No plant captures the imagination quite like a carnivorous one. With oddly shaped leaves that are designed to capture and digest insect prey, carnivorous plants are equal parts unique and sinister. Given the right conditions, sundews, pitcher plants, and flytraps make excellent houseplants. Interested? Learn more about these plants and how to care for them at home.
You and your rose soul-mates have found each other. Now what? How do you keep them happy and thriving in our maritime Pacific Northwest climate? Roses are not completely carefree, but with a few basic care guidelines, you can grow them successfully and enjoy their beauty for years to come.
For many of us, the choice of which tomatoes to grow can be daunting. We've boiled down the tomato decision process into a few helpful questions and our suggestions: a secret (tomato) sauce, if you will, of how to make the right choice for your individual tomato needs. At the end of this post are a handy infographic and a link to our tomato variety list.
Rhododendrons and azaleas, included in the genus Rhododendron are well-suited to our maritime climate and popular for their bold, colorful flowers and relatively tidy habits. They are both easy to grow and care for when their basic needs are met. In this post, learn how to care for your rhodies and azaleas.
We love our lilac shrubs with their exemplary fragrance in May but almost any lilac that has not been pruned for two years or more is likely to have flowers up high, out of optimal sniffing range. Pruning can help keep your lilac to a manageable size, accentuate its lovely form, and improve flowering. Sometimes, a complete refresh is needed (coppicing). In this post, we walk you through several options for pruning your lilac bush, using helpful diagrams.
Most warm-season vegetables - heat-lovers like tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, squash, and beans - can be grown here in the Pacific Northwest.…. If you can give them the right conditions. But with our cool, wet springs and short summers, sometimes it can seem like an uphill battle. Luckily, there are ways to ensure success for the PNW gardener, from season-extending tools to growing tips for happy plants and great harvests.
An emerging idea as we blur the boundaries between ornamental and food gardening is the Food Forest. A project garnering recent attention is the Cascadia College (CC) Food Forest, on the campus shared by Cascadia and the University of Washington, Bothell (UWB). It is one of a few but growing number of college campuses in the U.S. which are maintained using sustainable practices and without pesticides or synthetic fertilizers.
Fruit tree netting is something I had never used or considered using until this year. I had experimented with nylon apple maggot barriers before with moderate success, but their application is quite laborious and time-intensive. Now that I have tried tree netting I will never go back. Here’s how to use netting to protect your fruit.
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