Standing in the Rain

This morning I walked out to get the newspaper through a soft drizzling rain and stood outside overlooking the backyard. Much needed and greatly welcomed, the rain felt fantastic. I observed the backyard and could almost, almost see the grass greening back up before my eyes for the cool season ahead. I’m looking forward to … Read more

A Question of Perspective: Native vs. Exotic

This could be a tense question for all those opinionated gardeners out there but which should you pick, native or exotic plants? There are definitely advantages to choosing native plants with tolerance to the climate being first and foremost. Natives are better for the indigenous wildlife as it provides the food and sustenance they are … Read more

A Sunday Question: What are the Best Ornamental Grasses in Your Garden?

Here’s another question for another Sunday! What are the best ornamental grasses in your garden? Ornamental grasses are great plants to use whether as a background or as a feature plant. There are all kinds of ornamental grasses to choose from; some are native and some exotic. In our garden we only have two varieties … Read more

Back Home Again

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 … Read more

Hostas and their Flowers

When most people, including myself, think of hostas they imagine a beautiful dark green to light green foliage plant with variegation. It’s too bad that the flowers are often taken for granted since they really are quite showy! The show starts with this little pineapple-like bud. The tightly bound buds eventually open to reveal a … Read more

Thrifty Gardening Tips: The Generosity of Gardeners

Here is Part Two of my weekly series of posts about gardening on a budget, Thrifty Gardening Tips. One of the best ways to get plants and other garden paraphernalia is through other gardeners that you know. Those who garden are generous people and always seem to want to encourage others in gardening endeavors. Often … Read more

Ah Sunflower

Ah Sunflower, weary of time,Who countest the steps of the sun; Seeking after that sweet golden clime Where the traveler’s journey is done; Where the youth pined away with desire, And the pale virgin shrouded in snow, Arise from their graves, and aspire Where my Sunflower wishes to go! by William Blake This post is … Read more

A Quick Wedding Landscape Preparation Update

I don’t have any pictures ready for this post although I did take some. I’m working to prepare my in-laws landscape for my brother-in-law’s wedding in July. Here’s just a quick list of some of the projects we’re working to complete. Weed the various gardens including a patio garden, a front yard sidewalk garden, a … Read more

Walking on a Saturday Morning to See the Sunset (Echinacea and Maple)

This Saturday Morning I walked around the yard doing some little garden chores. I stopped by a mum and clipped it back (and took the cuttings inside for propagating). I watered a few things around the gardens, mostly cuttings that have been potted up. I limbed up our ‘Sunset’ maple (Acer rubrum) to prevent some … Read more

A Greening Rain

One of the more vibrant times to observe the yard and garden is just after a rain when the sun is beginning to shine. The rain replenishes and nourishes the plants better than any watering I could do. The leaves are brighter and they glisten with the glaze of the rain still coating them. Over … Read more

Arbor Day 2008

Plant a tree. It’s a simple enough sentiment. They give us shelter, they give us shade and fruit, and they give us life. There are so many reasons why you should plant a tree that the opposing list of why not to plant a tree is very short. In fact some of those reasons are … Read more

Weekend Update

It’s been a busy weekend. We’ve been out of town since Friday visiting the in-laws house. I spent much of the weekend working on their landscape trying to get some things ready for the wedding in July. My task has been to spruce up various areas that will be around the wedding. I won’t be … Read more

An Arbor Day Pledge

Coming up on April 25, 2008 is Arbor Day. It’s a day to celebrate a unique feature of our planet the trees. The trees are so important to us. They serve as the planet’s lungs filtering the air we breathe, they provide us fruit and nuts to eat, paper to read and write with, drugs … Read more

Friday’s April Showers

Friday we had thunderstorms rolling through Middle Tennessee. The rain came down fast with the accompanying winds. This storm cleated tornadoes that tore apart homes one county south of us. Here are some pictures I took of the storm coming. The rain fell very quickly. Our rain gauge measured at least half an inch of … Read more

A Fortune Cookie Once Said…

Several years ago I had a fortune cookie at a Chinese restaurant that was the only good fortune I have ever seen. I’m not saying that any of the fortunes were bad, but some made little to no sense, and the others were just generic sayings. The one fortune that I thought had value said … Read more

Yesterday in the Garden

Yesterday was a day of many minor accomplishments. The sky was overcast but no rain came down while I worked out in the yard. I managed to attack several nagging chores that needed done. While I work I always try to look around and take some mental notes of things that need done and what’s … Read more

The Birds!

Like something out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie they came. Our house and community were surrounded. Hundreds or thousands, I could not possibly count them all. These small black birds flew in mass formations like blackened thunderclouds about to burst. (Use the player to hear the actual birds. It’s a little soft so you may … Read more

You know it’s spring when…

While the calendar says it is spring there are some other indicators of the season. I’ll name a few and you are welcome to add or comment on what you think some other signs of spring are! You know it’s spring when… the smell of grass clippings from a recent mowing wafts through your yard … Read more

Gardener Gone A.W.O.L (Making Hay)

The gardener gone A.W.O.L. was me of course, but for good reasons I assure you! No doubt you are familiar with the saying “make hay while the sun shines.” Well…the sun has been shining in our Tennessee home garden. The past couple days I have been busy in the yard trying to turn this place … Read more

Companion Planting and Raised Beds (A Growing Challenge Post)

I’ve been planning my raised bed garden for a while now and now I’ve come to another phase. Figuring out how to plant the garden. I’m planning on using a technique called companion planting. Carol at May Dreams Gardens mentioned this a couple weeks ago although she called it Three Sisters gardening. It’s concept is … Read more

What is Your Gardening Niche?

Over the course of the years gardeners learn many things through experimenting, reading, and talking to other gardeners. There are many different ideas and concepts to use in your garden and eventually you develop a little niche. Dictionary.com defines an ecological niche as ” the position or function of an organism in a community of … Read more

Plant Propagation: The Basics of Cuttings

One of the most interesting and rewarding parts of gardening is making new plants. Whether from seed, cuttings, or division it is exciting to watch new plants grow into your landscape. For me I really enjoy taking cuttings. If you have never done a cutting before you should try it. It’s not difficult if you … Read more

Signs of Spring

Yesterday in a walk around the yard we discovered some signs of the spring to come. Daffodils are sprouting up all over, the verbena is greening up and some sedum sprouts are peaking from their winter slumber. Maybe it’s early, but the temperatures have felt like spring. Historically our worst winter weather tends to happen … Read more

Here’s a Pickle For You

I’m in a bit of a pickle. Sorry if you thought I was handing out pickles with my post title. In this case the pickle refers to a dilemma or situation. It’s not a bad situation by any means. Something I suspected since we moved into our house was confirmed to me yesterday. While outside … Read more

If I had a Million Dollars…

“If I had a million dollars…” This is the main chorus line in a very humorous song by the Bare Naked Ladies but doesn’t everyone think this every now and then? So with a gardening slant… If I had a million dollars I’d build a modest house of four bedrooms and put it on as … Read more

Get in the Zone

When I’m planning my yard I like to think in what I call Zones. Each zone in itself is a mini-garden. Sometimes the zones have their own micro-climate due to wind exposure, sun exposure, and other environmental conditions like moisture and hardscaping. Over the next couple weeks I’m going to talk about the zones I … Read more

Perennial Plant Pruning

Through a moment of lazy logic I decided to defy conventional perennial pruning practice. Decided is the wrong word…perhaps forgot to would be better! I even posted about the proper way to take care of mums including pruning several weeks ago when the mums were fading. Did I do what I said? Nope, sure didn’t. … Read more

Is it Spring Yet?

Is it spring yet? The weather sure seems like it! Today and tomorrow we are looking at temperatures in the mid to upper 60’s. Yesterday was warm also in the lower 60’s. The difference today will probably be the sun. That bright orange combustible ball of incandescent gas is out and warming things up instead … Read more

A Short Walk Outside

This post was meant for Saturday morning but our internet connection was down all day. I went outside yesterday for the first time in several days to tinker in the yard. I was only out for about 15 minutes (not including the time it took me to adjust our satellite dish) but in that time … Read more

Gifts for a Gardener

This post may be a little late as Christmas has past us by over a week ago, but why not share some gifts that should make gardening easier and more fun over 2008? For those who enjoy wildlife, birds, and the outdoors bird feeders are a necessity. We already had three bird feeders but one … Read more

What Do You Compost?

Even in winter compost happens. It may be slower but those microbes are still hard at work turning your pile of waste into “Gardener’s Gold.” You can compost all sorts of vegetable based materials. I even heard a news story not to long ago in New Jersey where they compost roadkill carcasses! They bury the … Read more

Gardening in 2008 or NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS (insert dramatic music here!)

Happy New Year! It’s that time of the year again when everyone thinks of how they can do things better than last year. What can they improve? What should they never, ever do ever again? People call them RESOLUTIONS (insert dramatic music here). While there are certainly things that I can do better and improve … Read more

Taking Flowers from the Dead

I saw this story online at the Tennessean Newspaper’s website. Apparently a women was stealing decorations from grave sites and adding them to her landscape! How desperate must your landscape be to take fake flowers from the graves of the deceased then add them to your garden. The story also says that she took solar … Read more

Garden Thoughts: A Gardening Equation

(Time x (Knowledge + Experience) x Money )= Your Garden How successful is your garden? I think you can tell just by observing the outcome, but there are elements that go into it that effect your desired outcome. Time to me is by far the most important. The amount of time spent planning, weeding, planting, … Read more

What did I do this summer?

I propagated plants! Propagating is a great way to increase your landscape plants cheaply. What could be better than cheap plants? This was the first summer I seriously experimented with rooting cuttings. Some plants can be propagated by division, some by stem and tip cuttings and others by root cuttings. What I did was mostly … Read more

Blank Slate

It will be fun to think of what next year’s growing season will bring. The yard here is pretty much a blank slate still. I’ve done a few things, like making a garden bed or two, making a bird bath garden, and added trees but there is a lot left to do to fit my … Read more

Winterizing the Garden for the First Freeze

Tonight the weather people are expecting our first hard freeze in Tennessee. It will then officially end the growing season! This is not entirely true though. The plants are still growing roots. Plants planted now will grow strong root systems though the winter and should have great foliar growth in the spring. Here are some … Read more

Our House in Spring 2007

Here is our house in early spring. We took this picture soon after we bought it. There isn’t much that can be said of the landscaping at this point. It was basically a blank slate to work with. There were two Japanese hollies in front of the garage that died due to the frost and … Read more