Month: October 2017

Keep a little messiness in your fall garden

Mountain Gardener

As autumn ends abruptly in Alaska, gardeners are still busy in their yards winterizing, preparing for the snow and hoping to create a tidy landscape before spring. I would like to make the case for keeping a little bit of messiness in your garden this fall (and hopefully every fall moving forward). Leaving fallen leaves, dried grasses and twigs and other natural debris can benefit a gardener in the short and long term in a variety of ways. Soil and plant health: Leaf litter, smaller twigs, lawn trimmings and other Read More …

Peony Pride in High Country Southcentral Alaska: One Gardener’s Trials, Tribulations, and Eventual Success

T-roy

By: Troy Weiss, Student at Alaska Master Gardening Class UAF On-Line, Fall 2017 Description When I was planning my garden a few years ago, a more experienced gardening friend suggested I start growing peonies because they are hardy perennials that require little maintenance once established.   I went online to research them, and instantly fell in love. I admired the amazing colors and sizes, and their ability to last as cut flowers. Peony plants can live for 75 to 100 years. They don’t produce flowers until they have matured 2-4 Read More …

Tropical Alaska: Growing Indoor Tropical Plants in Anchorage

cngriffin

It’s October and the birch and cottonwood leaves color the ground yellow outside, while the annual flowers planted around Anchorage have been pulled up. The termination dust has already frosted the peaks of the Chugach Front Range, and it won’t be long before winter arrives. So what is a plant enthusiast to do during the dark and cold winters in south-central Alaska? One solution is to visit the Mann Leiser Memorial Greenhouse in Anchorage. Operated by the Municipality of Anchorage from 8:00 am to 3:30 pm daily, the two adjoining Read More …

Confessions of a Gardener

Grace

As a gardener, I have many things to confess. The ideal image of a person bending over neat rows with gloves, apron, hat and trowel, with that odd tiny rake sitting off to the side ready to be used (does anyone ever actually use that thing?) is not me. Not even close. Confession number 1: Clothes don’t make the gardener.   I am the person who gets out of their car after work to “quickly” go check on a plant that has been on my mind, and is pulled out Read More …

Even shaded area can be colorful

sebigelow

Even shaded areas can be colorful If you are looking to incorporate color, beauty and low maintenance into areas of your yard that may be shaded, I hope you consider Astilbe, a perennial from the Saxifragaceae family that flourishes in shady areas and/or containers. Typically described as “a beautiful, showy flower atop glossy, fern-like foliage,” they can add color and texture to places where full-sun flowers fail to thrive. Astilbes are native to mountain ravines and woodlands, blooming mid-spring to late summer in zones 4-8. (For zoning questions Jeff Lowenfels Read More …