by Meg Lynch, Editor

Another sure sign of spring, for me, is when my living stone (Lithops sp.) begins to shed its old body—which is really just pairs of water-filled leaves.

This is a succulent plant native to South Africa, where it sits low in the ground, protected from grazing animals by its pebble-like appearance. I had wanted a living stone for a couple years before I finally found a local greenhouse that had some.  It was July 15, 2002, to be exact—I noted it in the cactus and succulent diary that I kept at the time:

“LIVING STONES!!!     !!!     !!! Very excited! One is greenish and the other grayish/peachish—they look good and I will take careful care of them!”

At some point soon thereafter the gray one died, though I don’t seem to have noted it.

On March 1, 2003, I mention that lately the still-living living stone, the green one, which I dubbed Gerard, “started to open a pinhole and that turned into a large oval-shaped separation and inside there are what look like tiny Gerards.” I had been hoping it was going to flower. But it was just going through the routine of a living stone: to shed its leaves each year, revealing new leaves inside. Sometimes they open to show more pairs than the last year, and form large clumps this way. (Gerard has held steady at two pairs.)

It has done this right around the middle of February every year since. It takes a couple months for the old leaves to completely shrivel away. All of my references say not to water a living stone at all until it has finished this routine, but toward the end I do give it a little water. I think it helps to move the process along—the new leaves swell up with water, and as they do they shrug the old leaves farther off.

Read more about living stones

Mail order living stones

Get the reference in the title of this post

2/26/2008 4:12:23 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [4] 

by Meg Lynch, Editor

I know spring is around the corner when my houseplants start to perk up. Here are the first of my cacti to bloom. Some others have buds forming. These are planted together in the bottom half of a clay pot designed to cook a chicken. It is the perfect shape and depth!

These first blooms prove for me that the sun is getting stronger and the daylight hours, longer. Do you know we start Daylight Savings Time in three weeks?  I can’t wait to be getting home while it is still light out—looking at the garden is a great way to end the day.

Read Lisa's blog

Read Sara's blog

2/15/2008 4:18:50 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [1] 

by Meg Lynch, Editor

My fiancé and I went to a wedding in the Des Moines area over the weekend. We had some spare time, so we checked out the Des Moines Botanical Center. It was a great break from the frigid weather! Even John, who is not exactly a “plant person,” enjoyed the colorful bulb display blooming inside the entrance. (He took these photos with his cell phone.)

The main part of the Botanical Center is a Plexiglass and aluminum dome, 150 feet wide and 80 feet tall at its highest point. The collection of plants growing in the dome includes unusual tropical plants, familiar houseplants, shrubs, and fruit and nut trees. Some of the palm trees there are quite large, and you follow winding paths through the dome, heading up and down to different levels, so you really get the feeling of being in a lush tropical garden. And it is always fun to see the plants you grow as houseplants in their natural state (big!).  

The Botanical Center also has an annex called the Gardener’s Showcase, where volunteers design exhibits demonstrating design ideas or certain groups of plants, and classes and events take place in the center’s classrooms.

The temperature was -2 when we left Des Moines on Sunday, heading for the airport in Omaha. I spotted a billboard for Omaha’s Botanical Center (or Lauritzen Gardens) and remembered writing a little box on an event there when I first started working at Horticulture. Too bad we had flights to catch. (Right, John?) I’d like to get there someday. Preferably a warm one!

Read Lisa's blog

Read Sara's blog

2/12/2008 3:17:54 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [0] 

by Meg Lynch, Editor

Here's a fun contest. At Success With Seed, they are asking for recipes that uses at least one ingredient (or more) that can be grown from a Park Seed plant or seed. Park Seed employees will judge the contest (yum), and they say they are looking for creative and enthusiastic use of homegrown food. (Be sure to read the official rules, etc., over there.)  You could win a gift certificate to Park Seed.

Personally, I love carrots mashed with rutabaga and a little butter and ground black pepper. Not sure that's really a recipe, but feel free to enter it, somebody. And everybody, try it!

Visit Success With Seed

Read Lisa's blog

Radish 'Rainbow Sprout' mix. Photo courtesy Park Seed.

2/1/2008 4:43:18 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [1] 

by Meg Lynch, Editor

The Eco-Lawn has sprouted! I saw the first shoots about five days after I sowed the seeds. Now (about two weeks after sowing) there is a nice square of turf. I was impressed with the seeds' quick sprouting, because I did not cover the pot with a plastic bag to create a humid environment. Usually I do that, especially here in the office, where the air is very dry.

The Eco-Lawn has an interesting texture—sort of rubbery. I haven't watered it much, but it is doing well, as you can see.

1/25/2008 4:43:49 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [1] 

by Meg Lynch, Editor

When a company has a product about which it is particularly excited, it sends an announcement and information to publications with hopes the product will be covered. These are called press kits. Sometimes it is just a letter, but sometimes it includes a sample of the product or some sort of gimmick (which can be really wacky!) to catch an editor's attention. Here's a press kit I received recently, which I think qualifies as the cutest I've seen. (And here I am writing about the product, so I guess it worked.)

The product is a grass mix called Eco-Lawn, developed and distributed by Wildflower Farm, in Coldwater, Ontario. It is billed as drought-tolerant lawn that grows in sun, part shade, or shade and requires less frequent mowing than conventional lawns, because it grows slowly. The information also says it doesn't need fertilizers and pesticides. It is made up of seven fescue grasses (four native species, three hybrids).

I sowed the "desk lawn" they sent me, so, with hope, we'll soon see what it looks like.

For more information on Eco-Lawn and Wildflower Farm, click here.

1/11/2008 4:33:45 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [1] 

by Meg Lynch, Editor

Well, I was planning to post Part Two of my favorite garden-related Christmas gifts right now, covering the items best described with a picture, as I promised in my last post (Gift Ideas, Part One). Naturally the camera battery is dead. It is charging up now.

In the meantime, I thought I'd tell you about a conversation Sara and I had yesterday. This is "water cooler talk" at Horticulture.

She was telling me about her new boots (about which she has just blogged), and we got to talking about gardening footwear preferences. She wears waterproof garden clogs. I told her how I wear old running shoes. She asked, "Don't your feet get wet?" And I said they do, if it is particularly muddy out. Water does tend to soak through. Wet feet would drive her crazy, she said. It doesn't bother me; also, once you take off your sneakers they dry pretty quickly.

We wonder if all gardeners could be separated into two groups: those who don't mind wet feet and wear any sort of old shoes; and those who do mind wet feet and wear specific mud shoes or boots. Deep thoughts.

Read Sara's blog.

Read Lisa's blog.

12/14/2007 11:52:33 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [20] 

by Meg Lynch, Editor

I've been thinking about garden-related gifts that I've received at past Christmases. If you have gardeners on your list, or you are making some wishes of your own, they may inspire you. Books, note cards, pots are always good choices, but these are "biggies" that have me still on my best behavior.

Probably the most exciting was the small light stand that I got last year. I honestly felt dizzy when I opened it up. When you give someone a light stand, you are giving the gift of more space. That's pretty amazing. Mine is a one-shelf unit, just the right size for keeping a few "extra" houseplants (let's be honest, they're all essential), and in late winter I use it to start a couple flats of seeds.

Then there's my beautiful silver bracelet. It is a narrow cuff inscribed with the words "Play in the Dirt." That's an all-time favorite.

Two other items I have in mind would be better described with a photo, which I'll have to take . . . I'll post again soon!

Read Lisa's blog.

Read Sara's blog.

12/4/2007 4:38:20 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [1] 

by Meg Lynch, Editor

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, and Christmas is a full month away. But I have been seeing "Holiday Sale" ads and Christmas decorations (wreaths and lights) for at least a week already. A few radio stations switched to all holiday music last week, too. Even the houseplants are jumping the gun!

These huge Christmas cacti belong to my mother. They are more than 10 years old. Christmas cacti have been bred from plants (Zygocactus truncatus and Schlumbergera russeliana) that are native to the rain forests of Brazil. There they grow on the branches of trees. Domestic Christmas cacti like bright light, humid air, regular watering, and good drainage—the conditions they would find in the jungle. Their stems get woody with age and they take on a mat-like shape, which I imagine would help them stay in place on a tree branch.

Short days (and long nights) trigger their flowering. My mother keeps hers in a room not frequented at night. It is dark there from sundown to sunup, and they reliably set buds and bloom in late fall. This year they were just in time for pumpkin pie.

11/23/2007 2:24:01 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [1] 

by Meg Lynch, Editor

Another of my gesneriads has started to flower. This is an African violet, Saintpaulia 'Ramblin Moonbeam'. I like this one because it doesn't look like a typical African violet. It is a trailing type. Trailers grow long thick stems from which new rosettes of leaves sprout. I've read that nicking the top of the stem will encourage a new rosette to grow in that spot, but I haven't tried it. I think this plant is doing well for itself—doesn't need my interference!

This is a particular favorite of mine because it is the first violet I propagated myself. I bought the parent plant at a violet show a few years ago. I have noticed that one of the flowers (the first one to open) on this plant is tinged pink in its center, though the parent has solid white flowers. I will keep an eye on the other flowers to see if they start to turn pink too, and do a little research this weekend to see what the story could be.

By the way, our art director, Lisa Newman, is blogging in Nan's place while Nan leads a tour in South Africa. Click here to catch up with Lisa.

11/16/2007 2:47:28 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [1] 

by Meg Lynch, Editor

I'm happy to turn my full attention back to my houseplants in the fall. Watering, repotting, rearranging, propagating—all these little jobs are very satisfying, particularly when it is cold and dreary outside. Here is a favorite plant in a favorite pot. It is a cape primrose, or hybrid Streptocarpus. I propagated this one from a larger plant belonging to my mother. This is its first flower.

Cape primroses are in the same family as African violets (Saintpaulia hybrids) and gloxinia (Sinningia hybrids), the gesneriad family (Gesneriaceae). They like bright light and normal room temperature. When the top inch or so of the soil feel dry, I water. That's about it. I really find that these plants as well as the African violets are not as fussy as some people seem to think. But maybe I have just been lucky.

They do like a little extra humidity. Two places that have worked out well for cape primroses and violets at my house: the windowsill above the kitchen sink, and a set of shelves in the bathroom.

Read Sara's Blog
Read Lisa Newman's Guest Blog

11/9/2007 4:30:15 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)    Comments [1] 

by Meg Lynch, Editor

Our office is quite near Boston's Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway. This work-in-progress will ultimately be a chain of parks and gardens, filling the space where the elevated Central Artery used to be. (That's the highway that was dismantled and replaced with tunnels in the "Big Dig.")

One recently completed section of the greenway, near the North End, includes plenty of beautyberry (Callicarpa) shrubs, which are very eyecatching right now with their vivid purple fruit. I took these photos last week; when I walked by this morning the berries are still present but a darker shade.

My carpool unanimously agrees that traffic is still brutal. But it is great to see the Greenway coming along.

Read more about the Rose Kennedy Greenway.

Revisit the Big Dig.

See details on beautyberry.

11/2/2007 10:40:40 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [2]