Hillside Garden Center

Vertically planted walls are a trend that has been gaining popularity the past few seasons, but it seems few people know what is required to plant and maintain these unique container gardeners. Wall gardens are great when you do not have a lot of space in which to garden, as even a small wall on the patio can be a great place to add a vertical wall garden. However, the full part of vertical gardening is that they can be any size of shape you would like! First you will need to either construct a system to hold the

Sure, we all like our house to be an attractive part of the neighborhood, but don't forget to dress your house for yourself! Close your eyes and think of one of the most hectic work days you've had. Now imagine the ride home and you're pulling into your driveway. Picture pulling up to a small tree cascading with a  million pretty white flowers. Below, bursting from the ground with happiness, are yellow Daffodils surrounded by multicolored, smiling Pansies. At the entryway to you home is a big, lovely glazed

There are several important things to have in place before you meet with a florist that can help you make your special day amazing:

1) Have the church booked

2) Have the recpetion venue booked

3) Have the dresses ordered - brides AND bridesmaids, and have a fabric swatch for each

4) Gather pictures or create a scrapbook of:

Succulents are very popular in many parts of the northeast and northwest for the last two to three years and is just catching on in the Binghamton area. Why are they so popular? Because they are easy with a capital 'E'! What are succulents? A tropical plant (not frost tolerant) that is one step away from being a cactus. There are gobs of varieties offering wonderful shapes, textures and colors. Succulents are fun to play with when making dish garden designs. They often bloom and can be spectacular!

It's that time of year again, when we get the itch to spend time outside. After a long winter it can be hard to wait for these warm days and the opportunity to plant and dig in the soil. Well great news fellow outdoors enthusiasts, April brings us just that opportunity - Arbor Day!

It's almost too good to be true. Here I am, an adult, playing with tiny plants and tiny garden furniture that reminds me of doll houses. I build a decorative stone walkway that meanders through the plantsm up over a small bridge that crests a faux stream I made out of decorative blue glass, to reach a secret hideaway table setting for two. All of this in a 10" diameter decorative pot.

I often receive calls or emails with questions about the process of getting a quote for landscaping work. What can I expect? What do I need to know ahead of time? How long will the estimate take? So I thought I would take a minute to answer some of the most commonly asked questions. The first part of the process is to call our garden center or send an email requesting an estimate. Once we receive your request one of our landscape designers will contact you, usually within 3 days, to set up an initial appointment at your home. Our landscape estimates usually require two appointments. Prior to the first consultation customers should be thinking

It's almost spring and boy oh boy I can't wait to get outside in the garden! As the best friend of a gardener I have become quite the four legged master garden helper over the past few seasons. I like to cruise the rows in the vegetable garden, often stealing a snack or two along the way, and make sure that no chipmunks and other critters are bothering mom's plants. I help her dig holes, find sticks that have fallen off the trees and pick them up so she won't have to bend over. My mom is great, she helps me get the pea

New Years Resolution #8...This year I will...

Inside: I will tighten up! My office, kitchen, clothes for ease of use. Better filing, better cuboard use, recycle all those plastic containers and if I haven't worn it in the past year I will donate it. Get the "stuff" out! Simplify.....aaaaaahhhhh!

The color that was selected for the “Color of the Year 2013” by the Pantone color institute this year is....EMERALD, and boy are we green with envy! What a great eye catching choice for your garden and home it is! Emerald is such a lush color which evokes a feeling of calm and relaxation while adding an element of brightness to whatever it touches. As gardeners we strive for the best, brightest and newest colors for perennials, annuals and shrubs while the green foliage often takes a back seat to the bright blooms

As the snow melts away and the sun warms the earth a few brave plants break from the soil confirming that spring is on the way. These early birds restore our faith in warmer weather and excite the gardener in all of us that work is coming, and boy we can't wait! So what can we do to ensure that color bursts forth from our own gardens as soon as possible? Plan ahead for sping success!

Bonsai is pronounced with a long ‘o' (bone-sigh). When pronouncing with a short ‘o' it means attack, like in the war movies with the Japanese pilots. The dictionary defines bon-sai as: a potted plant dwarfed by special methods of culture; the art of growing such a plant. I know it as "The Art of Pruning".

Welcome back. Hydrangeas! Hydrangeas! Hydrangeas! A few weeks ago I spoke about Macrophylla Hydrangeas and the challenges of getting them to flower in our area. Now I would like to tell you about the many other varieties of Hydrangeas available to you.

This is probably the most asked question that our Nursery gets. My first question is - is the plant is the type that gets the large pink or blue flowers? The answer is almost always yes. This tells me immediately what the problem is.
Hydrangea macrophylla, AKA Bigleaf Hydrangea is loaded with either mophead or lacecap flowers. Many of the shrubs sold over 10 years ago had hardy foliage but the flowers were produced on the previous season's wood.

I remember as a kid... several decades ago, seeing Gazing Balls on peoples lawns, of course I didn't know what they were called at that point. Shiny, mirror like orbs, in stark colors like red and royal blue that were usually on a pedestal right out in the middle of the front yard with absolutely nothing else around it. Ugh! I didn't like them at all then, but times have changed, Gazing Balls have changed and I've changed my mind about them. A little history, new designs and knowledge of how to use them might warm you up to them too.

Gardening is a great hobby if you are looking for a way to connect with the earth and be outside, but it can also be a great way to keep your body and mind in shape. The processes involved in gardening: digging, scooping, bending and hauling can be a great way to work your muscles and increase flexibility.

During the warmer months of spring, summer and fall we spend a lot of our time outdoors, so why not create a personal outdoor space that you can really enjoy. Creating outdoor rooms can be very easy and lead to more enjoyment in your outdoor space. You can start as simple as a bench in a corner of the yard or as big as installing a patio or deck. Whatever your outdoor rooms size, there are a few rules of thumb to follow when creating a useful outdoor space.

My recent trip to Jamaica left me in awe, once again, that we live in an age where in just a few hours we can go from the winter drab colors of browns, grays, and sometimes white to many vivid shades of lush tropical greens, orange, yellow, red, blue and more! My Husband, Paul, has gotten used to my exclamations of "Oh my gosh - look at this flower .....it's a.........." or "Oh my gosh - look at this plant!".

Seeing the look on someone's face when they recieve fresh flowers will tell you immediately that it is still one of the best gifts you can give. But when the person you're sending to lives out of town what are your options? What is going on in the floral industry? You may have noticed Florist Shops have been dwindling, supermarket flower departments have been growing and you can order flowers from all kinds of places: online, 1-800 Flowers, through credit card rewards, grocery stores, huge toll free ads in the yellow pages that you have never heard of, etc. What is happening here and how do you choose?

The fall planting season brings on the masses of ‘Hardy Mums’ sold everywhere. For years I have listened to customer’s complaining about these mums not coming back the next season. We at Hillside Garden Center have come to call them Fall Mums rather than Hardy mums, as they are just not a reliably true perennial plant. I have found that the traditional fall colors are more likely to return but I also believe that planting practices can also contribute to their failure.

Each year I enjoy my favorite plants. I love to see the way the Coneflowers have spread, how big the Coral Bells and Hosta have gotten or the marvel at the big, red, new stems on my Blueberry. However, I love to try new plants out just as much as I like the old standards. Each season I try out several new plants. I add them to what I already have and enjoy their welcome addition to my collection. This is sometimes successful, and sometimes ends in a terrible experience.

To everything there is a season! Being in New York we get the privilege of four distinct seasons, each bringing their own beauty to the year. Accepting and embracing these changes is something gardeners tend to be quite good at! Each season has its own qualities that make it special and unique and noting these changes can help you to grow just as much as your plants do.

Spring is just around the corner…we hope! As the snow melts and we begin to see the ground, we think about daffodils and tulips and how soon can we start planting in our gardens.

You can plant a shrub, tree or perennial as soon as you can dig in the ground. The question arises when you consider the condition of the plant being put into the ground. Many times the plants that first arrive in your local Nurseries, even when grown locally have been over-wintered in unheated poly houses giving them a head start on growing for the season.

Hillside offers plant material that is native or zoned for our area. The vast selection of plants that we offer can suit any planting site whether it may be shady, full sun or a combination of both. The amount of moisture in the soil and chemical make up may be a factor in your plant selection as well as wild life so we offer groups of perennials that thrive in wet areas, plants that are drought and salt tolerant and those that are rarely damaged by deer and rabbit.

Some people have a stronger nurturing side than others. Many of my customers and definitely my co-workers fall into this category. Just try to toss out a plant in this place! I have 2 reasons why you shouldn’t be afraid to ditch some plants and start over with new ones periodically – experimentation and less stress.

Nearly everyone that grew tomatoes locally was affected by the disease Late Blight. Will it be a problem again in 2010? To answer, that we should look at the cause of the widespread problem of 2009. There are two issues that have to be looked at as causes. First of all, the continual cool and damp weather with southerly winds caused a quick and thorough spread of the disease spores. Secondly, infected plants were found at the box stores throughout the northeast in late May that quickly spread to infect healthy plants, even on the same shelf.

To most people, heirloom varieties are those 'old-fashioned' varieties that have been saved and passed on for years or generations. Heirloom varieties as a rule are non-hybrid open-pollinated  plants. What that means is that when planting the seed to open-pollinated plants the offspring will be for the most part the same as the parent.

'Greenwashing' according to the Oxford Dictionary, is defined as "disinformation disseminated by an organization so as to present an environmentally responsible public image. These days when buzzwords used are 'green' and 'sustainability' there can be a lot of confusion out there.

2009 by most peoples account was not a great year for vegetable gardening. If you judge your gardens success by your tomato, pepper and eggplant harvested you were dissappointed. With the Late Blight disease deccimating our tomato crop and not enough heat and sunlight to turn the peppers red it was frustrating to say the least. More on the Late Blight later. There is not a lot we can do about the weather conditions other than planting crops that are more adapted to current conditions. That is where my gardening successes came in.

I am a real fan of the White Oak tree (Quercus alba). It is very slow growing but quite stately when mature. The white oak is an alternate year bearer, meaning that it produces its acorns every other year. It may produce a light crop during the odd year. To wildlife, particularly deer, turkey and squirrels these are candy. The acorns that escape the onslaught of feeders or the weevil that often bores into it will send out their taproot in the fall shortly after dropping and sending out its first leaves the next spring.

Mulching is a task that almost all gardeners do or should do. When to mulch, how much mulch to use, what kind of mulch to use, does mulch control weeds or can I do it wrong, are all questions that are or should be asked.

A newsletter came in the mail the other day that had a tidbit on trees that said “The tallest redwood is believed to be 369 feet tall and has a circumference of 26 feet”. That certainly is a tall tree that we will never come close to around here. However, a circumference of 26’ equates to a diameter of just over 4’.