Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

Just recently I checked some cuttings of Densiformis Yew (Taxus x media; also Taxus cuspidata) and found roots! Densiformis Yew is also known as a spreading yew and is a common evergreen shrub in landscape plantings. It makes an attractive foundation planting with its dark green needles. If you have animals fond of chewing on plants avoid planting yews since…

It’s no secret I like salvia in the garden. It’s easy to grow and hardy here in Tennessee. Most importantly it never fails to produce great blooms. The foliage is nice but nothing spectacular, however today I saw something very interesting. It happens every now and then on various plants and is responsible for the creation of many variegated varieties,…

All of us experienced gardeners can tell you, you are going to make mistakes!  It’s inevitable.  No matter how much planning or forethought you put into your garden you WILL make a mistake!  How’s that for thinking positively?  You positively will make a mistake, and you know what?  That’s OK!  We’ve all done it – albeit some more than others…

Wouldn’t you know it?  The day after I post a review on the Harbor Freight Greenhouse I just installed in our backyard a storm system with strong winds comes though to give it a test. I spent most of the evening worried that I would be wandering around our neighborhood searching for plastic window panels.  Fortunately that fear did not…

We all know we should compost. Most of use know the things we can compost. So here’s a couple ideas to help you compost! 1. We have a compost bucket outside our back door. The 5 gallon bucket stands ready to collect the compost until we can take it to the big bin in back. There are compost buckets you…

Recently a representative of Hartley Botanic asked if I would be interested in hosting a guest post. Since I knew of the beautiful designs for the Hartley collection of greenhouses I suggested she put together a post about how to choose a greenhouse. And here it is! Choosing the right greenhouse You would think that a greenhouse is an easy…

Part 11 of The Home Garden’s weekly series about gardening on a budget (aka gardening cheap!)Layering is a fantastic way to increase your plants with very little risk and a high rate of success. It is a simple method of plant propagation where roots are encouraged to develop by covering stems and branches with soil or other mediums. There are…

This weekend’s weather was a sign that there really is a light at the end of this dark tunnel we call winter – and it’s not another trains headlight! Spring is coming and the warm weather that we’re having this week has me itching to get in the garden – which is exactly what I did over the weekend –…

Tall ironweed (Vernonia gigantea) is one of the few non-yellow flowering wildflowers blooming right now here in Tennessee. This extremely tall and purple member of the aster family can be seen throughout roadsides and fields in much of the country during the late summer or early fall. It stands anywhere from 3 feet up to 8 feet tall and occasionally…

Everything has it’s own time, even seeds. They just don’t last forever! Fortunately though many seeds do last a long period of time and you can use seed from previous years to grow your garden. I’ve had tomato seeds germinate that were over 10 years old. Best of all they produced healthy tasty tomatoes! I’ve had echinacea seed as well…

What a gift to be surrounded by all the wonderful scenery that Patientgardener is! Over in Malverns, England (in Worchestershire) the chestnut and beech trees are showing their autumnal changes. You even get a peak at some sweetgum trees which are another of my favorites for fall color. (I can forgive them for the seed balls in exchange for that…

When you think about power tools do you think electric? Maybe it’s time you should! Recently Greenworks sent me their battery powered Greeworks Pro 80 Volt 18″ Chainsaw (Amazon Aff) to test. I had some doubts. Could a battery powered chainsaw actually cut through well enough to be a part of my arsenal of power tools? Would a charge last…

From time to time I’ll be posting some new graphics about specific plants with a little important information about them.  Today I share a few echinacea or coneflower planting facts.  Echinacea is one of my favorite choices to plant in sunny areas that don’t receive a lot of moisture. Coneflowers love the sun, are drought tolerant, attract beneficial pollinators, and…

There are some plants that are tricky to propagate but stevia isn’t one of them! In fact stevia is very easy to root from cuttings. Read on to learn more about propagating stevia from cuttings! Why Would You Want to Propagate Steve from Cuttings? Stevia rebaudiana is an herb often used as a substitute sweetener for sugar.  It isn’t reliably…

Spring is hitting us early here in Tennessee and that means it’s time to get in the garden! We are still hitting cold temperatures at night but the daytime temperatures are regularly hitting the 60’s. Now is the time to start thinking of that spring vegetable garden. Preparing the Spring Garden For Planting When I think of prepping the spring…

One of the things I love to do, but often don’t have enough time to do, is visit gardens. I like seeing what ideas other gardeners have had and taking a bit of their creativity back to my garden. We recently visited a farm and picked some pumpkins for the fall. While a farm and garden can be vastly different…

It’s that time of year where the daylilies are becoming the showoffs of the garden. Daylilies (Hemerocallis) area very common collectable perennial here in the south. They propagate very easily through division and are a prime starter plant for people interested in learning how to hybridize plants. Here’s a look at a little of what is blooming in our garden…

Just what you want right?  Even more things to do in the garden.  I’m sure you have everything perfect.  Everything is mulched to 2 inches high.  Every weed is pulled and the gardens are in pristine condition!  Not our garden, not even close! An extra long weekend is ahead which (unless you’ve been deluged with rain from Isaac) will give…