All Entries in the "Henry Homeyer’s Notes from the Garden" Category
Henry Homeyer: Understanding flowers from petal to stem
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC At a recent used book sale I purchased a copy of a lovely book called One Hundred Flowers by Harold Feinstein (Bullfinch Press, 2000). This large-format book includes not only 100 amazing, huge close-up photos of flowers against black backgrounds, it has a lovely introductory essay by Sydney […]
Henry Homeyer: Spring planning brings fall planting
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Now is the time to decide where you should plant bulbs next fall. Here’s what I do: I wander around my property each year in the spring to see what spots are bare of bulb flowers. I bring along those white plastic markers used for labeling, and write […]
Henry Homeyer: getting a head start on spring cleaning
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC With sunny warm days upon us, we all want to start gardening. However beware: if you leave footprints in the soil, or feel it go squish, it’s not time to be doing anything. Plants get their oxygen from their roots, not their leaves. If you compact the soil, […]
Henry Homeyer: garden design, advised by Piet Oudolf
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC I was out in my garden recently and noticed that my tall decorative grasses are looking quite bedraggled. I have a clump of fountain grass (Miscanthus sinensis) a variety called Morning Light. It’s time to cut back all the stems and flowers that stood up, largely, to the […]
Henry Homeyer: delicate but necessary art of pruning
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC I love to prune. To me, it’s a way of creating sculpture – a tree, well pruned, is a thing of beauty. I recently taught a homeowner how to prune his apple tree. It’s easy enough to do if you have the proper tools and understand the principles. […]
Henry Homeyer: creating your edible landscape
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC When I make a new friend I always ask if they’re a gardener. Often younger people with kids say, “I want to, but I’m too busy.” If you have limited time and space, you may wish to consider growing a few perennial plants that produce lots of food […]
Henry Homeyer: temperature, timing & more tips for starting seeds indoors
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC By mid-March I generally am getting a bit squirrelly. Winter is nearly over but mud season is ahead. It is still many weeks until the snow is gone, the soil warm and dry enough that I can work in my garden. This is the time I like to […]
Henry Homeyer: Trees, shrubs are vital for pollinators
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC When I say “pollinator,” you generally think honeybee, bumblebee and wild bee. But what about moth, butterfly, beetle or fly? Many of those are pollinators, too. I recently read an interesting article about pollinators by Dan Jaffe and Jane Roy Brown in the Native Plant News, a magazine […]
Henry Homeyer: Seven resolutions we can keep
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC The holidays have come and gone. Resolutions have been made and broken. Now we New England gardeners are faced with that long, dismal wait before we can start our gardens, and it’s a good time to think about those resolutions we never made: the garden resolutions. If you […]
Henry Homeyer: ‘Around the World in 80 Trees’
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC I love trees, and find them endlessly fascinating. Each is unique, much as we are. One winter I attempted (and failed) to read all of Michael Dirr’s authoritative Dirr’s Encyclopedia of Trees and Shrubs – all 950 pages of it. I only read about trees that are hearty […]
Henry Homeyer: 2019’s highly anticipated flower shows
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC I am always perked up when the spring flower shows arrive, and I always try to get to a couple of them. If you’re feeling the mid-winter blues, I highly recommend attending one – or more. Here’s this year’s lineup. The first major show is the Connecticut Flower […]
Henry Homeyer: cleaning up your landscape
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Winter is a good time to look at the trees and shrubs on your property. Even though the snow may keep you from working on your trees, study your landscape now to see if you need to do some judicious tree removal or pruning before summer. In nature […]
Henry Homeyer: Staying busy in the garden’s slow time
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Winter is our slow season, and many gardeners begin to languish as January finishes and spring is still far away. It is important to keep busy. For me, this means reading gardening books and magazines, and working on small tasks that can be done indoors now. Preparing plant […]
Henry Homeyer: Treat yourself, flowers in the winter
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC I’m planning to go pick some flowers today. Yes, we got a foot of snow recently and the temperature as I write this is well below zero with the wind chill. And no, I am not crazy. I’m going to go pick them out at my local florist, […]
Henry Homeyer: Hot peppers deserve a place in every garden
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC I love hot and spicy peppers. As a young man I lived in West Africa for nearly 10 years, first as a traveler, then as a Peace Corps volunteer and Peace Corps country director. I lived in Cameroon and Mali, where hot peppers were an integral part of […]
Henry Homeyer: Borrow ideas from a Chinese garden
By Henry Homeyer ©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC Winter is a time for gardeners to rest. No weeding, no mowing, no moving plants from one bed to another. But now is a good time for planning what changes one can make in the garden, come spring and summer. I like to reflect on gardens I have […]
Henry Homeyer: Eat better, eat from your garden
By Henry Homeyer ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC As we go through the holidays, we tend to relax our vigilance about eating, or at least I do. Like a woodchuck bulking up for hibernation, I find myself enjoying comfort foods during the long winter nights – and days. It is easy to gain a few pounds, […]
Henry Homeyer: Holiday reflections
By Henry Homeyer ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC At this time of year I like to look back on the past year – in the garden, and in my life – to reflect on all the wonderful events of the year. I take time to count my blessings, look at my mistakes, and make plans for […]
Henry Homeyer: Japanese culture makes vibrant mark on West Coast
By Henry Homeyer ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC Visiting a garden in winter allows me to see its bones, the internal structure that supports and enhances the flowers and leaves of the other three seasons. I like to go slowly through a winter garden to allow the spirit and essence of the garden to sink in. […]
Henry Homeyer: Winter wonderland’s wondrous trees
By Henry Homeyer ©2018 Telegraph Publishing LLC This is not the time for planting trees in New England. But it is a good time for looking at them and deciding what to plant, come spring and summer. Since we have five months or so without flowers growing in our gardens, look at the silhouettes of […]
