Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

The Good: Cherokee Purple Tomato! Yum. This tomato delicious dark skinned tomato with the greenish shoulders is already gone, only the image remains to remember it by. And I’ll say again…Yum! The Good: Raindrops, although minimal, bring hope that more is to come tomorrow! The Bad: A sneaky deer peeking around the corner of the garden shed just waiting for…

Today while browsing I checked the Tennessee Exotic Pest Plant Council’s website and found some very useful information for home gardeners. But first let me tell you why I was looking for it. I saw a post discussing Allan Armitage’s view of native plants over at Garden Rant. To sum it up in three words: diversity is good! In my…

Today was one of those days where you just don’t seem to be able to get much done! The weather was unseasonably warm (in the 70’s) and was just great day to be outside with the exception of the high wind. Because of the billowing gusts we didn’t go outside until my youngest daughter (3 months now) went to sleep….

It’s taken a long time for our moonflower vine (Ipomoea alba) to finally become mature enough to produce a flower. I planted two moonflower vines from seed at the base of the arbor I built for Better Homes and Gardens soon after its construction. The first couple weeks of their life was difficult due to the rabbits and their taste…

Who is this hiding among the Bradford Pear Blossoms?I didn’t notice the lady beetle before I took the picture. It was only after I was perusing pictures from today’s beautiful weather that I noticed the little orange and black insect hiding among the blossoms.

I’m a big fan of foliage! There is no better time of the year than autumn for those who love foliage, and naturally fall is one of my favorite times of the year. I thought I would share with you some photos I have taken over the last month of the foliage from my garden. Tennessee often has amazing fall…

Snow is falling in the northern parts of our country as we are experiencing record 75 degree temperatures in Middle Tennessee in December! The forecast goes down from here with even a possibility of snow in the future for the weekend. Strange weather! Mid 50’s would not be surprising for this time of year but mid 70’s? I guess it’s…

Every so often, I come across a plant I’ve been hunting for and I get pretty excited. That was the case this week when I finally tracked down American Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) a native shrub that’s been on my wish list for quite a while. It was waiting for me at a local nursery where I stopped to ask about…

The Nashville Lawn and Garden Show is coming up very soon! Here are some of the details. Nashville Lawn & Garden Show February 28 – March 3, 2013  Tennessee State Fairgrounds  Come enjoy Jardins du Soleil – “Gardens of the Sun” The 24th annual show will feature  internationally-inspired garden designs! Amazing live gardens Thousands of spring flowers & plants Free lectures…

For today’s Fall Color Posts we have three garden bloggers who all decided to take their photography skills on a walk through the park. Of course since the bloggers live it different states it was not the same park but one thing was the same, awesome photography and great fall color! Oh wait…that was two things… oh well, just go…

I want to take a moment to tell you about some other products that were sent to me recently for my garden.I fully intended to run these products through the garden wringer but the funny thing about this season is that I haven’t watered the garden since early JUNE! We’ve had regular rainfall coming through and so I haven’t needed…

Welcome to Worst Weed Wednesday! Today is the day that you can rant all you want about weeds, how much you despise them, how you would like to eradicate them (and do), and what kinds of things you say to them (please keep it PG or PG13!). I’ll update this post as more folks rant on the worst weeds in…

I invited native plant expert and advocate Benjamin Vogt to write a guest post on attracting bees to the garden with native plants. I hope you enjoy it! -Dave This morning, once the sun hit the main garden, I took my video camera outside. It’s something I’ve been meaning to do, recording the most active part of the day in…

Mother nature sends us all kinds of good things to help us with the bad, we just have to know where to look! Everyone knows about lady bugs and how beneficial they are too the garden but there are other little insects that can do a good job too. Take my recent discovery of assassin bugs for example. One day…

When working in the garden or on the farm being able to positively identify poison ivy is very important. Who wants to end up with an itching spreading rash? There is the old adage “Leaves of three Let it be, leaves of five let it thrive” but that isn’t always clear. There are lots of plants that at first glance…

Every now and then I’ll be writing a post about the common weeds that we find in our yard and garden.  I’ll save these posts for Wednesdays so we can have a bit of a creative alliterative effect by calling it “Weedy Wednesday”!  I won’t be writing about weeds every Wednesday but I feel that it’s an important aspect of…

Today I’m back to talking about the patio. I’ve been adding the finishing touches to the area just in time for cold weather! We’ll still be able to use it since cold weather in Tennessee tends to be tolerable weather. (I still use the grill even in the wintertime) Please ignore the overflowing trashcan in the background but do pay…

Behind the location of our future arbor lies the Corner Shade Garden. I planted this garden last year with hostas, heucheras, and assorted other plants after the removal of a sinister privet bush. Privet has become an invasive problem here in Tennessee and I just didn’t like it in this corner next to our house. In its place went an…