ALASKA'S NEWSPAPER

| Updated: 12:08 AM

Gardening

JEFF LOWENFELS

Sweet pea starts can help take your mind off winter

It's been a tough winter, and I am getting lots of demands for something, anything, that can be started indoors now and will be usable in the garden this summer. I fall back on sweet peas. You can start them now and get fabulous flowers very early in the outdoor season.

USDA's new planting zones reflect global warming, even in Alaska

Global warming is hitting not just home, but garden. The color-coded map of planting zones often seen on the back of seed packets is being updated by the government, illustrating a hotter 21st century -- even in Fairbanks.

JEFF LOWENFELS

Catalogs with attitude improve winter

Some gardening catalogs are just plain clever. This is always a reflection of their owners' sense of humor or dedication to the subject matter at hand. It means not only great information but a good read is as well.

USDA's new planting zones reflect global warming, even in Alaska

JEFF LOWENFELS

Explore 'eCatalogs' during deep freeze

A good place to start is with chickens. The whole urban chicken thing is being classified under gardening, at least in a lot of major bookstores. So it shouldn't come as a surprise to know that you can mail order anything you need poultry-wise.

JEFF LOWENFELS

Online seed catalogs are sprouting up

In case you haven't been noticing the trend over the past five years, printed seed catalogs are going the way of the dodo. The first wave of seed catalogs in late January used to be a harbinger of spring. No longer. Most catalogs are online and more and more are only online.

JEFF LOWENFELS

Tour world with gardening web-o-logs

For some reason this weekend, I dreamed about a type of dahlia I once saw in Australia and that got me to thinking about writing a column on them. Then I remembered that one of my garden traditions, beginning the study of the new garden catalogs right after the New Year, has morphed into writing about them.

JEFF LOWENFELS

The facts on animal waste in the garden

Well, we made it through the winter solstice. This means soon enough we will tire of snow and start to long for the outdoor garden season (though this year that point may have come earlier than usual). It is also the last column of the year, providing me one more chance to answer the few emails that just didn't fit into any other columns this year.

JEFF LOWENFELS

You don't have to let voles do a number on your yard

When Clement Clarke Moore (1779-1863) penned the words, "Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse," he wasn't thinking about what was going on outside that quiet house.

JEFF LOWENFELS

Live Christmas trees need pampering

I can really tell when it gets darkest around here. Something happens to gardeners. We get a little batty.

JEFF LOWENFELS

What not to give a gardener

All right, let's get this over with: Holiday gift suggestions for the gardeners in your life.

JEFF LOWENFELS

Survival tips for home-alone plants

We must be nearing the school holiday season. Readers start asking for advice regarding the care of houseplants while they are on vacation whenever it gets close.

JEFF LOWENFELS

Health of poinsettias reflects on you

My father was color blind. He could not tell the difference between red and green. This is a pretty serious affliction for a guy who is into orchids and other flowers, but I guess he never knew the difference so it wasn't that bad.

JEFF LOWENFELS

For when the light is down low...

Wowie, winter may have arrived late this year, but it has not lost any time since. It never seems to matter to gardeners however. The questions keep coming.

JEFF LOWENFELS

In 35 years of columns, world of gardening has changed

As I travel around giving talks on "Teaming With Microbes," audiences always ask three questions. The first is, "Do you know Sarah Palin?" The second is, "How did you get into garden writing?" The third is, "How did you train to become a garden writer?"

JEFF LOWENFELS

'Brass band' of plants to brighten winter

Back in the early days of this column, I would hop around from subject to subject, a luxury I am allowed when writing columns during the busiest seasons. This time of year, however, it is much harder to get away with. Columns need to have a theme and cover one subject.

JEFF LOWENFELS

Snow hits, but garden questions keep coming

It doesn't matter what the weather is outside, folks always have gardening questions. This time of year, however, they really pile up.

JEFF LOWENFELS

Pick up new houseplants for winter

I used to preach that if your houseplants don't look good going into the indoor season, they are not going to do you much good in the winter -- so toss them. This was before it became evident that many Alaskans keep houseplants that elsewhere would be dumped onto the compost pile.

JEFF LOWENFELS

Season's end brings usual questions

It's one of those transition times between seasons, and these times always generate lots of questions. First: Is there anything else besides this year's producing raspberry canes that should be pruned?

JEFF LOWENFELS

It's time to hang bird feeders, but don't fill them yet

It's a bit early to fill bird feeders; bears are surely still up and looking for freebies, and bird seed fits their bill. Moreover, right now there is all manner of seed and berries, not to mention moths and other insects, which should be plenty for our avian friends.

JEFF LOWENFELS

Clearing dead stuff: perennial question for gardeners

There are lots of reasons people cut back their perennial plants in the fall. Some simply want a clean garden during the winter months. But there are several advantages to not clearing out the perennial beds.

JEFF LOWENFELS

Flowers continue, even though fall approaches

Yellow leaves, more than I want to see, are greeting me when I enter the driveway. It is always a bittersweet time of year.

POST A PIC

RSVP: January

Submit your photos from community projects and social occasions around town in November, 2011.

COMIC STRIP

Tundra: January

Flip through daily issues of "Tundra," Alaska's famous locally-drawn strip from Chad Carpenter.

PHOTOS

Best of 2011

Flip through galleries featuring the Daily News' picks for best images from 2011.

PHOTOS

Barrow whale rescue 1988

Archive photos of the rescue of 3 California gray whales from the ice in Barrow.

PHOTOS

Anchorage New Year

Anchorage was busy Saturday night, Dec. 31, celebrating the new year.

READER PICS

Best of 2011

From more than 4,000 reader photos posted to adn.com in 2011, we picked 100 of our favorites.

PHOTOS

Steam Engine #557

Alaska Railroad steam locomotive, Engine #557,arrived in Anchorage on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2012. The locomotive first came to Alaska in Dec. 1944 and was sold to a private museum in Moses Lake, Wash. in 1964. The Alaska Railroad hopes to restore it for excursions.

PHOTOS

Santa and reindeers

The Reindeer Farm hosted a holiday celebration on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2011, in Butte.

PHOTOS

Cirque de Hanukkah

The Alaska Jewish Historical Museum & Cultural Center's annual Hanukkah celebration at the Egan Center on Tuesday, December 20, 2011. The event featured the "African Acrobats" in their performance of "The Macrobats" a play on words referencing the Maccabees, the historic heroes of Hanukkah.

PHOTOS

Nutcracker Rehearsal

Local dancers rehearse the Nutcracker Ballet Tuesday November 22, 2011 at the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts.

Sawflies becoming the bane of spruce

Potato blight detected on farms in Palmer, Delta Junction

Time to get busy with bulbs

Quit griping about the weather

Garlic has a place in Alaska gardens

A recycling event just for your pots

Don't let your delphiniums go to rot

Anchorage Garden Club's annual tour of gardens

List of gardens on the tour

Alaska 'shrooms are in bloom

Cold water best bet to get thrips off peonies

If you can't ID a plant, investigate

A little lull in the 'yardening' season

Know the pros, cons of controlling moss

Slug it out with slugs, but do it safely

What you need to know about tomatoes

Flowers are the stars at annual Alaska Botanical Garden fair

Be square or be at the garden fair

Tackle dandelions without chemicals

Start watering and pulling weeds now

Talking transplanting and insects

Time for some vegetables to hit the dirt

Not so fast gardeners: Cool weather expected tonight

Don't get hosed by water system malfunctions

Wait and watch before you fertilize

Spring sunlight means it is time to pull back the mulch

Hide your bird feeders from bears now

Start lettuce, cabbage seeds now

Are yacons Alaska's next garden staple?

Make sure you know what you grow

Dates for your garden calendar

Shoo, fly, don't bother my plants

Getting your seeds off to a good start

Don't get overexcited by arrival of seed racks in stores

February is the time to revive fuchsias

Some final thoughts on gardening catalogs

Readers pass along not-so-ordinary garden catalogs

Greenhouse and peony forums brighten January days

Gardeners flood inbox with tips for specialty websites



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