All Entries in the "Henry Homeyer’s Notes from the Garden" Category
Henry Homeyer: Starting wildflowers from seed
By Henry Homeyer ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC I recently visited the Nasami Farm in Whately, Mass. This is the plant production facility for the Native Plants Trust, formerly the New England Wildflower Society. I met with Alexis Doshas, their nursery manager. The 75–acre farm produces perennials, grasses and some woody plants – mainly from seed. […]
Henry Homeyer: Plan your visit to Bedrock Gardens in Lee, N.H.
By Henry Homeyer ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC I recently visited Bedrock Garden in Lee, N.H., and came away feeling refreshed and enlightened. This 37-acre public garden was created on the premises of a 1700s farm that was purchased in 1980 by artist and garden designer Jill Nooney and her husband Bob Munger. Jill Nooney is […]
Henry Homeyer: Becoming a true plant collector
By Henry Homeyer ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC I have always been a gardener – or at least for as far back as I can remember. More recently, say the last 20 years or so, I’ve been a plant collector. If I fall in love with a plant, I want to grow other plants related to […]
Henry Homeyer: The power of self-watering containers
By Henry Homeyer ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Recently I was at my local food coop and chatted with a friend about her gardens. She told me that she is having fabulous luck growing tomatoes, peppers and more in a bucket system she constructed. Her inspiration was a book by Vermont’s Ed Smith who has written […]
Henry Homeyer: Defending against invasives
By Henry Homeyer ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Since ancient times, explorers have brought back seeds and plants from exotic lands. Some, like the apple, have been a boon to the citizens of their adoptive home. Others, like the notorious Japanese knotweed (a.k.a. “bamboo”) have been more headache than boon. New England, with its cold climate, […]
Henry Homeyer: Vines, meet the trellis
By Henry Homeyer ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC The story of Jack and his bean stalk fame really appealed to me as a boy, and still does. I love climbing vines and grow many including those that are perennial or annual flowers, and some vegetables. Vines are a great way to save space and to get […]
Henry Homeyer: Keeping weeds at bay with mulch
By Henry Homeyer ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Mulch is commonly used to help suppress weeds and to hold in soil moisture in dry times. There are many different kinds of mulch and it is important to get the right kind, and to apply it properly if you wish to get the benefits of mulch. The […]
Henry Homeyer: A mid-summer night’s bloom
By Henry Homeyer ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Mid-summer is often a quiet time for flowers – many gardens have fewer dramatic blossoms than in the spring. I have made an effort to have plenty blooming now. It’s true that my Japanese primroses, peonies and Siberian iris have gone by. But I have many others, both […]
Henry Homeyer: It’s time to prune your trees and shrubs
By Henry Homeyer ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC By now your rhododendrons, lilacs and other spring bloomers have bloomed, and are ready to prune. By pruning now, you will not damage buds that will form later this summer and bloom next spring. This is also a good time to prune evergreens like pines and hemlocks if […]
Henry Homeyer: Here’s what you can do with a dead tree
By Henry Homeyer ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC If you are a regular reader of this column, you know that I kill plants (just like you probably do). Houseplants, annuals, flowers in the ground, and yes, even trees. Although some oaks live 400 years, most plants naturally have a much shorter life span. And although some […]
Henry Homeyer: Summer chores in your veggie garden
By Henry Homeyer ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC As the song goes, it’s “Summertime, and the livin’ is easy!” Well, not really. Yes, I’ve planted my 53 tomato plants, 200 onions and more, but there is still plenty to do. Let’s look at a few chores you might want to do this weekend. Your tomatoes need […]
Henry Homeyer: Answering your questions on peonies
By Henry Homeyer ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC If you don’t have a peony, I’m surprised. If you don’t have three, you should. They are blooming now, and this is a great time to buy them. Go to your local garden center or family-run plant nursery and buy some more, no matter how many you have. […]
Henry Homeyer: crafting your ‘no work’ garden
By Henry Homeyer ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC I saw a friend recently who was bubbly and excited about her garden. “It’s full of color and stays that way all summer,” she exclaimed. “It is NO work! All I have to do is water it daily, and give it a little fertilizer every few weeks.” She […]
Henry Homeyer: The Art of Weeding
By Henry Homeyer ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC When you face a flower bed and can’t immediately tell what’s a weed and what’s a flower, you have a situation my wife, Cindy Heath, calls Code Red. It happens to the best of us at times, myself included. So what does a gardener do? My wife likes […]
Henry Homeyer: Fun with grandkids will grow life-long gardeners
By Henry Homeyer ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Okay all you parents and grandparents, it’s time to garden with your beloved little ones. That’s right, start them young, make it fun and they will garden forever. The key part is fun. Never make a child pull weeds. Digging in the dirt is fun. Playing with a […]
Henry Homeyer: planning for spring blooming
By Henry Homeyer ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Spring puts a spring in my step, quite literally. I bounce out of the house in the morning to see what is blooming, and since early March I have never been disappointed. You know the regular cast of characters in early spring: first snowdrops with their tiny white […]
Henry Homeyer: Insects – friends or foes?
By Henry Homeyer ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC It’s spring, and insects are hatching, flying and munching. Contrary to what you may think, most are not a problem for your garden. There are over a million named insect species and many – perhaps most – co-evolved with flowering plants. They pollinate our crops and do many […]
Henry Homeyer: Strawberries – plant now, indulge later
By Henry Homeyer ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC Traditionally, June is the month for eating strawberries. I dream of big, fat, juicy local berries that melt in my mouth and swim in juice when cut and made into strawberry shortcake. But you can, in fact, grow varieties of strawberries that produce berries all summer, or that […]
Henry Homeyer: Pollen and allergies and plants, oh my!
By Henry Homeyer ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC If you suffer from spring allergies, this would be a good time to know what plants are affecting your comfort. Right now, many trees are dumping their pollen. Most trees are wind pollinated and produce lots of pollen. They depend on the wind to move pollen around – […]
Henry Homeyer: Time to reflect on our gardens
By Henry Homeyer ©2021 Telegraph Publishing LLC This is a good time to look carefully at your garden, and to decide what you might do to make it better. Spring is upon us, trees and shrubs are waking up in my garden, but perennials are still mostly dormant and woody plants are just beginning to […]
