Gifting a Gardener

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    Just like any other passionate hobby, the gardening bug progresses in three stages:

  1. I need. I only need the basics.
  2. I want. The basics are fine but I want more.
  3. I wish. This would be a great gift for me because I can’t justify buying it for myself.

 

 What a Gardener Needs

     The first stage is the easiest. Very little is needed to start gardening on a small scale. The basics are: trowel, pruners, a weeder and gardening gloves. Simple until you try to choose. Buying the best you can afford is key. You can’t go wrong with USA made trowels by Wilcox ($15-$25). The best pruners are by Felco ($60 and up). USA made Diggit is best for dandelion digging ($20) and the Nejiri Gama Hoe from Japan is the best for shallower weeds ($15). Gardening gloves are a personal choice but Nitrile gloves have continued to be a favorite ($7).

Felco #2 Pruner

Nejiri Gama Hoe

USA Made Wilcox Trowel

USA Made Diggit

USA Made Original Cobrahead Weeder

nitrile gloves

What a Gardener Wants

      Stage two delves into the wonderful world of nurseries and seed catalogs or these days…seed catalog websites. Luckily, here in the South Sound there is no shortage of  great nurseries, large and small. Instead of waiting until May, take a few nursery trips in the off season so you can monitor when they start getting the good stuff.  Familiarize yourself with your local nursery. They’ll appreciate that you’re there and will be a big help when May rolls around. Gift certificates are always good.

     Every second stage gardener gets hooked on seed catalogs. Now it’s even more fun because the seed catalogs are all online. You can fill up your cart and hone it down to a reasonable amount. It’s easy to get carried away and it’s one of those gardening “cheap thrills”. Ed Hume Seeds, Territorial Seeds, Renees Seeds and Botanical Seeds are all good websites and you can find the seeds on racks in local nurseries. You can research online and buy the seeds locally.

Hori Hori Knife (original)

     Tool wise, second stage gardening usually includes a Hori Hori Knife ($25), some loppers for heavier pruning ($40-$80) and a spade for digging ($40).

What a Gardener Wishes

      Stage three is a full blown, down and dirty, “don’t bother me while I’m weeding” gardener, one who loves to garden and loves to get garden gifts. Sound familiar?

     The third stage gardener wants things like truckloads of good garden soil, mushroom compost and steer manure… really.  Specialty nurseries take the place of mainstream nurseries because they have more unusual plants (they have gift certificates too).  The tools of the trade go to the next level with Rockery trowels ($25), Potato Scoops ($30), Fruit  Pruners ( $25), Haws Watering Cans ($40 and up), Cobrahead Weeders ($25) and books with more information than pictures. Books like

“The Seed Garden: The Art and Practice of Seed Saving”

      “The Seed Garden “ is a fascinating and comprehensive book by The Seed Savers Exchange, the non-profit group that has dedicated itself to preserving heirloom seeds for decades.

    Any gardener who wants to start collecting and saving seeds can find everything needed to collect and store 75 targeted plants, both ornamental and edible. Each plant listed has in depth directions for no fail seed saving. Any gardener would find it invaluable. This is one of those books that will be well used. It’s a practical purchase. 390 pages, 8 ½ x 11, $29.95, Seed Savers Exchange

Best Western Washington Gardens to Visit

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When out-of-towners visit Western Washington, the real challenge isn’t what to do with them, it’s what beautiful area do we choose to show off first?  We are spoiled with choices. Along with  the beauty of the mountains and ocean and the iconic Space Needle and Pike Place Market, we have some of the most beautifully kept public and private gardens in the country.

Bloedel Reserve

Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island is 150 acres of gardens within gardens: a Japanese garden, the color laden glen, an ethereal soft moss garden carpeted with more than 40 species of moss, a bird marsh filled with dragonflies and nesting birds and a woodland of native Pacific Northwest huckleberries, hemlocks and cedars.

     The 2.5 miles of trails give you a chance to see it all. The creators, Prentiss and Virginia Bloedel shared a love of nature and the Pacific Northwest. The French Chateau where they lived for 35 years is open to view.  The back of the house opens to a spectacular view of Puget Sound.

     A resident artist house on the property is home to authors, musicians and poets. They stay for several weeks and have the gardens all to themselves for inspiration and solitude.

Check for summer concerts. Bloedel is made for a slow, relaxing stroll. Give yourself plenty of time to enjoy it.

http://bloedelreserve.org

Heronswood

Heronswood is in Kingston on the Kitsap Peninsula and is the former home and garden of world-renowned plant hunter and horticulturist, Dan Hinkley.

     Now owned and maintained by the Port Gamble S’Klallam tribe, 15 acre Heronswood is a botanical garden with collections from around the world many from the Hinkley plant hunting trips in Asia, South America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand . It is well known for its environmentally friendly design.

http://www.heronswood.com

Bellevue Botanical Garden

      The Bellevue Botanical Garden is 53 acres of just about everything that grows well in the Pacific Northwest. It is laid out in a walkable and beautifully designed group of gardens featuring a perennial border, rock garden, fern collection and Dahlia display.

     BBG is a garden of ideas to admire and recreate with an emphasis on community and horticultural education.

http://bellevuebotanical.org

Powellswood

Powellswood is a sweet, tidy and lush 3-acre garden tucked away in a 40-acre forest in Federal Way. It has a magnificent Leyland Cypress hedge that serves as backdrop to well-designed perennial beds filled with uncommon treasures.

     The upper part of the 3-leveled garden leads you through a wide arch into a circle garden. A left turn drops down and winds around a running stream and eventually toward a pond with a resident mallard duck.

     Bring lunch and enjoy the calm.

www.powellswood.org

 Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden

The RSBG is much more than rhododendron even though they have planted thousands. It is 22 acres of a good hike through and around a Victorian stumpery, an alpine garden, Meconopsis meadow and a glass house conservatory complete with waterfall and blooming Vireya rhododendron. The  Pacific Rim Bonsai exhibit at the end is not to be missed.

      The non-profit garden has sent its director Steve Hootman on plant hunting exhibitions from the Appalachians to India and China. Plants are for sale.

https://rhodygarden.org/cms/

University of Washington Botanical Gardens

The University of Washington Botanical Gardens is the combination of the Washington Park Arboretum and the Center for Urban Horticulture.  The Arboretum is 230 acres of world class plant collections of conifers, oaks, Japanese maples, birches, poplars and larches.  Stay on the trails or go exploring.

     The newest addition is the Pacific Connection which features plants from Cascadia, Australia, China, Chile and New Zealand. Stop at the Graham Visitors Center to get started. You might need a map.

https://botanicgardens.uw.edu

Point Defiance Park

Point Defiance Park in Tacoma maintains a Japanese Garden complete with pagoda, separated gardens of roses, dahlias, herbs, Northwest natives, Rhododendrons and irises, all near the entrance.

     In addition to its gardens Point Defiance is a full family experience with picnic areas, a zoo, trails for hiking and biking and a beach. The five-mile drive that skirts the 760-acre park has magnificent viewpoints to take in spectacular Puget Sound.

https://www.metroparkstacoma.org/point-defiance-park

 

    

 

Late Summer Flash in the Plants

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      Late summer days in the South Sound may not always produce the hottest temperatures but they certainly bring on the garden’s hottest colors.  Yellows, oranges and reds change the calm of early summer’s pastels into blazing combinations that make the best of a well planned…

 “Triple Threat”

     One surefire way to make a big impact in the late summer’s “hot” garden is using the  “rule of three”.  Group three each of three different plants in three different colors. Most perennials and annuals are sold in larger containers this late in the summer so using these principals you can have an instant floral punch.

     Red-flowered perennials like Monarda ‘Cambridge Scarlet’ and Crocosmia “Lucifer”; yellow flowers of flat-topped Achillea “Moonshine” or feathery Goldenrod ‘Fireworks’; orange-flowered Asclepias (butterfly weed) and daisy-like Helenium make striking combinations. Mix and match and substitute. Add fiery annuals and you have a garden that does…

“Double Duty”

     Annuals bloom all summer and take up the slack of perennials that normally have shorter bloom times.

     Still using the “rule of three”, you can add bright yellow Calendula or Zinnias;-flaming red Salvia or Snapdragons and brilliant orange Coreopsis or the newly popular Tithonia. They match and extend the color and form of  “hot-colored” perennials. Add some cream or white low-to-the ground plants like Alyssum or Bacopa just to break up the “hot”.

     All of these perennials and annuals are easy to find, grow and maintain.  They can make a big impact if you want a simple bit of flash. They all survive with a minimum of summer water and can attract butterflies, bees and hummingbirds.  They also make good cut flowers. Take advantage of that. There is a reason why they are called “cut and come again” flowers. More cutting produces more flowers.

     However…sometimes easy to grow and find just isn’t as much fun as the search for the unusual and the challenge of growing something completely new.   Rarer plants are creeping into both mainstream and  specialty nurseries.  They fit perfectly in our South Sound dry late summer gardens. Get ready to learn all about the new influx of better than borderline flashes of color with…

“Hot Color, Dry Garden” by Nan Sterman

     The new-to-most-of-us Australian and South African plants are giving us a whole new reason to beef up our plant knowledge. These days they are than we ever thought possible, thanks to global warming.

      “Hot Color, Dry Garden”: Inspiring Designs and Vibrant Plants for the Waterwise Garden is a great introduction to some of these plants and how we can use them.

     Several years ago these borderline hardy plants were called “temperennials” because they came and went. Now they can be a more permanent addition. Sterman’s guidelines for what to plant starts with the facts and figures of a site including elevation and rainfall and then lists plants good for that site.

     Some of the plants listed will sound familiar like Achillea, Salvia and Yucca but the addition of Aloes, Aeonium and Echeveria can make a South Sound garden come alive with the hottest of hot colors.

     Each listed plant has all the information you’ll need, including lowest and highest tolerated temperatures and soil type.

     “Hot and Dry” is all you need to start a new gardening adventure. What once was just for the South can now be grown in the South Sound. How lucky?

Timber Press, 300 pages, 360 color photos, $24.95

Full Selection of Burgon and Ball Garden Tools Now Available!

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Sometimes I really wonder if businesses are customer centric. One of the most popular, most beautiful and longest lasting garden tools are the British designed and made. And for some reason, they are hard to find…we found them!!! We’re now selling the full line of Burgon and Ball gardening hand tools. A couple of them are on backorder but we will have them from now on. Burgon and Ball Hand Tools

 

“Miffy Alpines and Hypertufa”

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Late Spring gardening in the South Sound is where “fast and furious” meets “survivor”. Panic gardening sets in and now you can see what plants and pots survived. The weather has settled and nurseries explode with color and people. This is the South Sound at its best…bulbs, rhodies, azaleas, cherry trees and a parade of once blooming spring blooming shrubs

     And even so, we still want something new…this year’s temptation is…

GARDENING WITH “MIFFY” PLANTS

 Alpine gardens are not rock gardens. Alpine gardening is for high altitude plants that tend to grow slow, low and mounded…short. Alpine plants are adapted to harsh conditions like wind and cold that basically stunt their growth. Rock gardens can be anywhere as long as they have heat and sandy soil…a HUGE difference between the two.

   Alpines plants include a wide range of plants including small shrubs, dwarf conifers, ornamental grasses, perennials and annuals.  So, basically it’s everything you already grow, just smaller versions.

   Alpine plants can be “Miffy” plants, ones that are not the very easiest to grow…a little fussy. That’s mostly because we’re used to overwatering and fussing with the plants we grow. The South Sound in late spring is full of color and flash. Alpine gardening can be nuanced and personal…small scale. You can pay more attention to individual plants.

     Some easy to find alpine plants are familiar names. They just have to be the dwarf forms of plants like Dianthus, Aubrieta, Campanula, Willows, sedums, thyme, …there are plenty of alpines out there to get started. There is a whole world of dwarf everything…a whole new gardening world.

   Starting the alpine garden takes a special mix of soil. Here is….

A GOOD STARTER

     Alpine plants like being grown “hard”, i.e., grown in soil that is lean, not fertile. A fertile soil would make them grow “soft” and they wouldn’t survive through any harsh conditions. So, just like every other kind of gardening…soil is everything. Not much alpine soil is needed because alpine roots are not only tough they are shallow.

Recipe for Alpine Trough

2 parts freshly dug soil

1 part sharp sand

1 part pumice

1 part organic material like coir or a potting mix

 If pumice is hard to find, perlite works too. Perlite has an added advantage. You know how wet the soil is just by looking at the pieces of perlite. It’s white when dry and grey when wet.

   Alpine gardening is not new. Most gardens are growing in home constructed hypertufa troughs. They are very expensive to buy but are made with very inexpensive materials. There are plenty of articles and instructions out there to make troughs, mix your own soil and get the right plants. Information hasn’t been gathered in one spot and published in one place…until…

HYPERTUFA CONTAINERS BY LORI CHIPS

      You wouldn’t think that a book about Hypertufa containers could fill a 250 page book but author Lori Chips left no stone (no, I won’t say it)…

     Chips teaches the mechanics of building hypertufa troughs in every shape possible. She tells you how to fill them with the best soil mix alpine plants.

     Each completed trough in “Hypertufa Containers” is a miniature landscape filled with dwarf conifer, alpine ground covers spilling over small rocks and plants small enough to qualify for a fairy garden.

   If you would like to find out everything there is to know about Hypertufa trough building, planting and displaying, there is no other book like this one.

Timber Press, 256 pages, 108 color pictures, $27.95, soon to be released

The Tool Shed: Nejiri Gama Hoe

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The Japanese Nejiri Gama Hoe cuts through the top bit of soil to scrape off shallow rooted weeds and mosses. The whole idea behind the scraper is to only go deeply enough to scrape away roots from weeds like chickweed, shotweed and shallow grasses.

NEJIRI GAMA HOE FROM JAPAN has been a bestseller for 30 years. and it’s only $14.

According to Google the literal translation of  Nejiri Gama means “torsion spring”. I guess it is a little “springy”. You grab it and scrape it over the soil. The beauty of the shallow weeding is…you don’t pull up, stir up and mix up weed seeds down below. Cultivating to get rid of weeds pulls up the roots but it also pulls up the weed seeds and gives them a good start.

Nejiri Gama Hoes come in right and left handed versions and are now popular enough to be manufactured by many companies including Dutch and Japanese manufacturers. Stick with those. Others are sad knockoffs. They come in short handles and some that are

DUTCH LEFT HANDED NEJIRI HOE Good for long raised beds and under shrubs.

LONG HANDLED NEJIRI GAMA HOE FROM JAPAN The long handled version of the Nejiri Hoe from Japan

about 18″ long for a longer reach. You can also get a long handled stand-up version but I have found that the angle is all wrong when the handle is long and you’re standing up.

They start at about $14 and go up from there.

 

It’s All About Dirt

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Might as well start the early South Sound gardening months by paying attention to the one thing that makes or breaks any garden. It’s THE most important ingredient… healthy, nutritious soil. It’s amazing how fast a garden’s potential can be ruined by spending lots of money on beautiful plants and skimping on building good soil. That old saying…”don’t put a $25 plant in a $1 hole” (inflation) is true. You can put an expensive plant in poor soil and watch it die or you can put an ok plant in healthy soil and watch it flourish. This is the BIG secret behind the legendary “green thumb”. Have nutritious soil. Start with a fistful of dirt…

The Squeeze Test

Testing your garden’s soil texture to find out if you’re wasting your plant money is easy and solves all kinds of future problems and disappointments. Grab a handful of soon-to-be-planted garden soil and squeeze it. That’s it.

  1. If soil falls apart, it’s too sandy, add a lot of compost.
  2. If it sticks together, it has too much clay…add a LOT of compost or even better…build a raised bed… it’s faster.
  3. If it crumbles and partially stays together…yay you! That’s perfect.

Now, you have something to work with and it’s time for…

Your Perfect Plants

Perfect plants are ones that you like and will grow where you want them to grow. Sound obvious? That’s another green thumb “secret”, right plant, right place. Getting that right gets easier all the time.

Now, you can stand in a nursery, pull out your “I’m smarter than you” phone and find out everything you need to know about a plant before you buy it. Two of the most complete reference sites for plant information and plant buying are: www.greatplantpicks.org (Seattle based) and www.plantlust.com (Portland based).

You have the right plant ready for the right place and you even know your soil texture. All you need now is to make sure you have…

“Good Soil” by Tina Raman, Ewa-Marie Rundquist and Justine Lagache

      Foisting a sepia-toned “in the weeds” book about soil and compost into today’s mix of glossy garden books is a brave step. When the authors of “Good Soil-Manure Compost and Nourishment for Your Garden” decided to plunge ahead anyway, we benefited.

“Good Soil” is a treasure trove of nerdly explanations and practical information…all about making nutritious soil by adding various kinds of manure… green, gold, pig, cow, chicken, fish…all the good stuff. Everything from chemistry and biology to history and philosophy of “natural” fertilizer is covered. And of course, they make it funny. The subject begs for it.

After you’re knee deep in the wonders of poo…you get the last half of the book…what and how much of it is the best for your plants.

It’s definitely put together for today’s attention span…filled with snippets, sidebars and short to-the-point chapters. “Good Soil” is a reference book, not a “cover to cover” but one that will be used, not shelved.

 

Published by Frances Lincoln, Sweden, 250 pages, $29.99

 

Northwest Flower and Garden Show in Seattle…a few good books….

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       Hard to believe that the Northwest Flower and Garden Show in Seattle is 29 years old this year! If you have gardened in the South Sound any part of the 29 years, you will no doubt think about February as Northwest Flower and Garden Show month. It runs at the Washington State Convention Center February 7-11.

     Spending a day or two walking through the beautiful display gardens at the show turns dark winter days into an early shot of spring. The NWFGS has always been a favorite for South Sound gardeners and that has a lot to do with the seminars that run concurrently with the show. The free seminars run all 5 days on 3 different stages. Choosing which of the 100 seminars to attend can drive you crazy. Here is a start…garden authors with something to say like…

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“Gardening in the Pacific Northwest” by Paul Bonine and Amy Campion

      You can never have too many books about PNW gardening. Things change and you can always find something new. This newest one is all ornamentals and geared toward both sides of the mountains. Newer PNW gardening books have newer climate information. Bonine and Campion will speak together.

“Pint Sized Plants for Pacific Northwest Gardens” Thursday, 11:15, Hood Room; “Great Plants Adapted to Pacific Northwest Climates” Friday, 11:45, Rainier Room.

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“Garden Renovation” by Bobbie Schwartz

      Sometimes renovating a garden is more challenging than starting from scratch. It’s hard to focus on what you can change and how you can get the most out of those changes. Bobbie Schwarz has been designing and redesigning gardens for 45 years and “Garden Renovation” is loaded with directions, ideas and examples. Who doesn’t like before and after pictures?

She speaks about “A Happy Marriage: Design Integration of House and Landscape”, Wednesday, 1:45, Hood Room; “The Artful Garden Through Creative Garden Design”, Thursday,1 p.m., Rainier Room.

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 “Designing with Succulents” by Debra Lee Baldwin

      Just imagine…not too long ago the only time you saw succulents were “hens and chicks” casually thrown up against rock walls. Now with so many colors and forms they merit design. Baldwin is queen of the succulent craze and has written several books about succulents.

“Sensational Easy-Care Succulents in Containers” is Baldwin’s focus on Wednesday, 11:15, Hood Room: “Designing with Succulents in the Pacific Northwest”, Thursday, 12:30, Hood Room.

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“The Less is More Garden” by Susan Morrison

Small gardens can be “cram-scaped”…just too much stuff. Morrison’s garden philosophy is how to get more out of your garden space with less effort…not low maintenance as much as high enjoyment…streamlined.

She speaks about “Less is More” Thursday, 2:15, Rainier Room: Saturday, 3:00, Hood Room.

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“Our Native Bees” by Paige Embry

Or…everything you ever wanted to know about bees but didn’t know what to ask. You would think that a subject with so much science attached would be dry, dry, dry. Not so! It is a very readable description (with loads of pictures) about all different bee species, native bees in particular and what we can do to protect the pollinators.


Embry presents “Meet the Neighbors: Bees in NW Gardens”, Wednesday, 2:15, Rainier Room; “Bring in the Native Bees for More and Better Fruit” Friday, 11:15, Hood Room

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Only 90 more seminars! Get the full list at https://www.gardenshow.com/seminars

 

 

Orchid Phobia! Soup Gardening and “The Culinary Herbal”

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Autumn unwinds and winter looms. Gardening is relegated to foil wrapped Chrysanthemums shortly followed by boxed bulbs and centerpiece Poinsettias…all respectable mass-produced plants with a welcome pop of color for darker South Sound days. BUT, there are so many more holiday plant choices! To begin with…don’t be thwarted by…

 

ORCHID PHOBIA!

“If I’m going to kill a plant I want it to be a cheap one”…spoken like a gardener with Orchid Phobia. Good news! Orchids aren’t expensive or rare any more. They are $10 and up, available in almost every grocery store. They are surprisingly easy to grow…just like we’ve always heard.

     The easiest orchid to find and grow is Phalaenopsis, the Moth Orchid. This is the one I tried because it thrives in low light with almost no care. Occasionally, when it seemed dry, I plunged the orchid pot in a pan of water until bubbles disappeared… and repeated days when it was dry. The elegant butterfly-like flowers bloomed for many months, not weeks…months.   For length of flowering time the Moth Orchid is about as cost effective as you can get.

     From soul gardening to…

SOUP GARDENING

      Chives, rosemary, parsley and basil can easily be grown indoors until springtime, giving you fresh cut herbs all winter for winter soups! House grown herbs need about 4 hours of bright light, preferably in your kitchen! A South or Southwest window is ideal.

     Rosemary usually shows up as a cute topiary tree or wreath about now alongside the tabletop holiday decorations. Rosemary is one of those herbs that “a little goes a long way” so don’t worry if the plant seems a little slight. You won’t be using that much…

     Chives show up as plants in the produce section year round; If not, dig up a chunk in your own garden and transplant to bring inside or have a little fun and grow them from seed. Broadcast the seed over some moist potting soil, water and wait for a mini edible lawn.

     Parsley and basil are the easiest of all. I guess you could call this cheating. From your favorite grocery store buy a bunch of parsley and a bunch of basil. Strip enough lower leaves to have stems-only plunged into glasses holding a few inches of water. Both parsley and basil last for several weeks if you keep changing the water. Snip as needed. They will eventually form roots. At that point you can either keep changing the water or pot them up.

     The bonus? Your kitchen smells like you cooked even if you didn’t.

     While you’re growing them, might as well read a little about them in…

 

“THE CULINARY HERBAL”


“The Culinary Herbal” isn’t your ordinary basil through sage herb book. Those ordinary herbs are well-covered but it’s the oddballs that are the most fun. “The Culinary Herbal: Growing and Preserving 97 Flavorful Herbs” by Susan Belsinger and Arthur O. Tucker features both ordinary and extraordinary edible herbs.

     Wild daylilies, chickweed and stinging nettles are covered along with uncommon herbs like fenugreek, sesame and chicory. Add those to the listed herbs found locally in our South Sound Asian markets and you have a complete herbal reference.

     All 97 herbal entries are well researched and complete with propagation, cultivation and historical information. But more importantly the book answers the important question, “What do I do with it and how do I cook it?” Herb lovers will find plenty to love about it.

Timber Press, 288 pp., 119 color photos, $27.50

 

 

A Warning! Propagation in the Fall and “Cuttings Through the Year”

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Garden Warning!

     By the time September and October roll around many of us are “gardened out”, tired of watering and ready for some good old South Sound rain. The truly fun part of gardening (buying and planting) is pretty much over. Now it’s time to clean up and put everything away, a real mood shifter. But, back to the fun stuff…late summer and early autumn are ideal times for experimenting with cuttings.

  Warning!

     Taking cuttings is highly addictive. It’s easy, inexpensive and you get more plants! Many independent nursery people began by experimenting with cuttings, got carried away and ended up with a business.

      Knowing WHEN to take cuttings is the “secret”. You can take plenty of cuttings in the South Sound in the next two months. Gardening isn’t over. Right now you can take cuttings of everything from…

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Akebia to Viburnum

     Stem cuttings of more than 100 trees, shrubs and perennials from Akebia vines to Viburnum can be taken in September and October in South Sound gardens. You’ll need sharp pruners, decent soil and a container about 5” deep. Each cutting has its own requirement but generally speaking…cut several 5” stems with many leaf nodes and carefully place several nodes deep into the container of soil. It’s ok to crowd them until after they are rooted. They like the company. Slowly plunge each container in water over the rim until the bubbles go away. This gives them a good moist start. Unless you have a greenhouse leave them outside against a wall that gets both sunshine and rain. Corral them with some kind of mulch for extra cold protection. That’s pretty much it.

     The most difficult part of the whole process is keeping your hands off the cuttings while roots are forming. Try not to tug. By early spring, you should have at least one cutting that “took” but chances are you’ll have more than you need.

     Heirloom roses (choose stems that snap like a green bean), rosemary and lavender (choose stems with harder wood and several leaf nodes) and Penstemon (choose non flowering stems with several leaf nodes) are all easy plants to propagate from cuttings. Good starters.

     If that sounds like too much trouble, try rooting in water. Coleus, ivies, mint, basil, sage, thyme and even hydrangeas root successfully in plain old water. For a complete list of what, when and how to propagate plants from cuttings, the best reference is…

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 “Cuttings Through the Year”

     “Cuttings Through the Year” is a locally produced propagation book from the Washington Park Arboretum. It is positively indispensible if you want to propagate from cuttings in the South Sound. It has been reprinted many times since its launch in 1959 so you know it must be good.

     It’s a simple format. Each month has a list of plants whose cuttings can be successfully taken within that month. Each plant is accompanied by “S”( soft wood) “H” (hardwood), “R” (root cuttings) or the dreaded “difficult” so you know exactly what kind of cutting to take and exactly when to take it. All of this valuable information is packed into a 5×7 paperback with only fifty pages. It’s quite a bargain at around $10.

Order through Washington Park Arboretum (206-325-4510) or www.gardenshoponline.com.