If you have a home or summer place along the shores of Puget Sound or the ocean beaches, you should be a little more selective about the trees and shrubs you use in the landscape. However, there are many colorful plants that do well in these areas.
Late July through August is a fantastic but underused time to start a variety of seeds. If you’re looking to get a start on fall crops, look for cold hardy varieties with short growing times. Consult your specific growing zone to be sure, but these varieties usually make a good fall crop in most of the Pacific Northwest.
Summer or winter are the best times to take cuttings of rhododendrons, camellias, azaleas and most other broad-leaf evergreens. Cuttings properly taken will usually produce flowering sized plants in about three or four years.
Raspberries grow wonderfully in the Pacific Northwest and are a joy to have in your garden. Proper pruning at the correct time of the year will result in better production of raspberries and vine berries the next year.
Summer is the perfect time to get kids started gardening. If you’ve got kids or grandkids out of school right now, here are some projects that are great for getting them enthusiastic about spending time in the garden. Planting an Easy Crop When kids come to our Educational Garden, we love to let them start …
Seed bombs are a great project to do with kids, and a wonderful way to spread flower seeds in a large area. This is a project that can be done any time of the year, but the messiness means it’s a good craft for a nice day outside. The best part is, you can mix any seeds you want to create your ideal meadow garden mix.
Summer is the time to dry some of the flowers from your garden so you can enjoy their beauty in your home this fall and winter. By following a few simple procedures, you can preserve the beauty of your outdoor flowers to use for indoor arrangements this winter.
Whenever I ask a group of Pacific Northwest gardeners what accomplishment they use to evaluate their success as gardeners, they inevitably say “the ability to grow one ripe, red tomato.” So, here are a few growing hints that I would like to share with you, so you can have success in growing more than one …
June and July are excellent months to start perennials and biennials from seed. The warmer soil temperatures at this time of year encourage faster germination of seed and quicker development of plants. A small investment in a packet of biennial or perennial flower seeds will often provide up to one hundred or more starter plants.
Autumn is one of the most critical times of the entire year for houseplants. Because it is at this time of year that thermostats are turned-up and the air simply becomes too hot and dry for most tropical houseplants. But, by providing adequate humidity, a good location and proper water the plants should do just …