Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

…I noticed something odd on the shelves and it was a little disconcerting to see. I went to the big chain bookstore in Franklin to see what kind of garden books they were carrying with the intent on purchasing one with some leftover money I received for my birthday last July. I know it’s been a long time since July…

Recently the folks at Lowe’s Creative Ideas asked me if I could put together a once a month project using products I found at Lowe’s that fit a specific theme.  Of course since I enjoy doing these types of projects around the garden I jumped at the chance!  This month they wanted a project centered around the theme:”Pots and Plants”. …

Marigold ‘Yellow Splash’ It’s the second day of August which means it’s time to see how the GROW project seeds have fared since our July Update!  ‘Yellow Splash’ Marigolds As you can see in the picture to the right we’re starting to get a few flowers on the ‘Yellow Splash’ marigolds in the vegetable garden.  I started more seeds a…

If you every wondered exactly why the beautyberry is called a beautyberry I’ll give you two words: “Beauty” and “berry!” These beautiful purple clusters of purple berries are well worth the wait each year for the autumn display. I’ve added several new beautyberries from cuttings to my garden this year and can’t wait until their display matches the first one…

The colors are out and some trees are spectacular! There are all sorts of colorful trees for the fall that just can’t be beat. The maples are some of my favorites. Here are some suggestions for trees with great fall color:Maples: Sugar Maple (Acer Saccharum): beautiful yellow orange foliageRed Maple (Acer rubrum) red foliage (of course)Japanese Maples (Acer Palmatum).Sweet Gum…

I like to reuse things as much as possible, so I took an old post from an old wooden palette, sanded it and gave it a cedar stain. I left some of the darker marks on it so that it would maintain that rustic look. Then I fastened a copper birdbath that we had and put it into the ground….

It’s not a secret that I’m a fan of plant propagation. Who wouldn’t be? You get free plants! One of the easiest ways to propagate a plant is through a technique called layering. With layering you essentially pin down a branch of a shrub or tree to the soil and encourage it to form roots. The roots usually appear at…

You hear a lot of us garden bloggers always talking about what to do in the vegetable garden, but what about what not to do? We all make mistakes.  We all do things that can be categorized under “OOPS”.  I’m going to share one of those “OOPS” moments with you today that quite frankly I’m disgusted with myself for doing….

Before the first frost of the fall I took a few cuttings of my Persian Shield (Strobinlanthus dyerianus) to hopefully overwinter it as a houseplant. This was the first year for Persian Shield in my garden and I’ve only seen it at one nursery around so I wanted to be sure I had some for next year in the garden….

Here’s just a look at some foliage and flowers. The foliage is of an Euonymous fortunei ‘Emerald Gaiety’. The purplish tulip goes well with the bright green colors provided by the new leaves. I’ll be adding more color for tomorrow’s Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day!

I know what this little seedling is, do you?See if you can guess what it is.This perennial does well in almost any setting and is sought after for its foliage, not necessarily its flowers. Although I find the flowers very interesting in a light and airy way. This particular seedling was collected from one of our gardens. If you need…

It’s been a couple months since I’ve participated in Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day so I figured I was due for a post! Amazingly despite a summer of neglect the garden has quite a few reliable blooms to share. If you like to think on the positive side you could consider the neglect as a test of what thrives with or…

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.

The gardener gone A.W.O.L. was me of course, but for good reasons I assure you! No doubt you are familiar with the saying “make hay while the sun shines.” Well…the sun has been shining in our Tennessee home garden. The past couple days I have been busy in the yard trying to turn this place into a fantastic garden this…

Part 11 of The Home Garden’s weekly series about gardening on a budget (aka gardening cheap!)Layering is a fantastic way to increase your plants with very little risk and a high rate of success. It is a simple method of plant propagation where roots are encouraged to develop by covering stems and branches with soil or other mediums. There are…

Flowering of the Purple Homestead Verbena If you haven’t tried growing ‘Purple Homestead’ Verbena in your home garden you really should! I’ve used this purple flowering perennial in three places so far and can think of many more locations I would like to see them. ‘Purple Homestead’ has found homes in our landscape in the mailbox garden, our front garden,…

After the storms last night it feels like we dodged the proverbial bullet. Storms blasted through Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Kentucky, and several other states bringing rain, lightning, hail, and tornadoes. It was not a restful evening by any means but we prepared for it. We used our closet under the stairs for a safety spot and stocked it with a…

Recently I received an email asking me to review a video all about backyard food production systems. I was curious so I said sure. I grow a large vegetable garden in the backyard every year and if there were ideas inside this DVD that I could use and incorporate into my garden it might be worthwhile for others who read…