Overgrown shrubs make your property look neglected, ill-kept and generally unattractive. You want to have clean, healthy-looking landscaping so your house is immediately more appealing, but wildly pruning your shrubs can cause more harm than good. Learn how to deal with overgrown shrubs the right...
Also, my original edgeworthia was planted quite close to two gigantic black walnuts. Although it has never died completely, it has slowly declined to the point where it is almost nonexistent. This is not scientific evidence of susceptibility to walnut toxicity, but I would recommend avoiding ...
It does have some prickly thorns so you won’t want to plant it close to where people could walk into it. But it rarely requires pruning so they shouldn’t be much of an issue there. It’s also a really tough plant that’s drought tolerant, easy to grow and resists deer (those tho...
THE FARTHER INTO MID-LIFE I GO, THE MORE I LIKE SHRUBS. And in mid-winter, when anything lower to the ground has been erased by snow, I like them most of all. Just a little pruning now and again is all these major garden assets ask of me each year, so compared to many perennials...
The gardenia likes high humidity. To increase humidity, place the potted gardenia on a shallow tray with gravel and water. Water will evaporate and increase the relative humidity around the plant. Alternatively, place a humidifier close to the plant or mist the leaves often with water. ...
Oddly, our new house in Greenfield does not have many windows that look out at the garden. Only one upstairs window (in my office) gives a view of the back yard. The kitchen window is too high to see much of anything except the most westerly area of the garden. Fortunately… 1 2...
If the cutting bends like an elbow, creases without breaking, then that’s too close to the brown, woody older part of the stem, and too mature, because you want just the right age [below]. If it’s too young, it’ll rot, and if it’s too old, it won’t root in the same ...
House lossFuel reductionHazard reductionWildland-urban interfaceRemoving vegetation close to houses is at the forefront of advice provided to home owners by fire management agencies. However, widespread clearing of trees and shrubs near houses impacts aesthetics, privacy, biodiversity, energy consumption ...
Closeup daphne blossoms As the winter went on and became the fourth snowiest one on record, the snow continued to pile up. And without anywhere else for it to go, the damaged daphnes disappeared under the growing heaps. When I first moved here I was intrigued by trees that were bowed to...
To make the most of their fragrance, I like to plant them close to the door and walkway. That way anytime I leave the house, I walk right by them and can’t help but smell their perfume. Learn more about them HERE. 7 | Magnolia Zones: 4 to 12Light: Part Shade to SunBloom Time...