Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

Fall web worms (tent caterpillars) appear this time of year but it doesn’t have to be a problem. You don’t need chemical sprays to remove them, just one simple thing – a stick! Use the stick to stab open the caterpillar web to break it open. Give it a twist like you are turning cotton candy at the fair. It’s…

Today I thought I would show you the before and after since yesterday I teased you on the details of the front porch garden remodel. It’s current state is still classified in the unfinished category but it is well on its way to becoming a welcoming front porch garden. First let me show you the before pictures: The crabapple is…

Have you ever stood in one place to take a few pictures in all the different directions of your garden? It’s a great way to observe the progress of your garden from slightly different perspectives. (Click on any of the below pictures to enlarge them.) We’ll start here against the house. Up close there is a pyracantha and a young…

This afternoon the temperatures dropped enough for work outside to become “feasible.” Not ideal in any sense of the word simply feasible. Add to that this cough, sinus drainage, and a mild case of pink eye and you would think I would just stay indoors and rest. Not so for this dedicated (or dumb) gardener! My oldest daughter accompanied me…

Spring is hitting us full force right now in mid April. Flowers are blooming everywhere! The mailbox garden is covered in spring time flowers and in just about every other garden is a spot of color to talk about. This post is plant and garden photo heavy so be prepared! April Blooms in the Mailbox Garden We’ll start the garden…

Welcome to the first Seed Sowing Saturday of 2011! Where all of us seed starting fanatics recap our weekly seed starting experiences and share with each other what we’re working on, how we’re doing it all, and of course the results! I chose to start my seed sowing this week by starting shallots. We do a great deal of our…

The gardener returned to the garden today from his voyage across Tennessee.  From his home, to the lands of the cedar glades, and to the western lowlands he crossed the miles in only trio of days.  Friends from long ago were coming to visit from the northern winterlands and he had to return in time to see to their hospitality. …

Sweet gum trees (Liquidambar styraciflua) are beautiful trees and are great to have around for wildlife. The seeds of the sweet gum tree are eaten by small mammals like squirrels and chipmunks as well as a number of birds including finches, ducks, quail, chickadees, sparrows, towhees, and Carolina wrens. With all that wildlife enjoying the sweetgum trees I can easily…

One of my goals this “offseason” (as if there ever really is!) is to maintain a constant supply of fresh basil from November to April. I could do this by simply planting a sequential crop of basil seeds every couple months. This will work but I have an easier way! Basil is one of those nifty plants that grows roots…

As crazy as it sounds I’m still putting plants in the ground with temperatures up around 100!  The weather may be hot but sometimes you just have to deal with it and move on with your garden plans.  Usually a plant will perform much better with less water requirements if it has been planted in the ground rather than left…

Gardeners garden for many reasons.  Perhaps the most common reason is to get back to that part of us that belongs with nature.  We want to see the world around us come through our garden and provide for its positive growth.  How we do that can vary in thousands of ways but almost every method provides some sort of food…

The other day while on a shopping trip I sat in the car with my daughters while my wife ran into the store for a few things. In front of our parking space was a magnolia. I doubt it was the full sized magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora), as the placement of such a large tree in a limited growth area like…

Thank you for all those who took a stab at the latest Name that Plant. Several of you knew exactly what it was, sulphur cinquefoil or botanically known as Potentilla recta. This wildflower member of the Rosaceae family grows between 16 and 32 inches long with palmate leaves that have 5-7 leaflets on the lower parts of the plant and…

Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) is one of those beautiful plants for fall color that unfortunately gets mixed up with one of similar appearance but of very ill repute: poison ivy (Rhus radicans).  The difference has traditionally been summed up in the phrase “Leaves of three let it be, leaves of five let it thrive!”  Physically speaking, that’s the difference between…

Imagine my surprise when I looked out of the back door and saw an accipter yesterday! That’s a member of the Acciptridae family which are birds of prey like hawks. Don’t worry I didn’t know that either until now. I looked into what kind of hawk-falcon this bird was and finally settled on a Sharp-shinned hawk (Accipiter striatus) after comparing…

I’m amazed this year by the blooms I actually have in the garden. Maybe it was the warm snap, or maybe we’ll be lucky enough to have some great blooms each and every February. My feature plant today is one that comes every spring much to the chagrin of the lawn lover.  Tiny purple flowers bloom enmass across yards all…

Today’s post is going to be a bit geeky.  I hope you can get past that because I think one of the most important parts of running a successful nursery business (or any business) is good financial management.  No matter how much you enjoy gardening you don’t want your business to lose money.  Planning on the front end for the…

Recently I happened to by driving by our property and noticed a huge change, one that I hadn’t planned. Suddenly a good portion of the front of the land was cleared. It was something we were going to have to pay for eventually when installing the water line for our future home but we didn’t hire anyone to do the…