Gardening With Tony

UNITED STATES—Wildflowers have been quite a fad. Relative to most fads, they are not so impractical. For some situations, they are a good excuse to waste less effort and resources on unrefined parts of the garden. Of course, they all require some degree of effort and resources. Most are neither as wild nor as natural as their marketing suggests...

UNITED STATES—The Santa Clara Valley was formerly famous for stone fruit orchards. The San Fernando Valley was formerly famous for citrus orchards. The Wenatchee Region of Washington is still famous for apple orchards. Many variables influence which agricultural commodities grow or grew in each region. Of these, one of the more obvious is temperature and 'chill.' Citrus could not be...

UNITED STATES—Oleander that inhabits freeway medians is poisonous enough to be hazardous. Two tons of Buick cruising at 65 miles per hour past such oleander has more potential to be hazardous. The risk associated with toxic plants within freeway medians is as limited as their accessibility. Remarkably durable and resilient oleander is therefore quite practical. Realistically, established oleander is quite...

UNITED STATES—Annual bedding plants are surprisingly more popular among those who enjoy gardening less. Those who procure the services of gardeners appreciate the rich colors and simple efficiency of annuals. Many who are more directly involved with their gardening consider them to be decadent. Nonetheless, warm season bedding plants will soon be in season. Cool season bedding plants should perform...

UNITED STATES—After their invention in ancient Rome, window boxes became overly prevalent in Venice. They contained herbs and vegetables where space was limited within such urban areas. Their produce was close to kitchens, and more visually appealing than nearby buildings. Several window box herbs produced aromatic foliage for more than culinary application. The popularity of window boxes preceded the availability...

UNITED STATES—They were not always houseplants. They came from somewhere else. Most came from shady tropical forests, which is why they have such big dark green leaves, and are so tolerant of shady home interiors. They are pretty good sports about tolerating the domestic lifestyles that we subject them to, but they would really prefer to be thousands of...

UNITED STATES—The vast orchards of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys might make the impression that production of fruit is easy. The trees naturally bloom in spring, and develop fruit over summer, as if they do most of the work prior to harvest. In reality, those trees have been so extensively bred to maximize production that they need, among...

UNITED STATES—Just about every home garden has some sort of shade. Even if there are no substantial trees or shrubbery, there are northern walls of homes and garages, and they likely have eaves that extend their shadows a bit farther. Fences to the south create shade to the north. Gardens of modern homes are smaller, and surrounded by higher...

UNITED STATES—Germinating seedlings know which way is up. Perhaps they just know which way is down. They cannot see, hear, taste, smell or feel anything like we can. Nonetheless, they know which direction to extend their first root and stem. One thing that they can perceive is gravity. Gravitropism, which was formerly known as geotropism, is how they respond...

UNITED STATES—Container gardening is overrated. The endemic soil here is not so bad that nothing will grow in it. What is now suburban gardens was formerly famously productive farmland! Soil amendments make the soil more comfortable to plants with more discriminating taste. Plants that are too discriminating are probably not worth accommodating. With few exceptions, planters are unnecessary. Plants naturally...