Matt Mattus, Author at Growing With Plants

Finally…rain

April 26, 2006

After one of the dryest springs ever, we finally recieved two inches of cold rain this week. It allowed to me replant some of…

Gentian-izing and Bitterroots

April 23, 2006

Last June, while botanizing in the Italian Alps, the mountain range known as the Dolomites in Northern Italy, within the Italian Alps, I became…

Pleaching Hornbeams

April 21, 2006

This week I pruned the pleached Hornbeam hedge along the stone walk that leads out to the woods behind the house. I also decided…

Troughs and trays

April 19, 2006

Last year, I hiked the alpine trails in the Italian Dolomites, there, the alpine meadows we’re spotted with a number of species of Blue…

High Alpine Primula marginata

April 19, 2006

Primula marginata are primroses that you will not find at a garden center. They must by ordered from an alpine plant catalog, or grown…

Of Peeps and Peepers….

April 14, 2006

The connection between Easter and the spring equinox is similar to the relationship between Christmas and the winter solstice – early Christians combined the…

Precious and Few: Auricula

April 14, 2006

The above gold centered form of a seedling which I started is not acceptable since it doesn’t meet show standards for exhibition, since it…

Primula auricula season

April 12, 2006

Primroses come in many shapes and forms, with hundreds of species with alpine primula that generally bloom at the first hint of snow-melt to…

Forcing Iris bucharica

April 12, 2006

Iris bucharica Still in the greenhouse, the last of the potted Juno iris to bloom this year is this native Iris from Afganistan, Iris…

Albuca spiralis

April 11, 2006

As if the foliage isn’t attractive enough, the blossoms on Albuca species are just as interesting, The tender bulbs that produce this plant are…