Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

By now I’m sure you’ve heard all about the National Wildlife Federation and their new found friend Scott’s.  There are quite a few people upset about this arrangement since many of Scott’s products are made from ingredients none of us would rather see in the environment.  The NWF exists to promote and help wildlife but it’s pretty hard to do…

While aphids are easy to deal with they are definitely a nuisance! I discovered these on our hostas the other day feasting on the flower stalks. Aphids are easy to find, just look for the ants. Ants are opportunistic little insects that love a sweet and easy meal that the aphids provide. When the aphids begin to feed on the…

Coming soon to a lawn or garden near you … Henbit (Lamium amplexicauli)! The cover-all-lawns-with-purple-spring-color ground cover. If you’re tired of the green look – consider purple. It’s easy care with absolutely no maintenance and pollinator friendly! You don’t even have to plant it as henbit will find its own way to your lawn. It’s a weed but sure is…

This was a historic day. It was the first day I’ve ever seen a frog in my garden. I’ve seen a toad or two but never an actual frog! Amphibians are a good indicator of the heath of an environment. They are kind of like environmental canaries in a coal mine, if something is wrong they are one of the…

In late May I wrote a post about how to propagate Asiatic lilies from leaves. I figured it was time to show you how things are coming along. After small little bulbs began to form on the base of the leaves I planted the bulbs into small pots. As you can see in the picture below the old leaves completely…

 For More Say Nothin’ Saturday visit TC!

Through a moment of lazy logic I decided to defy conventional perennial pruning practice. Decided is the wrong word…perhaps forgot to would be better! I even posted about the proper way to take care of mums including pruning several weeks ago when the mums were fading. Did I do what I said? Nope, sure didn’t. Now I think that I…

Yesterday would have been my father’s 68th birthday.  He was a Halloween baby born back in 1943 but since July 6th, 2011 we’ve been without my dad.  I think about him in some way everyday and I definitely don’t need anything to remind me of how much he helped me through life, but to honor my dad in a small…

One of the keys to attracting pollinators is to plant what they like. That means providing plants that give the pollinators food and shelter for all stages of development. Monarch butterflies one pollinator that can benefit from planting milkweed but there are many other insects and creatures that can benefit from the perennial. Also please keep in mind that milkweed…

Before this weekend I made a big list on what I wanted to accomplish and one of those tasks was finishing the siding on the greenhouse shed. Unfortunately I didn’t have enough time to complete it but I did manage to complete some large and tricky areas. When it comes to projects and time my ideas are always bigger than…

Over the years I have grown many plants. I have a bit of a collectors attitude toward my garden and pick out unique plants as much as possible. Some of those plants haven’t done well for me, but other plants have simply been amazing. I thought it would be a good idea to go back and look at some of…

I’m always trying to start something new, usually I bite off more than I can chew but in this case I’m taking our back ornamental garden at a casual pace. In other words I’m not pushing myself to get it done but just doing what I can when I can.  It fits a general long range goal I have at…

If you are tired of hauling your old newspapers to the dump or recycling there are a couple good uses of it for around the house. First its important to note that newspaper is biodegradable and most of the inks are soy based so there will be no harm to the environment. In fact the newspaper should add to the…

I’ve been trying for several weeks now to get my garden trellises built for the vegetable garden. This weekend I finally managed to put two together, one for my cucumbers and one for my ‘Tigger’ melons. Building these two trellises can easily be done in just a few hours. I had to decide how high I wanted them to be…

These giant mosquito like creatures called crane flies are all over the Middle Tennessee area right now. They are flies that may look like mosquitoes but aside from their unfortunate appearance have no other similar attributes. Crane flies are perfectly harmless in their adult form but can be very annoying. In their larval form they burrow through the ground until…

This Friday I thought I’d try something new…an open post!  I’d like to hear what you think about the garden, gardening ideas, projects, or just your thoughts on various issues.  So here’s what I’m going to do.  Every couple weeks I’ll host a Friday Free for All Post where you can comment on a subject and share what you think…

A couple years ago I bought a fantastic native plant at a local native plant nursery. It was a red buckeye (Aesculus pavia) and is great for attracting everyone’s favorite tiny garden visitor, the hummingbird. The flower clusters are red (you probably expected that from the name: red buckeye), tubular, and bloom in early spring. Red buckeye trees grow best…