Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

It’s been a while since I’ve written about our vegetable garden so I thought the end of April would be a good time for an update!  There are a few disappointments but overall most of the garden is right on track.  We’ve used raised beds for several years now but most of them have disintegrated.  I’ve replaced some with concrete…

This past Sunday I asked a for some inspiration on perennials for fall plantings. Here is a summary of what people suggested. I’ve simplified this post to show only the specific perennials themselves but those who commented offered some great ideas for where to use these perennials and some other options like trees and shrubs so please go back and…

August isn’t a great month for planting plants here in Tennessee but it is a good time to get other projects done. That is if you can stand the heat! I have several things that I would like to get finished before the beginning of fall and I thought I would write a list to help keep myself organized.Here’s what…

The Lion stalks through the underbrush. In search of his prey… He stops to inspect his surroundings, … ever aware, ever watchful…  he quickly and stealthily crosses the open spaces for cover, still on the hunt… close now to his prey, he stalks again behind the cover of the underbrush… and fertilizes!

The daffodils are officially in bloom here in my Tennessee Garden! Every year I like to mark the beginning of the daffodil blooms as it is one of the many signs of spring. (Coming very soon: Forsythia) It’s hard not to get excited about spring’s arrival after such a cold winter isn’t it? The first daffodil of 2009 was photographed…

Take a Walk Down the Garden Path and visit some Pennsylvania fall color.  Cindy’s pictures are an excellent example of lighting and color blended to make perfect pictures.  The maples are turning and shedding their leaves creating a carpet of color.  Fantastic images of fall are all around Pennsylvania!

Mid July finds my garden a little bit rough around the edges. The need for more garden time is always present with gardens needing weeded, the lawn needing mowed and cleaned up, tomatoes that need re-staked, and many other garden chores. It’s not just the lack of garden time though, the weather has played a significant role. No rain for…

No I’m not referring to the stimulus package here. I’m talking about what possibly could be the most handy tool you ever use for spring gardening – the tarp. As my gardens have grown over the last several years I’ve added many more plants. As all gardeners know with more plants comes more responsibility and more work when spring cleanup…

The rains finally came! I know gardeners everywhere in Tennessee were excited to get this latest blast of precipitation. The front moved through yesterday in the late morning and continued to sprinkle intermittent showers upon us but it wasn’t until the nighttime hours that the real rains washed away the dust of August and September. The rain gauge picked up…

Today is a great day for fall color here in Tennessee. I went outside a few minutes ago and took some pictures for my Garden Blogger Fall Color Project Post which will come later this week. We also have a hat trick of fall color from several Tennessee bloggers!Peaceful and tranquil beauty grace the grounds of Gail’s Garden, the blogger…

The other day I was taking the camera out for a walk.  We do that often around here.  Just my camera and me wandering through the garden.  Gazing at flowers, bugs, butterflies, and anything else of interest.  I think you know this already – but I take a lot of pictures!  I stopped by to examine a zinnia intending to take a…

The fall season is a busy one.  We’re all busy cleaning up the outside areas of our homes and gardens to prepare for colder days ahead.  The list of things to do this fall isn’t a short one but if you can fit a few more items to your list you will save yourself some time in the spring!  Let’s…

We’re home again! For the last week we’ve been on the road and away from home which means that not much gardening was happening. I was away teaching at a band camp and my family was staying at the grandparent’s house. It was a busy and tiring week at band camp and now that both it and the wedding is…

Last week I put together another downspout dry creek bed to help escort the water away from the house foundation. We don’t really have any issues with too much moisture around the house but it’s better to think preemptively and solve those dilemmas before problems arise. Besides this is such an easy project to do that it can be started…

‘Henna’ Coleus When the outside temperatures began to drop in the fall I knew there were a few tender plants that I wanted to preserve for next year like my coleus. I brought 2 varieties of coleus indoors in the hopes of planting them again in the Spring of 2011 and both are doing good! I put the pot near…

I am a self-professed plant propagation nut and therefore I find plant propagation in all it’s forms very interesting. It was inevitable that I’d try my hand at hybridizing and what better place to start than daylilies? Daylilies have easy to find and manipulate reproductive parts (stamens and pistols). The stamen is the male part that contains the pollen and…

With fall almost here it’s time to start thinking about gardening chores and the task that most people have to do in some way is deal with the leaves. What do you do with the leaves is an important question. For way too long many people have burned them which to me is the worst possible way to dispose of…

This month’s Garden Design workshop at Gardening Gone Wild is all about Whimsy in the Garden. Unfortunately my garden is not the most whimsical that you will find, in fact far from it. My sense of whimsical garden implements dodges the garden gnomes and household items that other gardeners are prone to plant amongst the hostas and heucheras. Truthfully there…