Old Hydrangea Problem
In the olden days hydrangeas were an iffy plant at best. This was because they only bloomed on old wood, so if you had a sudden spring frost or a particularly cold winter that killed the previous years growth you’d have a nice mound of foliage, but no blooms.
New Endless Summer Varieties
Kiss those blossomless days goodbye. The introduction of the new Endless Summer hydrangeas means that, even in places where they grow but rarely bloom, you’ll be graced [...]
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A couple years ago I started a large perennial border garden across the front of our property. I only got a small portion of it tilled and planted and that is a hodgepodge of a bunch of plants I had that needed homes immediately, if not sooner.
Reclaiming Garden Space
A portion of last years garden.
This weekend I’m going to roll out the plastic and re-kill the grass that has retaken the rest of the garden. I’m going to get the [...]
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I was looking through my old posts and found that I had never talked about the heat index. I can’t believe I would leave out such important information! Please excuse my omission.
Horticultural Zone Information
Almost anybody that does even a small amount of gardening knows about the horticultural zone index, but many don’t know about, or are not familiar with, the heat zone index. Just because a plant will grow in a certain zone, does not mean it will thrive.
If you [...]
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Crocus will often bloom right through the snow!
Amazingly enough, right now is the time to be planning for a beautiful spring garden. There are some plants that need to be planted in the fall in order to bring you spring beauty. The chief among these are bulbs: tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, crocuses, etc.
To get the most out of your bulbs you need to know when they bloom. Many bulbs have early, mid, and late varieties. You’ll need to check and [...]
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I lined my whole front garden with volunteers from this cute flower. They self seed voraciously, but not invasively.
Now that September has hit and the growing season is slowing down, I like to take the time to review the past year and see what is my favorite vegetable and flower; what did well or not; what I’ll repeat and what I’ll discard.
My Vegetable Pick Of The Year
This year’s vegetable of the year is the tromboncino squash. I’ve been looking [...]
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One thing I’ve found helpful through the years are gardening books. I have technical books, like how to save seeds; inspirational book, that have lots of beautiful garden pictures; and craft from the garden books.
Complete Guide to Flower Gardening is one of my favorite gardening books.
When you become a gardener it helps to have at least a few books on hand. One of my favorite inspiration and information books is Better Homes and Gardens – Complete Guide to Flower [...]
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It’s always delightful to bring a little bit your garden into your home. The hydrangea was just stunning this year. I had to bring some in to enjoy.
I’m fortunate. I have two sisters that love gardening as much as I do. We enjoying seeing and hearing about each others gardens. Each of us lives in a distinctly different climate: Washington state, North Carolina, and Germany. We’ve each enjoyed seeing what we can all grow in common and sometimes envying [...]
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I was reading and interesting article about a book on invasive plants. “Invasive Plants: Guide to Identification and the Impacts and Control of Common North American Species” by Sylvan Ramsey Kaufman and Wallace Kaufman not only has a listing of invasive plants found in the US, but the history of why they came to the country.
Here in the mid-Atlantic there are several plants that are considered invasive that were mentioned in the article. One of my favorites is the mimosa [...]
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Shade patterns change throughout the year. Keep a log for successful planting.
Maybe you’ve got it on you resolution list to finally do something with the yard. You’ve got some ideas, but aren’t sure exactly which plants will work well for each garden.
The first thing you need to do is know the lay of your land. Which way is north, south, east, and west? How does the house line up with these directions? Where are large trees or shrubs located [...]
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Lenten roses now come in many beautiful colors.
Almost everyone thinks of color in the garden as only lasting three seasons: spring, summer, and fall. However, there are some plants that like it cool. Most people in the southern part of the states know that pansies are a sure bet for color through the winter months, but there are other possibilities, even into the more northerly areas.
Right off the top of my head I can think of a few hellebores [...]
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