Community

It probably won’t come as a big surprise to you that I have a lot of friends that are also landscape designers.

Lavender, a member of the mint family, is found across Europe, the Mediterranean, north and eastern Africa, southwest Asia to southeast India and fits right into our similar environment. Everybody has their favorite type. Mine happens to be a compact English variety called Hidcote but there are hundreds available including a new, tough, variegated one called ‘Meerlo’. Here’s how to grow yours so it flourishes and doesn’t end up woody and spindly.

My plants are confused. Actually they know exactly what they are doing it’s me that’s confused. The mild winter, so far at least, has encouraged many of my plants normally still dormant at this time of year to start growing for the season. What’s a gardener to do when the roses, fuchsias, oakleaf hydrangeas and many other plants never really went dormant this year?  Here are some February tasks that I’m going to be doing.