Edited by Dayle Cheever.
What is on your garden or horticulture bucket list?
Gerald D. Stewart: There are some elusive things that are on my garden bucket list: white-, bronze-, and green-flowered clivias. The super variegated Agave attenuata. Some variegated Camellia sinensis (true tea plants). Acanthus mollis ‘Hollard’s Gold’. Some extraordinarily colorfully-foliaged Camellia japonica (regular camellias). Variegated gardenia. Colorfully-foliaged hydrangea. More variegated-leaf plumeria. Alstroemeria ‘Indian Summer’ (with bronze leaves). Red-, bronze-, and blue-foliaged plants that work well in a hedge in our hot inland valleys. A collection of Sempervivum. A collection of Cryptanthus. And the list goes on.
Tynan Wyatt: Several things are on my plant bucket list. Growing dozens of strawberry and raspberry varieties to figure out which have the best flavor according to my palate (Thirteen strawberries and seven raspberries so far. Fragaria x ananassa ‘Chandler’ takes the lead at this point for the strawberries). Growing several varieties of pineapple for taste testing. Decorating my new home with lusciously-scented plants, including variegated Angel's Trumpet, gardenias, sampaguita (Jasminum sambac), Chilean jasmine (Mandevilla laxa), Madagascar jasmine (Stephanotis floribunda), plumeria, and various orchids. Traveling to Namaqualand and the Karoo. Traveling to the Gran Chaco. Refining my technique for cultivating a meadow in my front yard. This year's results were incredible! A beautiful, ever-evolving tapestry buzzing with insects, birds, caterpillars turning into butterflies, and lots of sidewalk gawkers who began to compliment the yard as it matured. A big hit was the many types of giant sunflowers my significant other and I planted. My favorite was 'Shock-a-lot'; hers were 'Teddy Bear' and 'Autumn Beauty'.
Kate Engler: Another visit to the Chelsea Flower Show and Keukenhof.
Rene and Jeff Freeland: We're interested in tree grafting.
Jean Hsu: My bucket list would contain how to get rid of pesticides and bugs that eat my vegetables and flowers. Can anyone help?
Tere Trout: A human nest in my back yard like the ones made by Jayson Fann in Big Sur!!
Kathleen Voltin: We are converting the small ground-level veggie garden to a raised bed garden. My plan is to continue a winter garden with a few summer items. My son has different plans; he has several perennials in mind, leaving me a small area for veggies. We will work on it.
Mollie Allan: High on my garden bucket list is visiting the western Australian gardens and forests in and around Perth to see flora and fauna unique to that corner of the world.
Frank Mitzel: To attend the Chelsea Flower Show in London.
Lucy Warren: Forestiere Underground Gardens in Fresno. I know—quirky, but I still haven’t seen it.
Susi Torre Bueno: I want/need to add more automatic irrigation to the back yard. This November/December (assuming we get rain again), I plan to add about ten more lemonade berry and sugarbush shrubs, plus add more drought-tolerant trees and shrubs in general. As I write this (mid-July), the heat wave from recent days has killed off some new things I planted this spring, so in the future I'm going to try to go with drought-tolerant plants and not things that are merely low-water. (sigh)
Sheri Armendariz: To grow vanilla beans here in coastal Encinitas. I have to start rooting!!
Stephen Zolezzi: Bucket list for the summer...keeping my plants alive is always the big priority. There is the extra summer heat to battle. Not enough water, ground cover, and shade, which is complicated by too much or not enough drainage, results in dead plants. Then there are the critters—always hungry critters—who somehow know which plants I like the best to start on first. From the above it would seem like a veritable war zone in the garden, but through it all my best goal will be to sit down with my wife, family, and friends to just plain enjoy the fruits of my labor, which makes it all well worth the effort.
Jim Kay: My bucket list includes: 1. Getting ready for fall bulb planting, selecting bulbs to plant, and getting them planted. 2. Starting a sedum patch that will include about ten different sedums, each with distinctive leaf shape and color, and a spectrum of bloom colors. Some will be low growing and others will be upright.
Valerie Bronson: I am planting a Moro blood orange semi-dwarf tree. It averages six to eight feet tall. I cleared a piece of land for the planting of this new fruit tree in my yard. I’m very excited to add this blood orange tree to my yard with my Meyer lemon tree and my tangerine tree!
Suzy MacGillivray: Having Jacquie Lawson design a card featuring my garden. I was just given her English Garden active card, and it is beyond fantastic. Thanks to Blythe, my horticultural buddy.