Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

It’s planting time in many areas of the country and many gardeners are just starting their first gardens.  Figuring out just what to do in the garden can get a little overwhelming for beginning gardeners so here are 5 essential garden chores that gardeners can do to maximize their success! 11 Things to Consider When Designing a Raised Bed Vegetable…

One of the first plants I began planting here in our garden/landscape was the Japanese dappled willow ‘Hakuro Nishiki’ (Salix integra). It’s a beautiful shrub willow with dappled foliage that is said to grow from 10-12 feet tall. I planted it for several reasons. First of all I liked it! The dappled foliage gives three seasons of interest which in…

The plant of the week this past week was correctly guessed by several people. It is a honeysuckle vine. This particular one is sprawling up the lamp post outside my parent’s home. I suspect that it is a trumpet honeysuckle or coral honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens). It was there before they purchased the house so I can’t be 100% sure of…

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The passage of time in relation to plants is an amazing thing. I was looking back the other day at some old pictures from this past spring and was amazed at how different everything looks today. What was once a nearly barren bed in the front of our house has grown tremendously. The tulips of springtime faded and the front…

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…

Early last year I put together a rain garden in our yard to absorb some of the driveway drainage. Here are a few pictures of how it looks now! Inside the garden we have a variety of perennials that are generally carefree and tolerate a wide range of growing conditions. Plants like coneflowers. Echinacea purpurea is having a perfect year…

Yesterday would have been my father’s 68th birthday.  He was a Halloween baby born back in 1943 but since July 6th, 2011 we’ve been without my dad.  I think about him in some way everyday and I definitely don’t need anything to remind me of how much he helped me through life, but to honor my dad in a small…

Last week our family went for a vacation. The primary goal of this vacation was to let our oldest daughter see her favorite animal (the cheetah) in person. My wife did some research into various zoos and my mom suggested the Columbus Zoo in Ohio based on a Jack Hanna segment she saw on TV. We ended up scheduling two…

Here are few things happening in my garden that are worth a look at through the photos. No real theme for this post just a chance to look at some garden pictures! Beautyberry Bush Morning Glory Red Zinnia Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly

In my opinion you can never have enough fall color! Jan just posted more for us to look at and I highly recommend that you do. Photos of fall reflecting across water with hues of red, orange, and yellow blending in a perfect autumn tapestry is what you will find.  Fall is here at Thanks For 2 Day! See the…

Yet again I found myself taking more cuttings of a Japanese dappled willow (Salix integra). Sometimes I just can’t help myself. Or maybe I do help myself? Whatever the case I brought home with us a bunch of willow branches for propagating. They came off of the sides of the mother plant because it had begun impeding the pathway to…

February means I am well into seed starting for the year! It’s exciting to see those newly planted seeds turn into sprouts and begin growing. Every year I try to plant a large variety of vegetable garden plants including the must have tomato and peppers plants. I also enjoy getting a lot of ornamental seeds growing too. Below you can…

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….

Surely one of the greatest mysteries to appear in the history of the state of Tennessee. Recently strange shapes have appeared across the landscape. Covered with a cold and white mysterious substance these shapes reportedly have been erected by the mysterious “snowpeople” (the exact gender cannot be known except by manner of dress. Top hats and pipes tend to indicate…

Every year I try something new in the vegetable garden. When I was selecting seeds back in the dormant season I ran across this small melon called ‘Tigger’.  Of course as a parent with three children anything with the name ‘Tigger’ catches my attention. The ‘Tigger’ melon was described in the Baker Creek catalog as “vibrant yellow with brilliant fire-red,…

Herb Garden Layout I’ve been debating on exactly what kind of herb garden to implement and after making up some rough sketches of various ideas on paper I decided to throw this basic design together. It has a somewhat formal look yet should be relatively easy to maintain. I was considering trying to do a knot herb garden but that…