Growing with Plants, Grows!

A double green-flowered Primula auricula, rarely seen in the US.

First, my URL has changed ( finally!) to www.growingwithplants.com.
Welcome new readers, to my blog for people who are crazy about collecting rare and unusual plants, or for people who just love plants for any old reason.

Hi everyone and new readers, my name is Matt Mattus, and I live and garden in my garden in Worcester, Massachusetts, one hour west of Boston, in USDA zone 5B. I try to post every week on Sundays, and sometimes more. I have a fulltime job, and commute two hours a day, so during the week I guess I am like most of you, busy, busy busy, but on the weekends, I garden. This blog is about my passion, my garden, greenhouses, and plant collections. I hope you find it interesting, since it is not just about everyday gardening, since I have been a plant enthusiast since I was 5 years old, so things have progressed! Every year, it’s something different, and every year, my obsession gets worse. I passed through my daylilly and hosta phase when I was in highschool 30 years ago, so I am about due to pass through these phases again! Now, I am in my alpine garden/trough, rockgarden/rare japanese collectable plant phase. With a good dash of South African Bulbs ( winter blooming ones). Yeah..clearly this blog is for those who are bored with what is common, and to those who are looking for something new to grow.
I am all about impressive plantings, amazing color combinations, and garden design too, so perhaps you will get some inspiration. But mostly, I am an opinionated gardener, even a plant snob, so prepare yourself-especially if you love bushel basket mums. Actually, there isn’t a plant I don’t like, and in fact, I have a soft spot for forgotten plants, violets, primroses, old fashioned vintage plants……antique iris, sweet peas, dahlias, glads, annuals, so anything goes. I invite you to look back at the various postings over the years, and see if it all interests you.

Some vintage alpine auricula primroses, on the back porch waiting to be planted.

The beautiful high alpine primrose, Primula allionii native to the alps.

Over the next week, you will see some changes with my blog, Growing with Plants. After three years, I am moving the blog to the URL that makes more sense, www.growingwithplants.com SO If you have bookmarked the old Blogger Exploraculture.blogspot URL, you will need to change it.

Also, I have joined the garden blog site, Blotanical.com ( see right). This will allow me to get many more readers, and will also connect me (and you) with a slew of other garden bloggers ( thousands more), so please go check it out. I am still relatively new to this garden blogging scene, but slowly, I am getting the hang of it. Although, I still need to figure out how to respond to people, and to spell!

My alpine wall in April, with phlox, species tulips and Androsace.
To new readers of my blog, welcome, Growing with Plants is different than most garden blogs, since it is targeted towards the plantsman ( plantswomen too), and to those who are more obsessed with plants. As a member of many plant societies, this site will appeal to you especially if you like unusual or rare plants, South African Bulbs, keep a greenhouse or alpine house, grow alpine plants, bulbs in pots, unusual perennials or rare houseplants, beautiful rare flowers, amazing common flowers that have fallen out of favor, creative summer containers or gardens, and more.

I live and garden in Worcester, Massachusetts on 3 acres of land that has been in my family for over a 100 years. I keep two greenhouses, a large glass house where I grow all sorts of bulbs, south african plants, Lachenalia, Clivia, as well as many other types of plants that all share the same space, and a smaller alpine house where I grow Saxifrages, Primula and various alpine treasures that need the protection from rain. In the garden, there are various perennial borders, a blue and gold garden, an few alpine raised beds, an ephemeral garden for Corydalis and Hellebores, anemones and various woodland plants, water gardens, crevice and rock gardens, and many more.

We also keep show pigeons, breed rare ducks, Irish Terriers, keep some tortoises, doves, Parrots and other various animals. Check in frequently to see what might be new, either blooming in the greenhouse, or in the garden. As a professional designer, I travel frequently to Japan and Europe, and will sometimes post side trips from these locations which might be of interest, Mostly, I am a plant geek, an obsessive plant collector who moves interests from plant to plant, depending on my mood. Last year I focused on Dahlias, the gold and blue garden, tuberous begonias, fragrant parma violets, and Japanese orchids. This year, it seems that I am moving towards new siberian Iris, japanese maples, flowering cacti and Haworthias, Calochortus bulbs and Pleione orchid bulbs, to name a few.