When I hear about structure in the garden, my mind immediately goes to what I consider the backbone of a garden design: trees, large shrubs and structures. These typically create the framework around which the rest of the garden falls into place. But a relatively new-to-me plant has me rethinking the idea of where structure comes from in a …
I’ve extolled the virtues of garden tours many times here. I believe there is nothing more inspiring than experiencing a garden other than your own. It’s hard for me to think of a time I’ve toured a garden and not left with a design idea I would like to incorporate into my garden or a plant I absolutely had to …
Last week I had to go to Newport, Rhode Island, for work, and although business travel isn’t high on the list of things I want to be doing in summer, it was a pleasure to be in such a beautiful city. Before I left I gardened like a mad woman to get all the major jobs in the garden finished …
I love looking at photos of gardens. I study them and after a while I think I know them. I’ve been following Linda’s blog Each Little World longer than I’ve been following any other garden blog and I feel like I’ve become close friends with her Madison, Wisconsin, garden. But a couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to see …
Kylee’s video of a monarch butterfly eclosing (hatching, sort of) is so cool. Deborah Silver is recommending that gardeners in cold climates apply an antidessicant to their boxwood this fall. The change of seasons always makes me want a clean an uber-organized house. This roundup of fabulous pantries is making me very jealous. North Coast Gardening image After all this …
Garden tours are such a great way to give your own garden a dose of inspiration. A lot of times I poo-poo going on them because I’m busy, or it’s hot, or it’s buggy, or it’s rainy or I’ve seen the gardens on the tour before, but a couple Saturdays ago I was reminded of how important it is to …
For five years now, I’ve been referring to various areas of the yard (any longtime readers remember the “Pit of despair?”) but there is really no way for you to know where anything is in relation to anything else. A blog friend (and regular reader) mentioned a few weeks ago that it was nice to see some long-view pictures of …
The Impatient Gardener blog was started in 2009 and its library of posts includes practical how-tos, plant guides, favorite garden gear, successes and failures and much more. If you’re looking for something specific, the search function at the top of the page can help.
Thank you to Wave Petunias for partnering with me on this post. I’m often asked a question that is perplexing to me: “Do you grow annuals or perennials?” I don’t fault the people asking the question as I think there are some people who grow one or the other, and perhaps that was more typical […]
Nothing stops me in my tracks more than when I’m looking at a garden jam-packed with color and texture and come across a spot of bare soil. It puts a screeching halt to well-planned flow. Gaps in the garden happen because the plant that was supposed to be growing there didn’t, or perhaps because other […]
What more can we ask from a gardening book than to be inspirational and education? Two new books with more than a little in common manage to strike the right balance of both, complimenting each other, much as the personalities of these enthusiastic and generally delightful gardeners do. Claus Dalby, the Danish gardener known for […]
Thank you to Park Seed for partnering with me on this post. As always, all words, thoughts and seed choices are my own. The hardest part of growing plants from seed is keeping the amount I grow in check. I can’t be alone in this. It can be so tempting to plant just a few […]
If there is a support group for planter addicts, let me know, because I need it. I love a good container, but finding one is a different matter. I have two non-negotiable requirements for most planters: they need to be big and they need to look good. Weight, style and even cost are all things […]
Is there any task that has so many rules and yet so many people tackling it in different methods more than growing plants from seeds? It can make the whole process even more confusing. Each way to start seeds has its pros and cons, and although some are better than others for starting particular seeds, […]
There’s a well-established garden-making process around here: Every other year I make a new garden space. It is a lot of work, puts me behind in other areas of my arguably already too-large garden and takes a bit bite out of the plant budget. By the end of the project I swear I’m all done […]
What can I say about the 2021 garden? I have been putting off thinking about it too much because well, I have regrets, and when we are only given so many summers in this lifetime, it stinks to use one on a garden that you don’t love. Don’t get me wrong, I am way more […]
No matter how much I’d like to be one of those people who makes notes throughout the year of gift ideas for family and friends, I am but a mere mortal who, in the throes of a panicked gift-buying season, ends up scouring online gift guides that claim to know the innermost desires of the […]
At a time of year when there’s no shortage of faux decor—faux trees, faux berries, faux garlands, faux mistletoe, for starters—it’s nice to have a few real plants around. The plants we typically think of as “holiday” plants don’t usually bloom at this time of year. Rather, they are forced (although perhaps “t
Growing oddball plants—those plants that aren’t commonly grown in the area—is almost always rewarding. Since there is no real way to measure success, any sign of a plant doing what it’s supposed to do is chalked up in the win column. In other words, I keep my expectations low and hope to be pleasantly surprised. […]
Thank you to Inside Outside House & Garden for partnering with me on my post. As usual, all words and thoughts are mine. Check out the promo code at the end for a free trial. “No new gardens.” Perhaps you’ve heard me say this a few times before, but it turns out no matter how […]
I’ll admit it: My gardener brain switched into fall to-do list mode awhile ago. But somewhere along the line in between planning where bulbs will go and remembering which plants need to be moved, I looked up and found some great plants showing off in the garden. It was, once again, a good reminder to […]
This time of year is all about soaking in the garden and making mental (or more likely, photographic) notes about what worked and what didn’t. Some things are as simple as a plant that just didn’t perform or as complicated as being happy with how a design sketched on paper came to fruition. But somewhere […]
