by Meg Lynch, editor

At the start of the summer I moved all of my houseplants outdoors. It’s a vacation for them—they can enjoy the fresh air. I admit it’s a welcome vacation for me, too! I basically let them fend for themselves while they’re out there, though I do water them now and then. (Most are under trees, so they don’t get much rain.)

Don’t get me wrong. I love my houseplants. I like what they do for my décor and I like taking care of them. I find it rewarding and fun and generally a good way to unwind. But I have an awful lot of plants! Putting them outside lets me (a) open/close the windows more easily and (b) spend my “plant time” in the outdoor garden. This is its season, after all.

I do keep a few plants inside though. I guess I’m playing favorites. Besides my living stones, which would surely rot outside, I held back these two pots of succulents. The round pot has Aloe ‘Blue Elf’ (rear), some sort of haworthia (left) and Haworthia attenuata ‘Variegata’ (right), which is a pup of the plant in the other pot. Something about this little group makes me want to keep it close.

Do you have plants that you baby? I'd love to hear about them. Leave a comment here or join us in the Forum.

7/29/2008 12:56:34 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0] 

by Meg Lynch, Editor

My friend Lynn gave me a prickly pear cactus last year after we attended a lecture by a cactus and succulent expert. We had been surprised to learn that there are cactus, chiefly the Eastern prickly pear (Opuntia humifusa), that will grow in our area (northern Massachusetts), and when she came across a couple for sale at a farm stand she bought them so we could see for ourselves.

I planted mine in a frost-proof terra-cotta pot. For extra insurance against the pot cracking or the plant dying, I shoved it under the deck last fall, where it would be protected over the winter by the latticework, blown leaves and snowdrifts.

This past spring I pulled it out again, and the plant looked like a deflated balloon but as the temperature climbed it filled out again. In the meantime a few big weeds sprouted in the pot, which I pulled out with some effort. They were sturdy weeds!

Well, this past weekend I noticed a chipmunk sitting with the prickly pear, munching something. Then it dove down into the pot and came up munching again. My sister was over here and she snapped a photo. Later we looked in the pot. There were acorn shells all over the soil surface, and a deep hole full of more acorn shells. Apparently the chipmunk had buried some nuts in the pot last fall, probably when it was under the deck. I wonder if he has been looking for his stash all summer.

Those big weeds that sprouted make sense now—they were oak seedlings.

Share your animal adventures in our Forum.

7/14/2008 11:15:39 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [1] 

by Meg Lynch, Editor

I have a couple perennials in my small front garden, but mostly I like to use this space to experiment with annuals. This year I designed my plan around sherbet flavors—lemon, orange, raspberry, watermelon. I ordered seeds of annuals that fit this color scheme.

But this year the garden just didn’t work out as I planned. (I mentioned that to my co-worker Jill yesterday and she said, “Well isn’t that what happens in gardening?” Good point!) It started out well. I won’t get into my excuses for why it all went downhill. They’re pretty typical—maybe you’ve used them too.

At this point, all I have is the pair of perennials (Helenium ‘Mardi Gras’ and Coreopsis ‘Limerock Dream’) and the Johnny-jump-ups that self-sowed.

But I also have nasturtiums! Indian cress nasturtiums, or Tropaeolum majus, the only part of my seed order to survive the summer (knock on wood). I think I sowed three seeds to a hole. I know I didn’t thin the seedlings when they sprouted, as I should have. But that seems a happy thing now, because the plants take up a good amount of space that would otherwise be empty. Their big leaves, which I love, hide a lot of bare ground. And they just started blooming over the weekend.

Some of the flowers are bright orange and some are golden orange, with nice markings in their throats. Nasturtiums are edible but I won’t be trying these because they grow right at the edge of the road. Tropaeolum majus is a climbing type of nasturtium, but I’ve been letting mine ramble instead of tying it up.

7/8/2008 11:37:19 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0] 

Voluptuousness abounds in my container garden this summer. The Proven Winners plants we received as trials for next year's growing season are amazing. Here are a couple shots—one of my favorites is the lantana (Citrus Blend). How does your garden grow? Come to the forum and share your summer stories and photos.

Now that the dust has settled after the move of the Horticulture home office from Boston to Cincinnati, I’ll be here on the blog and in our forum more frequently. I’m looking forward to getting to know you, and hope you’ll help us build our online community. You, our readers, are our #1 priority, and we want to facilitate greater dialog among us.

I invite you to write to me when you have a concern about the magazine, an idea for a story, a complaint or kudos. Tell me what you want to see more or less of, or not at all. Open and honest communication is one of my passions, and I’ll make every effort to respond to your emails in a timely fashion. Here’s my email: edit@hortmag.com

By way of introduction:

•I blog, therefore I am

•My wings are made of words

•I’m a yogini, hiker, reader, gardener—these keep me grounded

•I’m a seeker of truth, an agent for change

•I’m a mother (one daughter, age 25, who’s married and happy—what a blessing)

•I’m happily single, still live in my hometown, own a condo (which gives me time to hike, read and practice yoga!)

•I’m wild about muscle cars (odd addition to the list, but true—give me a ’69 Chevy SS and an open road and I’m gone!)

•I believe in the power of peace and love

We’re hard at work on the October/November issue and duty calls. Thank you for being here.

Peace and love to you and yours.

Patty Craft

 managing editor

7/1/2008 1:49:16 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)    Comments [0]