Did you Get Lost in the Garden?

At the request of a reader (xRay) on the original creatively pruned Japanese dappled willow post I thought I would show you how it looks now. It needs some touching up, especially around the base and a few more branches need to be thinned around the canopy but the overall form is in tact and filling in nicely above the…

We all know the tale about that famous gardener who is protective of his garden and the hungry and curious little Peter Rabbit. The silly rabbit invades Mr. McGregor’s garden (not to be confused with Mr. McGregor’s  daughter’s garden) to gorge himself on the fruits of the gardener’s labor, then loses his clothes in the process of fleeing from Mr….

I suppose this summer I’ve concentrated my efforts in a couple areas, my vegetable garden and the front sidewalk garden. While we want bunches of fresh vegetables this year we also want our home to look nice for anyone who happens to come by. I’m pleased with the progress we’ve made on the front sidewalk garden. I’ve strayed somewhat from…

Disclaimer: The following post is a sponsored review of the Troy-Bilt TB490 XP ™ 4×4 Self-Propelled mower. All opinions are solely the opinion of the author who in exchange for goods and compensation was asked to do this review. In my last post I told you a little bit about my trip to Savannah, Georgia with the Troy-Bilt Brand Ambassadors….

It’s been a while since I posted about the corner shade garden.  Last year it really wasn’t anything to write about, it was a mess.  I neglected it due to other issues and now comes the time when I need to get it back into shape.  A year of neglect in the garden can mean a lot of work later…

This week I put together another project in the vegetable garden. It was a little one that was another step toward designing my vegetable garden as a parterre style garden layout.  The idea for this project was to create something that was both edible and ornamental! I decided that working in the vegetable garden was the way to go.  Vegetables…

After my post yesterday about the Snowy Owl Visit to Spring Hill, TN, Pete sent me a few of his pictures of the owl. He was able to get much closer to the bird than I could and his pictures are fantastic! He prefaced the pictures with a story that I’ll share with you in this post. I am a…

Denise from Southern California has another great Fall Color Project post for us!  You might think that her region may not have much fall color to offer, but if you look you’ll find it!  Just take a glance at the muhlenbergia in full bloom, the ginko trees, or the sweetgum and you’ll see the fall color that comes to Southern California….

Yesterday would have been my father’s 68th birthday.  He was a Halloween baby born back in 1943 but since July 6th, 2011 we’ve been without my dad.  I think about him in some way everyday and I definitely don’t need anything to remind me of how much he helped me through life, but to honor my dad in a small…

With a slight fog in the air the sun’s rays illuminated those morning mists.The dew glistened on the Silver mound artemisia in the front sidewalk garden.A purple Mother’s Day rose with its leaves frosted by the morning dew.If you look close enough you can see the spider web waving in the air.Morning is a great time to be in the…

I’m a huge hosta fan. I wouldn’t call myself a collector but I really enjoy how well hostas thrive with very little need for attention. Hostas certainly have a few issues but to me they are a very easy going plant to grow in the garden. There are so many varieties of hosta available with all kinds of variegation that…

The last frost date is one of the most important dates for gardeners.  The last frost date determines when to plant the vegetables and ornamentals at the best possible time for maximum growth over the season.  Some plants like being planted before the frost date while others have to be planted afterward. Last year Spring and warm weather came early…

Every now and then there is a plant that will root from the leaves, like Asiatic lilies I wrote about earlier in the year. Sedums are another one of those kinds of plants. Recently I rooted several cuttings of ‘Autumn Joy’ sedum and another sedum I don’t know the name of but bears a resemblance to Sedum seiboldii.  You might…

Tatyana took a walk through her town in Washington to bring us fall color. Along the way she found some spectacular images of fall in the Pacific Northwest. I envy their ability to grow Japanese maples so successfully in that region. Birches, maples, evergreens and the Olympic Mountains all have their place in Tatyana’s fall photos! See the most recent…

It hardly seems to me that spring had even started before it was gone.  This growing season has gone by so quickly, or maybe I’m just getting too busy!  Unfortunately the garden has been through some rough times.  Drought and unbelievable record heat have crippled gardening in many ways from killing plants to keeping gardener’s with common sense indoors (although…

As gardeners we deal with all kinds of issue that can make gardening frustrating and difficult.  One of those issues is pests.  Pests come in many forms from thousands of kinds of insects to birds and animals.  No method of pest control is 100% effective all the time so gardeners need be creative problem solvers in the garden.  The best…

I planted the fall vegetable garden in my 4’x8′ raised bed a couple weeks ago and thought it was time for another progress report. The tomatoes are still growing, or at least the cherry tomatoes are. They seem to be enhanced with the genetic make-up of kudzu and have taken over the garden effectively blocking out the sun and moisture…

Raised beds are one of the absolute BEST ways to grow a garden but there can be challenges to growing in raised beds. Often gardeners have questions about the best methods to grow in a raised bed. In this post I’ve taken some common raised bed garden questions and put together some answers based on my experience. I’ve grown in…