Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

We all make mistakes in the garden on occasion. In fact I do it on a regular basis. Usually my mistakes are those where I forget to do something or I intend to come back and finish something but run out of time to get back to it. My biggest mistake is typically taking on too much for what my…

I’ll simply title this next picture the off-season. If you garden, you know exactly what I mean! The leftovers of an Echinacea purpurea (Purple coneflower) seed head after the birds have visited.

Summer squash is one of our family’s favorite summer vegetables.  A grilled yellow squash with olive oil, salt, and pepper is a simple and delicious treat when cooked along with some barbequed chicken!  There are a few things to know about growing summer squashes in the garden whether they are yellow squash or zucchinis.  Today’s Friday Fives will offer up…

In 2003 we didn’t have a house or a garden that we owned but we treated the Great Smoky Mountains as our garden. We traveled frequently to the park and took pictures of anything that caught our interest. As part of the Garden Bloggers’ Design Workshop: Color in the Garden at Gardening Gone Wild I thought I’d contribute some photos…

This weekend after all the garden related chores were done for the day, and just before sunset came, I took a few photographs of how our gardens look this April.  I still have mulching, pruning, weeding, and many other things to do but I thought it would be a good time to share some of our garden with you.  These…

In the world of plants there are few that are easier to root than a willow. Whether you have a weeping willow, contorted willow, or dappled willow they all root very easily. Rooting a dappled willow is extremely simple and can be done in a glass or vase of water. Rooting a Willow Tree To root a willow in most…

Recently on Facebook in a group I am a part of someone posted about a plant they didn’t know after discovering that her daughter ate some of the fruit. I can imagine the fear that must be in her mind. I have 5 children and would panic as well if one of them ingested something that could be a poison….

July is a prime time to propagate plants from the garden. Summertime plants generally have plenty of good growth that is at the ideal stage (softwood or semi-hardwood cuttings) and have plenty of time to make enough roots to overwinter well. Plus the summer heat helps cuttings to root fast. Whether you are just wanting more plants for your gardening,…

Last week I was out of town teaching and was forced to come home early due to a awful case of food poisoning (watch out for those buffets!) When Saturday rolled around my outdoor work plans were drastically changed. I had planned on getting some mulch on a few spots but just couldn’t stand being in the heat and humidity…

Last year my plum tree was the victim of a savage deer rubbing attack. The bark was stripped all the way around the trunk leaving no possibility of water passing toward the top of the tree through the cambium layer. It was frustrating to say the least. Two varieties of plum trees are necessary for good cross pollination to produce…

So what is a weed? By nearly every gardener’s definition a weed is simply a plant in the wrong place. It could be a flower that self-seeded in an unwanted location but that’s not what most people really consider a problem plant, and true weeds are problem plants. So for Worst Weed Wednesday here are several plants from my gardens…

I’m sure you’ve heard about Pinterest by now.  If you’re like me you may have thought “that’s just another online time waster.” Or if you’re a guy maybe you thought “that’s just for women!” Well I’ll admit it, those were my first thoughts.  Then I began to see people using it and sharing things from it on Facebook or Twitter….

As part of Gardening Gone Wild’s Front Garden Workshop I’ll show you the tulips that are in our front sidewalk garden bed, which is a work in progress. There are only two kinds of tulips in the front garden, a purple one called ‘Negrita’ and a mixed purple and white one called ‘Shirley’. The tulips are blooming in a small…

It’s time for my end of the year garden project review. In the remote case you don’t know what I mean I’ll explain. This is where I go back and see what I actually accomplished from among the lofty project goals I established on January 1, 2009. I’ll have a new set of projects for 2010 very soon but some…

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 your problems. Ragweed is the…

The fall season is a busy one.  We’re all busy cleaning up the outside areas of our homes and gardens to prepare for colder days ahead.  The list of things to do this fall isn’t a short one but if you can fit a few more items to your list you will save yourself some time in the spring!  Let’s…

This weekend’s weather was a sign that there really is a light at the end of this dark tunnel we call winter – and it’s not another trains headlight! Spring is coming and the warm weather that we’re having this week has me itching to get in the garden – which is exactly what I did over the weekend –…

In late May I wrote a post about how to propagate Asiatic lilies from leaves. I figured it was time to show you how things are coming along. After small little bulbs began to form on the base of the leaves I planted the bulbs into small pots. As you can see in the picture below the old leaves completely…