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The best books for gardeners
Have you finished your Christmas shopping? If you’re like me the more appropriate question might be: Have you started your Christmas shopping? Yes, we’re officially down to the wire, but I am here to help. And to me one of the best gifts period, and the best last-minute gifts are books. Most people still have a book store near them ...
Look to nature for container inspiration
If you are like me and you are just a tad behind on your winter containers, you might feel like you need to scramble a bit. One thing I’ve learned is that, especially around the holidays, scrambling leads to spending. So in a nod to keeping things simple and affordable, here are some things you can use in winter container ...
A winter patio makeover to keep you warm
Lowe’s Home Improvement partnered with me on this post to provide a big surprise to some great friends. All words, opinions and griping about the weather are my own. If you aren’t familiar with the Midwest, you might be confused by what you’re about to see. The fact is that there isn’t a lot of weather that deters us from ...
Dream gifts for gardeners
First we covered practical gifts for gardeners, but now we head to dream gifts: the amazing, the luxurious and the downright absurd. There is one gift that I didn’t have a proper illustration for that definitely falls under the dream gift category in my mind: Someone to help in the garden. 1. Cheryl’s she-shed has nothing on this amazing summerhouse/potting ...
Practical gifts for gardeners
Judging by my overflowing email inbox this weekend, I guess holiday shopping season is fully upon us, and that means that it’s time for a few gift guides. And I’m starting it off with my guide to practical gifts for gardeners. By the way, many of these items might be on sale or be offered with other deals, especially today, ...
Now’s the time to plan for next year’s garden
Well, it’s time to think about next year’s garden. I can hear what you’re thinking: But Erin, you haven’t even finished cleaning up this year’s garden! Aren’t you still trying to get a fence up around the vegetable garden this year? Have you even found all the tools you stranded in the garden yet? And you would be making some ...
How to suck the ambition out of a gardener
Well this was not in my plan. An early season snowfall has put a damper on my fall gardening plans and even worse, it has pretty much killed any desire I have to be in the garden. It’s just so hard to get inspired to garden when the option is getting your winter gloves dirty or freeze wearing just your ...
Plant to know: Birchleaf spirea
More than once I’ve written here about the misconceptions I had about spirea. For a time it was, to me, the most boring of shrubs, the least interesting of what I call the “landscaper’s trio” of spirea, daylilies (almost always ‘Stella d’Oro’) and a (usually sickly looking) hydrangea. Somewhere along the line this combination became the standard planting along every ...
Weekend Finds
Bulb planting continues for me. I’ve been a bit pokey about it this year, just because the lack of a mid-fall warmup has me running a bit frantic in the garden. There’s lots of cleanup to be done, and some jobs, like digging dahlias seem to be taking longer than I planned. I have about 150 more bulbs—daffodils and alliums—left ...
A changing, and challenged, landscape
We’ve been enjoying a particularly beautiful fall here. Beautiful not in terms of weather, as gray days have far outnumbered those crisp, sunny fall days with royal blue skies, but the trees have put an amazing show. Last year, a late-summer drought stressed trees, plants and gardeners alike, dropping leaves to the ground before most had a chance to develop ...
From empty yard to s’mores in an afternoon
This post is a paid partnership with Lowe’s Home Improvement, but all words, opinions and the recipe for the perfect s’more for non-marshmallow lovers are my own. If Mother Nature is feeling generous we’ll enjoy a long autumn with a few excellent Indian summer days mixed in for good measure. I know I spend a fair amount of time griping ...
The autumn garden: Beautifully alive and definitely dead
We’ve had several frosts now (Indian Summer, where are you?) so the garden is a mishmosh of dead and alive right now. Some things are looking great and so much else is looking terrible. I’ve been trying to take some mental notes for the future. I went heavier on the annuals this year than I would have liked, in part ...
The perfect way to store your tools (and an OK way that works too)
We interrupt your frantic season-end gardening for a quick message. This post is sponsored by 3-IN-ONE® Multi-Purpose Oil and Lava® Soap, but all words and opinions are entirely my own. This post may also include affiliate links. Thanks for supporting the brands that support this blog. There is a “right” way to store your garden tools over winter: clean, sharp ...
The first frost, the last harvest and a big project nearly complete
Well that was abrupt. Without a lot of lead-up, we had hard frost. And just like that, the growing part of the gardening season is over. I didn’t take the threat of a freeze too seriously because we usually escape the first few frosts that affect even areas just an eighth of a mile away. The moderating effect of Lake ...
The great houseplant migration
The monarchs are making their way south, and the hummingbirds are all but gone. The geese overhead seem to be pointing south and all this migration can only mean one thing: It’s time for the annual houseplant migration. I like to think of myself as a good gardener, but I am a lousy caretaker of houseplants. If it weren’t for ...
Fall cleanup with a healthy dose of cozy
Put the wheelbarrow down! I know you’re busy working in the garden, but I have to tell you that this post is a partnership with Lowe’s Home Improvement. Thanks for checking it out and thank you for supporting the brands that partner with The Impatient Gardener. Life is just periods of blissful unawareness followed by fits of cleaning. That’s my ...
Letters from the Garden
Letters from the Garden
