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50 Beautiful Deer-Resistant Plants Garden Railways file image Was Elmer Fudd, Looney Tunes’ little rifle-toting hunter of Bugs Bunny fame, justified in shooting at Bugs Bunny? Remember how the “waskily wabbit” tunneled under Elmer’s garden yanking down one juicy carrot after another? In cartoons, we cheer for the bunny, but what if he had […]
Common name: Trailing ice plant, Cooper’s ice plant Latin name: Delosperma cooperi USDA Hardiness Zones: 6 to 9 Cultural needs: Well-drained soil, sun or part shade Plant size: 3-inches high by 3-feet wide Sometimes called hardy ice plant or purple ice plant, this low succulent is not to be confused with the larger purple […]
Trake Liz Miller Seafood fork Liz Miller Two for the (rail) road Liz Miller: Cape May, New Jersey Zone 7 I have two tools I find quite useful in the railway. The first is called a Trake—a combination of trowel and rake. It’s great for new plantings and for working around established ones. It’s made […]
This is a beginner’s guide to dwarf Alberta spruce trees. Across the country, hundreds of us rely on one, small scale, slow growing, almost perfectly conical evergreen to fill our miniature forests, towns, and mountains: dwarf Alberta spruce (Picea glauca ‘Conica’). How do you prune them, what kind of conditions do they really need, and […]
Nancy Norris Common name: Goji berry, wolfberry, Chinese boxthorn Latin name: Lycium barbarum, L. chinense Plant type: Perennial USDA Hardiness Zones: 6-9 for L. barbarum, 4-9 for L. chinense Cultural needs: Well-drained, high pH (alkaline) soil, full sun Plant size: 5-8′, easily pruned to stay 2-3′ as in photo Nurseries stock Goji berry plants more […]
Gardener’s Guide to Compact Plants: Edibles & Ornamentals For Small-Space Gardening By Jessica Walliser Published by Cool Springs Press Available in the US from: The Quarto Group 100 Cummins Center, Suite 265D Beverly, MA 01915 7″ x 9″ 296 pages Hardcover Price: $24.99 Researching choices for the “garden” half of garden railways means organization. Lists […]
Pruning Simplified: A Visual Guide to 50 Trees and Shrubs By Steven Bradley Published by Timber Press 133 SW 2nd Ave. #450 Portland OR 97204 Timberpress.com 8″ x 10″ Softcover 192 pages Most garden railroaders who have planted scale trees and shrubs as well as tidy groundcovers have tried their hand at cutting back excessive […]
Even with winter closing in fast, Kent still hopes to make progress on his garden railway. Rene is a bit less optimistic, so she shows how to prepare dwarf trees for the frozen months ahead. Meanwhile, Kent visits a neighbor’s bonsai tree collection, Cody starts a USA Trains GP38-2 locomotive repainting project, and David helps […]
Even with winter closing in fast, Kent still hopes to make progress on his garden railway. Rene is a bit less optimistic, so she shows how to prepare dwarf trees for the frozen months ahead. Meanwhile, Kent visits a neighbor’s bonsai tree collection, Cody starts a USA Trains GP38-2 locomotive repainting project, and David helps […]
Nancy Norris Common name: Dwarf prickly pear cactus, devil’s tongue Latin name: Opuntia sp. USDA Hardiness Zones: 3-10, depending on species Cultural needs: Gravelly or sandy well-drained, neutral soil, sun or part shade Plant size: 4-6″ pads, clumping Nancy Norris To feature “devil’s tongue” cactus in a family hobby may be controversial—just check out all […]
Bill Zuback The Bonsai Beginner’s Bible By Peter Chan Published by Octopus Books USA 1290 Avenue of the Americas 4th and 5th Floors New York NY 10104 Octopusbooksusa.com 320 pages 5½” x 61½” Softcover Price: $14.99 Bill Zuback Bill Zuback The Chinese first practiced the art of bonsai more than 2,000 years ago. Growing miniature […]
Nancy Norris/Rick Johnson Water goes down to ‘seek its own level’. Hygroscopic tension forces water sideways when moisture follows the underside of a spill rock or fallen branch. Soil wicks water in all directions by osmosis. Splashing bounces up. Water evaporates into thin air and we wonder if the reservoir is leaking. Water needs to […]
