All the Dirt on Gardening

The latest edition of Sunset Western Garden Book will replace my old one that I've thumbed so often that the bottom right page corner is curled upward. Do you have a garden book that you have so thoroughly used? The last time this 80-year old, most-valuable resource was revised was in 2007 so it was definitely time for an update.  The thumb-able firm (not hardback) cover book is now 760+ pages covering 9,000 plant varieties. In theory the Western Garden Book is a resource for North American gardeners from British Columbia and Alaska to Colorado and New Mexico and the specific microclimate zone maps are great for those areas. But, the information in the rest of the book is current and valuable to all gardeners. You just have to figure out your own microclimate. It is easy to read and has all the data we are looking for when researching which seeds and plants to buy for this year's garden. You'll find a plant description, hardiness zones, light and moi...

The Perennial Plant of the Year is awarded to plants that are special in their ability to withstand the onslaughts of the garden: Bugs, disease, erratic weather, gardeners leaving on vacation, mold, virus attacks, etc. A new e-book (in Adobe pdf) from Doug Green summarizes the Perennial Plant Association picks and is available free at the link. The e-book covers PPA plant selections from 1990 to 2009. Each plant has its own page with photo, growing instructions and useful information such as propagation tips. When you look at the the zone information, remember that Muskogee is cold zone 7 and heat zone 8. The zone information provided in the e-book is cold hardiness. Photo: Blossom's Garden Center in Muskogee - getting ready for spring Photo: Pelargonium in bloom at Blossom's Sunset Magazine is the gardener's Bible on the west coast and their blog has a wonderful preview of dahlias. Click on this link and enjoy the inspiring photos on the Feb 15th entry. Rain, snow an...