Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

It’s Sunday and another family wedding is complete! The happy couple said their vows yesterday before the thunderstorm arrived. Since the wedding was outdoors at my mother-in-law’s house it was fortunate that the rains only came during the reception that followed. Rather than talk too much I’ll show you the results of our wedding preparations.Here is the arbor with the…

Yesterday I promised you pictures of the greenhouse project so today here are a few. It doesn’t look like much here in the beginning but the work we did today was very important. Today my father and I put in the posts. Posts set in concrete was the best option for the shed-greenhouse idea that I wanted. Originally when I…

This formerly beautiful coreopsis that I raised from seed last year was nearly completely devoured by leaf beetle larvae.  I don’t know enough about insects to identify which species of leaf beetle it is but I am positive it is a Calligrapha. The damage is pretty devastating. The leaves are spotted with holes and very few leaves have escaped untouched….

Hello home gardeners, I need your suggestions!  You see a couple years ago my dad helped me build the  Blue Garden Shed.  One of the things I was eager to install was a green roof but I determined that I didn’t have the knowledge or the money at the time to do it correctly. As s substitute one of the…

“There has been an awakening, have you felt it?” – Supreme Leader Snoke Yes, indeed we have. While Star Wars and Gardening are not necessarily tied together I felt that this quote is so appropriate for describing the spring garden. It is an awakening. The warmer weather and longer days combine to encourage plants to come alive again from dormancy….

I really like using rock and stone in the garden. I’ve used rocks and stone for two main uses: as stepping stones or as borders. I prefer natural stones that have a rough hewn look. I like the irregular forms, the variety, and the general natural quality of the stones. The problem is the perfect flat stones are not readily…

Chris over at Outside Clyde posted a great picture of the Smokey Mountains that reminded me of when we lived out that way. We really miss living in east Tennessee because of the proximity to those mountains. There are all sorts of beautiful nooks and crannies to explore, breathtaking views, and animals to see. If you’re lucky you may even…

While I was mowing the yard Tuesday evening I passed by the arbor multiple times where the moonflower vine was putting on quite a show. I went back after mowing and tried to take a few pictures in the dark of the nine blooms that emerged.  The challenge with taking pictures at night is movement. If you move the camera…

One of my goals this “offseason” (as if there ever really is!) is to maintain a constant supply of fresh basil from November to April. I could do this by simply planting a sequential crop of basil seeds every couple months. This will work but I have an easier way! Basil is one of those nifty plants that grows roots…

Coleus is one of my favorite ornamental plants (Solenostemon scutellarioides).  It functions as an annual in our zone 6b-7 but is a tropical perennial that can come back each year in the right climate.  Tennessee is definitely not the right climate!  I enjoy planting coleus because of the many varied colors it can bring to the garden.  I like the…

This Saturday is the Middle Tennessee Plant Swap at Henry Horton Park. This is a fantastic opportunity to talk to other gardeners and exchange those extra plants you don’t need for some you do! If you haven’t already gotten your plants ready you should do that ASAP to give them time to recover from any potential plant shock. Exchanges aren’t…

Here are few things happening in my garden that are worth a look at through the photos. No real theme for this post just a chance to look at some garden pictures! Beautyberry Bush Morning Glory Red Zinnia Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly

A few years ago I helped my parents build together a focal point in their yard. It is made of two concentric circles of decorative concrete retaining wall, with the center circle taller than the outer one. The circles serve as a central location in the yard for some garden pathways. In the center ring is a weeping cherry tree…

This year I’m really excited about our watermelons. I picked out the ‘Moon and Stars’ variety which not only is reported to be an excellent tasting variety but looks really neat too. ‘Moon and Stars’ are an heirloom variety that acquire a mottled coloring on the rind surfaces that resemble the night time sky! The nighttime sky also appears on…

I began the first part of cleaning up the vegetable garden and preparing it for winter today. The summer garden went much longer last year and we had tomatoes until the end of the October. Unfortunately that’s not the case this year. The few tomatoes that were left on the vines were not worth waiting for them to ripen. Besides…

While the snow is coming down I thought I would put together a rough draft garden layout of the gardens I hope to cultivate around the greenhouse once it is complete. The Landscape Garden Layout around my Greenhouse/Gardenshed Garden Landscape Layout for around Our Greenhouse Shed (not to scale) When planning out a landscape project like this the first thing…

I saw this story online at the Tennessean Newspaper’s website. Apparently a women was stealing decorations from grave sites and adding them to her landscape! How desperate must your landscape be to take fake flowers from the graves of the deceased then add them to your garden. The story also says that she took solar lights and benches. Maybe she…

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…