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Gardeners and their Gardens

Gomphrena globosa -- A Must Have For Your Garden

  By Sandra Nelson       This week’s pick by Jo Ann Prieto, horticulturist and seasonal color specialist.   Gomphrena globosa   “An interesting plant in masses, in pots it gives a nice structural interest to the pots.”     Providing a burst of blooms from summer until frost, globe amaranth is a hardy, …

Succulents -- The Almost Perfect Plant

By Sandra Nelson Our weekends almost always include a trip to one of the local big box stores. For some reason, no matter what task he is completing, my husband never seems to have “the right tool.” (After 45 years, I would think we would already have every tool known to man …but evidently not. …

Echinacea  -- Sombrero Series: A Must Have For Your Landscape

    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 …

Set Your Sights On Spring

  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 …

Who's Showing Off Today?

  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 …

Plants for Your Shade Garden

  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 …

Who's Showing Off Today?

  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 …

Design Principles for Shade Gardens

    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 …