Tag Archive | Colour

Using pansies in window boxes for winter color

Aug29

johntheplantman--Gardening

Using pansies in window boxes for winter color

 Dot Fletcher loves her window planters. I call them window boxes, but they are actually made of a wire frame with coconut fiber liners. We change these planters twice a year—in the spring we plant lots of begonias, bacopa, and similar plants for summer color. In October, when the begonia plantings still look nice, we change the planters over to pansies. I love pansies because of their hardiness and their ability to give us beautiful flowers throughout the cold days of winter.

We started the project with a trip to a couple of local nurseries where we picked out just the right colors of pansies. I laid the trays of plants out on the driveway next to a tarp which would help to keep the site clean.

Repeated work with these planters has shown me that we need to change the…

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The colorful winter garden

Aug4

The Amazing World of Conifers

We have been enjoying a surprising number of mostly dry and partially sunny days the past several weeks with only the occasional instances of pouring rain. Along with these dryer winter days come colder temperatures, which I don’t mind since the colder the winter garden, the more intense the colors become in several of my conifers.

Anyone who has had the opportunity to acquire a Pinus contorta ‘Chief Joseph’ as certainly by now seen the super-bright yellow of his winter glow. I’ve mentioned in the past that ‘Chief Joseph’ tends to sit quietly in the background through the growing season, when other plants are taking center stage. This is the time of year when the Chief quietly steps forward and commands full attention of anyone within view. The intensity of his bright yellow color seems to grow stronger as winter gets colder. He’s shining very brightly in my garden right…

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Garden trends (Google / Raindrops Cisterns)

Jul27

But arguably the most significant trend is the emergence of what are being called “urban knights” – a growing army of new do-gooder green thumbs who are creating food and flower gardens wherever space will allow – on abandoned building sites, rooftops, balconies, alley ways, and in the limited space of their own front yards.

According to Susan McCoy, of the U.S.-based trend-spotting Garden Media Group, this new generation of gardeners is composed of environmentally-conscious Gen Xs and Ys who believe in the power of plants and regard plants as “no longer a luxury, but a necessity for our lives.”

This new horticultural ground force knows that “plants can live without us, but we can’t live without plants.

CONTAINER GARDENING

Read at : Google Alert – container gardening

http://rdcisterns.com/2012/01/06/garden-trends-2012/

Top garden trends for 2012

Plants that do more and cost less. Water saving strategies. Black and amber foliage. Small-space landscaping. Metal décor. Growing up (vertical gardening). And a bigger focus on front yards over back yards.

These are just a few of the hot gardening trends for 2012 that have been identified by various experts around North America and beyond.

But arguably the most significant trend is the emergence of what are being called “urban knights” – a growing army of new do-gooder green thumbs who are creating food and flower gardens wherever space will allow – on abandoned building sites, rooftops, balconies, alley ways, and in the limited space of their own front yards.

According to Susan McCoy, of the U.S.-based trend-spotting Garden Media Group, this new generation of gardeners is composed of environmentally-conscious Gen Xs and Ys who…

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