Tag: garden gloves

  The following is reprinted from the original article published last October in The Curious Gardener. Since then Jennifer has been "hard at work on a book for Timber Press - focusing on the current state of women working with plants - due in stores Fall of 2019!"  We featured Jennifer on hang tags on our gloves because we were inspired by her story. Jennifer Jewell is a gardener and writer who takes as much pleasure in the ritual of gardening…

  Michelle Lam’s happiest childhood memories are of sitting in fruit trees eating fruit on her parents’ farm in Hong Kong. Those memories bubbled to the surface when she and her husband and daughter Lily moved to Dutchess County, NY, to ‘put down roots,’ says Michelle. The previous owners of the 7 1/2-acre property they fell in love with had “lots of animals and the soil was great,” says Michelle. Also, the house sits on a hill facing south, so…

Pruner Maintenance: Anne Cleves Symmes, horticulturist and garden educator at Beatrix Farrand's celebrated Bellefield Garden in Hyde Park, NY, demonstrated how she keeps her pruners sharp and well oiled each Spring. First she uses the scouring pad side of a discarded kitchen sponge to rub off gummy buildup on the blades. You can also use a piece of wire wool for this. To sharpen your pruner she recommends a diamond blade, or you can use a sharpening stone or whetstone.  Swipe the diamond blade or stone…

REPRINTED If you live in a cold climate (Zone 6 and colder) you need to dig up your dahlia tubers before the ground freezes, and store them for the winter if you want them to live. More and more people are discovering the beauty of growing dahlias and many of us are learning this Fall ritual. I received a dahlia plant from my friend Kathy Scherer last Spring. Kathy and her husband have built a beautiful garden in Pawling which…

Erin Benzakein, founder of Floret, is one of the original farmer-florists. On her farm in Washington's Skagit Valley, she and her family have created a thriving flower farm, design studio and learning center. Her workshops are soldout affairs, created for those who want to learn more about small scale, high intensity flower production and floral design. We asked Erin…

In one of the classes I took at the NY Botanical Garden I learned about the container gardening concept of "Thriller, Filler, Spiller". When you're selecting plants for your container, the Thriller is the central plant that grows taller than the others and is the focal point. The Filler is the plant or plants that surround the Thriller, and the Spiller is the plant that spills over the edges of your container. I followed this concept with the container I…

Last week I visited Martha Stewart's estate (aka 'farm') in Katonah, NY, just 30 minutes from where I live. My garden club had arranged a special tour by Martha's head gardener, Ryan McCallister, and Martha herself was our host for tea on the terrace and a question-and-answer session in her vegetable garden. I found her to be a friendly and hospitable host, and it was fun to see her gardens, her greenhouse and her collection of animals (dogs, horses and…

Suzanne Estock, Park Ranger, featured on Womanswork hang tags.Do you know a woman who is making a difference in the lives of others by helping to protect, improve or rebuild a community or place? Is her story one that will be inspirational to other women? Please send us her story and we will publish it on our website.  Our favorite inspirational stories will be printed on "Womanswork Profile" hang tags on our work and garden gloves. The women we select…

The following excerpts are reprinted from an article by Frances Palmer in the May/June 2014 issue of Connecticut Gardener, with permission. Planting: I usually plant my tubers in late April, which is considered early. Most instructions advise planting tubers at the same time as tomatoes. Be that as it may, I dig a hole to accommodate the size of the tuber. If I am planting a new tuber, the hole is only a few inches down and the tuber is placed…

We consulted with our friend the horticulturist Ruth Rogers Clausen about pruning shrubs in the fall. There are primarily three reasons to prune a shrub: To get rid of any dead or diseased wood, or crossing branches To shape a shrub To encourage more flowering Fall is a good time to prune away dead, damaged, diseased or dying branches. It can be done anytime of year but if you do it now…