GARDENER'S READING ROOM
Trees and Shrubs

Trees for Urban Gardens
Selecting trees for urban gardens can be challenging...the following little trees can create a big impact! Read more.

Naturally Native
Want a Northwest look for your garden along with low maintenance, good disease resistance, shelter and food for wildlife, all topped off with beauty and color? Go Native! Read more.

Roses for 2010
Growers come up with so many amazing colors, blossom types, and fragrances each year that I try to extricate the "best of the best" and bring them to Sky each season. Read more.

Fall Pruning
Autumn is a great time for garden cleanup, including a lot of cutting and hacking. So, what should or shouldn't be cut back in the autumn?...and why? Read more.

Fall Color for Northwest Gardens
In autumn, as our gardens prepare for winter, new possibilities emerge, drawing our attention to foliage color and bark texture. Read more.

Autumn Gardens - Feast for the Eyes
Autumn in the garden can be just as colorful as spring and summer and doesn't deserve a reputation as an "off season". Read more.

The Romance of the English Rose
Looking for a little romance in your life? Find a spot in your garden for an English rose and you're bound to fall in love! Read more.

Gardening beneath Trees
Large trees are valuable in many ways as part of our landscapes....So, how does a gardener plant wisely beneath these large trees? Read more.

The Fun Art of Growing Trees... In Pots
With the continued clear cutting of land to build more homes and with the shrinking of lot sizes, the problem of how to re-tree your garden becomes a conundrum. Read more.

Easy Bonsai
A large part of successful gardening is choosing the right plant. The same holds true when picking out plant material for bonsai training. Read more.

EXTREME Rhododendrons
Most rhododendrons ever bred thrive in Puget Sound conditions...here are a few of our favorite best-performing "extreme rhododendrons." Read more.

Roses Are Rising
I know that with this cool weather it may be hard to believe, but trust me when I say... THEY'RE HERE!!! Read more.

The Performing Plant Palette!
Summer blooms gracefully bow after their final shows of color fade, only to introduce the palette of performance from our ever-changing deciduous trees and shrubs. Read more.

The Citrus in Winter
If your Improved Meyer Lemon doesn't quite nestle on your coffee table, not to worry. You may be able to keep it outside year round! Read more.

How to Move Established Shrubs
Moving established shrubs is usually accomplished fairly easily in the cool weather of fall. Read more.

Best Clumping Bamboos for Specific Situations
Want a unique Mother's Day gift? Here are BooShoot Gardens owner Jackie Heinricher's recommendations for the TOP CLUMPING BAMBOOS. Read more.

Color Punch with Under Plantings
This time of year, flower power has diminished if not completely abated. The other day I was using red, coral, and yellow twig dogwoods in a display, so I started looking for companion plants that would draw attention to those colorful twigs....Read more.

Strolling through the Late Winter Garden
So I've mulched the flower beds, pruned my fruit trees and shrubs….If, like me, you don't want to wait until April to trek back outside,here's a short list of plants that will help jump-start spring in your own yard....Read more.

Change Can Be... Good?
I love change, the changing of the seasons that is...I could go on and on about the many plants available for fall color...Read more.

Berried Treasures
Fall brings with it the turning of leaves to dazzle our senses... Berried plants have long been a source of visual pleasure during our brief winter. Read more.

Hydrangeas
If roses are the royalty of the summer garden, hydrangeas are at least their top courtiers. In fact, they could very well instigate a coup. Read more.

Plants of Interest for 2006
Every year we see new plant introductions - often accompanied by a media blitz. This stirs our appetite for the new and unusual. The question is, how do we know they will work for us? Read more.

Contained Elegance: Trees and Shrubs for the Large Planter
Last Skylights, we talked about vertical solutions for limited space. The next step is to talk about the most limited space of all: a single container! Read more.

Daphne's Allure ...
Daphnes are intriguing plants with a reputation for being finicky. This may be a little deserved, but once you understand their requirements, Daphnes can brighten almost any garden. Read more.

Vertical Solutions
A common topic among visitors to Sky Nursery of late is trying to garden in a small and often narrow space. Read more.

Trees for the Urban Eden
A goodly number of us are now faced with less area in which to develop our own little paradise. Shrinking lot sizes, gardening restricted to containers on a deck….Read more.

Beautyberry
Now that the explosion of spring colors and the dog days of summer have passed us by, many gardeners are wondering: now what? Read more

Japanese Maples
Watch out! Japanese Maples can become an obsession. On the other hand, creating such beauty in your yard will bring such peace… Read more.

Try a Twist
Do you want a hardy, drought-tolerant tree that will catch the eye in every season? Read more.

Summer Flowering Trees
Spring is awash with color. Bulbs bursting out everywhere, rhodies and azaleas in every corner…. Read more.

Flowering Cherries . . . Aristocratic Symbol of Spring
Nothing heralds the awakening we call spring more than the glory of Flowering Cherries. Read More.

Autumn Glories
Remember driving home one crisp fall evening and being stunned by the glorious foliage in a neighbor's yard? Read More.

Beyond Laurel - How to Create Privacy without a Green Wall
We hear it in the nursery every day—"I need to screen out my neighbor's ugly garage/house/RV/dead cars/all of the above"… "so I need something that grows fast to exactly 8', is evergreen, drought tolerant, low maintenance... oh yeah, and cheap!" Read More.

Pruning Tips
Here are a few pruning tips from the expert. Read more.

Flashy Plants for 2004
The wait is over for some spectacular species. In 2004 Sky is proud to offer a broad selection of new varieties. Read more.

Asian Pears for the Maritime Northwest
Let me begin with crisp, juicy, and delicious! Read more.

Wonderful World of Conifers
Not too many years ago Colorado Blue Spruce was thought of as an "exotic" conifer. Read more.

Success with Daphnes
Plants reward us in many ways, but those which provide fragrance tend to move to the top of our list of favorites. Read more.

Dogwoods
Dogwoods have long reigned as the Queen of spring-flowering trees. Showy bracts line the branches for weeks. Read more.

Bamboos for the Garden
In the past bamboo varieties available at the nursery have been fairly limited. Read more.

Lilacs
Lilacs (Syringa species) belong to the Oleaceae (olive) family from Eurasia. Read more.

Japanese Maples
Ease of care, smallish size, and an astonishing array of colors make these trees perfect for the modern landscape. Read more.

More reading room topics