Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

I successfully rooted a Florida dogwood (Cornus florida) from a cutting! This is a tree that’s been tricky in the past for me to propagate, and I finally had some success I think is worth sharing. In this post, I’ll walk you through exactly what worked, step-by-step instructions for how to root flowering dogwood cuttings yourself, and some tips and…

I know those of you in Canada and the Northern U.S. see snow fairly regularly, but in Tennessee it doesn’t happen often. When it does it’s usually fairly substantial. In our area of Tennessee, which would be the Southern Middle region, we picked up 3-4 inches of the fluffy white stuff. For me it brings back memories of growing up…

This morning I walked out to get the newspaper through a soft drizzling rain and stood outside overlooking the backyard. Much needed and greatly welcomed, the rain felt fantastic. I observed the backyard and could almost, almost see the grass greening back up before my eyes for the cool season ahead. I’m looking forward to the dormant fescue making it’s…

This spring I bought this pineapple sage at a garden show fully expecting it to thrive and burst into colorful red blooms. Well I can say one thing, it is thriving!  For some reason the blooms are just now beginning to form despite it growing to a size of about three and a half feet round.  It has nearly overtaken…

On Saturday we went up to visit the in-laws for Easter. The day was cool but sunny with a little wind and with the right amount of layering was quite pleasant. It was one of those spring days that almost, just almost felt like spring. It still had the cool sentiments of our Tennessee winters. After visiting for a little…

Mums are the staple of almost every household in the fall because of their abundant fall blossoms and varied array of colors. One thing many people don’t think about is that they are actually perennials. Some people realize this of course, but often people treat them as annuals only to buy them all over again next year. That is fine…

Each year I’ve posted about the projects I hope to accomplish in the New Year. They aren’t resolutions, just goals or ideas. I may not even get half of the projects accomplished but I find that if I get some ideas before the garden season starts in earnest I can be pretty motivated to get it worked on before the…

This time of year I’m always overwhelmed by the massive amount of work that needs done in the garden. This blog sometimes helps me to keep organized when I put together a list of those garden things to do. 5 Fall Garden Chores I Need to Do in My Garden Clean up the vegetable garden. It’s overgrown from too many…

They call it winter blooming jasmine, and last year it really was. I suppose that technically this year it still is but with spring fast approaching it’s almost too late to call it winter, almost. The first bloom happened several days ago but more and more blooms are rapidly opening. Its lateness in flowering is probably due to the extremely…

Hydrangeas are fantastic garden plants! The flowers are beautiful but even when not in bloom hydrangeas can be a well formed shrub in the garden. Yesterday while walking through the garden I found a hydrangea that had rooted itself on the ground. This is called layering. Layering is a method of plant propagation where you can encourage roots roots to…

The cold weather combined with morning clouds and the light of a new dawning day create a genuine tapestry of light.   Six minutes later (after scraping the ice off my wife’s car) the sky changed palettes to include more gold.   Mother Nature’s paintings are ever changing which is probably why we appreciate them. 

The other day I mentioned I had another daylily that was about to bloom called ‘Primal Scream’, well that daylily is screaming now! ‘Primal Scream’ has large orange blooms that have faint hints of reddish coloring in the outer edges of the petals and a more true orange color the further toward the center. I planted my ‘Primal Scream’ daylily…

The fall vegetable garden is coming along! It never fails to fill me with excitement when those freshly planted seeds grow into seedlings. Especially when the seedlings were planted naturally through self-sowing as is the case with my cilantro. Cilantro is one of those expensive to buy but easy to grow plants.  It likes it when the weather is cooler…

Heuchera are one of my favorite plants. I say that phrase a lot though, but really, heuchera, also known as coral bells, are awesome perennials that gardeners just love due to the beautiful foliage and versatility in garden design. Most heucheras you will find are hybrids of species plants of Heuchera sanguinea or Heuchera americana and they are found in…

Here you can find links to my posts about building a rain garden.The First Step to RecoveryDigging the Rain GardenWorking on the Rain GardenThe Rain Garden is Almost DonePlanting the Rain Garden(still to come)

This post is a little bit of a Hodge-podge of topics. A conglomeration of a couple of interesting things and one maybe no so much for you (but something I can whine warn you about!) Sunrise This morning we had a gorgeous sunrise that highlighted the early morning clouds.  I snapped I picture from our upstairs bathroom window. It’s a…

March is a awesome month here in Middle Tennessee for gardeners. Zone 7, this is the time to shift from planning to actually getting in the garden. I’ve been out in my front garden tackling some essential chores to ensure a productive and beautiful growing season. If you are looking to get your hands dirty this weekend, here are the…

I really didn’t expect to get flowers from the cuttings of Persian Shield I made in the fall. It’s been an added bonus but I was only trying to keep the cuttings alive long enough to plant them in the ground this spring. I’ve kept them in jars of water so far even though I should have long ago planted…