Innholdsfortegnelse for March/April 2023 i Garden Gate

My father-in-law built this bench and surprised me with it at Christmas when I first started gardening. I could immediately picture it nestled into a beautiful woodland garden under our big silver maple tree. So that spring, I ordered a few little perennials, gratefully accepted some hosta divisions, invested in a yew and a hydrangea at our local garden center, tucked in a couple of six-packs of impatiens for color and got a load of mulch from a local tree company. This garden definitely wasn’t the lush show I dreamed of, but it was a start. When my husband and I finally settled onto the bench to enjoy our accomplishment, we realized that we’d sited it with a perfect view of the nearby apartment building’s dumpster. Big miss. But I…

Botanical Names Red osier dogwoodCornus sericea As winter comes to an end and spring starts to gift us with the warmth of the sun, garden centers and nurseries begin to put out the first flowers of the year. This early enthusiasm inevitably results in a cart filled with plants that you can’t resist, even if you don’t really have room for them. No matter, containers are always an option! PLACE YOUR CONTAINERS Plant up a few spring containers and a bare patio or terrace is suddenly filled with color. Your balcony becomes a bright spot in the apartment complex and neighbors are asking where those plants came from. Grouping containers together provides an even bigger show that draws attention to the entry, or you can use bright blooms to dress…

Japanese Iris Sources Cascadia Iris Gardens cascadiairisgardens.com Ensata Gardens ensata.com Mt. Pleasant Iris Farm mtpleasantiris.com Japanese Iris Iris ensata The last iris of the season to bloom, Japanese iris can also have the largest flowers: Some are up to 10 inches in diameter. And what flowers they are! The unusual and orchidlike blossoms invite a closer inspection of their intricate design. WHERE IT WORKS BEST Japanese irises like moist, acid soil, which makes them ideal along the edge of natural water features, near downspouts or in rain gardens. Or plant them in a border with other moisture-loving perennials, such as ligularia (Ligularia dentata) or Japanese anemone (Anemone x hybrida), where their spiky foliage will contrast with rounded leaves and mounded habits. HOW TO GROW IT For the…

When I first started vegetable gardening, I would sow every single seed in the envelope and plant every seedling in the pack, take care of hundreds of my growing babies and struggle with letting any of them go. Oversowing and overplanting left me with more produce than I could handle and sometimes weird-looking, stunted crops that were growing too close together. There was no way everything that germinated would fit in my garden, but watching those little seeds sprout and turn into plants was a treat in itself. Every year of experience with a vegetable garden helps you decide what to do the following year, but if you’re not sure if you’re planting enough or too much of a particular crop, start with the table on the right. It’ll help…

GARDEN JARGON ETIOLATED As you uncover the garden in spring, you might find spindly yellow or white foliage like the sedum in the photo below. It is etiolated because it’s been deprived of light. Once exposed to the sun, chlorophyll changes it to green. Q Help! How do I get rid of perennial sweet pea vines? They’re invasive! Thelma Homer, NV A Perennial, or everlasting, sweet pea (Lathyrus latifolius) spreads by seeds and rhizomes. And it also has a tough taproot. This will be an ongoing challenge to remove and could take several years. First, prevent it from setting seeds, which are poisonous. When the seeds are ripe, the pod ejects them up to 30 feet! And the seeds can remain viable in the soil for up to five years.…

When you fall in love with a plant at the garden center, you might not realize the challenges it may face at home. How many times have you had to fight back stems from a too-large plant that’s eating your sidewalk, pull unwanted seedlings, watch deer eat stems to the ground or water, water, water a gasping plant? At some point, enough is enough and the plant has to go. That’s not to say that it isn’t a perfectly good plant—it’s just that there might be better alternatives in certain situations. So you can move the offender to a new place in the garden better suited to its characteristics, give it to a friend or even just toss it on the compost pile, but that still leaves a hole to…

Could any plant be more versatile in the garden than coral bells? Sun or shade, it’s hard to beat this easy-care perennial. With a rainbow of available foliage colors, almost anyone should be able to find one (or several!) to blend into the garden. ALL ABOUT THE FOLIAGE Once upon a time, coral bells were simply mounds of green foliage with thin wands of coral-pink blooms. Now you can find this perennial in shades of green, chartreuse, amber, peach, orange, red, bronze and purple. And although there are plenty of bold solid-colored varieties, such as ‘Caramel’ and ‘Black Pearl’ in the photo at right, breeders have also developed foliage with intricate vein patterns and lacy or metallic-looking overlays, as you can see on ‘Green Spice.’ All of this exciting variety…

1 | Linkind Solar Spotlight Illuminate your front walk or uplight interesting plant branching or structures in your garden with this solar spotlight. The LED light bar is mounted on a swivel so you can turn it 135 degrees up or down to project a wide-angle beam of light just where you want it. Likewise, the solar panel can be aligned with the position of the sun to catch light and charge during the day. Installs instantly with the included stake — no wiring needed! Create different moods using multiple light color options. Amazon.com ($32.99 for 2 pack) 2 | Sili-Seedlings Seedling Tray It’s not silly to want to reuse your seed-starting tray over and over. Food-grade, BPA-free, nontoxic silicone construction makes this 6-pack a long-lasting solution. It won’t crack…

Nimblewill Muhlenbergia schreberi What it looks like This fine-textured native perennial grass can grow up to 24 inches tall, but in turf areas the wiry stems are kept shorter because of mowing. However, you might not notice it in your lawn until cold weather arrives. Then the sprawling, densely branched mats of warm-season grass turn brown faster than most turfgrasses, as you can see above, and it remains brown until spring. From midsummer into fall, narrow heads, or panicles, rise just above the leaves loaded with tiny flowers that form lots of seeds. Even if the plant is mowed, it will continue to produce seeds. Where to find it Nimblewill hides best in lawns, but seeds also sprout in beds, borders and vegetable gardens. Tolerant of shade to full sun,…

No matter when you look out your window, this garden will have something to catch your eye. In winter, it’ll be the interesting branch structure of the Japanese maple, the evergreen foliage of the Hicks yew and even the flowers of the common snowdrops. Spring will bring azalea and hellebore blooms along with emerging hosta and sedge foliage. Summer offers up dramatic foliage contrasts and flowers of panicle hydrangeas, hostas and tuberous begonias. As the garden season winds down in autumn, this bed’s Japanese maple, hosta and sedge will light it up in shades of orange-red and yellow. Even gardens in part shade can have plenty of color, no matter what the season! Hardscaping elements like crisp edging, gently curving paths and welcoming arbors help, too. Learn more about how…

Cart around your cucumbers Joan Western, MA Because her container-grown cucumber was heavy and hard to move around her balcony, Joan decided to put it on wheels: She grabbed an unused collapsible shopping cart trolley and plopped the cucumber container within. It now lives on her balcony and is easy to care for and move to chase the sun or make room for visitors. DIY work station Mary Martin, ID If you can find a used kitchen sink at the thrift store—or even have an old one of your own—you can craft an outdoor work table with Mary’s guidance. To begin, build a three-walled base by stacking cinder blocks in a U-shape. See in the illustration below that the lip of the sink rests on the cinder block base. Mary…

Placing nesting boxes around your garden is a great way to encourage feathery friends to start a family there. With more birds in the yard, you’ll enjoy the benefits of these little garden helpers as they eat unwanted insects, munch on pesky weed seeds and help pollinate your flowers. Plus, watching them build their nests and raise chicks is great entertainment! I spoke with Robyn Bailey, NestWatch Project Leader at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in New York, about how you can make your birdhouses safe and welcoming nesting boxes for the birds you want to host. She reminded me that different species of birds prefer different house styles and locations and shared a few things to keep in mind as you decide what works best! WHICH BIRDS WILL VISIT?…

Gardens don’t stay the same from year to year—we try new plants, tweak the layout, experiment with growing methods—that’s the fun of gardening. But every once in a while, we need some sparkling new ideas to motivate us. If you’re unsure about which is the next best step for your space, or if you simply want to be in tune with the gardening world’s most current obsessions, take the following quiz to determine your general gardening style. Then flip to your personalized inspiration page to uncover a tailored collection of trends that are sure to fit right in with your taste and preferences. Which new idea is waiting to hook you? Chloe enjoys scoping out new, inspiring ideas while meandering through the gardens of friends, acquaintances and neighbors. TAKE THE…