Horticulture

Warm season vegetables, or summer vegetables, can occupy a garden systematically. A few lingering cool season vegetables may continue production for a while. Warm season vegetable plants can replace them as they finish. Several warm season vegetable plants should start as early as possible....

Dormancy is not exclusive to vegetation. Many animals are dormant while they hibernate through cold winter weather. Some animals are dormant while they aestivate through hot and dry weather. Fungi and bacteria can maintain dormancy for many years or centuries. Dormancy is a technique...

The weather this year has been a cold hot mess! Both the worst frost since 1990 and the worst storms since 1982 occurred in one winter. Then, cold wintry weather lingered into spring to inhibit spring bloom. Now, cool and mild weather of spring...

Landscape design and gardening trends change like every other sort of fashion. Several fads of the past were quite practical and justifiable. Many were not. Whether justifiable or not, many merely became old fashioned. Some evolved into a more contemporary style. Others were not...

All weeds are plants. Not all plants are weeds. Weeds are a specifiable subset of plants. Specifically, weeds are plants that grow wildly where they are undesirable. Similarly, dirt is likely soil, although it could be anything that is dirty. Soil is not merely...

Bare root season begins as the year ends for a simple reason. That is when deciduous plants are dormant. They are unaware of the otherwise distressful process of relocation. This is also why winter is the season for dormant pruning. Such pruning would be...

Seed is the most familiar source of much of the vegetation that inhabits home gardens. It is the origin of almost all vegetables and most annual flowers. Some seed grows directly into its gardens. Some grows in nurseries to become saleable young plants. Seed...

Some of the earliest of spring flowers are done blooming. More are just beginning. Then, a few early spring flowers barely qualify as early. Their fresh color is especially pleasing after such an atypically wintry winter. Many are delightful cut flowers. A few that...

You'll be able to say "Hello," to a California King Snake named Morticia and dig into Earth's history as part of a special event organized by the Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation Department. That's because the Wildlife Education & Rehabilitation Center and the Santa...

As you approach former Saratoga mayor Jill Hunter’s front door, you can’t help but notice her blooming backyard garden basking in the sun. Step inside, and her keen eye for plants is obvious. They are the center of attention. What else would you expect from someone...