After a hot, stressful summer for our yards and gardens here in the Pacific Northwest, autumn has graciously settled in, bringing cool mornings and colorful leaves. As you begin to wind down your gardening projects for the season, here are a few tips to make the most of autumn’s cooler weather. 1. Now is the time to divide and transplant many of your spring- and summer-blooming perennials. Perennials like hostas [...]
This summer’s long stretches of hot weather, little to no significant rain, and days of heavy forest fire smoke have made it a season for the record books. Now, with relief here in the form of cooler temperatures and more regular rain, it’s time to transition to a new season. Here are a few tips to get your yard and planters in shape for autumn. First, now is the [...]
To people who don’t live in the Pacific Northwest, it almost sounds unreal to say our summers are dry. So stereotyped is our corner of the world as an always-drizzling moss-covered region that many don’t realize how dry it can be from July through September. One look, however, at the heat-stressed pots on your patio reveals the truth: summer is dry! To keep your hanging baskets and pots going [...]
As a lawn and garden enthusiast, I find spring particularly invigorating—new life is bursting forth throughout the garden, shrubs and trees are in bloom and the lawn is waking up from a winter’s sleep. As you start to tend the yard and work up your flower beds again this spring, here are some tips to keep things looking their best as well as a few of my favorite new plants [...]
With gradually-improving weather and daylight hours getting longer, spring is in the air. Look outside and you’ll be sure to find your bulbs growing, trees and shrubs starting to bud and life bursting forth throughout the garden. As you start your spring clean-up around the yard and make the first gardening to-do lists, here are some early-season jobs you’ll want to accomplish. First, it’s time for spring pruning. Keep [...]
With the Christmas season underway, gardening takes a backseat to decorating—and with good reason, since Christmas comes only once a year! In this season of celebration, though, many of the decorations you use indoors and out are perishable and can start to look worn before the last of your Christmas get-togethers are over. To keep your home looking festive and fresh through the holidays, here are a few tips I’ve [...]
After a seemingly-interminable dry streak, we’ve finally been blessed with rain again here in our corner of the Pacific Northwest, and with it, the transition to a new season. With autumn here, now is the time to once again begin planting shrubs and trees, rehabilitating your lawn and sprucing up your containers for autumn. Even though it can still feel like summer in the afternoons, step outside early one [...]
Last month I wrote about how much I love winter—and don’t get me wrong, I do!—but this year, we've had seemingly more than our normal share of winter weather and frankly, I’m ready to scratch my spring itch. Thankfully, the weather is improving and spring is beginning to arrive, so it’s time to make your early spring gardening to-do list. Gardening in early spring is very weather-dependent, especially when [...]
In the last couple of years, we’ve come to associate winter in the Pacific Northwest with mild temperatures and minimal precipitation. This year is so far proving altogether different, and though we’re still a week away from winter’s official arrival, one look out your window will tell a completely different story. With the new season upon us, here are a few tips to keep your plants healthy and happy through [...]
Welcome to late summer, that magical time of year when your garden looks the best it has all year…or doesn’t. Early heat in spring pushed gardens in our area into overdrive, and while the rest of summer has been more seasonable, your plants may be looking worn. To keep your plants going strong into fall—or for some ideas of replacements for your containers—here are some suggestions. If you grow flowers [...]
