Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

It’s been warm here in TN.  Very warm. So warm that everything thinks it is indeed spring – including this gardener!  Essentially it is spring.  The weather is identical to a typical March, warm days, heavy rain showers coming through.  We’ve even had thunderstorms – in January.  It’s been a strange month.  But just because it feels like spring, looks…

What a weekend!  You don’t get weather like we had very often.  The thermometer hit the 70’s for the first time in a long while and we took advantage of it.  We spent very little time indoors, how could we?  After being cooped up in the house since fall any outside opportunity had to be taken. So what did we…

Sometimes you don’t really know where your garden is going to go.  Impulse plants or bargain plants can shape the type plants you put in, the kind of plant can determine where it goes, or you may even move plants to place them in better locations, but this notion of outside forces shaping your garden doesn’t just pertain to plants. …

The leaf show hasn’t begun in the south just yet so now is a great opportunity to look at some common leaves before the color changes begin! For a list of Native trees to the United States and information on how to propagate them go to this page: United States Native Tree Propagation List Redbuds Red Buds (Cercis canadensis) are…

A couple years ago I was given a blackberry lily (Belamcanda chinensis) to add to my garden.  I planted it when it was covered with seeds and let it go to grow as it could as I do with so many plants. I forgot about it but apparently several seeds landed in different location near our front porch entry area…

The forecast is warming up and it’s about time! The cold days might be past us and full time gardening could be about to begin. At least it will for me this weekend as I intend to get more than a few chores done, including some work on my greenhouse-shed, some pine-needle spreading, planting of more cool season vegetables, and…

A few weeks ago an email came in my box asking me a question about propagating irises. I answered the question then received a picture of the questioning gardener’s garden. To say that I was impressed would be an understatement. Climbing roses mixed with many varieties of perennials create a living painting in Ennio’s backyard. And did I mention that…

As I mentioned yesterday I was asked to do a presentation at our local garden club. I’d like to thank all those who attended the meeting and gave me such a warm reception. I plan on going back soon! The presentation was on propagating plants from cuttings, something of which I have a lot of interest and something that I…

The shovel, the rake, and the hoe.  Three tools no gardener should be without.  Ever.  They dig, they grade, and the chop the earth.  They cut roots and aid the gardener in tilling when the tiller is kaput.  While they take a little muscle to use they are capable of great deeds, such as Bermuda grass removal! Raised Bed Vegetable…

Fall is a great time of the year. It’s always been my favorite season because of the fall colors, the cooler weather, and there are always events to enjoy. The vegetable garden is enjoys the cooler weather too. Gone now are the peppers and tomatoes, which both succumbed to frost, but instead we have kale, pak choi, mustard, and Brussels…

When I went to the plant swap this past weekend I was hoping to find some shade tolerant plants to add to the corner shade garden. Something new or unique would be a great addition to the shade garden. I saw several hostas at the swap. Almost everyone loves them (I don’t know anyone who doesn’t) and they are easy…

You hear about it all the time crape myrtles being unceremoniously chopped off before they can become what they should be. This pruning method is best known as crape murder. The result of crape murder is a plant that ends up with lollipop like flowering tops with branches that flop all around in the slightest breeze. Can you tell I’m…

Every year I notice these little green insects, aphids.  Well, sometimes they aren’t green, I’ve seen them in orange and yellow and they come in red, brown, and black too.  Whatever fashion sense these insects display one thing is for sure: you don’t really want aphids on your plants!  Aphids are a soft-bodied insect that love to suck on the…

I won’t be posting a Seed Sowing Saturday post this weekend since it’s Easter weekend. I’ve included a dogwood picture and if you would like to read more about dogwoods I wrote post for the Tennessee Gardener online that you may enjoy.  Also for an update on the plants in my garden shed feel free to take a look at…

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…

Coneflowers are a work horse in many gardens including mine, but they aren’t completely issue free. Recently one of my coneflower plants began showing deformed flowers with a complete loss of color in the petals. The petals appeared stunted and pale. In some cases the deformed flowers mimic some new interesting variety of coneflower but it’s not, these are the…

It’s been a very busy week for me and I haven’t had much time to write but I did want to post a few photos of what is growing in the garden. Today is a rainy soggy mess in the garden and not very well suited for gardening so looking back at the garden photos from the week is the…

Saturday I took another small but significant step toward my quest for a greenhouse, I began the dig! While I still have some planning to do regarding the construction of the greenhouse no matter how I eventually decide to put it together I’ll need level ground with good drainage. That’s why I spent and hour and a half digging out…