Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

Do you need another reason to like Red Twig Dogwoods?  Take a look at these pictures from Ann Althouse.  These pictures illustrate exactly why I like them as much as I do! The fiery stems really add color to the snowy landscape. More on Red Twig Dogwoods: Red Twig Dogwood Propagation Red Twig Dogwoods (Cornus stolonifera) and Why I Like…

This winter has been bitterly cruel.  Not bitterly cold, just bitterly cruel.  It’s tempted us into believing that spring was almost here, then the ground hog predicted 6 more weeks of winter..and we laughed. The weather was warm and what do groundhogs really know about the weather?  Do they have live Doppler radar in buried in their dens?  I don’t…

Who would have thought? A daffodil (Narcissus) blooming in mid-February! The little sprouts are coming up all over but this one and a couple others like it have decided they like the weather. It could be that they are in a slightly warmer micro-climate near concrete but mostly it’s because of the extremely unseasonably warm weather we’ve been enjoying. It’s…

Welcome to Worst Weed Wednesday! Today is the day that you can rant all you want about weeds, how much you despise them, how you would like to eradicate them (and do), and what kinds of things you say to them (please keep it PG or PG13!). I’ll update this post as more folks rant on the worst weeds in…

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…

This weekend after all the garden related chores were done for the day, and just before sunset came, I took a few photographs of how our gardens look this April.  I still have mulching, pruning, weeding, and many other things to do but I thought it would be a good time to share some of our garden with you.  These…

Hummingbirds are one of those subjects that are a challenge to photograph in flight. The best way I’ve found to get a good shot of a hummingbird is simply to take a whole bunch of pictures. My only other tip is to stake out the bird feeders and wait for that perfect shot while taking multiple pictures per second. The…

Here is your dose of plant propagation for the day! Eight cuttings with roots (more or less) potted up and ready to go. I was very happy to find roots on the stem of my snowball viburnum cutting.I added three more ‘Purple Homestead’ verbenas to the collection.Here’s that new snowball viburnum. This variety is sterile so vegetative propagation is the…

It’s time for another edition of Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day brought to you by Carol of May Dreams Gardens! August is one of those times of the year before the fall flowers really start to get going where plants are kind of in transition but there are still many things in bloom. Today we’ll step back a bit and look…

Every year for the past 4 years Growing The Home Garden has hosted the Fall Color Project and now the leaves of the sassafras trees, the golden rod and cooler weather are telling me that its time to begin with the 5th year of The Fall Color Project!  It’s always exciting to see the fall color changes.  Each day brings…

I really have to admit that despite the cold temperatures, snowfall, and generally crummy weather I’ve had a good week in the garden. Not my real garden, my virtual one. The garden that sits inside this black box next to my desk. Gail mentioned it too in her recent post. Times like these garden bloggers resort to old photos of…

Propagating plants by cuttings is by far the most common way I propagate plants. When you take a cutting from a plant you are making an exact genetic duplicate of the original plant. Essentially it’s a clone. No you won’t see any George Lucas movies about plant propagation (I don’t even want to think about weeds using the Force. The…

I’ve always thought that in order to have a garden with year round interest some plants need to be planted in every season. The plants you see in the nurseries are typically presented in their prime season (unless you are talking vegetables in which case they could be out several weeks before you should plant them!) and if you plant…

Please forgive this short ranting post you are about to read. My next post for this afternoon will have a couple videos of the flooding in our backyard then I’ll get back to gardening but I wanted to say a few words about a subject that is really irritating me. The rant is below.  It’s short, non-political, and I felt…

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!

Here in zone 7 spring is showing signs of emergence. Daffodils are beginning to bloom, crocuses are popping up, and the weather is teasing us with 70 degree days (immediately following 4 inches of snow and 10 degree weather!) It’s time to seriously get ready for gardening! With that being said here is a list of things to do for…

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 love surprises in the garden.  Plants that pop up where you least expect them – unfortunately those are usually called “WEEDS.”  Sometimes though we find plants of value that pop up.  Here are a few pictures of some self-sown coleus plants that came up in my front garden this year.  I grow coleus (Solenostemon scutellarioides) every year but have started…