Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

I really didn’t expect to get flowers from the cuttings of Persian Shield I made in the fall. It’s been an added bonus but I was only trying to keep the cuttings alive long enough to plant them in the ground this spring. I’ve kept them in jars of water so far even though I should have long ago planted…

Over at Clay and Limestone Gail celebrates the diversity of native plants with Wildflower Wednesday so I thought I would join in this week to share a few of the native plants I’ve run across over the past week.  Let’s start with a shrub!  This is what I believe to be a gray dogwood (Cornus racemosa).  It has white clusters…

What do you do when cute little furry bunnies that eat your strawberries? Good question! I’m not sure I have the best answer and maybe you have some suggestions for this issue but over the weekend I found a solution that so far seems to have worked.  First let me share with you how I found bunnies in my garden….

The colors are out and some trees are spectacular! There are all sorts of colorful trees for the fall that just can’t be beat. The maples are some of my favorites. Here are some suggestions for trees with great fall color:Maples: Sugar Maple (Acer Saccharum): beautiful yellow orange foliageRed Maple (Acer rubrum) red foliage (of course)Japanese Maples (Acer Palmatum).Sweet Gum…

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…

When the fruit first begins to form in your vegetable garden you may notice a condition where the blossom ends of the fruit turns brown to black then begins to rot away. This can happen to a number of different vegetable garden producers like tomatoes, squash, peppers, and more. Aptly named “Blossom End Rot”, this condition is nothing to be…

Before the first frost of the fall I took a few cuttings of my Persian Shield (Strobinlanthus dyerianus) to hopefully overwinter it as a houseplant. This was the first year for Persian Shield in my garden and I’ve only seen it at one nursery around so I wanted to be sure I had some for next year in the garden….

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…

I found this plant on a limestone outcropping near the Yellow Corydalis and the False Garlic. It appears to be a type of succulent. The stems and larger leaves have a red tint around the edges while the smaller leaves are more narrow and green. I suspect it is a wild stonecrop of some sort but I don’t know for…

As you can see from the picture to the left that this tree has taken a beating. Last fall when the deer were out in force a buck decided to rut against several of my favorite trees. Coincidentally all the deer damaged trees were young trees that I had planted in the yard including two maples, a dogwood and one…

This week I began testing a new (to me at least) gardening technique! Using black plastic tarps in the garden to kill off the weed growth underneath. The concept is a simple way to prepare a garden bed for planting. The use of garden tarps is something that I discovered when I read The Market Gardener by Jean Martin Fortier…

Mid July finds my garden a little bit rough around the edges. The need for more garden time is always present with gardens needing weeded, the lawn needing mowed and cleaned up, tomatoes that need re-staked, and many other garden chores. It’s not just the lack of garden time though, the weather has played a significant role. No rain for…

The daffodils are officially in bloom here in my Tennessee Garden! Every year I like to mark the beginning of the daffodil blooms as it is one of the many signs of spring. (Coming very soon: Forsythia) It’s hard not to get excited about spring’s arrival after such a cold winter isn’t it? The first daffodil of 2009 was photographed…

I love gardening in raised beds. It is one of the simplest ways to have success with a vegetable garden. That doesn’t take anything away from all the other methods of gardening, only that I believe that raised beds are a great way for gardeners of all backgrounds and skill levels to garden successfully. The best reason to like raised…

So the calendar says it’s spring.. Front Yard and Garden and I agree! Front yard and garden with Arbor I hope that wherever you are spring weather finds you soon! Patio Peach Tree Flowers in Bloom

This Thursday through Sunday is the Nashville Lawn and Garden Show put on by the Horticultural Society of Tennessee.  It’s a combination of show gardens, displays, and all kinds of garden goodies. The display gardens were impressive, filled with water features, flowering plants, and fire features! All the elements were at play in each of the designs. Natural looking water…

Fall is a great time for many garden activities and could be considered one of the best times to divide perennials. The temperatures in fall drop and plants are finishing up their growing for the season. Dividing now allows them time to regenerate roots and get established before winter dormancy sets in. 15 Perennials to Divide in Fall Hosta (Hosta…

This year I’m determined to grow more out of my vegetable garden than the typical summer tomato!  In the past I’ve managed to sustain herbs like cilantro throughout the winter but haven’t been determined enough to nurture many vegetables other than spinach throughout the cold months. (It’s hard to get psyched up to run out in the cold for garden…