Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

Coral Red honeysuckle or Lonicera sempervirens is the honeysuckle you want – I mean really want- not the other kind. You probably have honeysuckle somewhere near you right now. It’s white, smells pretty good, and it may even be right behind you as you read this, don’t look! Lonicera japonica knows you are there, it’s waiting to spread and take…

What is my favorite tree?  That’s a hard question to answer, since there are so many trees that I enjoy.  Some trees provide fruit, other trees, shade, and others flowers which makes them hard to pick a single favorite.  I have to categorize.  In the spring for the flowering trees I would have to say my favorites are the cherry…

One long anticipated task for me and my garden shed was the painting. It’s come a long way over the course of the past year – from nothing to an actual building capable of storing my lawn equipment, but I’ve really been looking forward to completing the painting. Even if the inside isn’t completely arranged and finished at least the…

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…

…before the daffodils bloom! We are definitely behind last year’s blooms. The only daffodils I saw outside today were 1-2 inch leaves protruding from the ground. Anyone have a guess as to when the first daffodil in my garden will be blooming? Latest Greenhouse Post: How I’ll Use My Greenhouse.

There is a kind of magic in making cuttings. Watching something as simple and unremarkable as a little twig come to life with roots and branches all of its own can only be fascinating to the gardener. Several weeks ago I planted my Winter Garden with various plants which included three red twig dogwoods (Cornus stolonifera). These little dogwoods were…

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…

Over the years I have grown many plants. I have a bit of a collectors attitude toward my garden and pick out unique plants as much as possible. Some of those plants haven’t done well for me, but other plants have simply been amazing. I thought it would be a good idea to go back and look at some of…

Are there any other Tennessee garden bloggers out there? I found one yesterday courtesy of Nan at Gardening Gone Wild. If you have a chance go visit Frances over at Faire Gardening over in east Tennessee. If you are a Tennessee garden blogger let me know and I’ll add you to the roll!

Tall ironweed (Vernonia gigantea) is one of the few non-yellow flowering wildflowers blooming right now here in Tennessee. This extremely tall and purple member of the aster family can be seen throughout roadsides and fields in much of the country during the late summer or early fall. It stands anywhere from 3 feet up to 8 feet tall and occasionally…

This year I thought I’d try to start something on each Friday.  At the end of each work week I’ll make a list of five things from the garden.  They could be anything, everything is fair garden, as long as it can be related to the garden!  To start things off I’m going to mention 5 easy to grow plants…

A couple months ago I put together my little 6’x8′ Harbor Freight greenhouse.  It was an inexpensive greenhouse that I was hoping would be a good way to increase my growing area for my small nursery business.  I thought it was time I gave an update on how the greenhouse is working out for me. After one storm where a…

Today I picked up nearly 300 bricks for use in the greenhouse floor. Bricks are a good choice for flooring since they are solid yet can allow water to flow through the cracks. They will also help to absorb heat during the day and release it at night when the temperatures are cooler which is just what you want in…

This time of year I’m always overwhelmed by the massive amount of work that needs done in the garden. This blog sometimes helps me to keep organized when I put together a list of those garden things to do. 5 Fall Garden Chores I Need to Do in My Garden Clean up the vegetable garden. It’s overgrown from too many…

In times like these can you afford not to garden? The other day I was thinking about the actual value of a garden. What do you get out of it? Not just the sense of satisfaction of eating the greatest tomato ever grown. That’s pretty valuable in itself. Not just the pleasure of being able to boast to friends and…

It’s that time of the year again. That time when I go out and take cuttings of everything I can. For today’s post I took 6 cuttings of a ‘Husker’s Red’ Penstemon (Penstemon digitalis) and 6 cuttings of Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia). I picked up the ‘Husker’s Red’ Penstemon on the discount racks last year just as it was losing…

The rainy weather and “normal” temperatures seem to be headed back our way, so why not take a look back at some sunny blooms from summer’s past? These flowers all came from the July of 2009 version of my garden, some are annuals and others are perennials and some are somewhere in between!  The in between flowers are generally perennials…

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…