Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

In the light of the fading sun the shadows of the dogwood (Cornus florida) flowers rest lightly upon the bracts.

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…

Today was a snow day. The kind of day that happens here in Tennessee on occasion where 6-8 inches of snow fall upon us and whiten up the landscape for a few hours. It melts fast which is good for those who need to travel but unfortunately not for those who attend school! This little bluebird was the first to…

Elizabeth over at Gardenrant, a well known writer and garden blogger, has posted some picturesque fall photos for the Garden Blogger Fall Color Project. What could epitomize fall more than cobblestone buildings and walls mixed with glorious maples in the rustic farmlands of Route 104 in New York. Farming implements and woodpiles appear in peaceful fall scenes. Just what we…

What a difference three years makes in the life of a plant. Welcome to my front sidewalk garden at the beginning of July. You will notice right off the bat several flowering perennials on the left side of the sidewalk that could use a little pruning. The Russian sages (Perovskia atriplicifolia) are towering over the walkway. In retrospect this probably…

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…

This past weekend I mentioned that we were working on cutting down some dead trees. The trees came down without a hitch and then the real work began. We chipped and cut our way through the limbs and logs. After a quick count of the rings on one of the trees we discovered that it was around 50 years old….

Every year in the garden is different. Sometimes it’s warmer than normal, sometimes colder. We may have more rain than usual or we may be in a drought. All of these factors affect how the plants grow, what comes up, and when they make their first appearance. One special event I like to notate each year on this garden blog…

When the opportunity presents itself I take cuttings. Who am I kidding? I make the opportunity to take cuttings! When I successfully get a new plant to root it’s like finding gold. OK, not really, but it really does save a few dollars. Think about it for a second, if a perennial at the store costs $6 but instead you…

Looking for a thick ground cover that is green even in the dead of winter? Do you want something that will cover your yard with absolutely zero maintenance? Then look no further for you have found your answer! Chickweed is taking America and Tennessee by storm. It will quickly cover your lawn and garden in a dense mat of green…

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…

Recently the folks at Lowe’s Creative Ideas asked me if I could put together a once a month project using products I found at Lowe’s that fit a specific theme.  Of course since I enjoy doing these types of projects around the garden I jumped at the chance!  This month they wanted a project centered around the theme:”Pots and Plants”. …

Here’s a picture of our eastern property line. Along the line we placed 4 Canadian hemlocks (Tsuga canadensis) about 8 feet apart to create a border hedge and privacy screen. The hemlocks will eventually fill together and create a nice soft evergreen screen for that side of the house. I would like to make this area into a woodland corridor…

Last week I received the seeds I orders from two different companies. I was very impressed with the delivery time from both Wildseed Farms and Baker’s Creek Heirloom Seeds. I made my order from Baker’s Creek last Monday and received all the seeds I ordered plus a bonus packet by Wednesday! That was very fast service. The crazy thing to…

Sometimes I get the urge to garden but the weather isn’t the right kind of weather for what I want to do. So what do I do? I bring it indoors! There are all kinds of ways to garden indoors but for this post I’m going to show you a little about growing peppers indoors during the winter. I’m a…

It’s been while since I showed larger scale pictures of the garden.  Mostly because it was such a mess over the summer. Today I’ll share a few photos of the various garden areas.  The resiliency of plants is simply amazing. With neglect, wet weather, dry weather, hot weather, and lack of time my plants seem to be doing fine! The…

It’s about time! 5 years ago we bought a piece of land only 10 minutes away from where we’ve lived since 2007. We intended to start building the house soon after that but so many things happened that building a home just continued to get postponed. Job changes, life changes, society changes (COVID 19), and quite a few things have…

Last week I posted some pictures of our front sidewalk garden. This past weekend I moved ahead with my plans and put together the garden for the other side of the sidewalk. You can look at my last post to see the layout. As you can see in the above and below pictures on the yard side of the sidewalk…