The Landscape Buzz May 2024

Nhà Tú Garden Restaurant / Long Nguyen Design – – “Nhà Tú Garden” boasts a unique geographical location, serving as a convergence point between residential and industrial areas. Hana Abdel ArchDaily  – – 5/7/24

Plants safe for cats: A full list of toxic vs. cat-friendly flowers. – – No matter the reason, giving someone flowers is a beautiful and stylish way to demonstrate your love. There are hundreds of different varieties to customize a bouquet and fit the taste of friends, family or romantic partners.Olivia Munson USA Today  – – 5/7/24

A reason to visit Tucson: the UNESCO-worthy Mission Garden – – A humble city that prides itself on its quirks, Tucson doesn’t first appear to be a place of global gastronomic notoriety. Bailey Freeman Lonely Planet – – 5/6/24

A Trial-and-Error Arcadia Kitty Hawks and Larry Lederman’s Chappaqua gardens have been a three-decade-long journey. – – In 1992, Larry Lederman, a lawyer in New York, and his wife, the interior designer Kitty Hawks, bought a small house in Chappaqua on four wooded acres overlooking a nine-acre former reservoir. Wendy Goodman Curbed – – 5/6/24

This Handy Device Will Tell You If You’re Over or Under Watering Your Plants, and It’s on Sale – – One of the keys to a thriving garden is providing just the right amount of water to your plants. But it’s not always easy to tell whether you’ve watered them enough or too much, especially if you have multiple plants with different watering needs. Lauren Taylor Better Homes & Gardens – – 5/5/24

Plants not performing well? Consider your garden’s growing conditions. – – Welcome to the 2024 gardening season! Living in the greater Chicago area, we need to pay attention to our particular gardening needs. Tim Johnson in the Chicago Tribune – – 5/5/24

Flowers In The Desert: Death Valley’s Beautiful Bloom – – What comes to mind when you hear the words “death valley?” Some sort of desolate hellscape, I would imagine. In fairness, in the summer it’s one of the hottest places on Earth. Geoffrey Morrison Forbes – – 5/4/24

Invasive plants are a menace. Here’s how to avoid them in your garden. – – If you walk through your yard, what do you see? Are there vines dripping with long clusters of light purple flowers? Are there yellow or white snapdragon-like flowers sprouting from the ground? Allyson Chiu in the Washington Post  – – 5/4/24

May is the month to plant summer vegetables. Here’s how to do it – – 5 things to do in the garden this week: 1. If you desire to harvest crops of your favorite vegetables non-stop this summer, plant their seeds or transplants a few weeks apart. Joshua Siskin in the Los Angeles Daily News  – – 5/3/24

Everything You Need to Know About Integrating Native Plants Into Your Landscape – – Whether you’re landscaping your front or back yard with flowers, grasses, shrubs or trees, choosing native plants can have a positive impact on the ecosystem. Lauren David Dwell – – 5/1/24 

Flowers aren’t the only way to add color to a garden. How to paint with foliage. – – When we want to add color to the garden, most of us set our sights on flowers. But many leaf-forward plants can outlast and even outcompete those with colorful blossoms. Jessica Damiano AP News – – 5/1/24

April | Headlines and Trends

California wildflower map: Where to see the best blooms before they’re gone – – If you’ve noticed the bright-orange California poppies forcing their way up through sidewalk cracks and medians, then you already know: Wildflower season is here. Emma Stiefel in the San Francisco Chronicle – – 4/26/24

Opinion| This tiny flower teaches us all we need to know about growing old – – For most of my life, I marked the progress of spring by its blooms. First came the crocuses of February and the daffodils of March, followed, in quick succession, by the tulips and hyacinth, the lilac and flowering cherry and the saucer magnolias. Dana Milbank in the Washington Post– – 4/26/24

How to start a vegetable garden as a beginner, according to experts – -With fresh, year-round produce available at the grocery store, starting your own vegetable garden as a beginner might sound pointless, not to mention difficult. Kai Burkhardt CNN– -4/24/24

Storybook cottage’s native plant wonderland shows how gorgeous no grass can be – – Once upon a time, under Universal Studios’ watchful Minion eye, there was a Storybook house in Studio City with a steep, sagging roof, a towering, tottering chimney and a yard so boring and prone to flooding that its charm was pretty much negated. Jeanette Maranthos in the Los Angeles Times  – – 4/15/24

March | Headlines and Trends

7 Lessons to Learn From My Gardening Blunders – – The worst gardening mistake I ever witnessed was unfortunately one I made. Michelle Slatalla in the Wall Street Journal – – 3/29/24

Native plant ordinance project could be included in Encinitas’ next budget – – Encinitas – A city that’s named for the elfin coastal scrub oaks and also home to a rare endangered shrub now is contemplating creating an ordinance to promote the use of native plants at both residential and commercial sites. Barbara Henry in the San Diego Union-Tribune – – 3/25/24

A college gardening group is bringing native plants back and ‘rewilding’ New Jersey – – College campuses around the country are returning to their roots, replacing lawns and shrubs with native plants. Students at The College of New Jersey joined the movement with a planting day. Buffy Gorrilla NPR – – 3/23/24