Home & Garden

Garden Tips: Keep lawn looking good all summer

PowellsWood Garden bounces back from the 2012 ice storm

What do you do if a big ice storm takes out your maple, native cherry, white fir and apple trees? You completely replant with a bed of tropical-hued bananas, dracenas and grasses, and mulch like crazy. That’s what Monte Powell has been doing for the last 30 days at PowellsWood, the 3-acre public garden that he and his wife, Diane, created almost 20 years ago in Federal Way on a former dumping ground. And the spectacular results of the garden’s recent makeover will be on show throughout the summer starting June 22.

What on Earth is a fairy garden?

Fairy gardening is a huge, new gardening trend being promoted by garden centers across the country.

A riot of colors, shapes and sizes await those who visit Nisqually property

You can forgive Mel Cross for not remembering the names of his offspring — even when he comes face to face with them. He has more than 500. And to be clear: They’re irises, not children.

June’s arrival means it’s time to conquer wet weather

The beginning of June 2013 arrives with a flood of questions about damp, wet and suffering plants. May ended with rain and more rain and this brought mushrooms, fungus, a plethora of moss and problems for heat-loving plants such as tomatoes, cucumbers and geraniums. On the bright side, lettuce and lobelia have never been better. Here’s the answers to the most common complaints about our water world:

Rose Society's show set June 2 in Richland

Garden Masters: Celebrating 40 years of the Master Gardener program

On Thursday, Kurt Laidlaw sits at Tacoma’s Broadway Farmers’ Market, advising about slugs. On Saturday, Irene Reed offers gardening wisdom to visitors at Fort Nisqually. On Tuesday, George Frey spends hours in a Puyallup demonstration garden, weeding and fixing the greenhouse. On Wednesday, Cyndy Dillon and Maureen Rinehardt man the desk at the WSU Extension’s office on Pacific Avenue, diagnosing plant problems.

Good time to prune, aerate and fertilize

The last week of May means it is time for some pruning if you have spring flowering shrubs such as rhododendrons, forsythia, quince or viburnums that already have bloomed.

Garden Tips: Avoid herbicide injury to plants

Garden Tips: Peonies need room to grow