festival burgundy cordyline

OK, I get it. I should be gardening in a more sustainable, eco-friendly way. But to be honest, I'm in survival mode so often that it seems too lofty a goal. 

"I'll do that when I'm retired," I say to myself.

Well, no. I should be doing something now. But how to squeeze it into my Gen X-working mom-trying-to-do-everything-life?

Small steps. Kinda the same way I get home improvement projects done. Or try to lose weight. Or get anything done beyond my usual, frenzied approach to life.

So I created a to-do list: "Sustainable Gardening in 2012 - Or Bust!"

1) I will buy (at least) one sustainable gardening product this year.

For this, I cheated and went to Treehugger.com for a list of Top 10 Products for Today's Green Grower. Some of them surprised me, like heirloom seeds, mulch (hey, I mulch!), organic soil (peat-free, which is good because of recent peat shortages), containers made of recycled or repurposed materials, rain barrels and composters.

I already re-mulched all the beds this year, then bought more for the weeping cherry we planted. But "mulching" does seem a bit like phoning it in. So this year, I bought and started some seeds for some black heirloom tomatoes instead of the ones I buy already-started at the garden center. Heirlooms are tastier anyway.

Here I am this past weekend with my newly-planted, spindly little seedlings that had lingered on the windowsill forever - I'm in front  of the chicken wire fence that keeps my dog out, and beyond that is the tomato cages that just look obscene hovering over the tiny little guys until they get bigger:

2) I will reduce the size of my lawn

Turf grass is a big water hog, so proponents of sustainable gardening suggest reducing the amount of lawn you have to water. So I'm planning on putting in a new perennial bed and filling it with drought-tolerant plants that don't need as much water (like the three Blue Storm agapanthus (below) I bought from Willow Creek Gardens, below). I got the idea when helping my elderly neighbor with her veggie patch that had grown over with crabgrass and weeds. The Storm series is the only variety of agapanthus variety to have survived the Dallas Arboretum's "trials by fire" in intense heat, drought and humidity.

3) I will replace my synthetic fertilizer with something organic.

When I opened my Big Garden Bin of Everything this spring, I was honestly shocked at the amount of synthetic, chemically-based fertilizers I had:

Synthetic fertilizers pollute the local waterways with a bunch of eco-system-altering chemicals and toxins, including phosphorus, which causes smelly, slimey algae blooms at our local beach on Lake Ontario (it also kills wildlife in the local waterways). So this year, instead of buying my usual slow-release, granular, chemical-based fertilizer, I'm investing in the black gold (poo).

I usually need tons of fertilizer for the bed of Flower Carpet roses next to my house, and more for my veggie garden. And this year, I needed even more - for our new weeping cherry and the perennial bed out front, which I realized I'd never fertilized since we moved here three years ago. So it turned out to be quite a few bags of manure. Maybe next year, I'll just get it by the truckload. To cut down on cost, I plan to share the truckload with my Italian neighbor, who uses plenty of it for his basil, tomatoes, garlic, beans, eggplant and figs.

So, what's one thing you can do this year to help the environment? What are some simple things you've already done? Post a comment and tell me about it. Small steps like this eventually add up.

For years, my grandfather has meticulously manicured his pachysandra, faithfully planted his gladiolus bulbs and dutifully cleaned up every leaf that has ever dropped from every tree around his house.

I'd have to guess it's been a source of pride - and artistic expression for a man who only found time to dabble in watercolors after retiring from a seven-day-a-week job as a father of six and and owner of a small family grocery.

But now the time has come when he and my grandmother (who has a form of dementia), have to make that decision whether or not to move to an assisted living center. It's a hard decision to make, with so many emotional ties to the home and landscape they've overseen and had so many memories in for so long.

When and if it comes to that, however, at least my grandparents won't have to move to a cold, landscape-free environment more remiscent of a hospital than a home.

That's because today's health-care and senior living facilities now resemble communities with many of the garden and landscape features residents remember from their own homes: tree- and flower-lined paths for walking, vegetable and flower gardens for working and even water features, plants and other features specifically incorporated for healing.

In fact, here are some of the landscaping features today's aging population can pretty much expect when moving to a health-care or senior living community:

Easy-care plants with season-long interest

Those in senior living and health-care communities want low-maintenance, tough plants that are reliably colorful and healthy-looking all season long. Residents at the Rolling Fields Elder Care Community in Conneautville, Pennsylvania, for instance, love looking at the Flower Carpet roses (pictured above) in the home’s Enchanted Garden, since they bloom May through November and are disease, drought and pest resistant. The roses were also planted with the idea in mind that residents could have fresh flowers in their room at any time (they can choose to cut the flowers themselves or have a caretaker do it for them).

And, since these roses are easy to prune and don’t require chemical sprays or deadheading, they’re also easier to maintain for the growing number of residents that want to help with the gardens at these kinds of facilities. The residents also don’t have to be subjected to toxic chemical treatments.

Elements for “active living”

Today’s aging population is much more active than its predecessors, and these individuals want to be outside, gardening, walking, reading and healing.

Even those in wheelchairs or motorized scooters want to take part – hence the need for raised beds for greater accessibility,  “workable” gardens (vegetables, herbs and cutting garden plots - one of Rolling Fields' veggie plots pictured above), non-glare paving, lighting for evening use and heat and shelter for inclement weather.

Zaretsky and Associates, a Rochester, NY landscape design-build firm, which has done award-winning work in this area, regularly adds these new “musts.” It even incorporates active-living features like measured walking tracks (so residents can track their progress) and storage sheds for gardening tools and materials.

Plants for horticultural therapy

Hospitals and other health-care centers are now recognizing that gardens are healing facilitators – as important as physical therapy, medications and other mainstream healing devices.

Zaretsky and Associates designs and builds pathways that incorporate increasingly difficult surfaces where seniors can "get their feet back" as they walk along peaceful paths. Even labyrinths, which foster meditation while walking, are a popular attraction.

Water features, with their peaceful sounds of running water and psychological association with life and tranquility, also provide auditory therapy. Rolling Fields residents love to gather at the koi ponds and waterfalls.

Beyond just creating an inspiring, peaceful environment that fosters healing, the plants themselves play a huge (not to mention profitable) role in therapy gardens. Their texture, fragrance, sound – and even taste (as is the case with Rolling Fields, which has planted fruit trees) – help stimulate the senses and the mind-body connection.

Fragrant plants like herbs, roses and phlox (mildew-resistant purple Volcano phlox pictured above) are wonderful for evoking memories, especially in Alzheimer’s gardens. Sounds can be added with grasses that sway in the wind. And teachable moments can be created by adding plants historically used for medicinal purposes. At Rochester General Hospital in Rochester, NY, Zaretsky and Associates has incorporated echinacea, Joe Pye weed, yew (taxus) and witchhazel just for this purpose.

Bring the outdoors in

Bringing landscaping, gardening and plants indoors – also called “interiorscaping” – has never been more popular, and that’s especially true at today’s health-care and senior living facilities. The public has become increasingly aware of recent studies showing how indoor plants not only filter allergens and pollutants from the air, but also pump out fresh oxygen, boosting energy levels and mood.

Rolling Fields, for instance, not only promotes the idea of bringing fresh flowers and plants into rooms – it has an indoor “planting” sunroom where elders can start their vegetable seeds or help take care of indoor plants.

While I'm sure such gardens and landscaping can never fully replace the gardens of home, I'm glad health-care and senior living centers are trying to move in that direction.

When it comes my time to make the difficult choice of moving out of my home, I hope I have the chance to enjoy and work in gardens and landscapes. There's just something about being in nature and watching life happens that psychologically instills an attitude of life within those who experience it. And that's what I want for my grandparents, too!

What about you? Do you have parents that have had to move to one of these facilities? Did they have to leave behind sentimental gardens and landscapes? If so, did the facility or community they moved to offer any gardens or landscaping to enjoy or work in?

Low-maintenance perennial border offering season-long interest, featuring boxwood (front) and Flower Carpet roses.

Garden beds and borders, so it seems, are very much back in vogue. But unlike the traditional English perennial beds and borders, which were labor intensive and peaked mainly in spring, today’s gardens are more likely to be filled with plants designed to perform better, require less care and offer year-long interest.

So if you're thinking of renovating that bed or border, here are 10 tips and tricks to keep in mind:

1.     Develop your point of view. “Decide where you’re going to look at the garden the most, says garden writer Doug Green in “The Easy Way to Design Perennial Gardens” on Doug Green’s Garden website. “This is the point of view. In other words, you’re looking at the front of the garden.”

2.     Spread the love. “The trick to having a garden that blooms all summer is to pick an equal amount of flowers for each of the three bloom periods,” says Green in his “How to Design a Perennial Flower Bed” article on his website. “And the second trick here is to space them equally through the garden.”

Fairy Magnolia Blush (a michelia hybrid) as a flowering hedge

3.     Create a backdrop. A tall flowering hedge at the back creates a canvas for the rest of your ‘art. Hedges can also help frame spaces or create sections in an outdoor living area. In cold climates like mine, people tend to favor tall, upright, evergreen shrubs like English boxwood, yews, arborvitae and hollies. In warmer areas, however, you can try camellias or even michelias like Fairy Magnolia Blush, with its dark-green, compact foliage and masses of heavenly scented, spring flowers. 

4.  Make it mow-friendly. Add a mowing strip for ease of maintenance around the outside of the bed or border. Straight lines or broad curves look best and are easy to keep neat. In his “Perennial Flower Garden Design” article on his website, Green suggests laying out a garden hose or two to make the curves smooth enough to mow around.

5.     Invest in edging. “The use of landscape edging, if done properly, can reduce the time and effort any gardener takes to maintain the garden,” says Green in his article “Options in Landscape Edging” on his website. Plastic landscape edging can be a real time-saver, he adds, but cheaper isn’t better. “Cheaper edging has several characteristics: the plastic is thinner - degrades in the sun faster - and it’s often not as ‘tall,’ so the amount that actually goes into the ground is shorter, allowing grass roots to go underneath the edging, or it doesn’t come with enough holding stakes and easily bends out of shape, or worse yet – pops out of the ground.”

6.     Choose a range of heights. I've learned to go tall in back, medium in the middle and low in the front. The way to get it looking like something beyond a kindergarten group picture shot, however, is to group plants in overlapping drifts.

Festival Burgundy cordyline (dark-red, strappy foliage at right)

7.     Include evergreen and long-blooming plants for year-round color and texture. Festival Burgundy cordyline, for instance, has become a favorite with its cascading mass of grass-like, bright-burgundy leaves spouting from a short central base. In his perennial gardening blog, Green also suggests these perennials that bloom all summer: corydalis lutea, coreopsis, campanula, chrysanthemum or Shasta daisy, gaillardia (blanketflower) and daylilies.

Snow Storm agapanthus (part of the Storm series of agapanthus, which also include the blue-flowered Blue Storm).

8.     Select plants with strong form and color. I've learned that one or two kinds are often enough, just so long as you repeat them throughout the border. I like to use large, colorful, broad-leaved foliage like Tropicanna cannas, banana plants and cordylines, for instance, because you don't have to use as much of them and you can see them from farther away. Other choices might include agapanthus, phormium (New Zealand flax), colocasia, croton, yucca, succulents like aloe and agave, ornamental grasses, conifers and palms.

Tropicanna cannas (tall, with colorful, broad leaves) in the garden border

9.     Add some shrubs. “I'm incorporating shrubs directly into all my borders now,” says Green. “In fact, one of my front beds is being designed and planted to be mostly shrubs and bulbs, with a few shrub roses and fall-blooming annuals for late season color.” Flower Carpet roses, for instance, can produce more than a thousand blooms per bush and bloom from May through late November.

10.  Don’t underestimate the power of white. Try combining white-variegated or white-bloomed plants with contrasting shapes, like Volcano phlox or Snow Storm agapanthus (the only agapanthus to survive the Dallas Arboretum’s heat).

These 10 steps - believe it or not - are just a start. For more great information on easy-care or low-maintenance gardening, check out these pages at the Sustainable Gardening blog, HGTV.com, and Deb's Garden blog.

How do you find a plant for those less-than hospitable places in your yard? Here are a few such spots and the perfect plants for them, according to Dave Epstein of how-to gardening video site Growing Wisdom, in his new video, “How to Find a Plant for Any Location.” Check out the rest in Dave's video, at5min.com!

Location: Driveway and/or side of road.
Solution: Next Generation Flower Carpet roses (above) continuous, season-long blooms, salt tolerance and outstanding heat and humidity resistance. “It’s a nice greeting for people as they come in from the road, and you’re taking a lot of heat off the driveway,” says Epstein.

Location: Narrow space that could use some color.

Solution: Tropicanna cannas (see Tropicanna Black cannas, above), which offer psychedelically colored foliage all season long.

Location: Low spot with heavy foot traffic

Solution: Creeping thyme (i.e. ‘Pink Chintz’ - photo above courtesy of GardeningForNature blog). “There are also varieties of thyme, like lemon thyme, that when you step on them release a wonderful scent,” says Epstein.

A couple posts back, I talked about hot garden trends for 2012. One of them was the movement toward Mediterranean garden style.

The style, as explained by North Coast Gardening blogger Genevieve Schmidt, often features open and airy courtyards, light-colored, textured hardscaping such as mosaic walls, gravel beds or unglazed terra cotta pots. The style also is known for its low-growing, drought-tolerant plants, hedges, topiary trees and vines (i.e. olive, bay and lemon trees, succulents, lavender, palms, roses and grasses).

Well, there were a bunch of Mediterranean garden images I couldn't fit in that last post, so here they are:

Photo courtesy Genevieve Schmidt

Photo courtesy Genevieve Schmidt, designed by Lynda Pozel 

Euphorbia and purple salvia; designed by Lynda Pozel. Photo courtesy Genevieve Schmidt

Little bluestem grass (left), phormium (New Zealand flax, right). Photo courtesy Genevieve Schmidt

Festival Burgundy cordyline (spiky and dark red, in middle) with topiary tree, lemon tree and unglazed terra cotta pots featuring silver and white plants.

Snow Storm agapanthus (lily of the Nile) with unglazed terra cotta pot

Banks of Snow Storm agapanthus (lily of the Nile) and Flower Carpet roses (right).

How have you incorporated Mediterranean garden style into your landscape? Post a comment and tell me all about it. And you can email photos to lisa [dot] hutchursonbrandcool [dot] com.

So we were having our annual Cousins Christmas party yesterday - this year at the beautiful Rochester Civic Garden Center here in Rochester, NY. There, taking a break from the Cha-Cha Slide and Holiday Calorie Trough there in Warner Castle, built in 1854 to resemble a Scottish ancestral castle, I found myself wandering around and appreciating all the housplants adorning each room. And then I remembered: even though it's winter, we CAN still garden. Health and quality of life are huge right now — at least according to Trendwatching.

Inspired, I started remembering how much I love houseplants. Maybe it's the cold climate of Rochester, which I just found out is No. 2 in annual snowfall (right behind Syracuse, NY where I went to school!) Remember: houseplants not only purify and filter the air, removing allergens and impurities - they also pump out tons of mood-boosting oxygen!

So if you're not already into houseplants, pick up a few! You'd  be surprised how much a little green goes a long way indoors!

Here are a few from Warner Castle:

From left: beans growing up a trellis, rosemary and croton

A collection of succulents

Polkadot plant in a terrarium

And here are some great houseplants that have survived low-light consitions in my house:

Festival Burgundy cordyline (I just bring it in from the patio at the end of summer)

Bamboo palm

What houseplants are you crazy about? Post a comment, and tell me all about it!

Forget all those doomsday predictions about 2012. From the garden world’s perspective, life will continue to be good – with gardeners saving themselves water, hassles and misspent money. At least that’s according to several savvy garden experts and a leading garden trends survey.

Water-wise plants, products

(pictured here: Flower Carpet roses (center) and Festival Burgundy cordyline (either side)

Most on the minds of landscaping professionals right now are issues surrounding gardening and water, "whether it's the use of water or the cleaning of water," says Sharon Coates, co-owner of Zaretsky and Associates, a landscape design-and-build firm in Rochester, N.Y.

In light of recent droughts in places like Georgia, Texas and the Carolinas, people are trying to use the water they dohave more frugally, Coates explains. “People are making sure they’re watering responsibly, choosing plants that aren’t water hogs and putting rain sensors on their irrigation systems. They’re also making sure the irrigation is monitored so it’s not watering the driveway and sidewalk.”

Water-wise plants will also make the Mediterranean garden style (above) hot in 2012, says Genevieve Schmidt, a northern coastal California landscape designer and author of the North Coast Gardening blog. Mediterranean landscape design, she explains, often features open and airy courtyards, light-colored, textured hardscaping such as mosaic walls, gravel beds or unglazed terra cotta pots and low-growing, drought-tolerant plants, hedges, topiary trees and vines (i.e. olive, bay and lemon trees, succulents, lavender, palms, roses and grasses). “Of course, the vivid colors also help make this a winning style.”

Also, when it comes to cleaning the water, especially storm water carrying pollutants like fertilizers and motor oil into local waterways, many people are turning to rain gardens. “These shallow depressions are filled with deep-rooted plants and grasses­ — all of them noninvasive, native or locally adapted — that can handle being inundated with water and also don’t mind being dry,” Zaretsky and Associates’ Coates says.

“Many gardeners are catching their own rainwater in rain barrels and cleaning or recycling grey water (wastewater from domestic activities like laundry, dishwashing and bathing)” adds Anthony Tesselaar, cofounder and president of Tesselaar Plants. “In fact, in many municipalities now, saving water is not only ‘in’, but mandatory”.

Black and amber

Black and amber shades in plants continue to be a “hot” color trend, says North Coast Gardening’s Schmidt. “People have already been bewitched by the dark drama of black plants,” she explains, “and as they learn to design with them more effectively, they’ll only become more popular.”

Notable examples of popular dark plants include Petunia 'Black Velvet', Ipomoea (sweet potato vine) 'Blackie', Tropicanna Black cannas, Aeonium 'Zwartkop', black mondo grass, Colombine 'Black Barlow', Heuchera 'Black Beauty' and Hellebore 'Winter Dream.'

Amber shades, she adds, are also extremely popular – “amber heucheras, the amber Flower Carpet roses, and other plants with amber tones are going to be big in nurseries this year.”

Low-risk, high-value plants

(pictured here: mildew-resistant Volcano phlox)

Just as consumers are being more careful with their water usage, they’re also shopping smarter. In particular, they’re looking for low-risk, high-value plants that not only look good in the garden center, but have a tried-and-true reputation.

“Plants bred to withstand attacks from pests and diseases that are also tolerant of climate and soil extremes provide a better value,” says Tesselaar (developer of the low-maintenance, disease- and drought-resistant Flower Carpet^® roses, Festival^™ Burgundy cordyline, Storm^™ agapanthus and Volcano^®phlox). “Gardeners are more aware than ever that choosing the right plant for the right situation is imperative if you want to help save the planet — let alone your bank balance.”

For as little as $15 to $25, for instance, you can have long-term color without a lot of expense by using continuously flowering shrubs like Flower Carpet roses, hydrangeas, potentilla (shrubby cinquefoil) and spirea. Or, if your garden already has plenty of beautiful structure, use such colorful, flowering machines to dress up these ‘good bones.’”

Smaller water features

More and more people are moving away from large ponds and toward smaller water features, says Coates: “Now people prefer a cut piece of stone, a boulder or a beautiful glazed urn with water bubbling out of the top.”

Coates thinks it’s a maintenance issue: “People either have to be really into ponds and all the maintenance they take, or they have to hire someone to do it for them.”

What’s more, says Schmidt, fountains made with natural stone or metal are hotter sellers than features made of manmade materials. “The ball-shaped fountains made of stone are very big this year,” she says, “and I think that copper and other metals are coming into fashion as accents in fountains and as materials for planting containers.”

Seasonal interest

In colder areas, where the blooms are gone and deciduous leaves have fallen, Coates is seeing more people keep their ornamental grasses instead of cutting them back, so they can provide winter interest. For the same reason, they’re looking for plants with winter berries, evergreens, barks of different colors and textures or deciduous trees and shrubs with dramatic forms. But they’re also adding plants that change with the seasons, offering new interest with each.

“Customers have grown tired of the stark, all-season gardens that were so fashionable a decade ago,” Tesselaar says. “Every garden needs its backbone of plants that look great year round, but that doesn’t have to be at the expense of seasonal interest and color.”

More front yard gardens

The number of front yard gardens is also on a steady rise (29 percent in 2011, compared to 27 percent in 2010 and 25 percent in 2009), according to the Garden Trends Research Report’s Early Spring 2011 survey (conducted for the Garden Writers Association Foundation). Meanwhile, the number of backyard gardens has taken a 3-percent hit, down from 50 percent in 2009 and 2010.

Gardening “up”

Vertical gardening is also on the rise, as documented in the new, popular book Garden Up! Smart Vertical Gardening for Small and Large Spacesby California garden designers Susan Morrison and Rebecca Sweet. The practice of growing plants up from the ground instead of out, or of planting them off the ground to start with—on trellises, arbors, balconies and walls—has become especially popular among those with small spaces, landscape eyesores or an awkward “skinny spot” in their garden.

But Coates also notes the growth of a different kind of “gardening up” – green roofs.

“Green roofs have definitely seen more of a commercial application and have been done in mostly urban areas, but they’re still a huge trend,” she says. “Green roofs help save on heating and cooling costs and actually protect the roof underneath from the degrading effects of the elements, so cities have received tax incentives for green roof installations.” Some cities, like Toronto and Chicago, are even starting to require green roofs on some new buildings, based on the square footage.

Winter 2011-2012 is well on its way, with areas of the Northeast already socked with snow. Whether you have snow on the ground or not, however, late fall to early winter is the time to get garden plants like these ready for the cold:

Flower Carpet^®roses

Transplanting. If you live in a warm climate (Zones 7 and higher), you can transplant your carpet roses any time (with the exception of excessively hot and dry locales, in which you shouldn’t transplant from July through September). If you live in a colder climate (Zones 6 and lower), the end of October was the latest you should have been transplanting carpet roses. Just hold off on transplanting until early next spring, when the plant’s still dormant but the soil is workable and warmer days are coming. (Doing this chore on St. Patrick’s Day is a good way of remembering when to do it in the North!)

Pruning. For those living in steadily warm, but not desert-like, areas, late fall to early winter is the ideal time for pruning That’s when flowering is at its lowest and leaves look their rattiest. Trim the plant back by at least half and as small as a basketball immediately before transplanting (pruning stimulates active growth). Water and wait about two to three weeks to feed. In colder climates, if you didn’t get to it before late October, hold off till St. Patrick’s Day (see above). 

Overwintering containers. In warm climates, you can just keep carpet roses in their pot, provided the container is at least 20 inches in diameter. Then just trim the roses back at the appropriate time (see above).

In cold climates, you can just wait for them to start going dormant (around Thanksgiving). Then, pack them closely together into a cool, dry (but not freezing) place like your garage or basement and get them up off the ground (they should be in pots at least 20 inches across and 20 inches deep and provide drainage). Some people like to cover them with hay or burlap for extra protection. Those without a garage can mound them up over the top with hay. Don’t cut back or prune them at this time.

Tropicanna^® cannas

Overwintering. In Zones 7 and higher, wait for leaves to start dying back, then cut back foliage to the soil. In Zones 3 and lower, wait until frost starts killing leaves, turning them  brown or black. Cut the stalks back to about 6 inches, then dig up the rhizomes, being careful not to injure them. Brush off loose soil and let rhizomes dry. Nestle rhizomes into closed boxes or plastic bags full of peat moss (with holes punched in them for air circulation). Store rhizomes in a cool, dry place (not freezing). Cannas grown in containers can be stored in their pots, too.

Festival™ Burgundy cordyline

Overwintering. In Zones 8b and higher, just leave Festival Burgundy cordyline in its pot or in the ground for the winter.In colder areas, it can be brought inside and overwintered as a houseplant. Put it in a window with good light (south-facing exposures are usually the best). For more on overwintering Festival Burgundy cordyline, see this video by Dave Epstein of GrowingWisdom.com.

Volcano^® phlox

Overwintering. Cut back to 4 or 5 inches and remove all dead leaves. Mulch to remove any lingering powdery mildew (Volcano phlox are mildew tolerant, which means they may get mildew, but they won’t die and it generally doesn’t affect the blooms). In areas with hard freezes, protect with mulch, pine straw or leaves to protect from ground heaves. In spring and again in summer, feed with time-release fertilizer.

We know gardening makes us feel good, but did you know it can actually improve our health in many tangible ways? Here are some healthy "side effects" of digging in the dirt, according to Australia's Nursery and Garden Industry (NGIA):

Improved concentration and memory

Being around plants indoors helps people concentrate better at home and in the workplace. Studies show that tasks performed while under the calming influence of nature are performed better and with greater accuracy, yielding a higher-quality result. Moreover, being outside in a natural environment can improve memory performance and attention span by 20 percent!

Greater happiness

Having flowers around the home and office greatly improves people's moods and reduces the likelihood of stress-related depression. Aside from their mood-boosting beauty and psychological reminder of "life," flowers and ornamental plants continually pump fresh oxygen into the air, making people feel alert and refreshed, yet secure and relaxed.

Improved air quality

Trees sequester carbon from the atmosphere, improving air quality and reducing our carbon footprint. Trees and landscaping also help to absorb pollutants and particles in the air, serving as a natural filtration system. Indoors, this is especially important when it comes to reducing allergies and sickness.

Increased exercise

If you're involved in a physical activity that's more like a hobby, you're less inclined to think of all that movement as "work" or something you "have to do." And with diabetes and other weight-related illnesses on the rise, an increasing number of people have to find ways to work exercise into their regular routine. Access to parks and recreational activities, by the way, has been positively correlated with rates of physical activity, which in turn improves mood and health. It's also a great proactive way to reduce your health care costs in the future.

So get out the trowel and play in the dirt! You might be surprised at just how good you feel!

It’s the end of another year – and another budget-busting holiday season

So as we wait for January’s slew of mail-order gardening catalogs, it’s time once again to dream – and strategize: How can we afford gardening in 2011?

Here are a few ideas I’ve come up with, after looking at my own walloped wallet and a few consumer trends.

1. Invest in the workhorses

^{Hanging basket of shade-loving Bonfire® begonias}

Gone are the days of primadonna perennials and one-trick ponies that provide interest for maybe a week while they bloom and then don’t pull their weight the rest of the season. Taking their place are plants that offer long-term benefits, save time or money or prevent problems down the road. In other words, buying smart isn't always about money. Instead, it's about finding the best value for your dollar.

For instance, does a drought-tolerant plant that costs 20 percent more than its similar counterpart worth the purchase because you can go on vacation and not have to find a plant-sitter? Can the price for a season-long-blooming shrub be amortized over several years because it boosts the resale value of your home? Does the $40 hanging basket also work in the shade or save space in a downsized or urban dwelling?

2. Take advantage of freebies

^{Flower Carpet® roses with free fertilizer sachet}

TV talk shows have been abuzz the past few months about ways to find free stuff.  Online, you can find free (or at least cheap) gardening products at www.all-free-samples.com, www.freecycling.org, eBay and Craigslist. The iVillage Garden Web forum also lists a variety of links to garden exchanges and trades at http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/exchind/ (or you can Google “plant swap” and your town and state to find plant swaps or similar exchanges in your area). Try to see if any garden plants or products throw in a little something extra to make your purchase worth it. Flower Carpet^® roses, for instance, come with a free sachet of fertilizer perfectly formulated for success.

3. Think “multi-use”

^{Festival™ Burgundy cordyline - overwintering indoors as a houseplant}

Can a garden perennial double as a houseplant, helping to beautify the indoors, boost moods and improve indoor air quality? Can it provide healthy, chemically free food for the family and save on the grocery bills? Can it even become a gift for someone else?

Container plants that can easily be carried in from the patio to serve as a wintertime houseplant are a smart buy, especially in colder climates. For instance, Festival™ Burgundy cordyline offers extreme drought-tolerance and season-long architectural interest, texture and colorful foliage. But it also overwinters nicely indoors as a houseplant.

Why choose between growing ornamentals and edible?  Choose plants that are both! I particularly like lovely leaved, colorful edibles like kale and ‘Bright Lights’ swiss chard.  I can’t say enough good things about ornamental kale – which not only handles drought well, but is growing through the snow on my Rochester, NY front porch right now. Plus, adding fresh, raw produce to your diet improves digestive health and gives you a more youthful, beautiful appearance.

Wondering what the heck to do with raw kale? Here's a recipe from Bob Greene's 'Best Life Diet':

Raw Garlicky Kale

2 Tbs. tahini

4 cloves roasted garlic

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

1 Tbs. water

1/8 tsp. salt

Fresh, red hot pepper to taste

4 cups raw, well-washed kale, cut into extremely thin strips lengthwise

Toss all ingredients except kale in food processor. Toss kale and tahini dressing together, and serve immediately or refrigerate several hours before serving.

You can even use plants as no-cost, personal gifts in a pinch. For instance, this Christmas, I’m giving gardening members of my family who love my Tropicanna^® cannas some of the rhizomes I dug up for winter.

4. “Green” on the tag = green in your pocket

^{The new Soleil™ petunia – "the petunia that lives on a glass of water"}

Drought-tolerant and pest- and disease-resistant plants not only cut your spending on water and chemicals – they reduce or eliminate the risk of having to replace a dead plant! 

Look for eco-tags that equate the purchase of the plant to a real-life environmental benefit or displays featuring water-wise or no-spray plants.

5. Put your smartphone to use

^{GardenPilot® app on smartphone}

Got a smartphone? Get it out of your pocket and use it to find out which garden center in your area is carrying the item you want at the best price. GardenPilot®, for instance is a great app that allows you to comparatively shop for the best prices in town. 

Well, here's wishing you another year of smart and easy gardening – so you can spend more of your time and money on whatever's most important to you (even if it's well … more gardening)!