Today is the last day of 2008 but unless you’ve never seen a calander you probably knew that already. As one year ends and new one begins. It’s time for a short look back at 2008 and a glance into the future. 2008 was the first full growing year that we really had in the … Read more
OK, I wouldn’t have titled the article with Pimp My Yard (I’m really not cool enough to do that) but there’s a very good article on Slate about garden coaching as an emerging horticultural profession. Garden coaches offer guidance for do-it-yourselfers who want to learn how to garden better. For more information beyond the Slate … Read more
The Plant of the Month for December over at Gardening Gone Wild is all about sedums! Sedums (also called stonecrop) are a type of succulent and are capable of storing water in their leaves which makes them very drought tolerant here in Tennessee. We have several kinds of sedum in our garden with one of … Read more
The gardener returned to the garden today from his voyage across Tennessee. From his home, to the lands of the cedar glades, and to the western lowlands he crossed the miles in only trio of days. Friends from long ago were coming to visit from the northern winterlands and he had to return in time … Read more
One of my favorite shrubs is the Japanese dappled willow (Salix integra). In the springtime its new foliage emerges with variegated green and cream leaves that persist through the fall. The leaves darken some as they grow older (or for those who prefer different terminology “grow more mature”) until they bare themselves when the light … Read more
Here’s a quick look at the view from Mt. Juliet, TN where we spent our Christmas Eve. I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!
We would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Posting over the next week will be irregular as we celebrate the Christmas season with our family.
For a quick, easy, and cheap stocking stuffer gift idea try a homemade seed packet! I learned how to put together these seed packets that use a technique of paper folding from Nancy Ondra’s blog Hayefield House. Go take a look at her post titled Origami for Seed Savers to learn how. The only thing … Read more
How cold was it this morning? The wireless thermometer said 15.5 Degrees Fahrenheit at 8:00 AM. That’s pretty cold! The low last night in our little nook on the hillside was somewhere around 3-4 degrees! But really, how cold is that? Cold enough that the bird’s won’t receive any enjoyment out of the birdbath in … Read more
Have you ever wondered what the inside of a dogwood (Cornus florida) seed looks like? If you read yesterday’s Name that Seed post you caught a glimpse of some dogwood seeds that were cleaned off by the birds. Many birds enjoy eating the berries that form on flowering trees. In this case the bird ate … Read more
This week’s name that seed might be a challenge. The seeds are in the exact state that I found them in however they do not look exactly like they would if they were freshly formed on a tree. Here is your one clue: the tree prefers shade. All answers should be posted by the morning … Read more
We had a short reprieve from the cold winter temperatures we’ve been having. It reached nearly 70 degrees and we actually saw the sun for the first time in days. It felt good to be outside this afternoon tending to some minor garden chores. My first task was to pot up some more Purple leaf … Read more
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 … Read more
Today I was stumbling through Stumble Upon and happened to come across a great tutorial on building a $50 greenhouse! What is especially cool is that the author of the blog (The Door Garden) who wrote the tutorial is also a Tennessean (Cookeville). The greenhouse he built is a hoop house made from PVC and … Read more
Even in winter gardeners in Tennessee need to keep up with the weeds. Cool season weeds like chickweed and henbit can easily take over while you aren’t watching your garden beds. I actually like the look of henbit in the lawn but not in the garden beds. If you have a warm winter day get … Read more
It was springtime in 1999. The day was warm and the windows were open in my college apartment. I was in my upstairs bedroom reading a book and had left the backdoor open to create a cross flow of air through the apartment. Motion in my bedroom door caught my eye and the little tortoiseshell … Read more
Plant propagation can continue at almost every time of the year, the winter is no exception. This is especially true if you have a little space in your house to put your cuttings or can manage to manipulate them into interesting centerpieces! In this post you will see how to propagate Leyland cypress from cuttings. … Read more
If you like Heucheras or Coral Bells as much as I do then take a look at this video from Fine Gardening Magazine. In it Alan Armitage talks about the heucheras in the trial gardens at the University of Georgia. Heuchera ‘Silver Scrolls’ and Heuchera ‘Rave On’ stand out as two perennials I will have … Read more
Since I have very little to show for Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day in December I’ll display a review of each Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day post over 2008 that I’ve done. Inside this post you will see one or two pictures from each post that in my view are the best of the blooms. Unfortunately I … Read more
The answer to today’s Name that Seed is the White Ash! The White Ash is a dioecious deciduous shade tree that grows to nearly 80 feet tall. Dioecious means that individual trees (or plants) are either male or female and not both, very similar to hollies. Last week I featured the Persimmon in a Name … Read more
I’m starting a new theme for Sundays that will last through winter until Spring time after all the seeds have been planted. Seed Sundays will be all about seeds! Seed planning, plotting, planting, and any other seed related subject that can be thought of and written about. You’re welcome to join in if you wish … Read more
Though I have not told her, I have officially named my wife’s snowman Gumdrop. You will see why when you look at the picture! The snow was dry and hard to pack. At least it was for a while, later in the day it melted some and snowmen of various shapes and sizes appeared through … Read more
It was a moment of pure beauty early this morning. We awoke to find the landscape covered in snow and with a winter wonderland waiting before us. I was out just before dawn to catch the sunrise and take some pictures in a setting that I very rarely get to photograph. I’m especially pleased with … Read more
For the last part of my Winter Garden series I have a special treat planned. I arranged for snow to fall upon Middle Tennessee so I could illustrate how great a winter garden looks! OK, of course I’m joking but snow is very cool to look at on the garden (please forgive the pun). The … Read more
I managed to plant all the plants for my new winter garden on what was a warm December day. With temperatures in the 50’s it was somewhat pleasant, which is about the best you can expected from December in Tennessee. You’re probably wondering which plan I decided to go with, the Symmetrical Plan or the … Read more
For those of you who took a stab at the Name that Seed post they were seeds from a Common Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana)! In the fall you can see these fruit trees laden with orange pulpy fruit. According to my Field Guide to Trees from the National Audubon Society persimmon trees grow up to 70 … Read more
Here’s a new take on the name that plant challenge, Name that Seed! See if you can guess what plant these seeds came from and what they could grow to be. Each seed is slightly larger than 1/2 an inch in length and ovular in shape. The one clue that I’ll give you is that … Read more
OK, here’s your chance! Your weekend assignment is to come up with a garden/landscape plan that would fit a roughly 6′ by 10′ area that incorporates as many elements of the winter garden as you wish. There are no rules or guidelines to follow, just do something that you think will look great and show … Read more
Here is the second of the two hand drawn sketches of my winter garden layout. The first one was symmetrical. This layout uses mostly the same plants just puts them in different places. One addition to this plan is a miscanthus that I originally planted in the Japanese Maple garden. It was only placed there … Read more
Now before you go looking at my hand drawn art please note that I do not claim to be an artist, just a gardener. The paint I am used to is usually accompanied by foliage, flowers, and fruit. The “artistic rendering” below is intended to illustrate the image inside my head for one of the … Read more
In all our gardens we start small and add plants as we go. If you look back the the birdbath garden you can see what I mean. What started with a birdbath and five small plants has slowly turned into a medium size garden area with about 15 different plants. The winter garden will be … Read more
One of the areas that I would like to improve upon in our garden is the lack of winter interest. I can look outside our windows and see lots of stark naked deciduous trees waving in the wind. If they were covered in snow we would have plenty of winter interest but here in Tennessee … Read more
Here are a few garden layouts, plans, and designs that I have put together for my garden. Some are landscape plans while others are diagrams of my vegetable garden. The herb garden layouts were never actually implemented in my garden as I went with the interplanting approach. Eventually I may incorporate a formal herb garden … Read more
Lately the birds have been returning to the feeders. These goldfinches (Carduelis tristis) all dressed in their winter coats after molting are partaking of a feast of niger seed, which is excellent for attracting finches. Like all birds they seem to prefer the seed d’jour. Afterall who doesn’t like the fresh stuff? Thistle, coreopsis, sunflower, … Read more
