Are You Dressed for the Holidays?
It’s that time of year.
People are beginning to plan their holiday/winter containers.
I want to encourage you to not forget about your door.
After all, with the exception of Santa, it’s how most people enter your home. A wreath, or a beautiful door topper such as this, is a wonderful way to welcome friends and family while also continuing whatever theme you are doing in your pots.
Fall – One of the Best Reasons to Live in New England.
It happens slowly enough. You wake early and it’s not quite light yet. You have dinner on the patio and find you need to turn the lights on or light the candles. Or wear a miner’s cap. The hummingbirds have stopped coming to the feeder. You use the fan, rather than the air conditioner. You find that long pants actually feel comfortable. These are all signs that summer is drawing to an end.
While it may seem sad to say goodbye to summer (unless you are one of the mothers at the bus stop I see high-fiving each other) we do have fall to look forward to and it’s one of the best reasons to live in New England. No one is exactly sure how the drought will affect our foliage; the consensus is the foliage may still be good but will not last as long. I’ll take what I can get because I know after the beautiful colors of fall comes the white of winter. Despite summer’s finale, there’s still plenty you can do in the garden.
Read More»Sayonara, Summer
As Fall approaches, we take a final look at some of our favorite summer projects.
Houseplant (sansevieria), perennial (heuchera) and million bells. Who says only annuals can go in containers? This mixed container is looking good 7 stories up!
This riot of colors on a South End balcony gets tied together with coleus ‘The Flume’.
Read More»Petunias Stopped Blooming? It’s Not You, It’s Them.
I recently received this email from a client with a roof garden in Boston:
“Just got home . Garden is beautiful!! Thank you.
In contrast, our Cape containers look terrible. They (mostly petunias ) were pretty good all summer. Then all of a sudden they stopped blooming. I had been using a fertilizer in solution weekly. The product is supposed to stimulate blooms. I did it weekly for about a month—the last time I doubled the dosage.
Do you think that I over-fertilized? Any thoughts? Can you do magic on Cape Cod?”
While I am more than happy to do magic on Cape Cod I, unfortunately, cannot do magic with petunias. I have never succeeded with them long-term. Perhaps I am doing something wrong but it’s one reason petunias made my lecture “The 10 Most-Popular Container Plants – And Why You Shouldn’t Use Them.”
Petunias peter out, let’s be honest. They look gang-busters when you buy them in May and I think that’s why so many of us are seduced by their vibrant, brightly-colored little faces. We don’t look down the summer months and see that those same faces will resemble Grandma Moses. You can whack petunias back in July and hope that your hard-pruning will put the fear of God into them so they will bloom for your anticipated graduation/christening/bridal shower/first communion get-together. But that doesn’t always work. As I get older I get less sentimental. I am not interested in a plant that requires constant deadheading to look its best.
As my friend Kerry Mendez says “plants are not children or pets” we can get rid of them without guilt.
Which is what I do with petunias.
Out they go and are easily replaced with another colorful annual that will look even BETTER in August than it does in June. Are you wondering what that annual is?
Read More»Putting Life on the Patio
I just came back from work and I had a big smile on my face!
It looks absolutely gorgeous!
Thank you so much for putting some life on my patio!
You are a true professional and I can see how passionate and how much you care about your work.
Hard to find people like you nowadays.
It feels so good to look outside and see some green.
I love the character that these plants have!
~~ RH, South End Boston
Al Fresco Dining in the Patio Garden
Even when it’s humid out, dinner tastes better on the patio!
~ Deborah Trickett
Great Alternatives for Shade Garden Plants
During a recent shopping trip to one of my favorite wholesale nurseries, I overheard a woman (who I assumed was a designer) explain to her client, “Well you have shade options here…basically begonias and begonias.” I had to bite my tongue. Which I do frequently. For example, at one of the big box stores when I saw the person in line in front of me with a container and a bag of garden soil. My tongue wanted to say “Excuse me, you cannot use that soil in a container, it won’t drain well.” But one look at my daughter and I bit my tongue. Apparently being, what I consider “helpful and friendly” is actually “weird and embarrassing.” So I also bit my tongue when I heard another one of the salespeople remark to a customer, “Why you can put a mountain of this granular bug killer on your lawn and it won’t harm anything.” Really? Jaw clenched I retreated to the plumbing aisle.
But back to shade options. Begonias are fine, as are impatiens, but is that really the only material the aforementioned designer could offer her client?
Had she never heard of coleus?
Read More»A Plethora of Pots
May and June have been a crazy, busy time; a “hair-on-fire” time for those of us in the gardening business. Or as my kids say a GYO time, which stands for Get-Your-Own, as in dinner.
I have lost track of the number of summer pots I have planted over the last two weeks. Each pot I planted was unique. While I know using a formula, for sun or shade, for instance, would make things go more quickly I would rather create custom work which reflects the style and preferences of my clients. I have one client who only wants green and white. Her container featured spathiphyllum, white verbena and New Guinea impatiens, helichrysum and lamiastrum.
A new client with a roof deck liked only vibrant colors – no pale pinks or lavenders for her. Some croton in her planters anchored the “hot” color palette on the sunny side of the deck….
Read More»Container Garden Lecture
Deborah Trickett is often asked to share her enthusiasm, wisdom, and tips with other garden enthusiasts in lectures and demonstrations across Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Trickett’s demonstration starts with “Containers 101,” selecting the right containers, soil mixes, and plants for different growing conditions. With the basics in hand, attendees then learn about new and unusual plant material and how to create one-of-a-kind combinations, including pairing annuals, perennials, and even vegetables. Trickett usually demonstrates two dramatic containers, which often end up going home with winning raffle ticket holders.
A recent attendee of one of Deborah’s lectures stated that “Deb adds a fourth dimension: ‘chillers,’ mind-blowing designs that send shivers of delight up your spine.”
Deborah Trickett is a Massachusetts certified horticulturist and a Massachusetts certified landscape professional. Her work has been featured in the CBS Boston, Boston Globe, Fine Gardening Magazine, Garden Tours New England, Garden Gate, and New England Home magazine and on the TV show “New England Dream Home.” She lectures at the Boston Flower & Garden Show, the Philadelphia International Flower Show, and the Arnold Arboretum.
Deborah Trickett has spoken at many shows and garden clubs on topics ranging from container gardens to urban gardening to garden design.
Got Dirt?
The most important thing you can do for your plants
Use Good Soil
It’s all your plants have to eat. Your plants are not in the ground so their roots can’t go out and get what they need. They can only depend on what you give them. Right? So do not forget about that.
Do NOT use garden soil. It’s too heavy. Sorry, you can’t go out and get a shovel full of dirt. Also, don’t go over to the Dollar Store because they’re having a big sale; their soil may not best. It’s a great place for greeting cards and wrapping paper
Always, always use really high-quality good soil.
People ask me what I use. Well, it’s really a matter of convenience for me. I may use Farfard, Miracle-Gro, or some others. For me, it’s whatever I’m going by that they have. I know we’re all busy, so sometimes you can even buy soil that already has the fertilizer included in the mix. This keeps it easy on yourself. These prepared soils have a slow released fertilizer.
Follow Us!