The Most Fun You Can Have With Your Bibs On!
Emerald Green Arborvitae-Thuga occidentalis ‘Smaragd’ Hardy in zones 3 through 8. All pyramidal Arborvitae are not created equal! Some look similar but they grow and perform over time very differently. There are two upright, pyramidal Arborvitae that I really like because the look great, and over time they perform exactly as you expect them to. They are very different and… Click here to read more…
A Bird Adopted Me! Several weeks ago while making cuttings this young Robin flies in the building and lands on my head. Just sits there. I put my hand on my head to get her off and she hops on the back on my hand and just rides it down to the table and looks… Click here to read more…
The Canadian Hemlock is one of my all-time favorite upright evergreens. I use them in many of the landscapes that I do, including my own. They grow nice and full but are still easy to maintain at just about any given height you choose. In a landscape planting as I used this one, I like… Click here to read more…
Black Mondo Grass- Ophiopogon planiscapus nigrescens Growing, selling and propagating Black Mondo Grass. I’ll give you a little inside baseball. This is a hot, hot seller in our members area, but I rarely see it offered there. Inside the Members Area We have a Buy/Sell Area where members buy and sell plants to and one… Click here to read more…
Variegated Liriope (Liriope muscari ‘Variegata’) is one of my all-time favorite plants to use as a border around a planting bed or along a sidewalk or even a driveway. They are colorful, low growing and they flower in mid-summer with purple flowers on short spikes about 12″ tall. Probably closer to 8″ tall. Unlike hosta,… Click here to read more…
Hydrangea pruning! When is the best time? When is the correct time? I promise to make this easy once and for all. You can grow and sell plants just like this and people will go crazy over them. Getting started is easy. Start right now! Hydrangeas are confusing, to say the least, but in this article,… Click here to read more…
I wrote an article about Weed Barrier Fabric and lots and lots of people said; “Hey Mike, if weed control fabric isn’t good, how do we control weeds? So here’s the low down on weeds and how they think. Think about weeds and what they need. They need water, nutrition, and sunlight to thrive. Since… Click here to read more…
In my opinion, and I have plenty of experience to back it up, weed barrier fabrics and weed barrier cloths do not work! How about black plastic? Black plastic doesn’t work either. I’ve spent most of my life working in the landscaping industry. I’ve landscaped well over 500 homes. Many of those were re-landscapes. In way too… Click here to read more…
What are we doing to our trees? They treat us well, provide us with shade, fruit, and beauty. Why are we so mean to them? I’d like to take a moment and call out Arborist Blair Glenn for the work that he has been doing to educate America about the proper care and pruning of trees. If you… Click here to read more…
This latest mulching technique that is detrimental to trees has been nicknamed “Volcano Mulching” for good reason. I’m not sure where or how this started but it is destroying trees in landscapes across America. Probably beyond our borders as well, but I don’t know for sure about that. Take a look at these two photos. Notice… Click here to read more…
My father would be so proud to see the three generations of McGroarty Nurserymen. I’d love to add at least one McGroarty girl to this crew but so far we have three little boys in the family. We’re counting on Kevin and Grace to add the girl or girls to the mix. Time will tell. EDIT… Click here to read more…
Weeping Nootka Cypress, Chamaecyparis nootkatensis ‘Pendula’ I’m not sure I can explain why, but the Weeping Nootka Cypress is one of my favorite evergreens. I guess because it can be considered a non compliant evergreen because it has it’s own style and it’s own personality. Like Willie Nelson. They need little pruning, however I do… Click here to read more…
I get a lot of questions from gardeners in Canada who would like to get started Growing and Selling Small Plants from Home. But the one thing that seems to hold them back is not being able to buy plants from my wholesale sources in the United States to start their Backyard Nurseries. It is… Click here to read more…
What? How can mulch set a house on fire? When I first read this story in the newspaper, I thought to myself, no way. Mulch, spread out in a flower bed, is not deep enough for it to spontaneously ignite. I realize that any organic material that is moist, piled high and compacted will heat up… Click here to read more…
Aluminum plant tags that don’t fade really are permanent. Most of us who garden and tag our plants for future reference learn pretty quickly that permanent markers are not as permanent as you think when out in the sun and other elements. I’ve tried permanent markers, industrial markers, paint markers and even “plant” markers. They… Click here to read more…
This is the time of year when people are buying topsoil for their landscaping and gardening projects. Topsoil varies depending on where you live, but essentially, with a good top soil, it shouldn’t have to be screened. With the screening process clay based soil gets run through a screener and a shaker which makes the… Click here to read more…
Wanted! People who would like to make money at home growingand selling small plants like this. Click here for the amazing story.
Friends, I’ve been growing and have had Java Red Weigela in my landscape for years and I promise you, this is a very, very nice plant. Like almost all flowering shrubs it should be pruned at least once a year to maintain a nice shape, but the nice thing about Java Red is that it… Click here to read more…
If you want to do something that’s really fun in your yard, give this a try. The art or technique of air propagating, commonly known as air layering, has been around for years. But my friend Hong has created a little plastic device that makes the process simple. Watch the video… Air-layering is a method of… Click here to read more…
Heuchera, ‘Coral Bells’ will wake up your yard. Your neighbors will be envious! I’ve written about Coral Bells before but I’ve got some new pictures that I just have to share with you. These are some of the coolest (I know, saying “cool” shows my age) plants that I’ve ever added to a landscape. And… Click here to read more…
