There are few fall performers more majestic than the beautyberry. My beautyberry is Callicarpa dichtoma ‘Early Amethyst’ and is a native of Asia. It’s a beautiful shrub with tiny white flowers in the summer that become loaded with clusters of purple berries in the fall. When I say loaded, I mean loaded! The berries last … Read more
I spent a good deal of time this weekend getting out into the garden to get some long past due chores done. Summertime is one of those stretches where the garden seems to find itself a but neglected. It makes sense. The kids are going back to school, the weather is hot and humid, and … Read more
I’m only a little of the way into a remodel of our side garden but I thought I’d show you what there is to see so far. Our side garden connects the front yard (and arbor) to the back yard and was designed several years ago to eventually become a shady location for hydrangeas and … Read more
Never say never right? In my experience there are very few plants that are truly safe from deer. This year I’ve had big time deer issues. The extra tomato bed I planted was completely devoured by the two deer that are camping out in our backyard. That isn’t shocking really. I wasn’t able to put … Read more
I love surprises in the garden. Plants that pop up where you least expect them – unfortunately those are usually called “WEEDS.” Sometimes though we find plants of value that pop up. Here are a few pictures of some self-sown coleus plants that came up in my front garden this year. I grow coleus (Solenostemon scutellarioides) … Read more
Every garden has transitions. From the house to the garden, from one garden area to another, even within an established area a garden be transitioning from the sun to the shade, from one color to another or from one type of planting to another. Then there are seasonal transitions. Spring takes over from winter, summer … Read more
Fall is fast approaching. No matter how much we may wish to pause time and reap our summer garden harvest we have to start thinking about the fall garden. This weekend I redid and rebuilt one of my garden beds to update it for fall crops. If you’ve followed me for a while you may … Read more
It’s taken a few years before my premonitions came to fruition. It’s not that I wanted it to happen I just expected it. It was inevitable and couldn’t be avoided. The ‘Bradford’ Pear tree in my front yard split. No storm brought damaging high winds that would wreak havoc among many species of trees. There … Read more
I invited native plant expert and advocate Benjamin Vogt to write a guest post on attracting bees to the garden with native plants. I hope you enjoy it! -Dave This morning, once the sun hit the main garden, I took my video camera outside. It’s something I’ve been meaning to do, recording the most active … Read more
