Horticulture

As noted on the cover, this issue of Horticulture is a celebration of “the garden in bloom,” with most features and columns focused on flowering plants. When I read these pages one last time before they went to the printer, it struck me that they also highlight the gardener’s impulse to create surprise — and have control. I would venture that most of us want our gardens to not just look pretty and function well, but to really stand out and get attention from passersby, family and friends, pollinators, songbirds or whomever you may garden for. To this end, several of this issue’s features offer planting advice and inspiration for adding the element of surprise: “The Beauty of Herbs” (page 34) recommends herbs and tea plants whose visual appeal earns them space…

WHEN I STARTED GARDENING as a young man, one of the first perennials that caught my eye was the bleeding heart (then Dicentra spectabilis, now Lamprocapnos spectabilis), which hung out its charming floral valentines in mid-April in my eastern Pennsylvania garden. I planted a few in light shade atop a rock outcropping, while I put a few others in a full-sun flower bed, figuring they’d lead the parade of other perennials soon to appear. The bleeding hearts in the rocky shade returned reliably year after year, but those in full sun died out after a couple of seasons. This disappointment led me to the library and a first edition of Graham Stuart Thomas’s Perennial Garden Plants. Reading under Dicentra, I discovered that most of its species favor moist, shady locations. I found some…

I RECENTLY ATTENDED a cooking class taught by two Ohlone men. The Ohlone are Native American people from coastal northern California. We learned a lot about native greens, local protein sources and edible seeds and berries, and how to prepare them in traditional ways for optimal deliciousness. There were no recipes or videos. Instead, our teachers relied on oral instruction, the traditional Ohlone method for sharing information, and the class included a lot of storytelling about foraging expeditions, a favorite auntie’s applesauce cake recipe and, most memorably, an Ohlone creation tale. That creation tale reflected great reverence for Earth’s plant and animal life, but one visionary bit stands out: Before humans existed, plants could speak. Did that little image warm your heart, make you consider beloved azaleas and zinnias in a…

AS SPRING-PLANTED CROPS are harvested in early to midsummer, you’ll find you’ve got some empty spaces in your garden. This is the perfect time to plant succession crops for a late summer or autumn harvest. You can even succession plant in containers on a sunny deck or patio—no need for a garden bed. Before planting, check the “days to maturity” information on specific varieties to ensure they’ll have time to grow and produce their crop in your region. For example, if you want to plant cabbage for a fall harvest, understand that days to maturity varies significantly from variety to variety. ‘Katarina’ takes just 55 days to go from seed to harvest, while ‘Caraflex’ needs 70 days and ‘Deadon’, 105. Here are five of my top vegetables to plant in July: Bush beans…

Fertilize! Heathy soil grows healthy plants. I feed my garden soil regularly with organic amendments like compost and aged manure. I also supplement long-term vegetables like tomatoes and peppers in summer with a liquid organic fertilizer, like fish emulsion or liquid kelp. Be sure to follow package directions and application rates. Harvest! It’s important to stay on top of the homegrown harvest so that you enjoy your vegetables when they reach peak quality. Pick peas and beans often to encourage the plants to keep producing. Dig garlic plants once half of the leaves have died back. Clip the fruits of cucumbers and zucchini while they’re immature for superior flavor and texture. If rabbits, deer or squirrels covet your tomatoes, harvest the fruits when they’re half-ripe and allow them to finish ripening…

WILDFIRES ARE becoming more ferocious, damaging and expansive in the West. California just weathered its worst two years ever in terms of total acres burned. And conditions are no better this year, with the Golden State experiencing its driest winter on record. “On a national scale, there’s no ‘fire season’ anymore. It’s all year-round,” said Janet Franklin, distinguished professor and bio-geographer in University of California Riverside’s Department of Botany and Plant Sciences. California’s conifer forests are becoming drier from drought exacerbated by climate change while they also continue to accumulate highly combustible dead wood and other fire fuels, thanks to more than a century of fire suppression efforts, Franklin said. It is a recipe for hotter and larger fires that burn into the canopies instead of just moving along the ground. Climate…