Steve Boehme
Steve Boehme is a landscape designer/installer with a lifetime of experience. “Let’s Grow!” simplifies landscape topics in clear, direct language, for non-technical readers, with no ads or popups.
This popular weekly gardening column appears weekly in 16 southern Ohio newspapers, reaching over 300,000 households.
Experts can disagree, and there are always exceptions, but these simple columns give you the basics. Search by topic or keyword to quickly find simple answers to your landscaping questions!
This Weeks Column
Enjoy Showy, Low-maintenance Peonies
Peonies – A Sentimental Favorite.. Around Memorial Day each year you see many colorful clumps of showy peonies in farmyards and gardens. Some of them give off an intoxicating sweet fragrance second only to tea roses. Newer varieties ha...
Enjoy Showy, Low-maintenance Peonies
Peonies – A Sentimental Favorite.. Around Memorial Day each year you see many colorful clumps of showy peonies in farmyards and gardens. Some of them give off an intoxicating sweet fragrance second only to tea roses. Newer varieties ha...
Landscape Mistakes – Top 10
Top 10 Landscape Mistakes Out-of-control landscapes are unfortunately very common, and they began with poor design (or no design). Low maintenance landscaping starts with good design. Good landscapes get better and better over time, and ...
Retaining Wall Failures
Retaining Walls that Last – It’s In the “Batter” It’s tragic to spend the time and money to build a retaining wall only to have it fail. Unstable walls can be dangerous; at the very least they are a discouraging waste of resource...
A Different Way to Look at Retaining Walls
Retaining Wall Components Building decorative garden walls is very satisfying and rewarding, as well as being good exercise. We define “decorative” or “landscape” walls as wall less than two feet high. Retaining walls for purpose...
Retaining Walls Solve Many Landscape Problems
Retaining Walls Solve Many Landscape Problems One of the most cost-effective and dramatic improvements you can make in your landscape is to define your planting beds with retaining walls. Landscape walls can “tie together” your found...
Clematis – Tricks & Tips
How to Succeed with Clematis Vines If you’d like to enjoy the spectacular blooms of Clematis, you need to understand two key points. First, Clematis needs lots of sun but wants cool, rich, moist soil to grow in. Second, Clematis vines ...
Creeping Phlox
Creeping Phlox is a Colorful Carpet One of the first signs of spring is the colorful billows of creeping Phlox in light blue, white and all shades of pink, creeping along rock gardens and slopes. Creeping Phlox is a hardy, dependable gro...
Pebble Mulch Pros & Cons
Is Pebble Mulch the Answer to Low Maintenance? Homeowners who want nice landscaping, but dread maintenance tasks like weeding and mulching, often turn to pebble mulch as a solution. Pebble mulching is the practice of covering landscape b...
Wild Garlic Control
Getting Rid of Wild Garlic & Onions Weed control is the biggest maintenance challenge in most home landscapes. Wild garlic and wild onions might be the hardest weeds to deal with. These plants are made to survive most weed removal method...
Multiplying Shrub Bloom
Proper Shearing Multiplies Shrub Blooms If you have flowering shrubs in your landscape, now is a good time to give them some “tough love”. It’s easy for you to double or triple the number of blooms on your flowering shrubs. All it ...
Pruning Evergreen Trees
Evergreen Baby Branches Have to Go Have you ever noticed how mature evergreen trees have lots of dead branches on them? They tend to be the lowest ones on the tree. Eventually they rot and fall off, making a mess and leaving unsightly st...
Shrub Management for Best Bloom
Multiplying the Blooms on Flowering Shrubs It’s easy for home gardeners to double or triple the number of blooms on flowering shrubs like Lilac, Hydrangea, Spirea, and Weigela. All it takes is regular shearing once a year, particularly...
Color from your Winter Garden
Winter Color – Plan For It At this time of year we’re already starting to get weary of winter’s drab color palette, and longing for spring color. Once Christmas decorations are put away for another year, seed catalogs will start ar...
Firepit Basics
Understanding Fire Pits Gathering around a warm fire has brought people together since the beginning of mankind. Whether it’s a campfire in the woods or a fireplace in your living room, fire adds warmth and comfort while attracting peo...
Christmas Tree Tradition
Enjoying a Traditional Christmas Tree In today’s fast-paced, high-tech world, the ritual of a real Christmas tree captures the genuine spirit of the holidays. Decorating with live greens is an important way to connect with tradition, a...
Landscape Edging Saves Maintenance
Landscape Edging Saves Maintenance You may have noticed that the easiest landscape beds to maintain are those surrounded by concrete. For instance, most homes have a concrete walk between the driveway and the front door. This arrangement...