Espalier is a pruning technique that results in a decorative plant also can also yield especially delicious fruits. My latest blog post provides an introduction to espalier. To dive much deeper into espalier, see my book, The Pruning Book, which has a whole chapter on the why and the how of this technique!
Need some topsoil this time of year to fill a depression or for raised beds? Maybe you don’t. But just what is topsoil? Questions asked and answered in this latest blog post:
Depending on your locale, nurseries, garden centers, hardware stores, and the web are or will soon be offering trees and shrubs for sale. Some plants might even come from hundreds or more miles away. Is buying such plants and good idea? Is bigger better? What makes a good nursery tree or shrub. All this is address in my latest blob post:
Most, but not all, cultivated trees, shrubs, and vines need periodic pruning be at their best, both in appearance and health. Pruning can be complicated so I’ve distilled it all into 10 tips, which should leave your plants reasonably healthy and happy. It’s all in my latest blog post, here:
So many different families visiting my vegetable garden this year — plant families. Yes, they exist! Learn what makes a family, characteristics of some familiar families, and — most important — who know the families will make this year’s garden better. Read here:
Tinkerbell in your garden? Well, not Tinkerbell, but these little gals could each pass for her. Unfortunately, she needs to be controlled. Fortunately, she’s relatively easy to control Read more here:
A “philodendron” that’s not really one, and this one has eerie flowers, followed by a unique fruit — imagine of corn on the cob tasting like a melding of pineapple and banana.
Think of the bark of white birch in winter and you’re not barking up the wrong tree, just that there are many others worth “barking up.” Yew, for example, hackberry, and many more. Shrubs also. Here are some of them:
Like the fire-breathing chimera that was part lion, part goat, part dragon, and feasted on humans, plant chimeras are weird-looking. What’s more, they do, in fact, exist. How do they come about and what is their appeal? Read more about these botanical freaks here:
A bonsai evokes a landscape in miniature. Like any landscape, regular care is needed, even the naturalistic landscape of a bonsai. Of course, the landscape care won’t have you working up a sweat, but you do need to follow three basic steps:
