The striking flowers of the plant commonly called the holiday cactus, may catch your attention in stores and garden centers around this time of year.  Their bell-shaped blooms in shades of red, pink, orange, or white will add a cheerful note to your indoor garden during the holidays.  Sometimes labeled Zygocactus, it’s important to note that holiday cactus or Zygocactus are tropical plants- they aren’t from the desert.   Each kind of holiday cactus typically flowers around the holiday it’s named for; Thanksgiving cactus is in bloom now, followed by the ..read more

   While this fall’s weather has given us a longer than usual time to enjoy our roses, now’s the time to put them to bed. The main goal of winter protection for roses is to maintain dormancy. Cold damage occurs due to plant tissues alternating between freezing and thawing. Winter dormancy is achieved by keeping the crown, graft, and lower portion of the canes uniformly cold and hydrated throughout the winter months.      The process of preparing roses for winter includes pruning, a thorough clean-up, deep-root watering, and mulching.     ..read more

Among the flowers that help us celebrate the season, amaryllis stand out for the living accent their long-lasting, colorful blooms lend to our holiday decorations. Amaryllis take six to eight weeks to bloom, so now’s the time to start them. Amaryllis are available in many beautiful varieties, including various shades of red, white, pink and salmon.  Amaryllis bulbs are sized from small to X-large. Generally, the larger the bulb size, the more blooms it will produce. Once you've chosen the bulbs you want to start, it's time to pick out a container. Choose a heavy ceramic or clay pot ..read more

Cold temperatures in early November are a signal it’s time to prepare your shrubs and perennials for winter, a process that includes pruning, watering, and mulching.      Flowering shrubs can be divided into two categories: spring blooming and summer blooming.      At this time of year, spring blooming shrubs such as forsythia, lilac, ninebark, weigela and some varieties of hydrangea already have next spring's flower buds in place. They're said to bloom on "old wood" because soon after flowering this past season, they began to set the buds for next ..read more

Now’s the Time to Put the Vegetable Garden to Bed  The chill in the morning air over the weekend is a signal it’s time to put the vegetable garden to bed. Fall cleanup is an important step in preparing the garden for the next growing season, because what you don’t accomplish in the garden now, you’ll need to do in the spring, when you’re eager to plant your garden, not clean it up. Garden chores done now, allow you to focus on planting in the spring, knowing that your garden beds are healthy, and your soil is ready.   Best practices for putting the vegetable garden to be ..read more

This week’s warm weather aside, October is bringing about a change in your lawn.  The shorter days and cooler temperatures mean the grass isn't growing as vigorously and typically, you're mowing less frequently. While top growth has slowed down, grass roots are still very active storing nutrients and moisture, getting ready for the winter season.  All this activity at the root level makes this an important time to build soil structure and to feed your lawn.   This is accomplished by first aerating the lawn, then adding organic material to soil in the form of humate. Ae ..read more

You’ll see them in early spring, often blooming through the snow. Early blooming crocus are a sure sign that spring is on its way. The crocus flowers are soon followed by daffodils, tulips and hyacinths, each bringing its own distinct color to your garden.   These spring blooms are from hardy bulbs that were planted in the fall.  Planting bulbs is the best way to have a colorful spring garden and now is the time to plant them.   Bulbs available for planting now are hardy bulbs, which means they are cold-tolerant.  They will survive our winter weathe ..read more

Garlic and onions are members of the allium family. They are well suited for planting in the fall and will produce a good crop come late spring into summer. Like other spring flowering bulbs, garlic and onions planted now will set roots and start to grow. As the soil temperature cools down, growth stops. When soil temperatures increase in the spring, the bulb will resume its growth cycle.  There are many different varieties of garlic, all of which fall into two general categories, softneck and hardneck. Softneck garlic is the kind you will generally find in the grocery store ..read more

   Planting a cover crop in the fall is an effective way to protect and improve your garden soil, through the off season.  Cover crops perform several functions including increasing soil organic matter, fixing nitrogen, breaking up compacted soils, suppressing weeds, acting as a living mulch, promoting, and protecting soil microbial activity.      Cover crops are usually planted in the off-season, after harvest. Though often referred to as “green manure”, cover crops are the actual plants. They become green manure, once they are turned into the soil ..read more

Looking to add some flowers to the fall garden? As other perennials are starting to slow down, asters are just getting started, adding color to the landscape and providing support for pollinators. Asters are long-lived perennials that are members of the Asteraceae or daisy family. Typically, you’ll start to notice them late in the summer, blooming in response to shorter days, with flowers that can range from blue to purple to white depending on the species. Among the more popular cultivars are  New England aster ‘Purple Dome’  Bushy Aster ‘Wood’s Pink’  ‘Kris ..read more