Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

One of the areas that I would like to improve upon in our garden is the lack of winter interest. I can look outside our windows and see lots of stark naked deciduous trees waving in the wind. If they were covered in snow we would have plenty of winter interest but here in Tennessee snowfalls of that magnitude are…

Last Saturday I was shopping at a nursery where I found a ‘Walker’s Low’ Catmint (Nepeta faassinii). I’ve talked about the benefits of Nepeta before so it may not be a surprise that I bought one. I planted the new perennial the other day in our front sidewalk garden. Catmint flowering near a witchhazel and lemon balm. Simply brushing the…

The first frosts are almost always something that this gardener dreads.  Mostly because it is the end of the growing season – mostly, some plants will grow on through the winter. But if you look closely at the frost you can also find it is a thing of beauty. Frost on Viburnum x burkwoodii Frost on Butterfly Bush Frost on…

I picked up this sassafras leaf in our backyard. I was struck by its interesting coloration, red on the outside edges and orange around the main veins of the leaf. We have sassafras trees everywhere around in our yard so their leaves are easily found. They have a very strong lemon scent that can be smelled when you crush the…

Cilantro is one of those plants that you either like to eat or don’t. Fortunately I’m a fan, especially when it’s in guacamole, but even if you don’t like to eat it cilantro sure looks good when in bloom! I let my cilantro go to seed each year so that I can collect the seeds and plant it again. I…

When we purchased the Harbor Freight 6×8 greenhouse back 8 years ago we weren’t sure how long it would last. We spent around $250 on this little backyard greenhouse and based on that I really think it’s done a good job for what it is. It can be assembled in a weekend and you can go ahead and start growing…

I was looking on Amazon at some of the bestselling garden tools recently and I noticed this little tool that I found interesting: A Leatherman Pruning tool. It’s a neat idea but as I pondered it I began to wonder exactly how useful it might be. Would it be able to replace my Swiss Army pocket knife I carry everywhere?…

Today I had an odd thing happen. I was working in the garage when all of a sudden something slammed into the wall above the garage door. How a bird could mistake a wall for open air I don’t really know. Of course many birds aren’t exactly the sharpest tools in the shed. After all where else would the expression…

I was out today looking at the sorry state of the gardens and though it might be an interesting exercise to look back at how the gardens appeared last spring and compare them. Over the next few posts I’ll go back for a few photos of the spring time version and contrast it with that same garden today. Let me…

Yes you read the title right. My greenhouse shed project is mostly screwed. Rather than use nails to hold everything together we’re using coated deck screws as they tend to hold things much better and if you mess something up it’s easier to fix!  The three disadvantages of this is it takes longer, the drill eventually runs out of power…

Some days it’s good to go outside and stare off into the cosmos. As you gaze you begin to wonder what’s out there in the cosmos? Is there life to be found somewhere out in the cosmos? Not here, but we’ll keep looking. Maybe here, we should look a little closer… What do we have here? There is definitely something…

While the snow has just started here in Spring Hill, TN I’m thinking about the nice warm days of our growing season and all the neat stuff we get to experience as gardeners growing in the south.  I’ll add to this list every few days with a new thing that I miss about the growing season.  Please share in the…

Here is a list of topics about propagating plants for your home landscape. The first three posts have some important information on propagating plants while the individual plant posts offer information about propagating the plant in question as well as my own experiences with them. Enjoy! Propagating Plants: The Basics of Cuttings What in the World are Plant Patents? 10…

After two days of heavy rain fell, a veil of mist rose to met the sun.The sun’s rays beamed through the mist and illuminated the trees still mostly bare from their winter rest. With the sun comes the promise of warm spring days to come. The promise of new life, new growth and new experiences. The excitement of a new…

I have to admit I’m lovin’ my lawn right now. This is our third spring in this home and the lawn is beginning to look very nice. It’s not perfect, in fact far from it. Weeds can be found within a few feet of anywhere you look but the fescue is taking over. Areas that used to be clumps of…

For today’s issue of Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day I can actually share with you some very nice flowers all thanks to the recent rains. The extra water perked up enough of the garden for it to be almost perfectly presentable just in time for the 15th of July. I hope you enjoy them as much as this happily buzzing bee…

It’s been a while since I’ve talked much about plant propagation so that means it’s time to talk plant propagation! Here’s a picture update of what has been rooting in my garden. Almost all the following plants were kept in my simple plant propagation chamber (that’s a fancy name for the two big plastic boxes on my front porch). You…