Click here to view the full photogallery.

This lovely house is so impeccably tasteful it verges into the boring, frankly. Every room is styled to perfection, all in soothing shades of white and pale gray, but there are so many of them, and they’re all so alike, we’re dying for a touch of color and personality somewhere. In a house this size, how do you choose which of 58 identical sitting rooms to sit in? (Love the William Morris print dining chairs, however.) The house is 8600sf, set on 1.6 acres of land, which look out over farm fields. There’s a master suite, four guest bedrooms, two rooms for staff and two laundry rooms. There’s a home theater (showing one of our favorite movies) and a “virtual sport room” to practice your golf swing. The pool house offers another sitting room, a kitchenette and bonus rooms.
· Stately Traditional with Farm Views [Sotheby’s]

Last year at this time, it was snowing or about to snow. Two years, ago it was so dry and warm we were dragging hoses to water the landscape.

This year, who knows, but we’ll take whatever the weather dishes out and get the garden chores started. And we’ll like it, because we know what lies ahead: home-grown vegetables and gathering rose bouquets. Here’s what should be on your list to do, whatever the weather.

GET INFORMED

Is this the season you want or need to brush up on garden know-how and techniques? Whether you want to learn to plant peppers, an eye-catching mixed flower container, how to change a sprinkler head or how to choose border plants that bloom from spring through fall, make it happen now.

Gardening skills are easily acquired through hands on trial and error; just ask any experienced gardener. Taking classes or and attending lectures is another way to glean from the experts or enhance what you already know. Available classes range from a quick, one-hour topic to day-long seminars, workshops or higher-education degrees. In some cases, you end up with a certification of completion. Where to go:

• Garden centers and public gardens like Hudson Gardens, Denver Botanic Gardens and the Gardens on Spring Creek offer year-round garden instruction.

•The Colorado Master Gardening program through Colorado State University Extension is offered at the beginning of the year in most counties around the state. Boulder County also offers fall evening training. Check with your local extension office for registration deadlines and more information. You can now also take such courses — a few, or the whole program.

• The CSU Extension Native Plant Master Certification programs for 2014 are getting started statewide. This is the place to learn about plant identification and basic botany, Colorado native plant landscaping, invasive weed management.

• Denver Urban Gardens offers Master Community Gardening training and more at dug.org

• The City of Aurora has on-line, downloadable water-conservation instruction materials or in-person classes including landscape design, irrigation basics and growing food. More: auroragov.org

• Places like Front Range Community College, Metropolitan State College of Denver, University of Colorado Denver and Colorado State University have landscape design programs. More: unixl.com/dir/landscape-design/colorado/

• And always check the weekly Denver Post Grow garden calendar for area classes/events. You can also download The Denver Post’s Garden Colorado app for many helpful articles and resources about gardening in CO, available for iPad, Kindle or Android tablet.

IN THE LANDSCAPE

Grab your rake. It’s time to get those muscles out of winter dormancy. Do a few laps around your yard to warm up, followed by some easy arm stretches and waist bends to remind your body parts that they still function.

Work on days when the soil has dried out; walking on wet garden soil causes soil compaction, making planting difficult.

• With cleaned, sharpened or new tools, cut back dead foliage on perennials. Dig or pull out any remaining annuals or vegetables from last season.

• Cut ornamental grasses down to 5 or 6 inches above the crown. If the clump is dead in the middle, it will need to be divided, which can be done from now into next month, before the plant puts on lots of new growth.

• Carefully rake out remaining leaves, twigs or garbage from beds, avoiding emerging plant foliage or spring bulbs. Toss the organic debris into the compost pile or chop it up and use for mulch in the vegetable garden.

• As you cut back and clean, pull or dig those early weeds before they are out of control. Be on the lookout for noxious weeds such as leafy spurge or purple loosestrife (you may think these are pretty, but they need to go).

• Cleaned-out beds benefit from an inch or two of finished compost or amended soil. Pull back the mulch and work the soil in and around plants and shrubs.

• Add some slow-release fertilizer to the beds if bloom quality has waned over the years. And consider a soil test. More: www.ext.colostate.edu/mg/Gardennotes/232.html

• Brighten the house by forcing outdoor branches to bloom inside. Cut 1- to 2-foot lengths of spring-blooming branches of apple, cherry, plum, forsythia, lilac, dogwood or honeysuckle. After bringing indoors, cut a couple of 1-inch side slits from the bottom of the stem so they will take up water. Place in a vase, add warm water and wait for bloom (2 to 6 weeks, depending on type). The closer the bloom date outdoors, the closer they will bloom inside. Change the water every few days. More: chicagobotanic.org/plantinfo/cut_branches_indoor_arrangements_and_forcing

VEGETABLES

• Indoors, start warm-season seeds of tomato, pepper, eggplant, tomatillo for transplanting outdoors later in May. If you don’t want to start seeds indoors, these plants may be purchased in May for planting outdoors.

• Hardy cool-season vegetable seeds of peas, potatoes, lettuce, spinach, radish and transplants of broccoli, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts can be planted now if soil temperatures are over 40 degrees. Use tunnels, cloches or cold frames for days and nights under 45 degrees.

Read more of Betty Cahill at gardenpunchlist.blogspot.com/

A landscaping workshop put on by University of Minnesota Extension Master Gardeners is planned from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday at Woodbury City Hall, 8301 Valley Creek Road.

The workshop is free, and coffee and doughnuts will be available.

Three 45-minute presentations will be given:

— “The Importance and Secrets of Pollination,” about choosing plants to attract bees and other pollinators.

— “Ornamental Grasses,” about choosing grasses to create attractive landscapes for all seasons.

— “Water Quality and Rain Gardens,” about beautifying yards and retaining runoff from rain and snow.

Master Gardeners are university-trained volunteers who teach the public about gardening. For information, visit mastergardenersinwashingtonco.org or Master Gardeners in Washington County on Facebook, or email wcmg@umn.edu.

Bob Shaw can be reached at 651-228-5433. Follow him at twitter.com/BshawPP.

‘Landscaping with Native Plants’ eco-forum March 27

Published Date

ALBANY — The Tin Mountain Conservation Center is presenting the eco-forum “Go Native! – Landscaping with Native Plants with Carol Jowdy and Nels Liljedahl” Thursday, March 27, from 12 to 1 p.m. at the Nature Learning Center.

Driving through town on a summer day, you are likely to see flower gardens and landscapes filled with leaves, berries and blooms of exotic plants from all over the world. Although aesthetically pleasing, many of these plants become invasive, taking over the natural plant habitats for surrounding wildlife. Imagine instead your own yard as a lush green landscape speckled with brilliant native wildflowers, shrubs and trees.

The reality of creating such a landscape is much easier than you would think and extremely beneficial. Landscaping with native plants allows you to beautify your yard, helps to fight invasive plants, and creates vital habitat for New Hampshire’s native wildlife including birds and butterflies.

What wildflowers attract monarchs and other colorful butterflies? What trees entice cedar waxwings to rest and feed during the winter months? Which fruiting plants will provide delicious treats during the heat of the summer? If you are interested in learning about New Hampshire’s beautiful native plants, tips on how to plan your landscape, or where to purchase native plants.

Enjoy pizza for lunch thanks to Flatbreads of North Conway and coffee from The Frontside Grind.

For more information call 447-6991.

 

If you have a pet, spring gardening can bring a great deal of frustration. The owner of a Labrador retriever, who wishes to remain unnamed, planted 100 gladiola bulbs. When she was done, she went into the house to clean up – while her dog dug up all 100 bulbs.

Thankfully, the dog didn’t chew on or eat the bulbs, as they are toxic, causing extreme salivation, vomiting and diarrhea. With a little planning, though, you can have both a pet and a garden.

Design and placement

Pets can foil gardening efforts by using the garden as a place to relieve themselves, a nap spot or by digging up plants. Plus, some common garden plants can be poisonous to pets. Did you know that the foliage of both tomatoes and potatoes is toxic? To keep your garden and your pets safe, the best idea is to make your garden inaccessible to them.

A raised-bed garden

One elevated from the level of your yard – with concrete blocks or wood planks – works very well. You can build one in the size and shape of your choice, or seek out ready-made raised-bed gardens from online garden catalogs; all you have to do is find the right spot and put them together. A fence is the best way to keep your best friend in your good graces. A short decorative fence at the top of the raised-bed garden can work, although if you have a garden in the ground, you’ll need a taller, sturdier fence. Think about the placement of your garden.

Judy Macomber, a master gardener who is a dog owner, says to examine your dog’s present habits. “Where does your dog sleep outside? Where are his paths for wandering the yard? Where does he find shade when it’s hot?” It’s much better to put the garden in an area where your dog hasn’t already established himself than it is to change those habits.

Garden issues

Gardens bring some potential dangers for pets. Many gardeners use a variety of products that can harm or even kill pets. Thankfully, safer alternatives exist. Choose plants wisely. The ASPCA has a comprehensive list of poisonous plants on its website: www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/cats-plant-list. Print the list and take it with you when you shop for seeds or plants.

Pesticides can be poisonous to your pet, and long-term exposure has been linked to cancer. Thankfully, they aren’t necessary in most home gardens. Instead, handpick insects off your plants or simply wash the plants with soap and water. A few drops of citrus dish soap in a spray bottle filled with water works well. Herbicides have also been linked to cancer, especially bladder cancer, in dogs. Avoid them by simply pulling or digging up the unwanted plants. If that’s not possible, pour boiling water on the weeds.

Chemical fertilizers can burn your pet’s paws and are often toxic, but natural soil conditioners, such as those made from earthworm castings, are safe for you and your pets. Many online sites offer safe gardening tips as well as pet-safe pest-control solutions. Macomber recommends www.mastergardenerssandiego.org.

If you have questions about gardening in your locale, a master gardener in your area should be able to help. Find one at the American Horticulture Society’s website: www.ahs.org/gardening-resources/master-gardeners. Guest columnist Liz Palika is an award-winning writer and certified dog trainer. She shares her home with three dogs who are well-behaved in her flower and vegetable gardens. For more, go to www.kindredspiritsk9.com.

The buzz

Fear of flying got you earth-bound? Some airports are providing therapists to help – canine therapists, that is. Dogs are patrolling the halls of airports in Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose and Miami looking for people to pet them. The dogs and their handlers are trained to provide stress relief and comfort and to answer questions. Look for dogs wearing vests that say “Pet Me.”

---

Pet Connection is produced by a team of pet-care experts headed by veterinarian Dr. Marty Becker and Kim Campbell Thornton, author of many pet-care books. The two are affiliated with Vetstreet.com.

• Read more articles by Liz Palika

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When Brian Koch, owner of South San Francisco’s Terra Ferma Landscapes, drove through Napa during the post-harvest season, he was always struck by the sight of expired vines piled into gigantic orbs that dot the open fields. Feelings of melancholy mixed with a little regenerative inspiration stayed with him as he visited with clients in the area.

Those mounds of spent vines that ultimately get burned are part of what distinguishes the Wine Country landscape and were the inspiration for his firm’s show garden, titled Vintage California. The garden will be one of 20 on display and judged at the San Francisco Flower Garden Show in San Mateo.

The show, under new ownership this year, is the nation’s third largest and runs next Wednesday through Sunday. It focuses on connecting leading home gardeners with landscapers, designers and garden educators.

Aside from the show gardens, the event features thousands of flowers and floral designs, innovative gardening products, cooking demonstrations from Bay Area chefs and hands-on science activities for kids. It will include in-depth seminars on topics like fruit and vegetable carving and DIY wedding flowers and speakers discussing issues like drought-friendly gardening, edible gardens and sustainability.

Five members of Terra Ferma’s staff have worked on the design of their display since last December when they learned that they were selected to participate.

“The show’s been on my radar for many years and we’ve been waiting for the right time,” said Koch about making a display. “Collaboratively we felt that this was a good idea to move forward with.”

Countless hours have gone in to creating the garden from the original grapevine inspiration, and Koch and his staff are pleased with its evolution from a single vision into a layered garden experience. The display will act as an example of how their business creates detailed landscapes every day focused on a holistic approach.

The centerpiece of the garden is a vine orb, measuring approximately 12-feet in diameter and handwoven from harvested and dried grapevines. Visitors will be able to walk inside, sit, contemplate and enjoy the space, both inwardly and outwardly.

With a 682-square-feet display space, every inch and angle is maximized to help tell the story.

“This globe is a tribute to those vines and all their hard work,” Koch said.

The garden’s Vintage California theme is a play on the word vintage, harkening to the area’s older estates.

“The design is a regionally appropriate rendition of this romantic notion of what a vineyard is to many,” said John Hreno, Terra Ferma’s design studio director.

The region’s topography is replicated by the use of plants, tiered in layers and each representing the wine country’s microclimates and the plants that the region supports. From the use of cypress and California redwoods, shrubs and ferns that thrive in the fog belt, to a water feature that flows into a twisting gravel bed, each layer represents the region’s diverse ecosystem.

The rows or lines on the lowest elevation of the garden speak to the linear rows of the vineyards and other California agricultural crops.

“Our goal was to show visitors that any of these layers can be applied to your own climate,” Hreno said.

Other custom design features and materials include illuminated inverted wine bottle-concrete pavers, tight-fitting stacked stone walls using stone from regional quarries and found steel troughs cut in half to funnel water as part of the waterfall.

“Those troughs represent the way water used to be transported from higher elevations to low-lying areas,” said Koch.

Besides using California natives and other drought-tolerant and Mediterranean plants, Koch turned to found and reclaimed objects to help with the garden’s nostalgic and regenerative message.

“Even the vine orb we created was repurposed from an item that would have been burned and put back in to the soil,” said Koch. “To be resourceful requires a lot of creativity.”

The garden was built in stages outdoors and inside the firm’s Petaluma warehouse during the last three months and had to be broken down and recreated inside the Expo Hall this week. Even the woven vine globe – constructed so that it could be transported from Petaluma to San Mateo in two halves – had to be reattached once it arrived.

Great lighting and a bit of theater go into the installation of these show gardens. Associate designer Adam Nugent reflected on his own high school and college theater experience when designing the landscape.

“This is a unique thing,” he said. “The temporary nature of designing a set and the mystery of knowing you have nothing behind the walls is similar to this project, plus you’re dealing with living plants and have to support them.”

For Hreno, he is ready for Terra Firma to show of their design and building skills to create fantastical gardens.

“Part of our role as landscape designers and builders is making our clients’ dreams come true, so this is a fun experience,” he said. “Our goal is always to create tasteful, provocative and thoughtful gardens without being gratuitous.”

San Francisco Flower Garden Show

10 a.m.-7 p.m. next Wednesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday. San Mateo Event Center, 1346 Saratoga Dr, San Mateo. All show 5-day pass is $30; adult day tickets are $20. www.sfgardenshow.com

Sophia Markoulakis is a Peninsula freelance writer. E-mail OnthePeninsula@sfchronicle.com. This story appeared in the Sunday Peninsula Zone.

Posted Mar. 24, 2014 @ 2:01 am

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I love to garden but I struggle with garden design. Even when I take the time to plan out a bed I eventually undermine the design by moving plants and adding freebies friends have given me. I admit it; I am a “plopper” not a “planner”. I try to keep some semblance of order in the front of my house but my backyard is more like a big “experimental station”.

Occasionally someone new to gardening will ask me for design advice (seasoned gardeners know better than to ask me!). However, I do have a few useful tricks for beginners:

1. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. My neighbor saw a great looking perennial bed in a magazine and brought it in to her local garden center. They helped her recreate the look, substituting some of the plants with more appropriate ones for her yard.

2. Check out your neighbor’s landscaping. Notice any plants in their yards that look good and are growing well? Chances are they’ll look good and grow well in your yard, too! If you don’t know what the plants are then this is a great reason to meet your neighbors and chat about their yard. Who knows, you may even go home with some plant divisions.

3. Go to McDonalds. Or a gas station. Any local business that has nice looking grounds. Garden designers may think these landscapes are boring but there’s a reason they work. These are plants that are attractive, easy to grow, aren’t extra fussy and can handle some abuse. I’ve noticed in commercial properties more use of ornamental perennial grasses, which are one of my favorite landscape elements. Check out the neat switchgrass (Panicum sp.) at Woodman’s.

4. Visit a local botanical garden (Rotary Botanical Gardens immediately comes to mind!). You will find great design ideas and best of all many of the plants are labeled. Make sure you record the names of the plants you love.

5. Be wary of those ready-made perennial gardens from catalogs. The picture will show every plant in full bloom at the same time. Ha! The reality is that perennials bloom for relatively short periods of time on their own schedules. Also, depending on where the catalog is from, some of those “perennials” won’t even survive a Wisconsin winter.

Part of the fun of gardening is trying new ideas and seeing what works and doesn’t work in the garden. Thomas Jefferson, that eternal gardening optimist, wrote of “the failure of one thing repaired by the success of another.” Oh, I’ve been there, done that!

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Increasing the amount of plant diversity in your landscape is a giant step toward creating a more self-sustaining, less-chemical-dependent garden. Plus, a greater variety of plants leads to an increase in the number of birds, amphibians, pollinators and beneficial insects your garden is able to support.

Because of this increase in “good� creatures, a decrease in pest numbers often follows. Not to mention all the beauty found in a garden filled with a broad diversity of plants. Here are a few simple ways to pump up the plant diversity in your backyard.

Interplanting: Long rows or blocks of the same kind of plant are easily discovered by pests, especially in the vegetable garden. But when you mix it up and intermingle a broad assortment of plants, pest densities are reduced. Interplanting involves growing several different plant species together to increase diversity, build corridors for wildlife, and create favorable habitat. It also adds different nectar and pollen sources to the garden. Interplanting can involve simply alternating crop rows in the vegetable garden or, better still, mixing flowers into shrub beds and foundation plantings.

Under-planting: Another way to build garden diversity, under-planting is done by planting a low-growing plant underneath a higher-growing one. For example, under-plant your tomatoes with a mixture of lettuce and sweet alyssum. The tomatoes shade the lettuce from the summer sun, while the alyssum lures in the parasitic wasps that control the aphids on the lettuce and tomatoes.

In my own garden, I get higher yields because I am making good use of all the available space, and I have fewer weeds because the alyssum and lettuce form a living mulch beneath the tomatoes. Or, interplant rows of peppers and eggplants with rows of dill and coriander to deter pests and introduce beneficial insects. Mix lots of flowers into the vegetable garden as well as into shrub areas and tree islands.

Plant sunflowers: Sunflowers are as useful as they are pretty, and including them in your garden is a great idea. Sunflowers produce extra-floral nectar in addition to floral nectar. This extra-floral nectar is produced from the leaf undersides and serves as a carbohydrate source for ladybugs, parasitic wasps and other pest-eating beneficial insects. Researchers have noted an increase in the population levels of various predaceous beneficial insects when sunflowers reach a mere 6 inches in height. Planting sunflowers within rows of vegetables is an effective way to help battle pests and increase diversity in the garden.

Herbs in the vegetable garden: An integrated vegetable garden — one that incorporates an array of flowering plants with the vegetables themselves — is another excellent way to diversify the garden. It’s also quite beautiful. Not only can the herbs be readily harvested for kitchen use, but also, later in the season, when they are left to flower, they’ll provide beneficials and pollinators with nectar and pollen.

Horticulturist Jessica Walliser co-hosts “The Organic Gardeners� at 7 a.m. Sundays on KDKA Radio. She is the author of several gardening books, including “Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden: A Natural Approach to Pest Control� and “Good Bug, Bad Bug.� Her website is www.jessicawalliser.com.

Send your gardening or landscaping questions to tribliving@tribweb.com or The Good Earth, 503 Martindale St., 3rd Floor, D.L. Clark Building, Pittsburgh, PA 15212.

If ever we needed a home and garden show to remind us of all that once was good about Milwaukee weather — and could be again — it’s now.

The 10th-coldest winter since the late 1800s and almost constant snow cover have left many pining for the sight of green grass and plants, blooming flowers, water fountains and smoking barbecue grills.

The good news is that, whatever you want your personal landscape of dreams to look like this spring and summer, exhibitors and experts at the annual Realtors Home Garden Show will try to help you — and offer lots of ideas for indoor projects and upgrades, as well.

The show, in the Wisconsin Exposition Center at State Fair Park in West Allis, runs Friday to March 30, with off days on Monday and Tuesday.

Among celebrity experts at this year’s show will be Roger Hazard of the AE channel’s “Sell This House.” Hazard, who will be on the Solutions Stage March 28 and 29, will be giving away one $5,000 room makeover that will be completed between March 30 and April 1. The makeover will be filmed and featured in a future episode of Hazard’s new reality show, “Roger That.” To register, visit www.rogerthat.tv/register.

Steven Katkowsky, a general contractor, designer and TV personality, will be on hand sharing tips and tricks, such as how to use hidden wall space to increase storage in kitchens and bathrooms, and how to create and decorate outdoor living space.

The Realtors Home Garden Show will feature more than 10,000 square feet of garden, nursery, landscaping, sculpture and fountain displays from area professionals. The show includes 12 showcase gardens.

Also on the eight-day agenda are daily cooking demonstrations and seminars on topics such as urban beekeeping and do-it-yourself fruits.

Presenting a seminar on do-it-yourself fruits will be Sharon Morrisey, consumer horticulture agent for the University of Wisconsin Extension in Milwaukee County. Morrisey is among those who will be happy to see the land in bloom again, but she said there are trouble spots homeowners should watch for in the aftermath of the harsh winter.

She said the long-lasting snow cover — Milwaukee had 92 consecutive days of at least 1 inch of snow on the ground, about 30 more days than normal — sheltered mice all season as they tunneled to the bark of shrubs and trees, which is a major winter food source. At the same time, rabbits have been chewing bark above the snow line.

“It may or may not heal itself,” Morrisey said. “It depends on how extensive it is. It can be deadly if it’s had all its bark stripped away all the way around. Then there is nothing left there to conduct water and nutrients up into that branch.”

Some plants might not have survived the extreme cold at all.

“There are a lot of things we’ve been planting over the last five, six, seven, eight years that are marginally hardy,” she said. “And because we’ve had mild winters, we’ve kind of been lulled into this sense of, ‘Oh, I can grow that here.’ But if we get a really cold winter like this, and it’s not completely hardy, the winter can kill it outright.”

Among plants to check for signs of life: herbaceous perennials, rhododendrons, witch elder and coralbells.

Morrisey also advised against working garden soil when it’s wet because it can break down its structure and usefulness for growing plants.

One thing that shouldn’t have a hangover from winter’s binge, however, is the lawn.

“I think our lawns are going to be fine,” Morrisey said. “They were underneath the snow and we had constant snow cover, and that really helps to insulate it.”

***

IF YOU GO

What: Realtors Home Garden Show, sponsored by Unilock.

Where: State Fair Park Wisconsin Exposition Center, 8200 W. Greenfield Ave., West Allis.

When: Friday to March 30. Closed Monday and Tuesday.

Hours: Fridays and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Sundays 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Wednesday and Thursday, 4 to 8 p.m.

Cost: Adults $8; children 12 or younger and active military personnel with ID admitted free.