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November is the time when we prune some of our perennials in preparation for winter. Ideally we want to do this after several killing frosts. Prune stems down to 2-3 inches and avoid damage to the crown of the plants. Many perennials provide outstanding winter interest and structure in the garden, some are even evergreen, so we don’t cut them back until spring. Also to improve overwintering of any tender perennials or ornament grasses, don’t prune these plants now as the foliage may help protect their crowns from cold damage. We do prune plants that may become unsightly over the winter or that may reseed heavily. It’s also particularly important to prune any perennials that may have had disease or insect problems. Be sure to remove the pest ridden foliage from the garden to reduce incidence of trouble next season. My favorite tool for quick clean-up in the autumn is the Okatsune hedge shear pictured here along with some of my other favorite tools. For complete information on Pruning to Prepare for Winter see Chapter 12 of my book The Well-Tended Perennial Garden as well as the lists of what to prune and what not to prune in Appendix C.

Tags: Books, gardening, Martha Stewart Living, Okatsune hedge shear, pruning, Sirius, Tracy DiSabato-Aust, Well-tended Perennial Garden

I’m just returning from an amazing trip to Italy where my husband Jim and I competed for Team USA in the Duathlon World Championship in Rimini. Please go to my triathlon page if you would like to read more about this fantastic experience. When I wasn’t racing, eating (a lot) or sightseeing, I had the opportunity to visit two beautiful gardens in Florence-Villa La Pietra and Villa Gamberaia. These were highly recommended to me, as must sees, by Charles Quest-Ritson a friend, colleague, and author of the book Gardens of Europe. I was particularly struck by the breathtaking views of Florence from Villa Gamberaia. However I think I was just as touched by the tiniest gardens on the window sills, or patios of the Italian’s apartments and condominiums, as well as their small country gardens. In many ways I felt a strong spiritual connection in Italy — the home of my ancestor. Both my grandfathers who emigrated as children from Italy were avid gardeners and I attribute my love of gardening to them. My grandmother was an incredible cook—making her own pasta, sauces etc. (I didn’t get this trait!). My parents were both into fashion and shoes, which the Italians do so well!! I was definitely at home with these warm, friendly people who embrace everything about life.  

Click “Continue Reading” below for Italian garden ideas….but first, here’s a slide show with some photos I took while in Italy. Enjoy!

Continue Reading »

Tags: Italy

Recently Columbus TV personality Gail Hogan interviewed Tracy about the new book:

Tags: 50 High-Impact, Gail Hogan, Media

September is an ideal month to plant because the temperatures are usually starting to lower and the rains are starting to return. Also planting or dividing now gives plants time to establish before winter sets in.  There are a few plants to note that don’t do well when planted in the autumn including coralbell (Heuchera sp.), Japanese anemone (Anemone xhybrida) and red-hot poker (Kniphofia hybrids ). These plants have a tendency to frost heave (push out of the ground) due to fluctuating winter temperatures. They are more successful with spring plantings.

Division now is particularly suitable to spring and summer flowering perennials. You know a perennial needs division if there is a reduction in the flowering or the vigor of the plant, a hole develops in the center, or there is a “traffic jam” appearance to the stems.

One of my favorite quick and easy methods of division, that I learned over 25 years ago (yikes!) while working at the Kalmthout Arboretum in Belgium, is the double-fork method. This is great for large thick clumps of plants, such as Shasta daisy (Leucanthemum xsuperbum), hosta, daylily (Hemerocallis) and border phlox (Phlox paniculata). To divide clumps using this method, first lift the entire clump from the ground with a spade. Then insert on spading fork into the center of the clump, and insert a second fork parallel to the first, setting the forks back-to-back with the tines of the two forks intersecting. Pull the forks inward and then out-ward, and the clumps will separate in two. You might have to repeat this process several times with a large clump. Once the large clump is broken up, a sharp nonserrated knife can be used for further divisions to obtain smaller pieces.  Perennials such as peonies, which are fleshy rooted, do not divide well with the double-fork method and are best divided using a knife.

Here’s a  quick video on this subject:

I cover division and planting in detail in my book The Well-Tended Perennial Garden and you may have heard us discuss this topic on Martha Stewart Living Radio on Sirius Satellite for the Living Today show with Mario Bosquez on Monday September 8, 2008.  You may have tuned into the new show Daytime Columbus on WCMH-TV, Channel 4 Columbus, NBC4I.com, with Host Gail M. Hogan on September 23, 2008 where we demonstrated the double-fork technique and discussed follow-up considerations with soil and watering.  If so, welcome to the website!

Tags: coralbell (Heuchera sp.), Dividing, Double-Fork Method, Fall, Gail M. Hogan, Martha Stewart Radio, red-hot poker (Kniphofia hybrids), September, Sirius Satellite, WCMH

Robin Lane Fox of London writes an excellent weekend column in the Financial Times. I was honored that his most recent comments draw a little inspiration from some of my writing on the subject of “deadheading”.  You can read his column by clicking here.

Tags: Books, Deadheading, Financial Times, News, Robin Lane Fox

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!

Tags: Hiddenhaven, Photos

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.

Tags: 50 High-Impact Low-Care Garden Plants, Books

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!:

Click here to see more videos

Tags: England, Heliopsis, The Garden Magazine

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 often 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. 

Tags: Summer

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

Tags: Media, New York Botanical Gardens, The Well-Tended Perennial Garden