It’s pruning time, y’all! At least for roses and shrubs that bloom mid-summer or later.  And pruning is the most important gardening task that most people never do.  Or if they do prune, they do it the old-fashioned way – by shearing plants into perfect shapes.  But these days shearing is discouraged in favor of a more naturalistic style that’s better for plant health and requires less frequent pruning by the gardener.  And to my eye, plants allowed to look natural are just prettier. This healthier method of pruning is called renovation or renewal pruning because it prompts the plant to grow new stems from the base rather than masses of new leaves at the…

  What better plant to give some love to in February than the winter- and early-spring blooming perennial hellebore?  And love they got at a recent Winter Workshop from perennials manager Lisa Winters and her Severna Park audience.  Here are some highlights. History, with Legends Knowing that hellebores are native to the rocky upper slopes of European mountains, especially in Greece and the  Balkans, teaches us that they’re happy with very little watering and are unhappy in constantly-wet spots. All sorts of fun legends have sprung up over the centuries about hellebores.  Like that they cure insanity and ward off evil spirits. And while  hellebores are poisonous, that’s only if ingested in quantity.   So they’re…

Next month at our Open House, noted filmmaker and author Catherine Zimmerman will be speaking at Homestead about the exciting The Meadow Project.  It’s a book and a film titled Urban & Suburban Meadows, Bringing Meadowscaping to Big and Small Spaces.  The project goal is to educate and raise awareness about healthy, easy and affordable land care practices that save wildlife and human life. The book and video provide the way to create living, sustainable, organic landscapes in our backyards, schoolyards, churches and communities. The project of raising the $20,000 needed to launch this important film is only $354 shy of its goal.  Here’s The Meadow Project on the fund-raising website Kickstarter, where you can…

Growing our own food is the fastest-growing type of gardening in America, especially with people in their 20s and 30s, and for so many good reasons – saving money, concern for food safety, helping the environment (no food miles!), and the psychic and spiritual rewards of connecting with the soil and with what we put in our bodies.  So whether you’re in the new generation or simply a new veg-gardener of any age, welcome aboard!  As a noncook and life-long ornamental gardener myself, I didn’t grow my first vegetable until just three years ago, well into my 50s.  I’ve found it so rewarding – the growing and the cooking – that this year I’ll be…