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How did tasty and pretty chives get such a bad rap?
If social media has taught us anything, it’s that you never know what is going to cause controversy. It’s hard to imagine gardening ever being controversial, but there are plenty of strong opinions. I’m good with healthy discussion on any topic, but sometimes I just don’t see the controversy coming. And I certainly didn’t think an Instagram post showing a ...
The art of perfectly timed procrastination
I have always been a procrastinator. This is not a virtue, and I recently read an article that it’s procrastination is caused by being in a bad mood and living in the present. Personally, I think it has much more to do with living my entire young adult and adult life on a deadline; at some point you realize whatever ...
The complete clematis growing guide
My first clematis was ‘Mrs. N. Thompson’, a spindly specimen from a local garden center, but I thought it was something spectacular because it was a clematis that wasn’t ‘Nelly Moser’. Up until that point, I was under the impression that the only two clematis that existed were ‘Nelly’ and ‘Jackmanii’. ‘Mrs. N. Thompson’ never grew that well for me, ...
Garden check-in: Slowly getting on with spring
It’s been awhile since I’ve shared an update of what’s happening in the garden here, roundabout six months or so. I’m quite happy to report there’s something to report. Mind you, none of this is earth-shattering, but sometimes when I’m busy writing about fake plants or gate colors, the little things happening in the garden get forgotten. Frankly, there’s very ...
Asking the world what color a special garden gate should be
Crowdsourcing aspects of a garden is an enlightening experience. Last weekend I picked up the gate for the vegetable garden. This is a big deal in this very lengthy project. I am an admirer of garden gates. The best ones ooze charm, teasing you to just dare to walk through them. But in my garden, which is, for better or ...
We’re overthinking this gardening thing
In the 1960s and 1970s double digging was the proper way to garden. That opinion persisted for many years, and the method also known as “bastard trenching” still has its fans. (You can read more about the process, and just how unpleasant it is, here.) As arduous as it was, gardeners persisted in doing it because their gardens grew well. ...
The ultimate guide to raised beds
I love gardening in raised beds. In fact I’d argue that everything about gardening in raised beds is easier than growing in the ground. Well, everything except for the part where you make them. But other than that there are so many advantages to growing in raised beds and they are worth considering for anyone who is growing for their ...
Can we just talk about faux plants?
Before I launch into what is probably the closest I’ve ever gotten to a rant on this blog I want to just say that I firmly believe in the idea of doing what you like in your own house and garden. These spaces should please you, and if they please someone else in the process, I consider that a bonus. ...
How to grow great sweet peas
According to my seed-starting spreadsheet, which I make every year to tell me when and how I’m supposed to be starting seeds, March 14 was the day to start my sweet peas. But I couldn’t wait any longer so I got all wild and crazy and planted them last weekend. (I’m a seed-starting rebel, I tell you!) If I could only ...
You won’t believe the big seed-saving mistake I made
A few years ago I grew ‘Dalmation Peach’ Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) for the first time. It’s a gorgeous foxglove, carrying peach to pink flowers atop 2-1/2 foot tall stems. But its best feature is that it will bloom the first year, unlike most foxgloves, which are true biennials and don’t bloom until the second year. But finding seed for sale ...
The blight that may be threatening your boxwoods
UPDATE, April 2021: I’m sad to report that boxwood blight has been positively identified via plant samples I sent to the plant disease diagnostic lab in my garden. The five boxwoods in the first photo of this post are infected and will be removed. At this time I have not found signs of the fungus on other boxwoods in my ...
A seed starting plan for hoarders
This started as a post to share what I’m growing from seed this year. What it evolved into is a sordid tale of seed hoarding, a gardener so traumatized by a never-ending winter that she completely overestimated her ability to grow so many plants and, in the end, a way to justify it all. As I’ve said before, I find ...
How to grow hundreds of plants from seed
I’m always amazed at how my fanaticism for gardening has grown exponentially, but it’s most apparent in my seed starting efforts. When I first got serious about gardening I didn’t grow anything from seed. Who has time for that, I thought. And it seemed like it would be difficult and require all kinds of equipment. Oh how things change. I ...
Some of the best new plants coming to your garden
I’ve just come off the first few presentations of a talk I’m doing on some of the best new plants you’ll find in garden centers this year and spending all that time looking at new plants has me seriously excited about some of them. There are so many new plants coming on the market this year that it makes me ...
The gardener’s nemesis is the garden’s savior in the age of extreme weather
Winter has arrived. Cue the griping. I know I complain about the weather somewhat frequently, but as I’ve explained before, that’s pretty much my birthright as born Midwesterner. Winter (and whatever spring we have) in Wisconsin can be so boring that we literally can’t think of anything else to talk about. So a lot of conversations that go like this: Person ...
The great fence color debate: a conclusion
I’ve asked the opinion of my dear readers many times and it’s always an illuminating exercise. It’s interesting to get a feel for a direction others think my garden should go, even if you only know it from photos and descriptions. But in the nearly 10 years this blog has been in existence, there has never been an issue as ...
Letters from the Garden

Letters from the Garden
