Forcing amaryllis and muscari bulbs: An At Home journal (Week 1-2)

Muscari bulbs from Longfield Gardens about a week into my efforts to force them to bloom early inside. The are sitting in water on top of a bed of glass marbles.If you are a gardener, you might love a gift of an amaryllis bulb that can be grown inside over winter to eventually produce impressively large flowers.

Not me. Because I've worked on home and garden-related publications for years. People always think I'd enjoy that sort of gift. They're wrong.

I do not have a green thumb indoors. I can't remember ever being able to keep a houseplant alive. Always too busy and forgetting to water or watering too much.

I'd rather grow my flowers and vegetables outside when there's usually a little help from rain. 

But this year something changed. I became intrigued by a photograph of flowering amaryllis bulbs sitting on pebbles in a large vase with no soil involved.

Click to read more ...

Amaryllis bulbs: Winter flowers on a houseplant that's perfect for gifts

In a few months, when winter days are short and color is craved indoors and out, the big, bold flowers of amaryllis can come to the rescue as a houseplant.

Amaryllis are surprisingly easy to grow indoors as a winter houseplant. Their colors range from brights to pastels and bi-colors. There are shades of red, orange, pink, white and even green. Amaryllis 'Monaco' (shown) is a vibrant cherry-red accented by a white eye and white stamens. 

Click to read more ...

Slow flowers: New Jersey cut flower growers

A field of lilacs from "The 50 Mile Bouquet." Photo by David E. Perry Books about flowers are a source of inspiration for both florists and do-it-yourself floral arrangers.

In her two books “The 50-Mile Bouquet” and “Slow Flowers,” garden and design writer Debra Prinzing goes beyond the beauty to explore the environmental and social impacts of floristry.

Credited with helping to spearhead the floral equivalent to the slow-food movement, Prinzing advocates bouquets of seasonal flowers grown close to home. Her earlier book “Flower Confidential” examines the worldwide floral industry, and while researching it, she came across many independent flower growers.

Click to read more ...

New Jersey: Time to start tomato seeds indoors

Ramapo tomatoes on the vine / Photo by Peter Nitzsche Anticipation of the flavor of home-grown tomatoes gets many a novice into the garden, and if you are planning tomatoes started from seed in central New Jersey, it's almost time to get things growing inside.

The tomato experts at Rutgers Cooperative Extension tell us that May 15 is typically the date when the danger of frost has passed and it's safe to begin planting outdoors.

Click to read more ...

New Jersey gardens: A secret garden blooms in Scotch Plains

Barbara Ann and Joe TimkoPhotos by Patricia Samuelian

Story by Kimberly L. Jackson

Barbara Ann Timko has at least three of the Top 10 qualities that would be on almost anyone's good neighbor list: She's funny, friendly and very fond of flowers.

Talk to her for even a few minutes, and the plant-love is apparent. Visit her home on Seneca Road in Scotch Plains and you'll see confirmation that she's the plant-aholic  she claims to be.

“I think my problem is that I love plants so much that I keep buying them. And then I tell my husband, 'we have to make this garden bigger.' “

And that is how her garden grew.  “I had no vision,” she confesses.

But the result of the more than 10 years she and her husband, Joe, have put into their landscape is an enviable front-yard garden with a porch from which to admire their work.

Click to read more ...