Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

One of the great benefits to being a part of a garden club is being able to see other gardens. This past weekend the Spring Hill Garden Club took a tour of a very cool garden based all around everyone’s favorite shade plant: Hostas! We visited Cornelia’s garden who is the president of the Middle Tennessee Hosta Society. Her garden…

It’s amazing when you go back and think about time and how quickly it flies by. Earlier we were listening to the “90’s” station on the cable TV music station and I realized that even though the 90’s didn’t seem that long ago 1996 was actually 14 years ago! Yep time flies fast just like 3 years of writing this…

I’ve been a fan of oak leaf hydrangeas (Hydrangea quercifolia) for a long time. The large oak shaped leaves and white flowering panicles are two of its best traits but in the fall its color changes are very nice too. The leaves change through a range of colors from the year round greens to the autumn golds and reds. Our…

Last night I potted up a few more successfully propagated plants. While none of the cuttings were difficult by any means, I’m always pleased when I have a few more viable plants to add to the garden. The plants still need a little more time to develop their root systems, but they were ready to move into soil from the…

As previously mentioned in my 2009 garden project list I am working on a self sowing garden. I mentioned the advantages to a self sowing garden earlier in the week and my own personal reasons for wanting to plant it and now it’s time for the next step…seeds. But first, what are self sowing plants? Since plants generally reproduce from…

If you’re looking for a plant that provides fall color in the form of berries as well as late season nourishment for the birds than look no further than the beautyberry (Callicarpa). Our beautyberry that we purchased in the spring is turning a deep purple that will last into the winter. While it may never be listed as the birds…

We went shopping yesterday so I didn’t have time to post anything but here’s something I’ve been wondering about.The other day I was walking in our backyard near the woods with the camera and found these interesting little pink berries. I was trying to identify what they were and thought about beauty berries or coral berries. The berries are clustered…

What should we do with this sedum garden? That’s a question we asked ourselves several times. It was at one time a sedum garden but for some reason most of the sedum died over last summer. They may have been too wet, too dry, or both! The gutter from the garage roof gushes out water from at least 50% of…

Another unforeseen issue has arisen in my garden: blister beetles!  These voracious beetles are systematically devouring the foliage of our plants.  So far they’ve taken turns tasting our tomatoes, tomatillos, and even a clematis.  I’m not heartbroken over the clematis as it’s a sweet autumn clematis that grows like a weed – it will come back.  But I do want…

For years now I have complained about our Bradford Pear Trees. In my mind they are one of the most problematic trees ever planted in the landscape. I despise Bradford Pear trees. There are so many reasons why Bradford pear trees are terrible for planting that I constantly wonder WHY were these things ever released to the public for purchase….

As I’m sure you are aware by now (especially if you’re in Tennessee) that we have experienced record levels of rainfall with subsequent flooding this past weekend. Unfortunately our internet connection has been down until now and this is the first opportunity I’ve had to post since Friday. Things could have been worse – much worse. I want to say…

Summer squash is one of our family’s favorite summer vegetables.  A grilled yellow squash with olive oil, salt, and pepper is a simple and delicious treat when cooked along with some barbequed chicken!  There are a few things to know about growing summer squashes in the garden whether they are yellow squash or zucchinis.  Today’s Friday Fives will offer up…

Yesterday I was shopping at our local Lowe’s home improvement store looking for weatherstripping for the garden shed. While there I casually sauntered over to the plant area (after picking up three rolls of foam insulation) to see what they had in stock. It’s rare that I go to a store that has plants and don’t take a look (unfortunately…

In my last post I forgot to show you the Coneflower cuttings. They are easy enough to grow from seed but I wanted to see how challenging the cuttings would be to root. I took six cuttings from our coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea) but only two rooted. My success rate will be greater next time since I figured out what the…

Have you ever put something in the garden that you just shouldn’t have? Maybe you thought “I don’t have a better place to put this so I’ll just stick it in here” or even “I’ll stick this plant here and keep it trimmed back.” I’ve thought both of those many times and made mistakes and the latter statement gets me…

I love our Japanese dappled willow hedgeline but in reality it is way overdue for a pruning. In fact 2 of the shrubs were completely dead. That was mostly due to the ever changing conditions in the garden. As the nearby birch trees grew they shaded out the smaller shrub willows. With little sunlight the dappled willows had no chance…

For a long time now I have denigrated my Bradford pear tree.  It’s smelly in the spring, although it looks nice.  It produces loads of inedible fruit that spawns offspring in my garden and everywhere else the birds decide to fly.  Bradford pear trees are generally weak trees that split because of their “V” shaped branch unions that cluster with more…

We’ve all been stuck indoors too long.  It’s February and here in TN we should be getting 50 degree temperatures for highs but instead are stuck in the lower 30’s or below.  In order to help alleviate the cabin fever and feed the gardening fix I put together a little project for one of our upstairs windows.  I built a…