POPULARITY
Dee and Carol talk about gladiolus, their favorite tools, a new book on weed-free gardening, and more on this week's podcast episode.A few links: Dee's Greenhouse info: My tropical plants are all tucked into the greenhouse - Red Dirt Ramblings®National Garden Bureau's Year of the GladiolusGladiolus Mon Amour at Brent & Becky's Bulb Heirloom Glad Search at Old House Gardens'Atom' Gladiolus at Old House GardensTools:Dee's Long-handled trowel Fiskars loppers Corona FS ComfortGEL Leaf & Stem Micro Snips, Jakoti shears (sold many places, including Amazon) Cobrahead mini cultivator Cape Cod weeder at A.M. LeonardCorona mini loppersPerennial spade at Garden Tool Company Rockery trowel at Garden Tool CompanyRed Pig ToolsOn the Bookshelf: Weed Free Gardening: A Comprehensive and Organic Approach to Weed Management by Tasha Greer Flower Puns – Punpedia from our friend Katie Elzer-Peters at The Garden of WordsGroovy Plants RanchAffiliate link to Botanical Interest Seeds. (If you buy something from them after using this link, we earn a small commission at no cost to you. This helps us continue to bring this podcast to you ad-free!) Book links are also affiliate links.Email us at TheGardenangelists@gmail.com For more info on Carol and her books, visit her website. Visit her blog May Dreams Gardens.For more info on Dee and her book, visit her website. Visit her blog Red Dirt Ramblings.Don't forget to sign up for our newsletters, via our websites!
On this week's episode, we provide advice on buying spring-flowering bulbs this summer for fall planting and buying garlic this summer, also for fall planting, plus we recommend a podcast we recently discovered.Helpful Links:Dee's favorite recipes this week include a fresh tomato sauce for pasta, refrigerator corn relish, and a caprese salad. Basil 'Emerald Towers' at BurpeeFlower Bulb Sources include: Brent & Becky's Bulbs for lots of varieties, including daffodilsVan Engelen - for larger quantities especially. John Scheepers for smaller quantities.Old House Gardens - for Heirloom varieties.Colorblends - with interesting collectionsGarlic sources include Botanical Interest Seeds, Burpee, and Johnny's Selected Seeds.On the Bookshelf: Honey and Venom: Confessions of an Urban Beekeeper by Andrew Coté. Another podcast we recommend is The Stubborn Light of Things with Melissa HarrisonWe also recommend our weeding episode, Weeding with the Gardenangelists, to help you with your weeding!Email us at TheGardenangelists@gmail.com and look for us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and now Pinterest.For more info on Carol, visit her website.For more info on Dee, visit her website.We also invite you to join The Gardenangelists Garden Club on Facebook.(Some links are affiliate links. If you make a purchase after clicking on an affiliate link, we may receive a tiny commission. It does not affect the price you pay!)
Some helpful links:Flowers: Matt Mattus's Growing with Plants blog post on fancy mums Old House Gardens, a great source for heirloom crocuses and other flower bulbsVeggies: Mississippi State Cooperative Extension guide with information about storing seeds over the winter. Dirt: Two great books: Forest Therapy by Sarah Ivens. We should all get out into nature and soak up everything. This book is arranged by seasons and has nature, outdoor projects for the whole family. Wake Up, Woods by Michael Homoya (Author), Shane Gibson (Author), Gillian Harris (Illustrator). A beautifully illustrated book about spring wildflowers found in the woods. Great to read with kids and get them interested in finding flowers in the springtime. Great Easter gift! Email us at TheGardenangelists@gmail.com with questions and comments.More about Dee More about Carol (Some links may be affiliate links. If you make a purchase after clicking on an affiliate link, we may get a tiny commission from the seller.)
Some helpful links:Flowers - all the bulbs that deer and other critters don't like. Sources for bulbs include: ColorBlends. Van Engelen. Brent and Becky's Bulbs.List of deer and rodent resistant bulbs.Old House Gardens.Veggies - Fall sowing still going on! Sources for fall-sown seeds include:Botanical InterestsBurpeeJohnny's Selected SeedsAll the best dirt - how to keep deer and other critters away from bulbs they do like:PlantskyddDeer-Resistant Design by Karen ChapmanDee NashCarol MichelEmail us anytime at TheGardenangelists@gmail.com(Some links are affiliate links. If you click on them and make a purchase, we may receive a small commission.)
Dee and Carol talk about Lycoris, also known as surprise lilies, resurrection lilies, etc., eggplant, and The Posy Book: Garden-Inspired Bouquets That Tell a Story by Teresa H. Sabankaya. Plus, Dee makes a special announcement!Some helpful links:Sources for Lycoris include Old House Gardens and Brent and Becky's Bulbs.Sources for eggplant seeds include Johnny's Selected Seeds, Burpee Seeds, and Botanical Interests Seeds.For The Posy Book...Find the book on Amazon at: The Posy Book: Garden-Inspired Bouquets That Tell a Story by Teresa H. SabankayaVisit Teresa Sabankaya's website for downloadable flower tags and check out her Instagram feed for more inspiration. Visit The New Language of Flowers for information on flower meanings.For more information on Carol, check out her website. For more information on Dee, check out her website.Email us anytime at TheGardenangelists@gmail.com(Some links for books especially may be affiliate links. If you make a purchase via the link, we might make a tiny commission.)
Flowers: The Easter lilies that you can buy in the store now are Lilium longiflorium, a type of trumpet lily. You can plant them out in the garden, zones 4 - 8, and they will come back each year. They like neutral soils, full sun, and cool soil. Don't mulch right up to the stems or the stems may rot. Brent and Becky's Bulbs has some named varieties including White Heaven.Madonna lilies, Lilium candidum, are often shown in church windows, but hardly grown now because of a disease, gray mold. Mary is almost always shown with a Madonna lily because it represents her virginity. Easter lilies, on the other hand, represent the resurrection. Madonna lilies like neutral soils, dry summers, can be grown in sun to partial shade. They have been in cultivation for 3,000 years! Old House Gardens has Madonna Lilies. Both types of lilies will bloom around June-July when grown in a garden. Both are also taller in a garden, 3 feet and up, than when potted and forced into Easter bloom. Easter lilies are poisonous to cats ASPCA link.Vegetables: What to look for in vegetable transplants. Plants should not be too spindly or root bound. Roots should be white.Stocky, young plants are best. Elongated plants mean they didn't get enough light when growing. No flowers or fruit on the tomatoes, peppers, etc. in a young plant, that could be a sign of stress.No signs of disease which might show up as brown or yellow lesion spots on leaves, overall droopy appearance or foliage color just looks off… grayish or light.Plants should be labeled to ensure you get the variety you are expecting. No one wants to see Habanero peppers when they were expecting sweet bell peppers. Or cherry tomatoes when they were expecting a beefsteak tomato.If your vegetable transplants are greenhouse grown, make sure to harden them off before planting them out.Plant tomatoes deep, deep, deep unless they are grafted. Looking for a new strawberry? Now is the time to plant Berried Treasure™ strawberry, a Proven Winners selections with red flowers. Dirt:It is always a good idea to wear gloves when working around plants, especially ornamentals, and wash your hands with soap and water after gardening. Euphorbias and other plants have a sticky sap that can irritate the skin. Be safe, not sorry. Carol's favorite brand of gloves right now are Mud gloves (affiliate link) Dee likes them too when it's cooler and wetter outside. However, she's fond of these bamboo gloves (affiliate link) when the weather warms. Dee also likes heavy duty nitrile gloves (affiliate link) or leather ones for beekeeping. Finally, women who garden live longer!We are interested in what you do while you listen to our podcast. Email us at TheGardenangelists@gmail.com to tell us or leave a comment on our Instagram or Facebook pages!
Dee and Carol talk about the National Garden Bureau's "Year of" Selections for flowers and vegetables and also talk about growing big pumpkins and other vegetables. Shout outs to Old House Gardens, the National Garden Bureau and Bonnie Plants 3rd Grade Cabbage Program.For more information on growing giant pumpkins, check out the Smithsonian article we mentioned or the book, Backyard Giants by Susan Warren (affiliate link).
Today is the Autumnal Equinox. If gardening at its core is an activity of optimism, then planting fall bulbs is one of its most profound gestures of hope wherein you plant something that looks like next to nothing and then some months later – perhaps when you might need it most — it appears out of the cold, damp earth and then — it blooms. This week Cultivating Place is joined by Scott Kunst, founder and soon to be retiring owner of Old House Gardens — purveyers and champions of heirloom bulbs varieties from around the world and throughout time.
A replay with Scott Kunst, founder of Old House Gardens, who celebrated the 20th anniversary of the only company devoted exclusively to heirloom bulbs.
Scott Kunst, founder of Old House Gardens, celebrates the 20th anniversary of the only company devoted exclusively to heirloom bulbs.
Ken visits with Scott Kunst, owner of Old House Gardens