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Portland Garden Designer’s Holiday Gift Ideas

Posted by Carol

· November 2, 2017

Portland Garden Designer with Favorite Tilly Hat

Tilly Hat on Portland Garden Designer Carol Lindsay

Portland Garden Designer’s Gift Ideas

Here are my favorite items to give as gifts. The Tilley hat, favorite therapeutic hand cream, inexpensive gloves, Garden Design Magazine, plants as gifts and pruning tools.

The Tilley Hat

You can buy a Tilley hat at REI, Bonnet in NW Portland at Bonnet or on line. I love my summer (Hemp fabric) Tilley hat because whether it’s picking peaches or playing with my dog, my hat stays on, it’s easy to wash. I am around a lot of dirt and it is still a cream color. It protects my face from the sun (is recommended by some dermatologists for that purpose) and it’s not too hot to wear in the summer.

Hand Care

http://www.crabtree-evelyn.com/collections/gardeners/60-second-fix-for-hands/Gar-Fix-For-Hands.html

Great Hand Care Product

My favorite hand care product is Evelyn and CrabTree 60 second fix for hands. It has 2 products, the Ultra Moisturizing Hand Therapy and the 2nd product called Hand Recovery. There are more heavy duty hand products out there but this one has a light fragrance and penetrates the skin. It’s therapeutic. I handle art supplies and garden so I like a good hand product. Andalou Naturals Hand Cream is also nice but doesn’t penetrate the skin nearly as well.

Gloves

I love having A LOT of gloves. I’m a person who misplaces gloves and as a child I resented that nursery rhyme about the kittens who lost their mittens because clearly I was going to be one of those kittens. I have 20 pairs of inexpensive work gloves. Gloves are great stocking stuffers.

Garden Design Magazine

Garden Design magazine readers are garden enthusiasts! They love the full-length stories (some run 10 to 20 pages to include lots of glorious photography) on plants, gardens, and design ideas for you to put to use—all presented without ads.

There are no ads in Garden Design. Yes, you read that right—no ads. Just 148 pages of beautiful gardens and plants delivered to you each quarter. These are more like books. I’ve given this magazine to gardening clients and they are over the moon and tend to subscribe on their own the next year.

Give a gift link: https://www.gardendesign.com/subscribe/gift

Plants As Gifts

North Portland Garden Design Itoh Peony North Portland Itoh Peony in Garden Design

Itoh Peonies are so popular this year (2017) that wholesale and retail sources sold out completely. The variety called ‘Cora Louise’ was the most popular and the first to be gone from retail and wholesale sources. Why are Itoh Peonies special?

They are tough enough for low maintenance landscapes so they are not just for serious gardeners……..and serious gardeners have simply lost their minds over these beautiful and sturdy stemmed plants. If you have a gardener in your life who loves big colorful flowers……..this gift will express your love for years. A gift certificate to a local retail nursery with a photo would do it. Expect to spend $125 to $150 for a 5 gallon plant. Here are links to Portland Nursery gift card, Cornell Farm gift card and a video explaining more about Itoh Peonies.

Another popular plant for gardeners that you can buy in December are Hellebores and the big garden nurseries will have these for sale starting in December through March. These are somewhat toxic so don’t leave them where small children or pets can get them.

Pruning Tools

Pruners – I love Felco and Corona tools the best. Cheaper but very lightweight pruners and clippers from Fiskar are popular too. Here is a good one called PowerGear. Felcos are for the gardener in your life. I still love my #6 Felco hand pruner for smaller hands and think they fit most women better than a #2 Felco hand pruner. Utube video on how to select ergonomic pruning tools for people who want to learn how to prune their trees and shrubs. The right tools make a big difference in the outcome for your plants.

Categories : Designers Journal, Dramatic Flowers, Plants I Recommend, Seasonal Event

Tags : cutting flowers, dramatic flowers, long blooming flowers, low maintenance plants, summer flowering plants

Summer Heather – Perfect for year round color

Posted by Carol

· October 7, 2015

Summer Heather – Perfect for year round color

Summer flowering heather can be easy care

I use heather at my vacation house because it’s so easy. I’m there once a month, have no irrigation system and I have hungry deer. It’s got to be a tough plant to make it! Lots of people buy heather, plant them and they die quickly. Without knowledge specific to heathers, success is tenuous, but with a little knowledge this is a very tough drought tolerant winner of a plant in my book. It has year-round beauty, is great food for bees and it can be the evergreen plant that holds a summer garden together visually through the winter.

Calluna Vulgaris ‘Firefly’ Photo from Great Plant Picks

Planting Tips:

Heathers need good drainage but if you have clay soil don’t despair. Heathers planted on a burmed planting bed or on a low mound do well. Heathers are perfect for sunny slopes.

A designer pal plants her heathers in pure barkdust. I’ve done this and had excellent results as long as it was on a slope or berm. Don’t try this crazy bark dust idea in a flat landscape with heavy clay unless you berm up.

Watering well the first year is critical. If heather plants dry out to the point of wilting, even just a little bit, they will die. There is no rescuing it with water and having it “perk up” as many other plants will do. When the tiny fine foliage wilts or dries the plant stops taking in water with its roots. Avoid this first year problem and take advantage of the benefits of a fall planting. You still have to water carefully the first summer after a fall planting but it is not so edgy.

Pruning Tips:

Pruning is important and easy. The most important year for pruning is the second spring after you have planted the plant. Prune before new growth starts. You must trim to just above the previous years wood; trim too much and you will have ugly holes in your plants that may never fill in. Avoid pruning late in fall or winter.

Calluna Vulgaris at Heaths and Heathers nursery in Shelton Washington

Trim too little or not at all and in a few years you will have an ugly plant with bare wood stems in the center of the plant. When this happens we can’t simply cut it back severely which we can do with many plants to fix the problem. Trimming every year before new growth starts (February or March for Pacific Northwest) will keep your plants attractive long term. Who knew low maintenance was so much work right? Once you know what to do, you have a plant that will work beautifully for decades with a once a year trim. That is low maintenance.

Calluna Vulgaris ‘White Lawn’ w Sedum ‘Xenox’ and Sedum ‘Voo Doo’

Summer heather/Calluna Vulgaris is a great plant for hot sun situations. This summer for the first time ever, I actually had foliage burn. They got no water for 45 days in record breaking heat, but since these plants have been there for five years there was not permanent damage or loss. New plants would not tolerate that amount of drought but mature plants took my neglect in stride. 6 months later there was no sign of any damage. My kind of plant!

Categories : Fall Gardening, Garden Tips, Low Maintenance Landscape Examples, New Improved Plants, Plants I Recommend, Summer Garden Tips

Tags : bee friendly plants, evergreen plants w color, garden tips, long blooming flowers, saving bees, summer flowering plants

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