Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

It’s been while since I showed larger scale pictures of the garden.  Mostly because it was such a mess over the summer. Today I’ll share a few photos of the various garden areas.  The resiliency of plants is simply amazing. With neglect, wet weather, dry weather, hot weather, and lack of time my plants seem to be doing fine! The…

The plant of the week this past week was an oak tree. This tree is actually in West Tennessee at my wife’s grandmother’s house. It is a very large and majestic tree that provides great shade and a bounty of acorns each year. The picture was taken from the base of the tree looking up at the canopy. As for…

I’m not sure how this snowfall counts. Would it be the first one in Middle Tennessee? Would it even be enough to count? I’m not sure, I only know that we did not receive what our northern neighbors have been gifted with this December!I know it disappointed my two year old daughter who asked me several times to make a…

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you and your family have a fantastic Thanksgiving filled with fun, family, and of course food!

…meal in my garden this year. Blood meal is one of those organic additives that contribute to the quality of your soil. It has a very important nutrient: Nitrogen. Nitrogen is responsible for growing the green leafy growth on your plants. Since blood meal is made form the dried blood of livestock it is an organic product and releases the…

If there is one plant I intend to keep in my garden every year it would be a gaillardia and more specifically ‘Oranges and Lemons’. ‘Oranges and Lemons’ gaillardia (blanket flower) is a prolific bloomer that gives a bright and sunny look to the perennial plantings from summer through fall (zones 5-9). Even after the blooms have faded the seed…

The signs of spring are coming up all over if you know where to look.  In some cases like with the daffodils it’s obvious.  Bright yellow flowers and buds are beginning to stand up for us to take notice.  Other plants, like sedums, are beginning to show elements of growth.  On the left is an unnamed sedum that I believe…

I went out to water plants in the garden this morning and thought it was a good time to show you how the garden was growing this morning.  So far the first week of May have been warm and sunny and the garden is responding accordingly.  Here is what you can see in our zone 6b garden this spring: Our…

The other day the rain garden completed a mini-test. It really was more of a pop quiz. It wasn’t multiple choice or fill in the blank. It was true or false, did it work or not? There was only about 0.34 inches of rain but it easily handled that amount. Here’s what the drainage looked like before the rain garden…

Welcome to Tennessee where spring comes early, leaves again, comes back, leaves again and repeats that process until April! We really have about 4-8 different “Winters.” Somewhere along the way to springtime we are blessed with a bounty of blooms that brighten moods while the long awaited anticipation of the start of the gardening season is almost at it’s end….

January 2015 is almost here and with it will come time to plan out your 2015 garden. We all know that for a plant to grow well it needs a strong root system. The same can be said for the garden as a whole. A garden’s roots are stronger with a good plan and the root of a good garden…

After you’ve run out and gotten your tree you have to plant it. Let’s assume you’ve selected the right location for the tree. Large trees should not be located too close to structures or underneath power lines. Always remember that the roots of the tree often extend past the drip line of the tree. (The drip line is the edge…

I figured since you’ve been waiting in anticipation for the winner of the $50 Lowe’s Gift Card from Lowe’s Creative Ideas that I would share with you a picture of something I’m waiting on – ‘Clara Curtis’ mums to bloom.  These beautiful daisy flowered mum that I received at a plant swap several years ago have grown and spread into…

I was tagged by Christopher at Outside Clyde to list eight things that make me happy. Then I get to name 8 other victims to do the same!Here are the rules: When tagged, you must link to the person who tagged you. Post these rules before your list, then list 8 thoughts that make you happy. At the end of…

I’ve said repeatedly that I’m a fan of salvias. It’s no wonder since they bloom prolifically, are easy to care for, and attract pollinators right and left. One salvia in my garden (among many) that I’ve accumulated is the ‘Blue Bedder’ Salvia farinacea which is also called Blue Bedder Sage. It’s not reliably hardy to my zone according to many…

Dave, I had a Yoshino Cherry Tree planted in late May and I’m noticing holes in most of the leaves. I am asking you if you know what pest may be attacking it…and if it is under attack, what treatment does it need? The answer to your question is leaf spot disease, not exactly a pest of the insect kind…

It’s almost time for this gardener to get some lettuce growing in the vegetable garden and I don’t have a lettuce update yet for the GROW project but I can show you how the basil and marigold seeds have done. We’ve been suffering from drought over the last few weeks and watering on a daily basis is becoming a necessary…

Sometimes when you look really close at things they appear much different than you expect. Sometimes closeup pictures appear almost…alien. Like a strange land that contains unique flora of its own. What do you think? Can you imagine the foreign fluffy ferns and gigantic puffy cup-shaped mushroom fungi? Can you disappear for a moment into the picture and immerse yourself…