Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

These two crepe myrtles are holding strong to their color. Although these bright red and orange beauties are not mine, I did manage to get a couple seedlings from them to plant in my yard. Most people think of crepe myrtles for their summer flowering colors, but these two are evidence that there is more to a myrtle than meets…

When working in the garden or on the farm being able to positively identify poison ivy is very important. Who wants to end up with an itching spreading rash? There is the old adage “Leaves of three Let it be, leaves of five let it thrive” but that isn’t always clear. There are lots of plants that at first glance…

This week marked the return of warm temperatures to Tennessee. Last Sunday was beautiful, the kind of day you can wear short sleeve shirts and start thinking about grilling out. Monday was even better then the rains came but the warmth was still there. This weekend brings us to a little cold front that tagged along with the rains or…

Another unforeseen issue has arisen in my garden: blister beetles!  These voracious beetles are systematically devouring the foliage of our plants.  So far they’ve taken turns tasting our tomatoes, tomatillos, and even a clematis.  I’m not heartbroken over the clematis as it’s a sweet autumn clematis that grows like a weed – it will come back.  But I do want…

Sometimes certain plants can be tricky to germinate from seed. When germinating Baptisia australis seeds you will find that the seeds have an extremely hard coat that will require some external actions to penetrate the hard outer shell that will allow the embryo to get water.  There are several methods for getting underneath that hard seed shell.  Scarification is one…

Previously in my new series of posts about how to garden on a budget, Thrifty Gardening Tips, I wrote about finding and saving discount plants. After writing that post, I had an urge to go out and look to see what I could find. It was the Thursday before the Fourth of July holiday and I had this feeling that…

In our haste to welcome the new gardening season many gardeners only think of the flowers beginning to bloom. The flower buds and blooms sure are interesting but why not take a look at the evergreens? Our collection of evergreens is relatively small but here are a couple that we have in our garden that are showing some nice color:…

This time of year it’s interesting to see which plants are still performing well.  If we pay attention to how things perform and how long they last we can make better decisions when designing our gardens with plants in the future.  If you want to extend the foliage we need to note which plants have long lasting foliage.  The same…

When redesigning the vegetable garden I decided to dedicate one 4’x6′ bed solely to the cultivation of scrumptious strawberries. Since they are perennials this bed is no longer in any kind of rotation with the other beds but it was necessary, at least for now.  The strawberries began blooming this weekend which really isn’t the greatest of times to start…

There are few structures in the garden more prominent than a gate. A good garden gate can invite a person into the garden, protect the garden from intruders, and becomes a feature to draw the eye. This weekend I put together a gate for my vegetable garden fence (which is still under construction). I managed to complete the majority of…

Here’s just a quick post to share a few photos! Enjoy the red mums of fall!   From bud… To blossoming… …to flower! Don’t forget to join in the 2011 Fall Color Project when your fall colors are at their peak!

It’s been days since we’ve seen any sign of the sun. He was back today and even a little yesterday. I don’t think I’m alone in missing my friend the sun, am I?

Fall in Tennessee is known for its wonderful color displays. We have a variety of trees both of deciduous and evergreen trees that usually make spectacular displays of colors. Unfortunately these trees have suffered with the drought this past year and have not fully shown their colors. Here are some pictures of past autumn colors in the Smokey Mountains. We…

Migration isn’t just limited to the birds and the butterflies, it happens in the garden too.  We have about a month before the frost date here in Middle Tennessee (mid-October) and it’s time to move and divide the hostas in my garden.  Once that frost date comes the hosta leaves will fade away and the hostas will be harder to…

This year I thought I’d try to start something on each Friday.  At the end of each work week I’ll make a list of five things from the garden.  They could be anything, everything is fair garden, as long as it can be related to the garden!  To start things off I’m going to mention 5 easy to grow plants…

There are many choice of trees to plant and reasons why you might want to plant them. In this post I want to highlight a few ornamental trees that might be worth planting in your landscape. Ornamental trees really could be any kind of tree but typically have great flowers or special and interesting foliage. They usually have more than…

It’s been a busy weekend. We’ve been out of town since Friday visiting the in-laws house. I spent much of the weekend working on their landscape trying to get some things ready for the wedding in July. My task has been to spruce up various areas that will be around the wedding. I won’t be doing any flower arranging just…

It’s been a few weeks since I last mentioned a notable weed but I can tell you that doesn’t mean the weeds haven’t been growing!  Ragweed and Johnson Grass are coming up in force with the warm weather and so is the weed I’m about to talk about today – pokeweed!  Pokeweed (Phytolacca americana) is a very prolific weed in…