Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

It won’t be very long now until our first tomatoes and beans are filling up their respective plants taunting us with the tantalizing promise of tastes to come. The tomato plants are filled with blooms and in some cases are beginning to form fruit. One of the most prolific tomatoes we have are the Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes. My eldest…

I’m still playing in the dirt with seedlings! Aren’t you? This week I was excited to see some of my recent plantings begin to emerge from the soil. What is really cool about seed starting is the variety of plants you could potentially grow. Almost anything is possible! It’s also very cool when the plants are shared from another gardener….

To say I’m a fan of heucheras is an understatement. I like to think of myself as a collector of coral bells, as they are often called, even though my collection is still just a work in progress. I’m gradually adding different varieties to my garden but seem to be running out of room in the corner shade garden (corner…

To me grass clippings are one of the best resources a gardener can get! I see grass clippings from lawn as an amazing way to gather organic matter for other uses in the garden ranging from composting and garden beds to mulching! Here are some really great ways to utilize this free organic resources in your gardening if you are…

Recently we moved into a new home. With a new home comes many challenges. With respect to the garden we are dealing with a blank slate to cultivate. Starting new gardens is a fun and challenging prospect but while doing so it is important to create these gardens in a way that will nurture them and help them grow in…

Last year at a meeting of the Tennessee Garden Blogger Society (this does not officially exist but it seemed appropriate!) Gail brought some plant goodies to share. One of which was her Practically Perfect Pink Phlox. It’s now officially made its presence known in our garden. Thanks Gail!

This year I thought I’d try to start something on each Friday.  At the end of each work week I’ll make a list of five things from the garden.  They could be anything, everything is fair garden, as long as it can be related to the garden!  To start things off I’m going to mention 5 easy to grow plants…

Can you identify this plant? We shot this shrub in California in June of 2005 . It was at the entrance of an airplane museum at Edward’s Air Force Base.

Here is what blooms in my Tennessee garden in May 2010. There’s always a lot to see this time of year and I’m sure I’ve missed some things but here we go! Red AchilleaPatio Garden – Garden Shed in the background Achillea, Phlox pilosa, and Catmint CombinationDeck Garden – The irises here are done but the foliage still remains. Nepeta…

Recently I ordered plants (which I’ll cover in another post) and while choosing the plants I used a few criteria to guide my selections.  I wouldn’t rule out purchasing plants just because they might miss one or two of these characteristics but I do know that when all five can be found in the same plant I’ve got a winner!…

This month’s Gardening Gone Wild Garden Design Workshop is coping with slopes. As you can see in the picture we have a pretty good sized slope. There’s a whole lot of area up there that we just really have no great way to use, at least not yet. I have ideas for what I would like to do but for…

The cutting bug is back, being spring and all. Everywhere I look I see another propagation project awaiting me. Some projects I’ve done before like the chrysanthemums and others are new experiments like the crape myrtles. Here’s what I did this Wednesday!Cut the grass! OK you may not have expected that one, but technically it IS a cutting.Butterfly Bush cuttings….

I am a self-professed plant propagation nut and therefore I find plant propagation in all it’s forms very interesting. It was inevitable that I’d try my hand at hybridizing and what better place to start than daylilies? Daylilies have easy to find and manipulate reproductive parts (stamens and pistols). The stamen is the male part that contains the pollen and…

This winter I gathered some seed from a yucca (Yucca filamentosa) and saved it. I’m not sure exactly why other than I thought it might be interesting to see how they grow. I do that sometimes, where I just attempt something for the sake of attempting it (I once planted lemon seeds from a store bought lemon to see if…

Our front sidewalk garden has always been a tricky thing. I plant the plants I like there but I’ve rarely given consideration to other people who walk down the sidewalk which is becoming problematic. It’s a problem because of two things: many of the plants I plant attract pollinators (which doesn’t bother me a bit but does bother those who…

It’s Friday!  I think I may have heard you exclaim in glee from here…maybe that’s just my imagination.  The weekend is approaching and you are eagerly anticipating being outdoors in the garden.  Have you planned out your chores and tasks yet?  If not here are a few things that I need to do in my garden that you may need…

On my trip to the Vizcaya gardens in Miami I saw this salvia (Salvia leucantha/Mexican Bush sage) and thought it was a perfect way to display it – against a red backdrop.  This salvia was located in front of a large patio area made from limestone blocks facing Biscayne Bay.  The faded red from the side of the patio is…

It’s that special time of the year when the tomatoes start ripening up and producing all kinds of luscious fruits for our consumption. Here is what I picked today. The top box of cucumbers and tomatoes was actually from yesterday but all the rest came out this afternoon. A couple of the tomatoes have some damage from irregular water, oddly…