A Greener View from Creators Syndicate

2012 Green Thumb Awards for 02/15/2012

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Five new plant varieties and five new gardening products have won 2012 Green Thumb Awards presented by the Direct Gardening Association (formerly the Mailorder Gardening Association). The Green Thumb Awards have been going on for 15 years, and judges include garden writers like me; in fact, I judged last year, but not this year.

This week, we look at the plants that won, and next week, w ...

Updated: Wed Feb 15, 2012

Is Your Cold Hardiness Map Useful? for 02/08/2012

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Last week, we looked at the new U.S. Department of Agriculture hardiness zone map and the fact that it does not prove global warming. Using 30 years of one measure of weather to create a map for gardeners while ignoring all of the other weather variables that climatologists use may excite the blogging world, but it doesn't prove much to real scientists. To indicate true change, a climate map wo ...

Updated: Wed Feb 08, 2012

Stop The Presses! The Headlines are Wrong! for 02/01/2012

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Have you heard that the United States Department of Agriculture has released a new plant hardiness zone map for the United States? You may have heard that this map indicates global climate warming.

Does the new USDA map offer proof that the climate is warming? No, it does not. Is the climate changing? Of course it is — it always has been and hopefully always will be. The 2012 USDA ...

Updated: Wed Feb 01, 2012

Transporting Trees: No Easy Feat But Well Worth the Effort for 01/25/2012

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Q: I have nine dwarf fruit trees (including apple, peach, pear and plum). I will be moving this coming spring or early summer. These trees have been on my property from one to four years. Some have produced fruit, and some have not. Is it possible to transplant these trees to my new home with any success? If so, how should I do this? Once I move, the house will be vacant, and the trees will get ...

Updated: Wed Jan 25, 2012

All-America Selections 2012 Award Winners for 01/18/2012

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

One way I've found to pick the best plants for my garden is to look at the All-America winners for the New Year. If it has been tested and approved in the All-America Selections (AAS) testing program, I can trust the plant to grow in my yard. Almost 40 test gardens from Alaska and Canada to California and Florida comprise the AAS. It's very useful to have a test garden in a similar climate as y ...

Updated: Wed Jan 18, 2012

Sunshine Daydream: An Inspiration to Rose Lovers for 01/11/2012

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

If you watched the awesome Rose Parade, you probably saw the Bayer Advanced Garden of Imagination float that won the Director's Trophy for outstanding artistic merit in design and floral presentation. Among the 20,000 roses was the world debut of the 2012 All-America Rose Selections Winner, Sunshine Daydream.

The float told the story of the Walheim brothers, who daydreamed in their child ...

Updated: Wed Jan 11, 2012

2012 Garden Resolutions for 01/04/2012

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

As we begin 2012, we get to reflect on the changes we want to make in our lives. Many of us are gardeners because we enjoy the seasonal changes in the landscape and because we can make changes to our gardens. Even in the middle of winter, we're thinking about gardening and planning on making changes as we get each new garden catalog in the mail.

Resolve to try new plants in your garden. ...

Updated: Wed Jan 04, 2012

Proper Cacti Care Ensures a Long-Term Houseplant for 12/28/2011

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Q: We were given a Christmas cactus, and just a week after we got it, all the flowers and flower buds fell off. What did we do wrong?

A: A Christmas cactus can be sensitive to too-warm temperatures and too-dry conditions. They are not true cacti and should not be allowed to dry out like a typical desert cactus. In nature, they're like many bromeliads because they're epiphytic plants that ...

Updated: Wed Dec 28, 2011

Give Your Houseplants a Vacation for 12/21/2011

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Q: We'd like to spend a month in Florida this winter, but we can't find a house sitter for the whole time that we'll be gone.

Can we leave house plants well-watered before we go, let them sit for two weeks and water them well when we get back? (We normally water every three to four days to a week for all the plants.) Or should we harden them off by not watering as much for a while before ...

Updated: Wed Dec 21, 2011

Great Gardening Books for Winter Reading for 12/14/2011

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Winter is beginning, and most of us are just starting to dream about next summer's garden. To help get your own ideas flowing or for the gardener on your gift list, I have a few books that you can read by the fireplace to warm your green thumb.

"No Guff Vegetable Gardening" is a fun approach to vegetable garden books. Written by a pair of Canadians, it's still appropriate for a ...

Updated: Wed Dec 14, 2011

Tools for the Discerning Gardener on Your Shopping List for 12/07/2011

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Are you looking for some gift ideas for the gardener on your shopping list? I tried a few tools this summer that really helped make gardening easier.

First, we have a pair of CobraHead weeding tools. Shaped, as you might expect, a bit like a cobra about to strike, they help pull weeds out of the garden. The flattened end of the sharp blade easily cuts through the soil to undercut weeds. ...

Updated: Wed Dec 07, 2011

Stuff Your Favorite Gardener's Stocking With Flowers, Bugs, Weeds and Mushrooms for 11/30/2011

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

"Eat Your Roses" is a wonderful little book that proves you can have your flowers and eat them too. Author Denise Schreiber covers 52 species of edible flora that are found in flower, vegetable and herb gardens. The first rule of eating flowers is to be positive of the identification that it is an edible flower and that it hasn't been sprayed with anything toxic.

Edible flowers ...

Updated: Wed Nov 30, 2011

Bundling up Your Garden for 11/23/2011

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

It isn't officially winter yet, but as people in many parts of the country know, winter weather doesn't always wait until the solstice to begin harassing our gardens. As we bundle up with coats and blankets, we can protect some of our most vulnerable landscape plants with a jacket or blanket of their own.

Why bother protecting plants from the cold? Shouldn't they be able to handle winter ...

Updated: Wed Nov 23, 2011

Houseplants Are Good for the Holidays for 11/16/2011

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Houseplants can be a lot like pets: They both require some care, they can have short or long lives and people can get pretty attached to them. Unlike pets, though, plants have been proven by NASA-sponsored research to improve the air quality of homes and offices.

Houseplants fall into several loose categories. Foliage plants are grown for their leaves. Flowering plants are grown — ...

Updated: Wed Nov 16, 2011

How to Handle Winter Weeds for 11/09/2011

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Q: I was raking leaves when I noticed lots of small weeds coming up in some of my flowerbeds. I was surprised, as I thought weeds should be coming up in the spring, not the fall. I'm wondering if I need to do something about them. Or will the winter weather kill them?

A: It may come as a surprise, but there are plants called winter annuals. There are also perennials that grow well or spr ...

Updated: Wed Nov 09, 2011

Now is the Best Time to Prune Shade Trees for 11/02/2011

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Q: We have several old oak trees and some elm trees on our property. Back in the early summer, we were told not to prune them until winter. We're now heading into winter, and we want to have several low limbs removed. Is now really a good time to prune these trees, and if so, why?

A: Late fall through winter and into early spring is the best time to prune many shade trees. Many of these ...

Updated: Wed Nov 02, 2011

A Big Year for Birding for 10/26/2011

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

A few weeks back, I wrote about how average people could join together as citizen scientists to produce very important data about birds by participating in Project FeederWatch, managed by the Cornell University Laboratory of Ornithology. It's funny how people who know almost nothing about birds can help people who are so passionate about birds that they study them as part of their life's callin ...

Updated: Wed Oct 26, 2011

Crane Flies Are a Harmless Headache; Tree Cracks Are an Easy Fix for 10/19/2011

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Q: Every year around this time, we have an enormous problem with crane flies. They land on the side of the house by the hundreds, and when we walk on the lawn, it seems to stir them up. At times, we have to swat a pathway for ourselves just to get from the garage to the car in the driveway.

I'm not sure if it's a problem with the neighbor's yard as well, but we've been dealing with this ...

Updated: Wed Oct 19, 2011

Become a Citizen Scientist As You Feed the Birds for 10/12/2011

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

It's that time of year again — the weather's getting colder, and it's time to start preparing for the winter. As our gardens begin to go dormant, we can think ahead to the joy that bird feeding will bring. Fall is a good time to wash the feeders and to stock up on seed.

A few common questions and myths persist about bird feeding. First, the birds will not become dependent on your f ...

Updated: Wed Oct 12, 2011

Invasion of the Ladybugs for 10/05/2011

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Q: My house is being invaded by ladybugs. Why are they coming indoors when there's nothing in here for them? And how do I get rid of them?

A: There are several thousand species of ladybugs, ladybeetles or ladybirds, as they may be known, depending on where you live and what your mom called them. Some are what horticulturists call "beneficial insects." They eat aphids, mealybugs ...

Updated: Wed Oct 05, 2011