Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

It’s that time of the year again! Time for cilantro seeds! Cilantro is one of those herbs not every enjoys but if you do always want to have some around. Unfortunately it bolts when the weather turns hot and doesn’t want to come back until fall.  I let our cilantro bolt (go to seed) every year so that the seeds…

There are very few gardens I know of that don’t have some sort of wind chime.  Wind chimes add an extra audio element to the garden as well as a touch of whimsy.  There is quite a variety of wind chimes to choose from out there and it all depends on what you like.  Recently Windchimesonline.net sent me three bamboo…

Here is one of our coreopsis plants with it’s blooming like dozens of little yellow and red suns. I’ve recently discovered two small pots that have between 10-15 coreopsis seedlings in each of them. The rain garden I built will probably be a recipient of several as will the vegetable garden perennial ring.And a close-up picture with some rain drops…

Russian Sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia or Salvia yangii), is an absolutely awesome perennial plant that I have always enjoyed in my garden. With its silvery-green foliage and tall spires of lavender-blue flowers, Russian Sage has a knack for standing out among the perennials. It has serrated feathery leaves and aromatic scent that make it a popular choice for those looking to…

Propagating plants by cuttings is by far the most common way I propagate plants. When you take a cutting from a plant you are making an exact genetic duplicate of the original plant. Essentially it’s a clone. No you won’t see any George Lucas movies about plant propagation (I don’t even want to think about weeds using the Force. The…

OK, here’s your chance!  Your weekend assignment is to come up with a garden/landscape plan that would fit a roughly 6′ by 10′ area that incorporates as many elements of the winter garden as you wish.  There are no rules or guidelines to follow, just do something that you think will look great and show it off!  Do your best…

We had a short reprieve from the cold winter temperatures we’ve been having.  It reached nearly 70 degrees  and we actually saw the sun for the first time in days. It felt good to be outside this afternoon tending to some minor garden chores. My first task was to pot up some more Purple leaf plums (Prunus cerasifera) that had…

Back in the fall I decided to take some arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis) cuttings and test to see how well they would root over the winter. Propagating plants over the winter as hardwood cuttings has some big advantages so it was definitely worth trying. How I Took the Arborvitae Cuttings I used the same method for taking cuttings that I wrote…

This winter has just been weird. The weather, despite the weather prognosticators claiming a milder winter back in fall, has been colder than usual. Today’s snowfall just makes it seems like a second white Christmas here in Tennessee. Now before those of you north of here disparage what I’m saying keep in mind that Tennessee normally only receives 1-2 decent…

There are lot of home and garden products that a gardener can choose to use in the garden. Not all of them are good to use frequently and should only be used sparingly or not all all. Roundup is one of those types of chemicals. It accomplishes its goal very well but will leave residue in the soil. Here is…

OK so you’ve gotten your big seed order in the mail, now what?  What do you use to actually start the seeds in?  What kind of pots?  What kind of soil?  After deciding what seeds to order you need to know what medium to plant your future garden in.  There are a lot of variables out there to choose from,…

We all know we should compost. Most of use know the things we can compost. So here’s a couple ideas to help you compost! 1. We have a compost bucket outside our back door. The 5 gallon bucket stands ready to collect the compost until we can take it to the big bin in back. There are compost buckets you…

To put it simply: it’s darn cold outside! The frost pocket that is our backyard was down to 5.9 degrees F!

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…

Is this the ultimate fall flower? Yellow Mums According to Robert Bornstein via Twitter and Stephanie via Facebook Or is this it? Goldenrod (Solidago) According to Suzy via Twitter Or is this it? Shasta Daisy According to Joyce via Facebook Or is it something else? What is the ultimate fall flower? Bloggers please remember the Fall Color Project!!!

If you haven’t been to Blithewold lately you are missing out on a bunch of beautiful fall foliage! Kris just recently put a post up with all sorts of foliage perfection but it’s the Katsura photo that has me trying to figure out where to put one in our yard! Full moon Japanese maples, sourwood, and even large leaved hostas…

I’ve been lax on the lists lately. There are always things that need done and projects that need tackled and this weekend is no exception. Here’s a quick list of the fall chores and projects that I hope to start and maybe even complete this weekend! Attend the Spring Hill Country Ham Festival – This festival benefits the Tennessee Children’s…

This past weekend the weather was perfect for what else? Gardening! I spent most of my time outdoors getting the garden ready for the growing season. There’s always a lot to do in the spring to prepare the garden for a great year. The most frustrating thing about this weekend was my riding mower battery. When I went to start…