 Autumn is springtime in reverse. Terri Guillemets
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Edible Landscaping - How to: Espalier an Apple Tree
Many gardeners would love to grow apples, pears, peaches, and other tree fruits in their yard, but don't have the room or climate to accommodate them. While there are many dwarf tree fruit varieties on the market, sometimes even these trees are too large for a small yard. Plus, if you live in a cold winter or cool summer climate, some fruits just won't grow and mature well for you. Learn how to accommodate in this article. |
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How to Fertilize Trees for Winter Survival
With winter around the corner, many gardeners will be preparing their landscape plants for the coming cold temperatures. With an estimated 1 million urban trees worldwide dying each year from freezing temperatures, researchers are trying to find ways we can better protect plants |
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Winter Annuals
If you're a gardener any other mild-winter area, late fall is the perfect time to set out transplants for blooming right through the dark months of winter. You'll find a host of choices, such as ornamental cabbages and kales, pansies, snapdragons, and violas, that can be planted now. |
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A Winter Vegetable Garden
A winter vegetable garden is not only possible, but can also be ridiculously easy. Compared to the summer garden, with its vast armies of insects and inevitable diseases and the constant watering and weeding, a winter vegetable garden is a snap. |
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What About Suet Feeders?
Suet is a good addition to garden feeding stations because it attracts several bird species that rarely visit a seed feeder. |
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How Potatoes Grow
Potatoes are usually grown from other potatoes. You plant a whole, small potato, or a piece of a larger one for a new plant. The whole potato or cut piece has several slightly recessed, dormant buds or "eyes" on the surface. When conditions are right, these buds will sprout, whether the potatoes are in the ground or in a kitchen cupboard. The sprouts then develop into independent plants. |
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Repotting and Transplanting Tomato Seedlings
Deciding when to transplant tomato seedlings is easy. When tomato seedlings are three or four inches tall and have their second pair of leaves, it's time to take them out of their crowded containers and put them into deeper, roomier ones. (If you started seedlings in individual containers at least three inches square, simply thin out the weaker plants by snipping them off at the soil line and leaving the strongest one.) |
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Naturally Rot-Resistant Woods
Twenty years ago, when I bought my present house in southern Vermont, one of the first things I did was put in raspberry beds and a sizable garden. To support the berry canes and fence the garden off from deer, I cut and split 8-foot posts of black locust, a local tree that I knew to be rot-resistant. In fact, old-timers told me that locust posts would last 60 years in the ground. |
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Edible Landscaping - Edible Shrubs for your Landscape
Look around any yard in the United States and you're bound to see a limited palette of ornamental shrubs used as foundation plantings, hedges, and specimen plantings. Although beautiful, I can't help but think they're missing out on a great opportunity to grow similarly attractive shrubs that are edible instead. |
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Seaberry
Among the recent horticultural arrivals from Russia and central Asia is the seaberry, also known as sea buckthorn. There, it is prized for both its ornamental value and its edible berries. This hardy, carefree deciduous shrub makes excellent hedges and wildlife habitats, and its bright yellow-orange to red berries are particularly high in vitamin C. |
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Frost- If, When, and How to Protect Your Plants
If it hasn't happened to you yet, your first frost is on it's way. Vegetables and annual flowers that aren't hardy can survive some frost and extend your growing season. Our guide to frost will help determine if you need to protect your plants from frost damage and how to properly cover your plants for the best protection. |
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Sponsored by Jung Seed End of Season Bulb Sale. 50% OFF BULBS! There's still time to plant fall bulbs for spring blooms. Order now and save! Offer good while supplies last.
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Recently Popular Plant Database Entries:
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Dahlia 'Snake Eyes'
Plant Habit: Herb/Forb
Life cycle: Perennial
Sun Requirements: Full Sun, Full Sun to Partial Shade
Water Preferences: Mesic
Plant Height: 2 - 3 feet
Flowers: Showy
Flower Color: White
Bloom Size: 2"-3"
Underground structures: Tuber
Uses: Cut Flower
Resistances: Deer Resistant
Propagation: Seeds: Will not come true from seed
Propagation: Other methods: Division, Other
Containers: Suitable in 3 gallon or larger, Needs excellent drainage in pots
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Rhipsalis elliptica
Plant Habit: Cactus/Succulent
Life cycle: Perennial
Sun Requirements: Partial or Dappled Shade
Plant Height: 12 inches
Plant Spread: 14 inches
Leaves: Evergreen
Flowers: Inconspicuous
Flower Color: White, Yellow
Flower Time: Spring, Late winter or early spring
Suitable Locations: Houseplant
Resistances: Humidity tolerant
Propagation: Other methods: Cuttings: Stem
Containers: Needs excellent drainage in pots
Miscellaneous: Epiphytic
Conservation status: Least Concern (LC)
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Celosia (Celosia argentea 'China Town')
Plant Habit: Herb/Forb
Life cycle: Annual
Sun Requirements: Full Sun
Plant Height: 14-16 inches
Plant Spread: 8-10 inches
Leaves: Good fall color, Unusual foliage color
Flowers: Showy
Flower Color: Red
Flower Time: Late spring or early summer, Summer, Late summer or early fall, Fall
Propagation: Seeds: Suitable for wintersowing, Can handle transplanting
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American Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana)
Plant Habit: Shrub
Life cycle: Perennial
Sun Requirements: Full Sun, Full Sun to Partial Shade
Water Preferences: Mesic
Plant Height: 3 feet - 6 feet, to 10 feet
Plant Spread: 3 feet - 6 feet, to 10 feet
Leaves: Deciduous, Other
Fruit: Showy, Edible to birds
Fruiting Time: Late summer or early fall, Fall, Late fall or early winter, Winter
Flowers: Showy
Flower Color: White, Pink
Bloom Size: Under 1"
Flower Time: Late spring or early summer, Summer
Suitable Locations: Xeriscapic
Uses: Will Naturalize
Wildlife Attractant: Birds, Butterflies, Bees
Resistances: Salt tolerant, Drought tolerant
Propagation: Seeds: Stratify seeds, Sow in situ
Propagation: Other methods: Cuttings: Tip, Cuttings: Root, Division
Pollinators: Various insects
Containers: Not suitable for containers
Miscellaneous: Monoecious
Awards and Recognitions: Other
Conservation status: Least Concern (LC)
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Morning Glory Tree (Ipomoea carnea)
Plant Habit: Tree, Shrub
Life cycle: Perennial
Sun Requirements: Full Sun
Plant Height: 6 feet up
Leaves: Unusual foliage color
Fruit: Other
Flowers: Showy
Flower Color: Pink
Bloom Size: 1"-2"
Flower Time: Late summer or early fall, Summer, Late spring or early summer
Underground structures: Taproot
Suitable Locations: Xeriscapic
Uses: Erosion control, Windbreak or Hedge
Wildlife Attractant: Butterflies, Bees
Resistances: Tolerates dry shade
Toxicity: Leaves are poisonous, Roots are poisonous, Fruit is poisonous
Propagation: Seeds: Suitable for wintersowing, Sow in situ, Start indoors
Propagation: Other methods: Cuttings: Stem
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Top photo picks from this week:
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 Photo by Valery33
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 Photo by dirtdorphins
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 Photo by shive1
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 Photo by HemNorth
"- #Pollination - A good harvester at work."
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 Photo by Baja_Costero
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 Photo by carlysuko
"In my garden"
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 Photo by Baja_Costero
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 Photo by SoCalGardenNut
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 Photo by Betja
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 Photo by AnnKNCalif
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Sponsored by AgroThrive Have you tried AgroThrive yet? THIS WEEKEND ONLY AgroThrive Organic Fertilizers is offering 20% off all items on agrothrive.com. Simply enter discount code "BFS20" at checkout to receive the best discount of the year! Offer ends 11/30/21. Click here to shop
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The numbers from this week:
374 members joined.
3,675 posts written in our forums.
517 photos posted to the plant database.
462 plants added to personal inventory lists.
3,313 entries in the 2021 Photo Contest.
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 How beautiful the leaves grow old. How full of light and color are their last days.
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