Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

Like the neighbor’s cat holding onto our railing, many of the maples have decided to hold onto their leaves, at least for a while longer. Not all of them of course, the reds lost their leaves several days ago. The sycamore trees still have some dead leaves hanging onto their branches. Their leaves will remain there for an indefinite period…

Over the weekend I put together a garden for the opposite side of my sidewalk. Here’s the layout of the garden. I did this layout after I planted the garden and it isn’t to scale. It is roughly 18-20 inches wide and probably 25 feet long. I only used plants that I could transplant from other locations in my yard…

Thank you to all the commenters who left entries into the Troy-Bilt CS4235 Wood Chipper giveaway.  It is a great tool for the garden and I know whoever is the winner will enjoy making mountains of mulch! We had 39 commenters* who left some great descriptions of their gardens.  What I found interesting to read were the very different situations…

This weekend we were in West Tennessee attending a friends wedding and took a side trip to visit some of my wife’s relatives. While there I saw a horrifying site. At my wife’s grandmother’s house is a wonderful old oak tree that casts a welcoming shade on hot summer days, or at least it used to. On the right is…

A sea of color is what awaits you at Tina’s blog (In the Garden). Tina is writing to us from the undersea world of foliage, with photographs of maples, redbuds, and sumac displaying their fall color. The pictures come to us from Maine, Indiana and Tina’s garden so there is a variety of pictures to see! Or should I have…

For a long time now I have denigrated my Bradford pear tree.  It’s smelly in the spring, although it looks nice.  It produces loads of inedible fruit that spawns offspring in my garden and everywhere else the birds decide to fly.  Bradford pear trees are generally weak trees that split because of their “V” shaped branch unions that cluster with more…

I finally found some Muhly grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris) to add to the garden. It’s been on my radar for a while and it was even more desired after seeing it in such impressive displays at Frances’ Garden! Yesterday I planted it in our Japanese maple garden next to the Miscanthus sinensis ‘Morning Light’ that I had already planted. The miscanthus…

After the summer garden is gone there is still work to be done. My daughters and I went out last week to take care of some last minute raised bed winterizing. We are doing one important step now: adding organic matter. Why?  Because organic matter matters! By improving the soil you enrich it with the nutrients the plants need to…

Yesterday I brought home two more daylilies to add to our daylily collection.  Please welcome ‘Serena Sunrise’ and ‘Custard Candy’ to the garden! ‘Serena Sunrise’ Daylily Both of these daylilies have already been crossed with each other (yesterday) and with my favorite daylily ‘Primal Scream’ (today)!  I can’t wait to see the results, but wait I must! ‘Candy Custard’ Daylily…

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 week is guaranteed to be a busy one in my garden. The massive quantity of rain that we’ve had lately has sprung forth a corresponding amount of weeds to pull. The good thing is that the weed pulling should go fairly easily in the moist ground.  Next Saturday I’ll be hosting our garden club meeting to talk about building…

Periodically I like to walk around the yard to see what there is to see. I was out around 7:30 this morning and took these pictures of the yard. The plants are really showing their eagerness for the spring season.I don’t think many people consider maple trees for their flowers but maybe we should all take a closer look. The…

It seems that we are not the only one’s enjoying our side garden entry arbor. This little ruby throated hummingbird seems quite fond of our nifty native honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) climbing up the side of the project. Honeysuckle is one of my favorite vines to attract hummingbirds. The arbor was part of a Better Homes & Gardens Challenge where we…

Milkweed Seeds Seed starting is just about to begin in earnest for the year. In some cases the seeds you might want to grow may require some extra steps to germinate best. Annuals tend to do just fine without much pretreatment but often perennials need a period of cold to break dormancy and begin to germinate. This cold period is…

Thanksgiving is coming up next week and soon those turkeys will be filling our homes with the savory scents of a delicious dinner to be enjoyed among friends and family (and perhaps a nap to follow).  A lot of preparation goes into preparing that perfect Thanksgiving dinner and this being a gardening blog we aren’t talking turkey here but rather –…

A while back Teak Closeouts sent me several samples to try out and see if I could use in the garden. They carry a really neat line of products that general come from overstock teak wood products and sell it at better prices.  They also have other products made from teak root which can be very interesting when used for…

While I’m excited that the gables on the garden shed were covered this weekend I’m a little disappointed the garden shed siding isn’t finished. As it turns out I ran one piece of siding short of finishing the job! It’s an awful feeling to realize that you’re only a couple steps away from completing a task but you can’t.  The…

Self Sowing Garden Unfortunately I don’t have any new things to share with you like my title says.  The new things in the garden refers to what new things I would like to accomplish with my garden this year. I’ve been doing a lot of virtual gardening lately; looking at old photos of the garden and I glimpsed a few…