My Hiddenhaven photo album
My personal garden is called Hiddenhaven and it is constantly changing. I keep my camera close at-hand and take lots of pictures. You can view a collection of some of them on the GARDENS page. Enjoy!
New book coming in January
Hi! I’m excited to let you know I have a new book being released in January 2009 titled 50 High-Impact, Low-Care Garden Plants: Tough But Beautiful Plants that Anyone Can Grow. I think it will be useful for all of us with busy lives seeking dynamic, outstanding plants that are also low care. Many are deer, pest and insect resistant, drought tolerant, long lived, they don’t require frequent pruning, daily deadheading, fertilizing, regular division or staking. What a dream come true! Click on the BOOKS tab for more info or click on the cover photo to visit the Timber Press website.
New videos on tracylive.com
The video page on tracylive.com is now active. We will be continually adding new videos. Remember: To see a video or read an article on a particular plant or subject, you can always use the search function on the right-hand side of the page to easily find the topic you are most interested in.
Here’s a brief video on pruning Heliopsis (Heliops helianthoides ‘Summer Sun’). Please see my book The Well-Tended Perennial Garden for complete information on pruning perennials. And if you live in the UK see the article from THE GARDEN MAGAZINE (link) about the exciting success of these pruning techniques in England!:
Hot colors and deadleafing in the garden: for the hot dog days of summer
I’m often asked “how do I keep my garden looking good in the hot humid days of summer?” Really the first step, as is oft
en the case, goes back to good design and planning ahead. Remember when you are designing your beds to plan for summer color. We often think about what the garden will look like in the spring but we may forget that we also want outstanding flowers and foliage during the long hot days of summer. And I’m not talking color from “ho-hum” annuals like marigolds and petunias but striking outstanding intense hot color from perennials and unusual annuals (yes.. I’m a plant snob!).
Remember to use intense, highly saturated hot colors such as reds, oranges and yellows which will stand up to the hot sun and continue to shine through. Pastels or tints of colors look washed out in bright full sun and are best reserved to spring days unless you live in an eternally overcast climate. Some striking hot colored perennial flowers in the garden this time of year include, summer sun heliopsis (Heliopsis helianthoides var. scabra ‘Sommersonne’), Lucifer crocosmia (Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’), and Henry’s Lily (Lilium henryi). One of my favorite hot colored annuals is the bicolor flowered– Canna ‘Cleopatra’. Wow this canna will have you drooling!!!
Ok so we’ve thought about design and brought in the right colors for summer now we need to maintain the garden this time of year. Some plants are starting to look a bit tatty—or worse for wear. Simply removing brown, yellow, or scorched leaves from such plants can give the entire garden a fresh look. This “deadleafing” has remarkable effects. Remember in some cases deadleafing may not be enough and the entire plant may need to be cut down. It’s the end of July and I’ve been shearing spiderwort (Tradescantia x andersoniana) down to the ground. All the brown and yellow leaves are on my last nerve every year at this time and rather than snip here or there—I like to just be done with it and allow fresh foliage to emerge later in the season.
Although this time of year is not normally the best for division certain perennials like bearded iris, poppies (Papaver orientale) and peonies prefer division now.
Let me know how your garden is fairing this time of year…and how are you coping? Take care and embrace these hot days and hot colors because before we know it the frost will hit and we’ll be finished with another season.
Perennial essential
Nick Leshi at the New York Botanical Gardens recommends my first book on the NYBG blog, Plant Talk. Click here to read his comments. By the way, when you are in New York City, I strongly encourage you to visit their gardens. Get details, maps, etc at their website: www.nybg.org
A new place to connect
Welcome to my new home on the web. I’ve been writing and speaking about gardening for more than twenty-five years, and there is nothing I love more than talking with people who share my passions, have read my books, or gotten something out of a lecture that I have presented. I truly have found friends around the world. This site will provide info on my many diverse activities and I hope you will bookmark it and return often. I welcome your feedback (go to our comments page and leave me a note) as well as your own photos, stories, and tips. Thanks for visiting tracylive.com
Kicking off the new year with Dave Egbert
It was great fun to be on-air with Dave Egbert’s Garden Gab Radio Show on Saturday morning January 3. Dave is heard on CRN Digital Talk Radio www.crntalk.com. We discussed 50 High-Impact, Low-Care Garden Plants. Don’t forget to also check out Dave’s TV series, Garden Travels, with viewers from across the US and in more than 50 international countries—220 million households www.thecoastalgardener.com). Keep an eye on my ever-evolving calendar for lots of fun upcoming events.
