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50 Hot New Plants for 2012

February 1, 2012 in Gardening by Brooke | No comments

This spring-like weather is making us want to ditch the desk and get outside to play in the dirt!

In January, the 2012 National Green Centre at the Overland Park Convention Center showcased 50 hot new plants (including two local KC companies!) in horticulture. Each made their way to the runway during the 2012 Sweet Melissa Fashion Show, benefiting the Sweet Melissa Fund, an organization that helps lung transplant patients and recipients.

Presented by the Western Nursery & Landscape Association, this second annual trade show brought in new breeders and growers, garden centers, landscape contractors and designers, and plants from all across the country.

If you have a green thumb and are ready to spruce up your garden this spring, take a peek at the entries for the hottest new plants for 2012 — you won’t be disappointed!

To see more entries for the 2012 hottest new plants, click here. And, mark your calendars for the 2013 National Green Centre January 6-7 in St. Louis.

Let the digging begin!

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Water Your Garden — for Free

June 7, 2011 in Gardening, Going Green by Brooke | 1 comment

Did you know that running a sprinkler for two hours can use up to 500 gallons of water?  The average U.S. household uses as much as 3,000 gallons of water weekly for landscape and yard irrigation.  But did you also know that one inch of rain on a standard roof (2,000 square feet) produces 1,250 gallons of water?! That means that 37 inches of average annual rainfall captures 46,250 gallons of water each year.

So why let that water run into the sewer just to turn around and buy it back from the city? Why not capture that water and use it again? Kansas City is known for it’s dry summers, and along with that comes unsightly and dehydrated lawns and plants. Captured water could mean tremendous water savings for a family or company AND help the city manage rainwater runoff control issues. With the increasing demand on all natural resources, water reclamation systems are becoming standard practice nationwide.

Roye Dillon, owner of Prestige One Landscaping, is a big proponent of rainwater capture systems. However, this is relatively new to the Kansas City area, meaning there aren’t many systems to see in action or homeowners to interview, plus the entire system is underground. Dillon has gone through a great deal of training regarding rainwater and gray water capture in the hopes that Kansas City will soon start integrating these systems into landscaping plans.

“The water in a rainwater capture system needs to be constantly recirculated to prevent stagnation and bacterial growth. This can be done with a beautiful fountain or water feature that easily integrates into existing landscape,” he says. ” A nicely done rainwater capture system is gorgeous!”

For more information, call Dillon at 816.796.7548 or visit www.kclandscapes.com.
Note: The attached cartoon represents a deluxe capture system. A basic capture system is not as complex.

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Need trees?

September 29, 2010 in Gardening, Sale Alert by Andrea | No comments

The landscape nursery industry has been hit hard in recent years. The slowdown in home sales has created an oversupply of trees and plants that has driven down cost. Fortunately for you, you can get trees at a great value this fall on Saturdays through Nov. 27.

Local growers are coming together to offer plants, trees and shrubs for below-wholesale prices in a series of auctions in The Great Big Tree Auction. A portion of the proceeds will benefit local organizations, such as Friends of the Arboretum (next Saturday, Oct. 9, at KAT Nurseries) and City of Olathe Parks and Recreation. More charities are being lined up now.

Maybe the auction sounds good for you, a homeowner ready to add some foliage to your yard, but in a few years, there will be great shortages and inflated prices in the nursery industry. To learn more about this growing problem, click here.

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Tour a Certified Nurseryman’s Garden

June 9, 2010 in Gardening by Brooke | No comments

Open Saturday and Sunday, June 12-13, Family Tree Nursery‘s nursery manager and Kansas Certified Nurseryman, Doug, is opening his garden to the public. After working on his masterpiece for 10 years, he’s ready to show it off.

The address is 7604 Grandview Lane, Overland Park, Kan. It’s open to the public with FREE admission. You can’t pass that up!

Also, be sure to check out more information on Family Tree’s Liberty Garden Party on June 24 and Potting Days, June 24-27.

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Spend a Day in the Gardens

May 12, 2010 in Gardening, Outdoor Living by Brooke | 1 comment

We love summer, but more importantly, we love garden tours. The 9th Biennial John Wornall House Garden Tour is set for Saturday, June 5 from 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Participants can either start at the Wornall Home or one of the 7 other gardens on the tour, all located in Union Hill. Tickets are $15 in advance or $20 the day of the tour.

*Rist home, 4934 Pennsylvania — You’ll find formal, symmetrical gardens that lead to an outdoor living space with dining area and stone oven.

*Gegen home, 212 E. 30th St., and Stretz/Smith home, 214 E. 30th St. — Two neighbors joined ideas–and yards–to create a secret garden, implementing individual tastes.

*Enos home, 3021 Grand Ave. — A 100-year-old silver maple shades a patio garden with wrought iron furniture and tiered fountain.

*Cirino/Turner home, 201 Westover Road Mary — Protected by a tree canopy, flowering red buds and tulip trees decorate this outdoor area, along with a water feature.

*Turner/Willis home, 1000 Brentwood Circle — This terraced garden shares its space with a charming pond and potting shed.

*Vanice home, 490 W. 49th Terrace — Exotic bamboo and a stone-terraced garden is accompanied with a constant Zen feeling.

For more info on the garden tour, visit www.wornallhouse.org.

Good tomes for your homes

March 4, 2010 in Gardening, Going Green by Andrea | 2 comments

We adore the printed word and pretty pictures, especially when they feature our favorite topics: homes and gardens. Below we pick a few of our favorites that have come across our desks.

Prefabulous + Sustainable: Building and Customizing an Affordable, Energy-Efficient Home (available in April) by Sherri Koones, with a foreword by Robert Redford.

If you think prefabricated = low quality, you should see the 25 unique factory-built homes Koones profiles in this book. They vary in style, design, size and type of construction, but each is green, efficient, sturdy and more cost-effective than site-built homes. The book not only dispels the negative myths surrounding prefabricated houses but illustrates how beautiful these types of homes can be. It also includes a resource guide for builders. www.abramsbooks.com

27 Things to Feng Shui Your Home by Tisha Morris, a certified life coach and feng shui expert.

Feng shui has been around for centuries, yet it continues to intrigue homeowners to this day. When you move a couch, mirror or even a vase, for instance, the energy shifts in your home. Following the tenets of this ancient Chinese art, you can make sure that energy is positive. Geared toward beginners, this guide succinctly covers how to de-clutter, select colors, integrate the five elements, stimulate the senses, make repairs and improvements, and much more. www.turnerpublishing.com

The NEW Low-Maintenance Garden by Valerie Easton

Low-maintenance doesn’t have to mean lots of mulch and ugly groundcovers as the photography in this book proves. Hardscaping covers surface area for a user-friendly environment, and an appropriate plant palette can also help keep weeds under control. By following some of Easton’s maintenance-reducing strategies, gardeners can spend less time working and more time enjoying the scenery. www.timberpress.com

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A Gift for a Gardener

November 4, 2009 in Gardening, shopping by Brooke | No comments

Do you have "issues" when it comes to caring for indoor plants? This product may just be the answer to your droopy plant problems. The Conant Custom Brass GroMeter monitors the temperature and humidity in a room. Foliage and flowering plants thrive between 70 and 80 degrees during the day, but at night foliage plants fare better at 60 degrees, while flowering plants prefer cooler weather, between 55 and 60 degrees. Humidity should be around 50 percent. With its easy-to-read thermometer (in Fahrenheit and Celsius) and hygrometer, the ideal temp and humidity is noted in the green zones on the GroMeter. With this new product, you may never lose a houseplant again. www.weems-plath.com

 

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Watch Your Garden Grow — Digitally

September 9, 2009 in Gardening, shopping by Brooke | No comments

You could set yourself up with your camera for hours on end in your garden to catch a favorite flower opening or you could leave it to technology.  With Brinno‘s GardenWatch Cam, you can be reassured you’re getting all the images you want without ever being present. The time-lapse camera can attach to any tripod, or to the flexible stake that comes with it, to secure in the ground. It will take high-quality snapshots every minute, five minutes, 30 minutes, one hour, four hours, 24 hours or you can customize your own setting on your computer through included Brinno software. (It comes with a 2GB USB flash drive, too, so you can print pictures or make a video). It’s weather-resistant, wireless, easy to set up, affordable and features an auto darkness sensor (putting it in sleep mode) to save battery power during the night. You can now take professional photos of your own yard without having to press a button!

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Easy-Care Gardening

July 8, 2009 in Gardening, Going Green by Andrea | No comments

 

The hot and muggy weather is upon is. I barely want to step outside, much less work up a sweat in the garden. Fortunately, I’ve been working on creating a more low-maintenance environment through a few steps. My advice?

1. Plant perennials. Annuals make a great show in color but are short-lived and require a lot of water. I prefer perennials that return year after year so I don’t have to continuously replant.

2. Eliminate lawn where you can. I love a green grass carpet, but I hate mowing it. Save time and water by laying mulch or gravel or planting a ground cover. Better yet, make your space work for you by planting food crops. You don’t have to go all out, but a few tomato plants, raspberry bushes or asparagus roots will give you some tasty treats and won’t require you to use petroleum like a mower does. It’s a movement that’s happening in KC — check out foodnotlawnskc.org.

3. Don’t bag your lawn clippings. The leftover blades will nourish the soil, resulting in less of a need for water and fertilizer. If you really don’t like the look, bag then drop the clippings in a compost bin with leaves and other organic material to improve your soil after it all breaks down.

4. Capture rain water for use in the garden. A  1,200-square-foot roof can garner you about 600 gallons of water. I have two old Kentucky whiskey barrels repurposed with spigots and drip irrigation hoses so that I don’t even have to stand there and give my plants a drink.

5. Select drought-tolerant plants. Kansas City is in Zone 6 so look at the label carefully to see if a plant you want to purchase is appropriate for our region. There are many beautiful and unusual native plants to try as well. Most nurseries have enough of a selection, but Prairie Wetland Center in Belton specializes in natives.

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A Long-Lasting Squirt

July 2, 2009 in Gardening, Going Green by Andrea | No comments

Help your plants beat the heat and save yourself some quality time handling a hose with the patent-pending miniSquirt, designed by local landscape designer Chris Coope. It injects a natural corn-based polymer directly into a plant’s root zone,  creating hundreds of little water pockets that release slowly as the plant needs more water. This unique garden implement works great for hanging baskets, pots, indoor plants and raised planting beds. Best yet, one application lasts for an entire year! Find it for $30 at www.envirain.com.

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