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Welcome to our library of articles, where you can search and browse over 2,000 articles written by our own team of garden writers. Interested in becoming a Dave's Garden writer? Submit an article to apply.
What is a bluebell? This is not a simple question. Several entirely unrelated flowers are called by this name. But to make things even more complicated, the English Bluebell, otherwise known as the wild Hyacinth, has been tagged with different scientific names that come from different Greek myths. Let's see if we can untangle this mixed-up nomenclature.
For me, spring planting is one of the best times of year in the garden. I bury my hands in the rich, warm soil. I gently pop each plant from its pot and tuck it into the garden bed, firming the earth around it. I take my time, admiring each seedling and imagining the plant it will become. Here are a few tips to help your spring planting go smoothly…
Being a veterinarian and a pet owner I sometimes have a different perspective when it comes to battling garden insects as many of the toxins we use to casually use in our garden can be potentially quite hazardous to ours pets. I see a lot of poisoning cases in the veterinary emergeny room, most from toxins meant for rodents or bugs. This article is an attempt to familiarize the reader with some of the more common dangerous and less dangerous insecticides available for use to the general public.
As important as recycling is to the sustainability of life on this planet, one form of recycling may be the least recognized, and yet the most critically important, of all. Here I'll share about what could very well be the fundamental and primary recycling activity we can engage in for our gardens and farms. . .
Famous for designing New York City's Central Park, Frederick Law Olmsted (1822 - 1902) was the first person ever to describe himself as a "landscape architect." In Boston, however, Olmsted will forever be remembered as the visionary designer of The Emerald Necklace, a system of parks and parkways that wind through and around the city of Boston. While Olmsted designed similar extensive park systems for other major cities, for us, it's The Emerald Necklace that makes Olmsted rank with Paul Revere and Henry Thoreau as a local hero.
"Your house smells so good" is a comment I hear often. Bundles of lavender, bunches of lemon balm and stems of rosemary are some of the herbs I have drying in my home year 'round.
Something about the shape of strawberry jars has always appealed to me, I've admired well-planted pots and tried for years to make mine look as good. Every year it was something; the top plants didn't grow, the plants at the bottom rotted or dried out. The owner of a local garden center took pity on me and gave me a few tricks that have made all the difference. Today, I'll share them with each of you.
Tired of plain old plastic pots? Sure, they come in many colours, but they are still plastic. Let us take a look at some items that have "Pot Potential".
This jewel is actually two jewels, at least in my view, because the two types are different enough to enjoy separately or together in your collection. Which one you find depends upon where your nursery is obtaining their young plants. . .
I never cared for orange flowers. They seemed kind of garish. The color was ok for pumpkins or (ahem) oranges, but NOT for roses. Then I saw some of the gorgeous photographs of orange roses posted on the Rose Forum here at Dave's Garden.
Many people indeed know this plant at least by its name but have you ever wondered what it was named after? Well, do not think it has anything to do with love or any other carnal feeling, as it should indeed be written Passion flower for it relates to the very Passion of Christ. Here are a few things concerning those stunning plants.
On Saturdays, the Writer's Group would like to say thanks by presenting a "You Supply The Caption" photo. A gardening related photo will be presented, and you the Readers will provide humorous captions. The wit available on Dave's is some of the best around, so please join in the fun! This feature is not a "for compensation" article - just our way of saying Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoy...now let's hear some funny stuff!
By consuming thousands of insects and other pests during the course of a season, the toad is one of the best helpers a gardener can have. Unfortunately, the gardener can be the toad's worst enemy.
Seed starting itself is a 'cheap trick' gardeners know and love. Why pay for full price for a plant when you can start it from seed? Trading, rather than buying seeds, makes seed collecting and starting even cheaper. Once you've got the seeds, try these money saving tricks to make your next garden your most thrifty yet.
Gardeners are a creative and thrifty group. They take pride in using unique materials to enhance their gardens. Here’s a fun use for those old blue jeans that will make a wonderful gift for a gardener, or simply a conversation piece to hang from a tree in your own yard.
The picture may look vaguely familiar. You may have seen something like it in a calendar, picture book, magazine, poster, or as a stock photo. The caption may say "Mojave Desert",or something else equally vague and fitting for this mysterious land covered with millions of orange poppies. However, this is not some isolated Shangri-La. It is the highly-popular and visitor-friendly Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve.
The weather is warming, your garden is tilled, and you can’t wait to plant out all the little seedlings on your light shelf. Stop! Put down your trowel. Your seedlings need a little time and help to get used to the Great Outdoors before you put them into the ground.
So you have the new house ready, or you are finally ready to tackle your old house. How do you go about setting up the new garden? How do you know what goes where for the best show, use, and enjoyment for years to come? Get ready and let’s walk through the steps to a well thought out garden.
In our constant efforts to battle the forces of nature while attempting to create our own perfect versions of nature (our gardens), we are often 'forced' to use substances to thwart or even kill garden pests. This article discusses some of the toxins used to kill rodents, but what deadly consequences those may have on our own pets.
Having read a thread here on DG about a fellow gardener who lost her thumb due an infection caused by a cut on her thumb that did not heal properly. I wanted to do some research and this is what I found and want to share with all of you.
We all know that the default color for plant leaves is green, whether it is a blue-green or a lime green, or any other shade of green. That's why we are so taken by leaves of other colors, such as fall foliage, or garden plants with white-splotched, yellow-splotched, orange, pink or red colors on the leaves. Here is the explanation for why we see colors such as these on some of our plants . . .
Years of flipping through various gardening books had given me a vague general idea of how to force bulbs. It sounded easy enough. Pot up some bulbs, chill them and take them out. But if it was so easy, why didn’t I know fellow gardeners who had even attempted it? Maybe experience would be the best teacher.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to find yourself in the midst of a tropical rain forest? Smitten as I am with tropical flora, I certainly have. Yes, I’ve seen rain forests on TV, and I even have a mini one on the second floor of our home,* but I wanted to experience the real thing.
When I got married about two years ago, I racked my brain to come up with a good party favor that would be meaningful to my husband and me, as well as be something the guests could keep for a long time to come. While monogrammed napkins and bubbles are nice, they didn’t really speak to me or about me. I needed something relatively cheap since I was going to have 150 guests and something that I could personally make. After much consideration and research, I ended up deciding to use both my gardening and creative gifts, to come up with my perfect party favor: home-propagated African Violets in hand-made clay pots. The following is a short tale of my journey to matrimonial insanity and back.
Of all the Jewel Alocasias, this one has the award for the thickest leaf, as well as the most heavily textured leaf. If you didn't know this was a real plant, you'd have good reason to believe this plant was made from plastic. It is real, though, and you, too, can try growing it. That is, if you know how to care for Jewels. . .
Antique botanical prints challenge the distinction between art and science. We are all familiar with the work of Audubon in his great books on birds, and many engravings on botanical subjects reach the high quality of his prints, which are considered great works of art and sell for astronomical prices today.
Chamaedorea palms are a large genus of Central and South American palms that include some of the most commonly grown and attractive species in the whole world. This article is an introduction to many of the more commonly grown species in cultivation along with a few comments on cultivation and availability, along with at least one photo of each.
On Saturdays, the Writer's Group would like to say thanks by presenting a "You Supply The Caption" photo. A gardening related photo will be presented, and you the Readers will provide humorous captions. The wit available on Dave's is some of the best around, so please join in the fun! This feature is not a "for compensation" article - just our way of saying Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoy...now let's hear some funny stuff!
Every journey up the mountain with Aunt Bett was an adventure. Gathering bee balm was one of the most exciting since we had to battle the hungry bees to get our fair share, not to mention the fact that the uniform for bee battling was never to be forgotten. This is the third in a series of stories about my great Aunt Bett, the mountain medicine woman.
Most people seem to have an innate fear and loathing of snakes, which sometimes works out for the snakes (people leave them alone) and sometimes it doesn't (people kill them when they find them in their gardens). There is no way I can convince someone who is terrified of snakes not to be, but perhaps a discussion of their benefits and harmlessness to the garden will deter a few would-be killers of these wonderful and efficient garden predators.
This series has come to a close. With all the information I have given you, I wanted to appeal to you one last time to add iris to your landscape. So here are the top five reasons to grow an iris.
I have had bits and pieces of information about using rock dust in the garden scattered among my garden notes and in my books for years. Recently some neurotransmitters in my brain finally worked together and I had a really big DUH! about why I should use rock dust in my garden, and what it can do. It is all so very simple to me, finally.
Natural soil is a veritable cornucopia of bacteria, fungi, viruses, and other small organisms, all living together in a delicate balance. Any disruption of that balance can result in one or more of the microbes gaining an upper hand over the others. In some cases, the ones proliferating are pathogenic, or damaging to your plants. Now, imagine a soilless media, practically devoid of any microflora, becoming inoculated with a pathogen. Without competition, the surprise is that any plant growing in such a medium survives! Fortunately, the means to restore a population of beneficial microbes to your soilless medium is available. Read on . . .
