Innehållsförteckning för March/April 2023 från Horticulture

GARDEN VIEWS ALLEN BUSH is a plantsman who sold rare and unusual perennials through his own nursery, Holbrook Farm, before joining Jelitto Perennial Seeds, a Germany-based company that provides seed to nurseries, seed retailers and gardeners. Allen expanded Jelitto’s business in North America and traveled in search of interesting plants to add to the company’s lineup. Now retired, he gardens on two Kentucky properties and writes regularly for GardenRant.com. SCOTT BEUERLEIN: When did you become interested in horticulture and what was your training? ALLEN BUSH: I spent my childhood in the woods, at the end of our street, in suburban Louisville. I didn’t garden when I was growing up. However, in the first grade I sowed bush beans in a milk carton. Watching little sprouts push through the soil was,…

The garden has an ebb and flow. May comes on like a beautiful tsunami of color. But then it doesn’t rain quite enough. Or it rains too much, and there’s a fungal problem over in this corner of the garden. Wait a minute—this is not what I signed on for! I will never have a garden without ‘Festiva Maxima’ peonies. Their heady fragrance is something that brings me such joy. But doesn’t it always pour when they reach their most glorious? Then they’re not so glorious. Ephemeral blooms build anticipation and punctuate the seasons, but then they’re gone. This is all to say that we need sturdy, stalwart plants that keep us coming back to linger in the garden, and that hold their own while we’re fussing with things like…

GARDENING LIFE I’VE OFTEN WONDERED what it would mean to live in a place where the benefits of contact with plants, the natural world and healthy outdoor environments are widely accepted and appreciated, where gardening and its kindred activities are all considered pluses. I think I got a glimpse of that place last summer when I visited my son in the small city of Aschaffenburg, Germany (about 30 miles from Frankfurt). I was struck by the evidence of purposeful human activity, much of it linked to gardening, everywhere I went. Our walks through all parts of the city revealed blooming flowers, trees laden with ripening fruit and thriving herbs. Even pubs boasted window boxes full of mint, thyme and sage. Germans seem to take nature exposure seriously. My son’s apartment…

DEEP ROOTS WE ALL KNOW THAT OUR GARDENS are great places to enjoy beauty and commune with nature. Equally, we’ve learned they are great places to stress out. Reasons for stressing out in the garden range from our gardens providing little beauty to enjoy to certain elements of nature audaciously overly communing with our plants. But, hey, stressing out never gets any credit for its positive side. One thing it is especially good at is teaching us life skills we’d really rather not learn. Things like planning, setting goals, budgeting time and money and living up to commitments. Or, conversely, accepting our limitations and the consequences for failing at all those previously mentioned life skills. From such things, we actually grow and improve as people. Some of us. Sometimes. One…

EDIBLES YEAR-ROUND WHERE I GARDEN, in March and April it can feel like spring one day, and the next we’re getting walloped with a snowstorm! I use these months to prep the garden, get organized and sow seeds. I’ve learned that the best way to optimize my growing space and maximize production is to have a planting plan. It doesn’t need to be complicated, but laying some groundwork now helps keep the garden on track all season long. Below are five strategies I use to get off to a strong start in spring. MAKE A PLAN With 30 raised vegetable beds to manage, I must stay organized to ensure I’m getting the most out of my garden. There are several ways to keep track of planting, but I like to…

In one of my earliest memories, we’re driving to my family’s cabin and I can see vast swaths of trillium in bloom along the highway. The effect was stunning, with the flowering plants creating the appearance of a white carpet on the forest floor. Trilliums are members of a plant category known as spring ephemerals, which consists of many genera and species. Ephemerals are subtle and surely seasonal, but they have a unique charm we can put to work in our gardens. The word ephemeral means “lasting for a short time.” Spring ephemerals emerge in spring before the trees begin to leaf out. These perennial plants thrive in rich, undisturbed woodlands, primarily in deciduous forests. Spurred by the warming soil, their early appearance allows them to flower and photosynthesize before…

NOTES FROM THE GARDEN OVER THE YEARS I have visited many “estate gardens” in the United States and abroad. I have always been intrigued with the concept of a garden where the owner can act on any whim and proceed to collect, study, cultivate, hybridize or propagate whatever interests him or her, be it roses, tulips, orchids or apple trees. Usually these owners are well heeled, sometimes even deriving income from a royal allowance that can allow for the dimensions of their estates to be measured in acres, if not miles. Some French estate gardens (think Versailles) are exceptionally symmetrical and manicured, with trees and shrubs trimmed and shaped to perfection. There are English floral gardens with elements designed to be viewed from the upper levels of a grand manor.…