Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

A morning sun picture taken on Saturday October 4th, 2008.

With a slight fog in the air the sun’s rays illuminated those morning mists.The dew glistened on the Silver mound artemisia in the front sidewalk garden.A purple Mother’s Day rose with its leaves frosted by the morning dew.If you look close enough you can see the spider web waving in the air.Morning is a great time to be in the…

Just one really neat sight I saw this weekend was the monarch sipping nectar from the milkweed (Asclepias syriaca). Milkweed is the host plant for the monarch butterflies which serves a very important role in the life of the fluttering favorites of backyard butterflies. Milkweed contains a chemical called glycosides which get consumed by the monarch caterpillars (see more here…

Wilted ‘Oranges and Lemons’ Gaillardia As most of you already know the weather here has been abysmal. Temperatures have been in the mid to upper 90’s frequently with little rain to cool things off or water the plants. In most cases I’ve let the plants fend for themselves. Many are drought resistant/tolerant and should come out OK in the end…

I’ve been perusing many catalogs over the past several days trying to figure out what seeds to get. I finally wrote down the vegetables the other day but while looking at the plethora of pictures in the catalogs I found a perennial shrub that intrigues me. I’ve seen it before but the catalogs’ pictures make the Blue Mist Shrub come…

OK so you’ve gotten your big seed order in the mail, now what?  What do you use to actually start the seeds in?  What kind of pots?  What kind of soil?  After deciding what seeds to order you need to know what medium to plant your future garden in.  There are a lot of variables out there to choose from,…

It seems that the fall colors are slow to fade from one plant in particular in our front garden: spirea. This little shrub was transplanted from a previous location further down the sidewalk. It was little, just a small sprig that emerged in the spring after we bought the house. The previous residents allowed the landscape to grow out of…

It’s that time of year when the leftovers of the gardening season go on sale at the nurseries and home improvement centers. The last of the stock plants are ready to go home like misbegotten playthings on the Island of Misfit Toys. For whatever reason these plants remained unsold and can now be found as a bargain for the thrifty…

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…

Over the next several days (until the voting begins on the Better Homes and Gardens 48 Hour Blog Challenge) I’ll be giving small previews of my Arbor project. It’s ready to go and I’m very pleased with the result. Here’s a first look at one aspect of the arbor: Solar Lights: Solar lights are one of those garden details that…

Yesterday I posted an enhanced photo of a flower from my garden and asked readers to try to identify it. I disguised it a little by removing the color and cropping and zooming the picture. I though it was a neat way to look at one of my favorite plants in the garden, the coneflower! This particular one was Echinacea…

I know what this little seedling is, do you?See if you can guess what it is.This perennial does well in almost any setting and is sought after for its foliage, not necessarily its flowers. Although I find the flowers very interesting in a light and airy way. This particular seedling was collected from one of our gardens. If you need…

We have three children in our household who love to be outdoors.  It’s extremely hard for this gardener to sneak outside without someone tagging along.  That’s a good thing! I’m thrilled that they love to be outside in the open air experiencing what all kids should have the opportunity to experience.  It’s important though that the garden be a safe…

It is officially fall and we all know what that means – its time for the Fall Color Project! Every year I encourage bloggers to use Growing The Home Garden as a hub to share the peak colors in their area.  Fall color is different every year and in every area.  There is no way a person can see it…

I put together a short slideshow of the greenhouse pictures I’ve taken since beginning the project. They start in August with pictures of the site and end with the greenhouse’s current state (in December 2009). I hope you enjoy the look back!

Hostas are one of my favorite garden plants so it stands to reason that I like to propagate more! The propagation of hostas is done primarily through division which is a very simple process. Like any process there are several methods that will work to propagate and divide hostas. The Best Time to Divide Hostas The best time to divide…

Finally some rain! This weekend is bringing us some much needed rain, unfortunately it’s in the form of thunderstorms. I guess that’s better than nothing. The last few weeks have been much drier than a normal April. “April showers” is the well known cliche but it just hasn’t seemed to work out that way. So far today we’ve received over…

I love the spring time with its flush of new flowers and this spring’s flowers have one of the record books. Among those flowering plants one of the coolest is the Fothergilla major. Fothergilla is a small shrub in the Hamamelidaceae family that gets around 6 to 10 feet tall with a spread up to 5 to 9 ft. It’s…