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FINDING A FOCAL POINT
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 do during the long days of winter than think about the garden? The west side of the house is the first part you see when ...
THIS YEAR’S MASTER SEED LIST
Since I started growing plants from seeds in earnest a few years ago the amount of plants I produce has increased almost exponentially. That is only problematic from a space standpoint. I plant or have homes waiting for all of the plants so none go to waste and I think my garden is better because of this exercise. Tiny basil ...
THE SHRUB QUEEN
Stacey Hirvela didn’t get into gardening the way many people do; it wasn’t something she was surrounded by. But her grandmother grew lily of the valley by the garage, and young Stacey was allowed to pick as many of the flowers as she wanted. It wasn’t until she was older that she discovered gardening for herself and realized how head ...
PRESTO CHANGO POT TRANSFORMATION
When I set about doing this project, I planned on doing a long, involved tutorial on the blog. As it turns out, it was just about the easiest project I’ve ever done so no tutorial is needed. Remember these pots I found on a super sale in fall at the Restoration Hardware outlet? I knew when I bought them that ...
FRIDAY FINDS
Gosh, this week just whooshed by and so many things I had planned for the blog just didn’t happen. Next week should be better. Just a few quick Friday Finds to kick off the weekend. If you’re reading this on Friday, you still have a few hours left to enter to win one of two beautiful dahlia collections, including the ...
WHY I’M GOING TO USE A GARDEN JOURNAL FOR THE FIRST TIME
I have always resisted journaling. I’m sure that part of that is related to a bad journaling experience I had in eighth grade when a teacher who required us to journal every day took quite literally what I had written, which in my mind was the start of one of the many of my novels that have never gotten past ...
DAHLIAS I HAVE LOVED + A GIVEAWAY
It would be cruel to ask me (or any gardener) to name my favorite flower, but I can say without any hesitancy that I can’t imagine a garden of mine ever being without dahlias. They are, to me, the quintessential flower. And there are so many varieties I can’t imagine that everyone couldn’t find at least one (ha!) that they ...
HOW TO MAKE AN INDUSTRIAL LIGHT FIXTURE
You know what a bummer it is when you find something you really like only to discover you really don’t want to spend that much money on it? That sort of sums up my search for lights in the basement, which, as you may recall, we are trying to do on a tight budget. At one point during my search ...
FRIDAY FINDS
It is a gorgeous day in Wisconsin. The sun is shining, the high temperature may break a record and I have completely mixed feelings about that. Don’t get me wrong, I love an easy winter. But I love it during winter. There are consequences though. Last year I had Japanese beetles in my garden for the first time ever, probably ...
THERE’S A FUNGI IN MY FRIDGE
So this is in my fridge. In case you can’t tell what that is, it’s a 5.5-pound bag of slightly moldy-looking sawdust. Makes it all clear, right? That’s a bag of mushroom spawn in my fridge, complete with the directions on top of it because if I don’t keep them in there I’m sure to lose them. It’s actually a ...
FORMAL STYLE + A RIOT OF COLOR COME TOGETHER
Although it was a major topic in fall, I’ve not said much about the circle garden lately. To catch you up to speed here’s the deal with the circle garden, which is not at all a circle, but “oval garden” is not the least bit catchy. When we bought our house it was a derelict vegetable garden that was mostly ...
FRIDAY FINDS
I’ve been following Claus Dalby on Instagram for quite some time and if you hang out there he’s worth a follow. Gardenista recently wrote about him and you can see some of his work, although I detest the headline (I don’t really see any comparison to him and Martha Stewart). Over at the Rusty Duck, an ongoing bedroom renovation is ...
PLANTS OF THE YEAR
It has become very popular for different organizations to features “plants of the year.” These usually involve a marketing push as well, so retailers tend to stock up on featured plants and the odds are much better that you’ll be able to pick them up without a lot of hunting. Here are a few of the featured plants of the ...
FRIDAY FINDS
I can’t wait for the weekend. I have nothing special planned other than little projects here and there, including on doing more painting in the basement, but some weeks an unplanned weekend sounds like the best thing in the world. Lots of great stuff happening online this week (well the fun stuff, not the bits that I use this blog, ...
5 FLOWERS THAT ARE DEAD SIMPLE TO GROW FROM SEED
When I first started growing plants from seed I limited my growing to vegetables only. I can’t really explain it, other than to say that it seemed like flowers might be fussy to start from seed. Boy was I wrong. Most flowers, in fact most plants, are pretty easy to start from seed. But some are just dead simple. Here ...
WEEKEND FINDS
I had to change the name of Friday Finds this week since this is going out so late that most of you won’t see it until Saturday. Here’s what I’ve been liking and loving online this week. Loi Thai / Tone on Tone photo Loi shared some of his tips for growing the amazing myrtle topiaries he grows. I’d love ...
Letters from the Garden
Letters from the Garden
