Spring is a busy time in the garden, but thank goodness you don’t have to cram every garden task into just one season! There are plenty of things to do in the other three seasons. Pruning and clean-up can be the biggest tasks on your list. Below is an outline of some benefits of spring versus fall clean-up to help you make the right decisions for you and your garden.

Reasons to wait until spring to clean up perennials:

• The particular plant may provide some winter interest that can be quite attractive. Ornamental grasses, tall sedum and dry hydrangea blooms are examples of nice winter interest.

• The perennial could be a food source for winter birds. Coneflowers (Echinacea), ornamental grasses and milkweed (Asclepias) produce see... [See More]

Four-Season Garden Maintenance

What Does Hardiness Zone Mean To Me?

The U.S. Department of Agriculture designed a map of the United States that shows color-coded plant hardiness zones as a guide for where plants may survive across the country. It is divided into 10° F increments. Each zone is based on an average annual extreme minimum temperature observed over a 30-year period, not the lowest temperature an area has ever reached. The zones are labeled from 1 to 13, with zone 1 being the coldest.

The Plant Hardiness Zone Map (PHZM) is an excellent guide for gardeners to discover which plants are likely to survive in their area. Plant breeders and professional growers use hardiness zones to communicate to gardeners where the plants they have bred and developed can be grown successfully.

Two new zones were added to the USDA PHZM in 2012. Zones 12 and 13 cover Hawaii and Puerto Rico, with average annual extreme temperatures above 50°F and 60°F respectively. This new informati... [See More]

Four-Season Garden Maintenance

What Does Hardiness Zone Mean To Me?

The Plant Hardiness Zone Map (PHZM) is an excellent guide for gardeners to discover which plants are likely to survive in their area. Plant breeders and profess... [See More]

Garden Design

A properly designed garden combines plants that provide balance, solve problems, and accentuate features you want highlighted. Don't confuse a balanced garden with a formal garden; with a little planning, the garden can appear natural and spontaneous while still being very organized. To achieve a visually well-balanced garden, you should distribute plants evenly so one side or area does not appear to overpower the others, which will permit your gaze to flow from one side to the other. The use of a simple drawing will help you place your plants in locations that achieve balance. Another suggestion to preventing a busy mish-mash is to use a single type of plant, or plants that have the same color, repeatedly through the design layout.

Another trait of contemporary gardens is the use of varied types of plants in the design scheme. The motivation behind this creative element is to produce interest and surprise in your garden. Mixing bold plants with pleasing colors, large with small, ... [See More]

Family Gardening

Family gardening may seem a bit out of place in a collection of articles on limited gardening; however, it fits here quite well. Repeating what was said in the previous article, "if your garden takes more time to start and maintain than you have to allot it, the garden is destined to fail." This concept is very relevant to family gardening.

In this context, "family gardening" doesn't simply mean gardening with members of your family but focuses more on gardening with adults and children working together. Because you're working with children, giving your garden "limitations" can be the difference between a successful garden and a failed attempt to get the children interested in gardening.

Small raised flowerbeds and/or containers and pots are a good way to keep your gardens small and manageable. Depending on ... [See More]

Garden Design

Family Gardening

In this context, "family gardening" doesn't simply mean gardening with members of y... [See More]