Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

The Dandelion(Taraxacum officinale)You know this pretty little face don’t you? Staring up at you with it’s bright golden feathery petals gleaming in the sun. It is a pretty little flower in it’s own way. Almost…dandy. But its pretty exterior hides how fierce this weed really is. It spreads fast if not contained.This little flower from the Asteraceae family will spread…

You know how I am, if I grow it I see if I can root it! The challenge this time was to root a heuchera from a leaf cutting. It isn’t difficult if you take from the right part of the plant. Just taking a cutting from a leaf isn’t good enough as it won’t result in any new foliage….

Blooms are still being produced all over the garden midway into September. It won’t be long until fall comes and the blooms begin to become much more scarce.Good Advice: Enjoy it while it lasts!’New York Celeste’ Aster and ‘Powis Castle’ ArtemisiaFront GardenNotes: The ‘Powis Castle’ Artemisia is from a cutting.Cinnamon Basil (Ocimum basilicum)Japanese Maple Garden off the patio. Blue Mistflower…

We all know the tale about that famous gardener who is protective of his garden and the hungry and curious little Peter Rabbit. The silly rabbit invades Mr. McGregor’s garden (not to be confused with Mr. McGregor’s  daughter’s garden) to gorge himself on the fruits of the gardener’s labor, then loses his clothes in the process of fleeing from Mr….

One of the great benefits to being a part of a garden club is being able to see other gardens. This past weekend the Spring Hill Garden Club took a tour of a very cool garden based all around everyone’s favorite shade plant: Hostas! We visited Cornelia’s garden who is the president of the Middle Tennessee Hosta Society. Her garden…

One of the precursors to fall is the beautyberry. Much like the forsythias harken the arrival of spring the beautyberries are always reliably beautiful beginning this time of year. The blooms of summer gradually have transformed from small white blossoms into clusters of tiny purple gems.  Our beautyberry is now in its third year in the ground and has reached…

One of our favorite herbs is cilantro and I’m pleased to announce that it is reappearing in our garden as one of our fall crops. Cilantro grows great in the cooler weather.  Here in Tennessee it will last until late spring when the temperatures get warm. I usually let our cilantro bolt and it reseeds readily. I know many people…

It’s been a good while since I had a couple hours to “maintain” the vegetable garden. Ideally I would take 20 minutes each day to weed, search the garden for problems, weed, prune, weed, and tie up tomatoes. Yes you may have noticed quite a few weeds, let’s just say so did I! Today I did a little bit of…

Can you ever have too many sunset pictures? Here a picture of a sunset I took from Clingman’s Dome in the Smokies, taken about 3 years ago.

Low maintenance and hard working, it’s hard to go wrong with zinnias in the home garden! Zinnias have colors cover nearly any shade you could ask for in the spectrum. There are even varieties with multiple colors although I don’t have any of those in my garden. Zinnias are extremely easy to cultivate and just need a little water to…

Today was one of those days when everyone decided to have a great idea at once, post about fall colors! Unfortunately I’ve been working all day on the greenhouse and have just now been able to update the project. Better late than never right?We’ll start today’s flurry of fall foliage posts in the order they were received!The first stop today…

Imagine my puzzlement when I glanced at one of my two spireas and saw empty branches. This was a plant that was flushing out with its reddish amber to golden leaves just a couple days ago. The leaves around the tips were completely intact but some of the stems were nearly naked. What caused this damage? Aphids! What do Aphids…

One of my favorite flowers to enjoy each year is coreopsis! It has an unfortunate nickname that may make you wary, but just because coreopsis is also called tickseed does not mean it will bring ticks! More on that later, but for now here is why coreopsis should be a plant in your garden. Why Coreopsis Is Great in the…

I think you will see why I bought Coreopsis ‘Limerock Dream’.  I have a fondness for perennial coreopsis since they are so easy to grow here in Tennessee. The colors on this variety drew my eyes instantly. It’s not plain yellow like my ‘Moonbeam’ Coreopsis or ‘Jethro Tull’.  The yellow colors seem to begin in the center of the flower…

The holidays are an extremely busy time of the year. We go from Halloween with spooky decorations, to Thanksgiving with autumn harvest styles, then to finally to Christmas. For those who enjoy decorating (and have the storage space for all that stuff) it can be a great deal of fun, but for others who may enjoy the holidays much more…

We all know about compost.  It’s important, perhaps the most important thing we do as gardeners for our plants.  Organic matter is critical for plants to get nutrients.  It’s also extremely helpful as a waste disposal system.  Rather than throw away your biodegradable wastes from the kitchen you can compost it and use it later for the garden.  Composting makes…

One of my favorite little garden spots is the shade garden. It’s nestled into a little corner created by the layout of our house. When I began gardening here I knew I wanted a shade garden somewhere but our options were extremely limited. Most of the yard was full sun back then, but that’s changing. It’s a slow process, adding…

Today is the Monday morning of what promises to be the coldest week of the Fall/Winter season 2010. The temperatures are predicted to be in the 30’s for highs and teens for lows with is about 15-20 degrees colder than the normal temperatures. I thought I would take a moment with this post and tomorrow’s post and think about those…