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FEATURE FRIDAY: CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW 2014

May 30, 2014

I’m declaring it here: Someday I will go to the Chelsea Flower Show. This annual event is a veritable utopia for gardeners who go to take in the show gardens (from large to small), and… [Continue Reading]

by Erin @ The Impatient Gardener 
3 Comments
Friday Finds

FEATURE FRIDAY: CONTAINER DESIGN

May 9, 2014

It seems incomprehensible to me that I have given basically no thought to container plantings this year. By this time of the year I usually know exactly what I’ll be doing in all of my… [Continue Reading]

by Erin @ The Impatient Gardener 
6 Comments
Friday Finds

FEATURE FRIDAY: WATER IN THE GARDEN

April 25, 2014

First of all, thank you all so much for your kind words about the loss of our dog Hudson. So many of you shared stories of your beloved pets and I know that you know… [Continue Reading]

by Erin @ The Impatient Gardener 
2 Comments
Friday Finds

FEATURE FRIDAY: GARDEN ORNAMENTS

April 11, 2014

I love garden ornaments and sculpture. The right piece in the right place adds another dimension to a garden. There’s a place for serious sculpture and whimsical ornaments in any garden, but I think the… [Continue Reading]

by Erin @ The Impatient Gardener 
4 Comments
Friday Finds

FEATURE FRIDAY: MIXED BORDERS

April 4, 2014

I’m  sorry the posting has been a bit sporadic lately. Although a deadline a work certainly has much to do with that, I’ve also been spending some blog time working on a redesign. It’s almost… [Continue Reading]

by Erin @ The Impatient Gardener 
4 Comments
Friday Finds

FEATURE FRIDAY: SPRING HAS SPRUNG

March 21, 2014

The declaration in the headline might be more optimistic than realistic, but I thought it would be appropriate to mark the first full day of spring with some shots of spring bulbs in full bloom,… [Continue Reading]

by Erin @ The Impatient Gardener 
9 Comments
Friday Finds

FEATURE FRIDAY: GREAT GATES

March 14, 2014

I love gates in gardens. The sense of enclosure that they bring is so charming. I love gates that give you just a peek of what lies beyond or ones that frame a view perfectly…. [Continue Reading]

by Erin @ The Impatient Gardener 
5 Comments
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The Impatient Gardener

Do you love gardening? Me too! I'm Erin and I garden in Southeastern Wisconsin, zone 5. The Impatient Gardener is all about real-life gardening: the good parts, the bad bits and even the funny stuff. It's part information, part inspiration and a little bit commiseration. Thanks for visiting.

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Erin Schanen 🌿 The Impatient Gardener
These sister dahlias are big, beautiful girls. Pen These sister dahlias are big, beautiful girls. Penhill Watermelon (first picture) and Penhill Dark Monarch are the best two HUGE dahlias that I grow. They share slightly twisty petals (Watermelon more so) and, when you look closely, subtle striations that add a beautiful depth of color. Watermelon grows taller than Dark Monarch (7 feet tall or more sometimes) and they both need serious staking, but it’s worth it because they produce a lot of flowers for a large-flowering dahlia. 

I like them both but if I was forced to choose (and who would make me do that?) I’d give the edge to Dark Monarch because it’s a little easier to manage size-wise, produces more flowers and has a bigger variation in flower color so it’s always interesting. 

Which do you like better?
I don’t love tools that only do one thing. But w I don’t love tools that only do one thing. But when there’s only one tool that does that one thing really well, I’m here for it. This pottery/container knife from Sneeboer makes it possible to actually get plants out of pots without breaking or damaging the pot. It’s also really expensive. 😀
A little snippet of a bouquet from the weekend. Zi A little snippet of a bouquet from the weekend. Zinnias, pycnanthemum muticum and bronze fennel shown here.
My love for Nicotiana is not a secret. I love tryi My love for Nicotiana is not a secret. I love trying out new varieties and I feel like they just work so well in my garden from both a design standpoint and a cultural standpoint (they are happy here). Because I grow so many, the ones that self sow can be surprises. 

All of these self-sown Nicotiana are probably at least partly the children of the F1 hybrid Perfume series, which grow to be about 24” tall or so. Last year I grew purple, pink, white and lime versions and these are likely new variations on those. 

Picture 3 is, in my opinion, a good example of how these self sown second-year hybrids can go wrong. I’ll probably rip that one out. 😀

And the last photo is of my favorite colorway, lime, popping up amongst the Zinnias. I find these self-sown Nicotiana popping up all summer, so there’s always a fresh-blooming supply. 

Are you as enamored with Nicotinana as I am?
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