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Gardeners and their Gardens

    By Sandra Nelson The seed catalogs have begun to appear in my mailbox, which always gets me dreaming about the multitudes of plants  — both new varieties and old favorites — that I want to add to my landscape. With so many to choose from though, it’s difficult to narrow down the list …

  By Sandra Nelson To many in our part of the country, January and February (and sometimes March) are prime months for happily hibernating indoors. For those of us who are tried and true gardeners however, being out of the dirt and away from plants is akin to being held hostage by Mother Nature. In …

  By Sandra Nelson       Often disparaged as just a common roadside plant, the native Eastern Red Cedar is truly a boost to a winter garden.     Eastern red cedars, or junipers, are easy to grow, tolerating conditions that would quickly wipe out other species. They prefer full sun, shallow rocky, well-drained …

  Selecting the right plant for your shade garden can be a challenging task, especially if you are new to shade gardening. To get you started, Dan Nelson, lead designer at Embassy Landscape Group, has shared ten of his favorite shade plants with us.     To make the choices even easier, we have divided …

  Let’s welcome an unfamiliar face to the fall color spectacular!     Diervilla is a native shrub that seems to have it all. This non-invasive 3 to 4 foot deciduous shrub will thrive in sunny or shady conditions, is drought tolerant and deer resistant. It sports yellow flower clusters all summer long and has superb …

    Ask five “weekend gardeners” to name the plants they would put in a shade garden and you will most likely get a series of sighs and shrugged shoulders and then five variations of hosta, ferns, impatiens and begonias, with possibly a few caladiums thrown into the mix. The overall attitude usually implies that …

  Designing a shade garden that is inviting and interesting throughout the entire year takes serious research and planning. As we have previously discussed, you have to thoroughly understand everything about your site  — everything from its ecoregion and soil, climate and native plant communities to the specific types of shade and their locations. Once …

  Serviceberry trees are putting on quite a show right now.     These easy to grow native trees are show stoppers in all four seasons! In early spring —  March and April  —  they feature gorgeous white blooms that add  soft, pleasant fragrance to the air. Summer means delicate green leaves and a crop …