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Hakonechloa all gold
Garden, Garden design, Plants

Plant to know: Hakonechloa

March 8, 2018

Hakonechloa is one of those plants that just catches your eye. I know because it is the plant I’m most frequently asked to identify in my garden whenever I post photos that include it. It’s… [Continue Reading]

by Erin @ The Impatient Gardener 
15 Comments
Garden, Plants

THE BEST PLANTS IN THE EARLY FALL GARDEN

September 26, 2017

It’s an unsettling time in the garden. Part of me looks around, thinks about all the tasks that must get done before it gets too cold out to want to do them and wants to… [Continue Reading]

by Erin @ The Impatient Gardener 
4 Comments
Garden, Plants

HIGH SEASON FOR HOSTAS

May 24, 2017

Hostas, at least the ones in my garden, are just about at their peak. They thrive in the cool nights, (semi) warm days and constantly damp soil thanks to spring rains. The armies of slugs… [Continue Reading]

by Erin @ The Impatient Gardener 
3 Comments
Garden

FINDING A FOCAL POINT

March 17, 2017

Big things happen in my garden when I’m not able to garden. It is absolutely a case of my gardening eyes being much larger than my gardening stomach, but what else is a gardener to… [Continue Reading]

by Erin @ The Impatient Gardener 
3 Comments
Garden, Plants

FIVE PERENNIALS I’D NEVER BE WITHOUT

August 1, 2014

I have had a lot of favorite/top posts in the works and was planning to run them over the course of a week, but this is my 600th post on this blog so I thought… [Continue Reading]

by Erin @ The Impatient Gardener 
4 Comments
Garden, Plants

The Garden Appreciation Society Week 5

June 13, 2013

Sorry for the delay on getting The Garden Appreciation Society Week 5 up. You know work, and then I, well, forgot and then yada, yada, yada. (I don’t think anyone else is still yada, yada,… [Continue Reading]

by Erin @ The Impatient Gardener 
9 Comments
Garden

Fleeting color

November 30, 2011

I was downloading some photos from the weekend Tuesday night and realized there were a few I’d taken just a couple weeks ago that I’ve not posted. One of the amazing things about living up… [Continue Reading]

by Erin @ The Impatient Gardener 
1 Comment
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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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