perennial

How to Grow Russian Sage – from Planting to Propagation

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Russian Sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia or Salvia yangii), is an absolutely awesome perennial plant that I have always enjoyed in my garden. With its silvery-green foliage and tall spires of lavender-blue flowers, Russian Sage has a knack for standing out among the perennials. It has serrated feathery leaves and aromatic scent that make it a popular … Read more

Heuchera Care, Maintenance, and Propagation

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How to Grow Heuchera, Care and Maintenance

Heuchera are one of my favorite plants. I say that phrase a lot though, but really, heuchera, also known as coral bells, are awesome perennials that gardeners just love due to the beautiful foliage and versatility in garden design. Most heucheras you will find are hybrids of species plants of Heuchera sanguinea or Heuchera americana … Read more

3 Milkweeds to Plant in The Home Garden to Help Pollinators

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One of the keys to attracting pollinators is to plant what they like. That means providing plants that give the pollinators food and shelter for all stages of development. Monarch butterflies one pollinator that can benefit from planting milkweed but there are many other insects and creatures that can benefit from the perennial. Also please … Read more

Propagating Mums for Profit

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It’s kind of an odd subject to bring up during spring but propagating mums for profit takes time. Spring is when you have to get started for fall mum sales. For the purposes of this article we are talking about the common chrysanthemum you find in stores everywhere during the fall. Also for this discussion … Read more

Aster Yellows Disease in Coneflower (Echinacea)

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Coneflowers are one of my favorite perennials. Environmentally there are few things to worry about with them. They are drought tolerant, bloom prolifically, and help to create a beautiful landscape. Unfortunately there is one major issue that can destroy whole gardens of these perennials: Aster Yellows. Recently I filmed a short video on a coneflower in my garden that has Aster Yellows disease. It’s easy to spot. Check out the video below for more information on Aster Yellows disease:

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Cause of Aster Yellows Disease

Aster Yellows main characteristics are deformed and discolored flowers.
  • Phyoplasma causes the deformities
  • Leaf hoppers and juice sucking inspects transfer it from plant to plant.

Prevention of Aster Yellows Disease

  • Remove infected plants
  • Plan your garden plantings with some space between members of the aster family.

If you enjoy coneflowers or are considering adding a few to your garden read this post: Echinacea in the Garden, Why You Should Plant It.

Crossing Daylilies

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Daylilies are one of the easiest plants to learn how to hybridize. The large flowers with easy to get to pollen make it a simple matter to transfer pollen from one flower to another.  There are a couple simple things you need to know before you start hybridizing daylilies. The first is where the pollen … Read more

Daylilies in Bloom: Daylily Hybridizing and Dividing

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It’s that time of year where the daylilies are becoming the showoffs of the garden. Daylilies (Hemerocallis) area very common collectable perennial here in the south. They propagate very easily through division and are a prime starter plant for people interested in learning how to hybridize plants. Here’s a look at a little of what … Read more

Migrating Hostas to a New Garden

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transplanted hosta

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 … Read more

How to Save Seeds of Echinacea (Coneflower)

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Updated on 11/23/2024 Fall is that time of year when gardeners begin the process of cleaning up the garden but also is the time when we begin to think of next year and saving seeds. One of the my favorite plants is echinacea and I like to save the seed from it to grow and … Read more

5 Favorite Heucheras Varieties To Grow in the Garden

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Over the years I’ve planted quite a few heucheras for my garden.  Heucheras or coral bells are becoming more and more popular as a wide array of unique cultivars continue to come on the market.  You might even think that heucheras are relatively new to the horticultural world when in fact they’ve been tinkered with … Read more

‘Sheffield’ vs. ‘Clara Curtis’

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No this isn’t some heavy weight boxing fight over on pay-per-view.  This is a garden blog after all!  This is a comparison between two very similar fall flowering perennials that really are heavy weight garden stand outs!  This battle is between ‘Sheffield Pink’ and ‘Clara Curtis’ – the pink mums! In this corner we have … Read more

The Salvias of Fall in my Garden

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I have repeatedly written about how awesome salvias are.  I hope you’re not tired of that kind of talk because your about to get another dose!  Salvias are one of the easiest to care for perennials around. During fall they bloom profusely. They aren’t bothered terribly by heat and in many cases thrive in dry … Read more

Three Yellow Perennials in My Garden

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Yarrow, Yellow Achillea

Yellow is a color that just seems to brighten things up. It’s like bringing  a little sunshine to the earth and into the garden. Most of my yellow plants love soaking up the sun which is great since shade in my garden is extremely limited. Today I’m showing you 3 of the yellow perennials from … Read more

Garden Shed Plant Propagation Update

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This year was the first year I’ve been able to house my cuttings in the garden shed. It’s been great so far. There’s no heat but the plants have been protected from the coldest of the winter lows. Essentially I’ve moved them 1-2 heat zones south without having to leave my yard.  Here’s a look … Read more

Salvia farinacea (‘Blue Bedder’) Mealy Cup Sage How to Grow and Propagate

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I’ve said repeatedly that I’m a fan of salvias. It’s no wonder since they bloom prolifically, are easy to care for, and attract pollinators right and left. One salvia in my garden (among many) that I’ve accumulated is the ‘Blue Bedder’ Salvia farinacea which is also called Blue Bedder Sage. It’s not reliably hardy to … Read more

Touring a Hosta Garden

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One of the great benefits to being a part of a garden club is being able to see other gardens. This past weekend the Spring Hill Garden Club took a tour of a very cool garden based all around everyone’s favorite shade plant: Hostas! We visited Cornelia’s garden who is the president of the Middle … Read more

Growing Achillea millifolium (Yarrow) in the Home Garden

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Achillea millifolium is one of the easiest perennials to grow. Almost no care, very little maintenance, and bright punches of color make it a very good plant for low-maintenance gardens. In our garden we have 4-5 varieties which unfortunately are mostly unnamed but their colors include red, yellow, white, and pink. The only thing I … Read more

Rudbeckia (Black Eyed Susan)

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Rudbeckia is a great perennial for the garden. Low in pests problems and high in visual interest it never fails to provide an impressive display in the late summer. It reseeds easy and is especially good for problem areas and wildflower gardens. It’s seeds nourish the birds in the fall while it’s petals nourish the … Read more

‘Powis Castle’ Artemisia (Planting and Rooting)

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Since its addition to our garden in 2009 ‘Powis Castle’ artemisia has proved to be a powerful perennial plant for foliage! I’ve always enjoyed artemisias for the silver foliage and really liked the ‘Silver Mound’ artemisia that we put in the front sidewalk garden so once I found this cultivar at a local nursery I … Read more

How Heucheras Begin (Starting Heuchera Seeds)

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Recently I started some heuchera seeds while we were suffering through the record setting deep cold of the last several weeks. I had to do something garden related to lighten my spirits that were quickly being squashed by the weather’s entrapments and starting some seeds seemed to be a good choice.  It’s easy to start … Read more

Gaillardia ‘Oranges and Lemons’ in the Garden

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gaillardia oranges and lemons

If there is one plant I intend to keep in my garden every year it would be a gaillardia and more specifically ‘Oranges and Lemons’. ‘Oranges and Lemons’ gaillardia (blanket flower) is a prolific bloomer that gives a bright and sunny look to the perennial plantings from summer through fall (zones 5-9). Even after the … Read more

Caryopteris for September Blues (Fall Flowers)

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Do you want an easy to grow shrub that has very few pest problems, isn’t munched on by deer or rabbits, and looks great at the end of summer? No it’s not impossible, think caryopteris! Caryopteris (Caryopteris x clandonensis also called blue mist shrub, bluebeard, or blue mist spirea) is deer and rabbit resistant if … Read more

Russian Sage in the Garden

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What a difference three years makes in the life of a plant. Welcome to my front sidewalk garden at the beginning of July. You will notice right off the bat several flowering perennials on the left side of the sidewalk that could use a little pruning. The Russian sages (Perovskia atriplicifolia) are towering over the … Read more

What Are Good Companion Plants for Coreopsis?

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What looks great with coreopsis in the garden? The answer is coreopsis looks great with just about everything! Over the last two years I’ve acquired several types of coreopsis (also called tickseed) and experimented with it in different combinations and found it plays well by itself and with others. Here are few coreopsis companions from … Read more

How to Propagate Asiatic Lilies From Leaves

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Asiatic lilies are a plant that in the right conditions can develop roots from leaf cuttings. Not all plants work this way but some lilies develop bulbils from the leaf area. This technique below uses that trait to help stimulate root growth from the ends of the leaves. How to Propagate Asiatic Lilies from Leaves … Read more

Hostas on the March

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Spring time is always interesting for hostas. They emerge from the soil with tight leaf buds designed to drill their way up to the surface and finally open up to become the foliage plants we all know and love. Our hostas are springing up all over our corner shade garden. Along with the heucheras, heucherellas, … Read more

How to Grow Heucheras (Coral Bells) from Seed

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With all the nasty but necessary weather we’ve been having lately it’s been hard to get out in the garden to work. What’s a gardener to do? Talk about the seedlings growing inside! Today I’m going to give you an update on how I am growing heucheras from seed. The largest of my heuchera seedlings … Read more

Seeing Seedlings (Dianthus and Hosta)

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Yesterday I gave you a sneak peek at one of my favorite perennials that I decided to try and grow from seed this year, the heuchera! The seeds came from our corner shade garden which contains a small variety of heucheras like ‘Palace Purple’, ‘Mocha’, ‘Melting Fire’, ‘Fireworks’, and a heucherella named ‘Stoplight.’ Even in … Read more

Tall Ironweed (Vernonia gigantea) Blooming in the Fall

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Tall ironweed (Vernonia gigantea) is one of the few non-yellow flowering wildflowers blooming right now here in Tennessee. This extremely tall and purple member of the aster family can be seen throughout roadsides and fields in much of the country during the late summer or early fall. It stands anywhere from 3 feet up to … Read more

Goldenrod (Solidago) Blooming in the Fall

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It’s a sure sign of fall when the goldenrod stands tall! These tall golden yellow plumes rise above most of the native grasses in our naturalized side yard. Unfortunately for this beautiful perennial flower it is commonly mistaken for a more insidious vegetative villain, ragweed. When you sneeze in the fall it isn’t goldenrod causing … Read more

Russian Sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia) a Great Perennial for the Garden

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I’ve talked about Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia) before (with propagating) but good things are always worth a second look! Our Russian sage is in full bloom in our front garden and should continue to burst forth with a bounty of purple blooms throughout the summer. These powerful perennials are drought tolerant and have been extremely … Read more

Hostas and their Flowers

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When most people, including myself, think of hostas they imagine a beautiful dark green to light green foliage plant with variegation. It’s too bad that the flowers are often taken for granted since they really are quite showy! The show starts with this little pineapple-like bud. The tightly bound buds eventually open to reveal a … Read more

Propagating Perennials: Russian Sage, Salvia, and Coneflower

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Spring is a great time for what? PERENNIAL PLANT PROPAGATION! OK, I get excited about making new plants and I wanted to share a little of what I’ve been working on in the garden. Spring really is a great time to take cuttings of your perennials, in fact it might be the best time. If … Read more