Gardening | 08/12/2009 11:00 pm

Gardening Bloggers on wOw!

Renowned gardening bloggers answer wowOwow’s most digging questions.

wowOwow asked the most respected gardening bloggers on the Internet seven questions that are on the minds of all green thumbs. From their No. 1 gardening tip to organic growing, click on each question to see what our green experts said …

1. What’s your No. 1 gardening tip?

2. What is the biggest mistake gardeners make (that they don’t know they’re making)?

3. What are recession-friendly ways to enhance your home’s curb appeal?

4. What are your seasonal tips for summer, fall, winter and spring?

5. What is the best way to have a healthy "green" garden?

6. What are some fool-proof flora you can grow — even without a green thumb or time?

7. Does organic gardening have to be expensive?

Meet our green-thumb bloggers:

Susan Harris is a gardening coach, GardenRant blogger, Master Gardener, garden writer and activist for urban and suburban greening. She gardens in Takoma Park, MD, a suburb of Washington, DC. Read Susan’s latest wOw piece Coming Soon: The Death of the American Lawn
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Pamela Penick is an Austin landscape designer and gardening coach, a gardener starting over this year with a brand-new garden, a writer who’s been blogging for three years about gardening in central Texas and an amateur photographer. Visit her websites at Digging and Penick Landscape Design.

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Patricia Blais is a lifelong gardener, who lives in Birmingham, AL. She is the founder of Gardensablaze.com, dedicated to all aspects of gardening. Pat is also the creator and author of Mysticalblaze.com, a site dedicated to providing thoughtful research on a variety of "paranormal" topics.

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Shirley Bovshow is a Garden Television host, designer, blogger and new media broadcaster. Her sites include ShirleysGarden.com, EdenMakers.com and GardenCenterTV.com.

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Cynthia Thompson has been passionate about organic gardening and environmentalism for over 15 years. She recently relocated to the beautiful Pacific Northwest where she writes about gardening and all that comes with it on her website Brambleberries in the Rain.

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Jennifer L. Scott is executive assistant for Fusion-io. She is an avid gardener with a recently launched blog, Gardening With Miss Daisy. She and her husband currently reside in Utah and are the proud parents of five children and one grandchild.

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Jessica Harwood is a professor of biology at Spartanburg Methodist College. She writes and gardens in upstate South Carolina. For more of Harwood’s eco-knowledge visit thegardenblog/blogspot.

Want more gardening tips? Visit wowOwow’s Home & Gardening forum to give and receive more useful advice from our community

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71 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

Hi Shirley,

I looked up Lirodentron trees. . and found you were brilliant. In the upper Midwest, it is definitely out of its range and is putting up with clay soil, but nonetheless (!) is determined to be a "stand-out". Actually I have not stood back to see how tall it now is as this one can grow very very high according to the info. It is a gorgeous specimen - don’t I sound like I know something????

By the way, I think you mentioned dendronics. You won’t believe this, but I have a friend, Graham Dorrington from London, who was a the subject of a Werner Herzog movie as he (and I) are hot air balloon fanatics and he is interested in what grows and lives in treeTOPS. Do take a look at his site Click here: DENDRONAUTICS - Achievements to date AND his airship as I am trying to convince him to take me up in this balloon he actually sewed in his living room. It is a DREAM!!

Thanks so much!!!

By joan larsen on 08/14/2009 4:07 am

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Hi Joan. The Tuliptree (known as a yellow poplar or Liriodendron tulipifera) is mostly distributed throughout the east and southeast portions of the U.S.(or USDA hardiness zones of 5-9A) and can reach heights of about 200 feet. It is the common most tree grown in Ohio. The early pioneers used the wood for building and made remedies from the inner most bark. It’s a beautiful tree!

By Jennifer Scott on 08/14/2009 11:52 am

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Thanks Jennifer . . and as I came in I actually went out and tried to gauge how tall my rather unique (for my location) tulip tree is. . and couldn’t. But it has to be over 50 years old and reaching for the sky in a rather delicate lovely way. The trunk is much smaller than its neighbors, by the way.

As you might guess, I am a nature lover with an eye for the rare, causing me to travel far and wide in my quest. I am sure you have never known of a rata tree - and I can’t pull up a decent looking photo of a the rata forest that is most prominent on an island in the sub-Antarctic called Enderby. How can I describe it? The tree branches are low and tangled together, sometimes inpenetratable. It is the one and only Hansel and Gretel forest … but for one who likes the challenges of having her hair caught time and again in branches as I often had to crawl through - well, I found it wonderful. My husband and a small group - taking another route with the blind following the blind - got lost and were not found for many hours, crawling to find a way out. Never will I forget rata trees - no one could. And then, try to pull up a quiver tree found in Namibia, well named by the original inhabitants. Again, once seen - never forgotten. But for where I live, the tulip tree that shades my kitchen (oops, the Liriodendron tulipifera!) also stands alone. I should give tours - in season, of course. Thanks, Jennifer!!!!

By joan larsen on 08/14/2009 12:22 pm

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You are right, I haven’t heard of the rata tree but I’m gonna look it up! Sounds very interesting. How wonderful that you’ve been able to travel the world and see firsthand the many plants, trees, and bushes we have read about but have never seen. You are fortunate.

By Jennifer Scott on 08/14/2009 3:16 pm

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If I had the right credentials, I would love to go free and be lecturer to places I only dream of, but instead, early on, I decided what I wanted to do and then made choices - in other words, I saved $$$, studied in the meantime, and carefully allocated and separated my wishes from my "can do without". Much harder this year — but it sure could be done before. My memories are almost full-blown and I can bring up welwitschia bushes and the little bug that never leaves them in my mind forever. Most worthwhile high priority want list that one could ever have. I think that you want to always learn more … and so do I. You should see what I have on the burner now at home: working with a registered landscape architect in planning and putting in what you know as "prairie style landscape architecture" around the Prairie Style Building our town is so lucky to have. It has transformed it so far to the setting for the right kind of building and is moving toward lush. What a fascinating opportunity this has been! Exciting as anything!

By joan larsen on 08/14/2009 4:03 pm

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Hey, Joan. Tulip Poplar trees, I believe you are talking about them? Before we were married, my late husband had one in his yard that was loaded down with the beautiful flowers, and I used to take one and float it in a crystal bowl. Tulip poplars grow very well through pretty much everywhere. Dad raised a lovely one here in Lexington ky. that lasted for decades, but the person who owns the house I grew up in and where the tree was, had to take it out about 5 years ago because it started splitting. They do have a tendancy to split after a while, but I agree with you, a happy healthy one is just lovely.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1031/

By Diana T on 08/17/2009 8:04 pm

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NO ONE in the Upper Midwest seems to know about them — and figuring back, my tulip has to be over 50 years old and flourishing. I just admire as it is right out my window and while in its infancy, every original owner in my village received a flowering crabapple for anywhere in their yard - making April the most gorgeous month on every street in town - the original owner did have the crab but had planted the tulip. Honestly, it looks like a thousand parrots standing in June - sensational - and not seen from the street so it is mine and mine alone. Thanks for the Daves Garden site — I can always count on you for the very best!!!!!! Joan

By joan larsen on 08/17/2009 10:15 pm

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Hi everybody!

Maggie W has great advice.

Joan, what I have been using for my garden and for my clients is a product called Plantskydd. The critters can’t stand the smell of it, (I can’t either). It has worked for me in the suburbs of Los Angeles. You may be in a more rural area where the wild animals are more active but it is worth a try.

You can even buy it online. Check out the site at:

http://plantskydd.com/

Good luck, keep us posted.

Shirley Bovshow

www.EdenMakers.com

By Shirley Bovshow on 08/13/2009 11:02 pm

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Shirley … . Well, it is obvious that I have really offended my wonderful wildlife (and I live only 40 minutes from one of the largest cities) who never fail to find me exalting over the wonders of nature. The word is out … among the critters. Last night one of the skunks - not seen that often - that roam at night, waited until he was under my window and then let off his calling card big time. I don’t think they eat the flowers though — and I have the most darling woodchuck living in the vicinity. I adore him, but again — God know what he eats but I don’t think flower heads could fill his enormous belly. Well, I don’t think so. How amazing that in a suburban setting that so many creatures have adjusted. BUT — please don’t eat the flowers!

By joan larsen on 08/14/2009 10:43 am

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I love groundhogs! I use to have a family of them living under my deck in my old house. They are clean (the dig their own latrines), quiet, are vegetarians, hibernate through the winter (ours went to sleep around Thanksgiving and would bring out their kits from the den around Mother’s day) and very cute to watch. They have no problems digging under fences and I saw a male climb up and over a chain link fence once. They’ll graze on clover and dandilions and other plants in your lawn. They can be a problem if you have a vegetable garden, and yes - some will eat flowers. I had a down stairs room that was part under ground and the window was right at ground level. I had a barrel planter just outside this window with petunias in it. One day I looked out the window and saw a groundhog had climbed up and was happliy sitting in the middle of the flowers nibbling one after the other. He was partial to pansys, too. They would come up and sun on our deck when we were not outside and the kits were so cute! One time we took a saw horse and tied some carrots to it so they would hang down a few inches off the ground. We have pictures of the kits hanging onto the carrots with all four paws and chewing on them. Other things they liked to eat were broccoli, beans, corn on the cob, cantalope - just about any vegatable. But they left my tomato plants alone - that was nice of them. Eventually we had to trap them and move them to an animal rehabilitators property (with permission) because the neighbors were threatening to shoot them.

We live out in the country now. The farmers hate groundhogs because they eat the crops. The horse owners hate them because a horse could break a leg if it trips in one of their holes. I still love them and I check out Punxatawny Phil’s prediction every Groundhog Day.

By B Clark on 08/14/2009 1:02 pm

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Groundhogs … I haven’t seen them … well, maybe in a zoo and I can tell that I missed out. And yes, I can see the problems some might have with them, but they are so cute and somehow innocent looking, dreaming of something that we cannot understand. My own childrens’ love of nature expanded to their choices in college degrees. A daughter, who occasionally writes for wow, did post-graduate work in the wilds of South Dakota on prairie dogs. Soon we too were "experts" from afar, getting caught up in her stories. Buffalo and prairie dogs seem to co-exist. However, buffalo and humans don’t. She would tell of looking up for kneeling at a prairie dog "town" to see a buffalo in "charge" mode, forcing this city girl to learn how to climb a tree quickly and climb high. But occasionally, on cross-country trips, we will see the prairie dog sitting on his mound as sentinel, warning the others of predators. Animal behavior often has similarities to human I have found.

Love your story! JOAN

By joan larsen on 08/14/2009 1:23 pm

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Does anyone have a way to get rid of snails? I could start an escargot restaurant with all the snails multiplying in my garden. I’ve been using the recommended products from our local nursery, but the snail population is thriving. They particularly like my clemetis. As they climb from leaf to leaf they leave dead leaves behind.

My other problem is a rust on the leaves of my climbing roses. Once again, I have been using a product from the local nursery for several years that doesn’t work. My climbing roses will be covered with buds, then the leaves will become speckled with dark spots and a dust of red rust powders the underbelly of the leaf. The leaves then turn from green to yellow, to brown and fall off. Any suggestions? I’ve tried hand picking off the leaves as they become spotted, but it spreads so quickly that I can’t keep up with it.

By Didi Lorillard on 08/14/2009 7:22 am

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Hi Didi! There are several ways to get rid of slugs. You can either squish or drown the slugs in a jar of soapy water. Yeast traps or beer traps are extremely effective for catching snails. At night, sink a shallow jar so the top is flush with the ground and fill it with a couple of inches of beer. The slugs are drawn to the beer, fall in and drown. In the morning, move the jar to a new spot and do it again. With yeast, put a lump of brewer’s yeast or sprinkle powdered yeast into the jars with warm water and sugar. A suggested mix is 2 cups of warm water to a packet of dry yeast and one teaspoon of salt or sugar. Put these traps throughout your garden every 6-8 feet. Also, slugs are nocturnal, so by watering in the morning instead of at night where they like moist soil is helpful.

By Jennifer Scott on 08/14/2009 12:02 pm

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Thanks, Jennifer, however, there are way too many snails to catch them all that way. Maybe I’ll try, but the garden is a lot of work as it is and I would rather find a simpler way to get rid of them for good. They climb up the tomato plant pots. They are really quite brazen. No wonder the French learned to make peace with them and just eat them.

By Didi Lorillard on 08/14/2009 12:36 pm