Search results for: 'plant'

[caption id="attachment_505" align="alignleft" width="210" caption="White Flower Farm, Litchfield County, CT"][/caption] Earlier this week Ruth Rogers Clausen met my mother and me at White Flower Farm in Litchfield County, CT. I wanted to catch up with Ruth on the topic of her new book, coming out in June (Timber Press). The title is 50 Beautiful Deer Resistant Plants, and I thought our visit to White Flower Farm provided a good opportunity to ask her what some of her favorite deer resistant plants are.�...

Here are 10 of our favorite tabletop ideas for Thanksgiving, using plants and fruits. For how-to instructions, click here to go to the Womanswork Pinterest board. Click on individual images to be taken to their source. [caption id="attachment_2115" align="aligncenter" width="378"] Cranberries in glass container with votive candle in center. (We used a hand blown glass by Jill Reynolds, glass artist, with a pleasingly irregular shape, for added interest). Dorian Winslow, Womanswork[/caption] [caption ...

Here’s why I love this book and will be giving away two copies signed by the author. First, it has a novel rating system for plants that gives a more nuanced view of the subject. A rating of 10 is the most deer resistant, but Ruth Rogers Clausen also includes plants with ratings of 7, 8 and 9, and tells you what level of (minor) nibbling you might expect if you choose those plants. Plants below a 7 are considered mostly ‘deer candy,’ which earn a mention in the book as plants to avoid. Ruth dev...

[caption id="attachment_3907" align="alignright" width="180"] My canna lily growing in a container[/caption] This year I purchased three popular tropical plants for outdoor containers: canna lilies, Colocasia and Alocasia (aka Elephant ears).  I was happy with all three, though the canna lily was the star performer for me. I love plants that come back each year, even if it means digging them up in the fall and storing them away for the winter.  These plants can be left in the ground if you live in Z...

[caption id="attachment_4173" align="alignright" width="190"] Marianne in her Virginia garden[/caption] Like many gardeners Marianne Willburn started small. First she had window boxes and containers, then she moved to a tiny duplex where she managed to squeeze in a small vegetable garden next to the parking area. As she and her young family moved to larger properties, hopscotching from California to London to Maryland and finally Virginia, the space given over to gardens kept getting bigger. But that�...

"The Curious Gardener" presents A Book Give Away this Month-- To enter sign up for our "Curious Gardener" newsletter and you'll be automatically entered to win one of two copies we're giving away.  If you've already signed up for our newsletter, send me an email at dwinslow@womanswork.com and I'll enter you.  We'll announce the winner in our next newsletter, out in early December. Conventional wisdom suggests that most of our favorite plants are also the favorites of our four-legged friends.  But R...

Horticulturist and author Ruth Rogers Clausen has a new book out, published by Timber Press, titled "Deer-Resistant Native Plants for the Northeast," co-authored with Gregory D. Tepper.  Womanswork is giving away a copy of her new book, which features 75 native plants that deer seldom browse.  She gives each plant a deer resistant rating from 7-10.  Anything below 7 is considered deer candy and is not included in the book. To enter, tell us in a Comment below, or via Facebook or Instagram, why you wan...

Lately we have heard a lot of talk about microbes and the biology of soil.  In the past we spoke of plant fertilizers in terms of N-P-K (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium) and that seemed to be the end of discussion. [caption id="attachment_1345" align="alignleft" width="84"] Annie Haven[/caption] Last Spring we approached Annie Haven of  Haven Family Ranch in San Juan Capistrano, California, a farm run by the Haven family for more than 160 years. She sells muslin bags of aged cow and horse manure, ...

  We spoke with Lisa Ringer of Two Pony Gardens in Long Lake, MN about how she prepares for the dahlia season. Many parts of the country are experiencing a late spring, so her advice on how to lengthen the growing season is particularly relevant this year, even to non-Minnesotans. Here's what she told us, commenting that she has two feet of snow on the ground and it's the middle of April (!)  This is not typical, even for Minnesota. Since Lisa's growing season can be cut short by a mid-Septem...