One cardinal rule is this: after it’s done blooming, pruning can happen. So we start in late June by pruning the early spring flowering plants such as quince, fothergilla, lilac and forsythia. Later we’ll turn to rhododendrons, azaleas, weigelas, and the like. Evergreens such as yew, holly and boxwood are pruned in the summer once…
Al just announced that he will be leaving us at the end of March after nine years with Pumpkin Brook. Starting as a crew member in 2010, he was a fast learner who became Plant Health Care Technician in 2013 and then Manager of the department in 2017. He has taken another position in the green…
We are available this winter to help you with your garden design and renovation needs. No need to wait until April. We like to plan ahead and get the design and planning stages finished before the snow melts. Then you can be among the first on our list for a spring project installation. Contact Priscilla…
One of my favorite winter rituals is a visit to an indoor plant show. In our area, we are blessed with plentiful attractions that make perfect day trips. The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s courtyard in Boston’s Fenway is a welcome haven on a winter day. Greenhouses provide tender orchids, ferns, blooming jade plants, and the first…
Stuck indoors a lot in winter? Let’s plant something interesting to view from your windows! Most broadleaf evergreens like rhododendrons curl their leaves tightly in the cold for self-preservation. This isn’t that attractive over time. Why not try something different? Textured bark might be one solution. One of my favorite native woodland plants…
Snow is a great insulator, and for the short term will provide the needed protection of David Austin and hybrid tea roses. We plan to get out to make cones of compost around the root zones of these plants as usual, once we can determine that the ground is frozen, even if there is a…
My friends Brent and Becky Heath, owners of Brent and Becky’s Bulbs in Virginia, shared this technique with me during a bulb seminar I attended at their headquarters back in March 2012. It will work for the bulbs that you didn’t get to plant in the ground this fall. Gather a bunch of 2-gallon pots.…