I’m pretty easy-going by nature, but do not get between me and my Spear Head spade! I discovered this remarkable tool a few years ago and haven’t used another shovel since. It’s changed the way I garden. The makers of the Spear Head spade call it a hybrid, combining the best features of a spade and a shovel. A traditional spade is fairly flat, designed mainly for cutting straight lines, digging trenches, or shaping borders and lawns. A shovel is more curved and generally used for digging and lifting. The Spear Head spade takes both features and adds a triangular pointed tip to make working in ..read more

So much that unfolds inside the sun-drenched greenhouses of Tagawa Gardens seems almost magical. Watching bare-root roses come to life certainly qualifies. A sea of roses has been “coming to life” over the past few weeks since nearly 4,400 of the these dormant plants were tucked into special soil and set out on benches to become some of the healthiest, most beautiful roses you could find for your home gardens. What does “bare-root” mean? The term “bare-root” applies to small dormant plants that have been dug up and had the soil around their roots removed to make them easy to transplant. These ..read more

Ounce for ounce, some of the most nutritious food we can grow comes in the tiniest of gardens! Think sprouts, microgreens, and baby greens! They’re all powerhouses of goodness, and growing them is so much easier than you might think! Many of the seeds for these foods are plants we normally use at a different stage in their growth. For example, the microgreens shown above are two-inch tall sprouts of black oil sunflower seeds. The tiny bit of seed husk gives them away! Sunflowers at this stage taste like sweet crisp juicy lettuce. Just yummy! A Bonus of Growing Sprouts and Greens Everything ab ..read more

Okay, for the record, we can’t actually make our succulents “happy.” That’s a people thing, though a lot of us do assign human emotions to the plants we love. But we can make ourselves happy by keeping these remarkable plants healthy, and knowing how to spot the first signs of insects or disease. Let’s take a look at a few ways we can be the best succulent plant parents possible. Learning to “love” our succulents a little bit less It’s the good news and the bad news. We love our succulents…. but we can easily love them to death by watering them like regular houseplants. Bad idea! Succulents ho ..read more

I love Indian summer! Now that we’ve had our first big taste of winter along the Front Range, the forecast is for several days of warm, dry weather ahead. As the snow melts, it’s a great time to go for walks… play in the park… and give our gardens some very simple TLC that will pay off down the road in the form of watering! Some Indian Summer do’s and don’ts In most places outside the mountains, our Indian summer temperatures have melted most of the snow from last weekend’s storm. But for the sake of discussion, guess how much moisture that storm left behind. Take my backyard east of Parker, f ..read more

For those of us who love flowers, I think it’s hard to look at bright-faced pansies and not smile. Maybe that’s because these cheerful blossoms already appear to be smiling at us! But the happy faces are just part of the reason these cool weather plants so richly deserve to be in our late-season gardens. Autumn may be my favorite season I love the warmth of the rich golds and reds and russets that mark the arrival of fall. These earth tones make a perfect backdrop for a bold and unapologetic burst of color that a basket or bed of pansies can create. Planting pansies and violas this time of ye ..read more

Preview in new tab I know people are passionate about their home-grown tomatoes. I am, too! But if you’re 100% convinced that the only way to have a perfectly delicious tomato is to let it fully ripen in place on the vine, this blog might touch a nerve. Long-standing beliefs and assumptions can be hard to change, but in the words of one Texas A&M professor, “It’s time to re-imagine what ‘vine-ripened’ means.” My own tomato plants have lots of full-sized fruit that is green and firm and just hanging there… day after day… no change. I’m guessing some of you might be seeing the same thing. I ..read more

We’re all seeing it: Many of our flowers and veggies took a “time out” and slowed their growth during our rainy, cool weather in June. So did many of the pests that target them. But these plants and their insect followers are now making up for lost time. That’s my cue to touch base with our helpful Garden Advisors to see what problems they’re hearing from our guests – and what gardeners can do about them! With Tagawa’s emphasis on products that are least harmful to pollinators and other beneficial insects in the garden, I’ll generally be offering the least toxic options first. I’ll begin with ..read more

If you love the idea of bringing the beauty of outdoor gardens indoors, then you may already grow some of the most popular plants that will make great cut flower arrangements. These truly “perennial” favorites might include peonies, coneflowers, iris, lavender, or different types of daisies. But your fondness for cut flowers doesn’t have to stop with the tried and true varieties. I asked some of the team in Tagawa’s Perennial department to name a few less obvious flowers that would play well in arrangements. Here are their thoughts. Salvia Salvia (a.k.a. sage) is a huge family of plants. Peopl ..read more

If you don’t just enjoy having a variety of pollinators in your garden, but actually plant with those pollinators in mind, you’re my kind of people! Creating gardens that nurture all sorts of bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds is easier than you might think, especially with the help of pollinator-friendly perennials. And there’s never been a better time than now during National Pollinator Week! I asked Richard, Tagawa’s Perennials Department Co-Supervisor, what plants he’d recommend for a pollinator garden. Let’s check out his fun and colorful list. Yarrow This first one might surprise you, b ..read more