You know you have issues when you set out to just take the dogs to the beach for a walk and you end up 45 minutes later driving your lawn mower down the beach. But that’s exactly what happened on Sunday. This was the view from the lawn mower on Sunday. It’s way too early for lawn mowing here, but …
Far be it for me to tell the producers of a successful PBS show how to do their jobs, but I think the people who make “P. Allen Smith’s Garden Home” are missing out on a golden opportunity. Turns out the guy is funny. Really funny. And trust me, after watching almost every episode of the show ever made (and …
Pruning is one of the most difficult thing for some gardeners to do. I think deep down inside we know it’s a good thing for our plants, but it’s still hard to cut away growth that we’ve worked so hard for. Last year I pruned my Hydrangea ‘Limelight’ down to about 4 feet tall for the first time. It loved …
Four gorgeous flowers on this ‘Red Peacock’ amaryllis. Zoom out a little and you see the bulb did this all on her own. It’s still in the paper bag it came in! For several years I’ve purchased amaryllis bulbs from the yahoo plant co-op I’m a member of, potted them up and given them away as holiday gifts. They are …
I’m very excited to share a little Q&A session with talented garden designer Jack Barnwell. I found out who Jack was last summer after spending years admiring one of his designs without knowing who was behind it. I make it a point to visit the garden at the Hotel Iroquois on the island every year and it continues to be …
First of all, sorry for the radio silence last week. Deadlines at my real job got crazy and when I’m writing fast and furiously for work, it’s so hard to come home and put together a couple sentences for the blog. The good news is that I have some exciting posts planned for this week, starting with this one, which …
Look what finally gets to see the light of day. This little boxwood (‘Green velvet’ I think) is such a trooper. When I planted it near the corner of the garden I never realized that it would be buried by snow plowed from the driveway every winter, but it is. How it manages to retain any shape at all I …
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Hi everyone! I just wanted to let you know that I worked with Garrett Wade, which has some very cool garden tools, on this post. I was compensated for my time and provided samples to try out. As always, my words and thoughts are genuine and mine alone. I took a look at the extended […]
My appreciation for shrubs grows deeper every year as I appreciate the low-maintenance aspects of them and new, improved shrubs of all shapes and sizes are released every year. Hydrangeas are not unique. In fact they are so popular that even professional plants people will admit they get a little sick of them. But more […]
A quick note before we get into a makeover I’m really excited about: This post is a paid partnership with Lowe’s Home Improvement, but you know how I roll on these things: You always get my honest opinion whether you want it or not! Here’s a typical summer for me: Part 1: Hurry, hurry, hurry. […]
Over the weekend I did something I should be doing much more often. I got out of bed early and, instead of lingering over multiple cups of coffee, I grabbed my camera to take a few pictures in the nice morning light. Whether you take photos to share, as a record of your garden or […]
There’s something special going on at a little island smack dab at the meeting point of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. I’ve never been to a place outside the tropics where a garden can be filled with every color and have it work like it does on Mackinac Island. The air there is clear, the […]
Four years ago when I planted comfrey, I went into it with my eyes wide open. I knew that because comfrey grows very deep roots (like 15 or more feet deep), and because it grows very easily from root cuttings, that once I planted it, odds are, it would be in that spot forever. So, […]
Whenever I’m in Chicago I try to take a stroll through the Lurie Garden in downtown. I realize that the whole point of Piet Oudolf‘s iconic design is that looks great all the time, just in a different way (and in a way that sometimes redefines what looking great means for a garden), but it […]
Do you ever wonder what size plant you should buy? Is that bigger plant really work twice the price of a smaller plant? I have no clear position on this. Years ago when I was first starting this garden I got very involved in a plant co-op that I purchased dozens (or maybe hundreds) of […]
I’m writing this on Friday night because a Friday Finds never happened. I gardened after work until late—I’m determined to have every plant that’s in a pot in the ground by the end of the weekend—and waited for a big expected storm to come through to water it all. It’s amazing how efficient I am […]
It’s that glorious time of year when most people are settled into summer and a lot of folks are heading out for vacations. I love a good summer vacation, maybe even more than those blessed jaunts to warmer places in the middle of winter (although those certainly do more for my mental health), but it’s […]
The privacy screen garden I created at the end of the driveway a few weeks ago should have been an easy project from a plant selection standpoint. It was just four plants: an evergreen, a multi-stem tree, a shrub and a grass. It is, by far, the most restraint I’ve ever shown when planting a […]
It’s been a bit since we’ve had a Friday Finds here, because there’s been so much going on in the garden. But I thought I’d dedicate this Friday Finds to all kinds of catching up. First off, I’ve been trying to get some videos up on the YouTube channel, although not as many as I’d […]
I waited a bit to show you what I did for containers at my house this year, partly because other gardening projects have been stealing attention, but also because all containers look a little better when they have chance to grow in just a bit. They are all now getting to the point where you […]
A quick note: This post is sponsored by 3-IN-ONE® Fast-Acting Penetrant, but you know I will always tell it like it is, so all words and opinions are entirely my own. Thanks for supporting the brands that support this blog. This time of year is full of big projects. Whipping the garden into shape, never-ending […]
