The Coastal Gardener

 By June WalshWinter in the Moss Family Temperate Woodland Garden at Humboldt Botanical Garden brings new colors and blooms after the exuberance of Spring and Summer. The deciduous trees, magnolias, maples, dogwoods, red bud, Styrax and Stewartia colo rtheir leaves yellows, browns, and brilliant…

As fall settles in on California’s North Coast, gardeners are presented with a unique opportunity—not to wind down, but to set the stage for success in the seasons ahead. Autumn is the perfect time to enrich your soil, outsmart pests, and plan for a more productive spring garden.Whether you're putting your…

 The calendula is a beautiful and hardworking flower in the home garden. It thrives in cool weather, making it a perfect addition to the North Coast. It is in the Asteraceae family and is native to the Mediterranean region. For home gardeners seeking a plant that is easy to grow, looks beautiful in…

While we’re in the middle of tending to the summer garden and harvesting green beans and cucumbers, it’s hard to accept that winter is coming… But now really is the time to prepare the ground and begin planting the veggies that you’ll be harvesting during the short days from December through February. …

As summer wanes, you may be heaving a sigh of relief that you and your community have made it unscathed through another summer. You may be feeling good in the knowledge that you have been refining firewise aspects around your house for several years. And those are things to celebrate, but continuing…