region like 5-9 or 3-7. This is why knowing your growing zone is key. If you don’t know, you just need to ask someone at the garden center -they should know what growing zone you are in. Now, as an experienced gardener, let me tell you what…

May 15, 2019 Plant Height, Isaac Newton, President Lincoln, the USDA, Charles Sprague Sargent, the Adirondack and Catskill Forest Preserve, Ettie C. Alexander, the NOLA Museum of Art, Emily Dickinson, Ina Coolbrith, Top-dressing, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Plant height is one of the factors often indicated on plant tags. But mature height often takes ten years – especially if you’re talking about trees and shrubs. Most plants benefit from some amount of pruning – in which case their height can be controlled. BTW, Bamboo is the fastest growing plant on the planet. It can grow 3 feet in just 24 hours. Brevities #OTD President Abraham Lincoln created the U.S. Department of Agriculture today in…

May 14, 2019 Garden Experts, Mary Delany, Edward Jenner, John Cushnie, Hal Borland, Ruth Hayden, Slowing Growth in Shade, and the Mayapple

If you feel this way after years of gardening, you’re not alone. Over two centuries ago, Thomas Jefferson sent a letter to his friend, the painter Charles Wilson Peale. He’s lamenting the limitations of his garden at Monticello. He concludes with one of my favorite garden quotes of all time: “But tho, an old man, I am but a young gardener.” Mary Delany leads an extraordinary life. The family had forced her to marry a very old…

May 13, 2019 Class on Herbs, Enid Annenberg Haupt, Allison Hargraeves, the Corpse Flower, National Public Gardens Week, John Burroughs Journals, Vassar College, Beth Chatto, Growing Herbs in Shade, and Enid Haupt’s 1971 New York Apartment

Have you ever taken a class on gardening? If you’re in the Calgary area, there’s an excellent class taking place tonight from 7 to 9 PM It’s part of the “Garden On” Lecture series. Tonight’s focus is on herbs. If you’re new to gardening, herbs make for wonderful starter plants. They are easy to grow, generally trouble-free, and versatile. They can be incorporated into almost any garden situation. Tonight’s class will cover What makes an herb an herb Propagation Harvesting…

May 10, 2019 Botanical Intuition, Leonard Mascall, John Hope, Alan Grimmel, Canada’s Compost Week, The Friends School Plant Sale, Cecelia Payne, Botanical Sketchbook, Helen and William Bynum, Photo Friday, and Mascall on Tree Placement

Have you ever intuited the name of a plant? A few years ago, I traveled to San Diego. I was sitting on a bench outside the hotel, and I spied the most amazing blossom – three bright orange petals and three blue petals – it looked like the head of a bird. My mind latched onto “bird of paradise,” I looked it up on my phone, and sure enough, it was just that. These are the moments that scientist Celia…