Dave – Page 168 – Ramblin' through Dave's Garden

Plant collections

I just have to get one of those. And one of this-or-that. And before you know it I have a bunch of this-or-that’s and some more of those. Such is the sad fate of a plant addict. The worry is, I often buy plants before having any idea where they’re going in the garden. I don’t recommend this for others, but…

From quarry to backyard

I’m going to take off my gardening hat today and address a landscape topic. Rock walls, stepping stones, stone steps, boulders, and decorative gravels are an integral part of our business, and when I first followed the supply chain from the companies that Meadows Farms purchases stone from I was fascinated. I doubt that many people understand the path…

Encore azaleas

I have been growing Encore azaleas in my mid-Atlantic garden since they were introduced, and in my position as a buyer for Meadows Farms nurseries and landscaping I have had the opportunity to test several varieties prior to introduction. In particular, it has been important to me to evaluate plants with a claim of improvement…

Flowering trees

What better time than a snowy morning in late January to contemplate additions to the garden. The most critical decisions to make in the design of the garden are the ones that take up the most space, trees. While shade trees often occupy large expanses, flowering trees are much easier to work into the landscape….

Color in the winter garden

Mahonia ‘Winter Sun’ ‘Winter Sun’ Mahonia is a great garden plant if you don’t mind the lethal spines on the leaves. I have several planted in a range from full sun to shade. The plants and blooms in sun are larger, although the ones in shade are doing fine. Mahonia beali seems to grow equally as…

Garden ponds in winter

Take a break, it’s cold outside. By early December there’s not much else left to do with your garden pond except wait for spring. If you didn’t cover your pond with a net to keep leaves out by early November then it’s too late now, and the leaves will have to overwinter in the pond….

Good grief, it’s not rocket surgery

“Now the gardener is the one who has seen everything ruined so many times that (even as his pain increases with each loss) he comprehends – truly knows – that where there was a garden once, it can be again, or where there never was, there can be a garden so that all who see…

The garden in early November

There’s still plenty of color in my garden in early November. Even though we’ve had more than a handful of days with temperatures below freezing and heavy frost on multiple occasions some blooming plants are just beginning their annual show. Camellias The Winter Star and Winter’s Interlude camellias are beginning to bloom. They will bloom…

The Swimming Pond

Just what I needed, another pond. The inspiration for my sixth and largest pond began with reading a garden magazine article about natural swimming ponds in Europe. A brief investigation on the internet revealed a couple companies in the US who had built one or two, and some reference materials. Within a few hours the idea became a…