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The garden will keep, summer will not
We had our annual master gardener picnic last week in which we visit members’ gardens and then eat a lot of food. I arrived early at the main garden to help set up the food and got a good look at the garden and property and realized that its owners had been putting in a lot of time getting it ...
The Garden Appreciation Society Week 15 –Show us your blooms!
Week 15 of The Garden Appreciation Society! Can you believe it? I What’s even more amazing to me is that for 15 straight weeks I have had beautiful fresh flowers in my house. I will miss them so much in the middle of winter. But let’s not think about that, now. We have to savor every single moment of summer ...
The Garden Appreciation Society Week 14 — Link up now, gang!
Hey kids, guess what time it is? Time for this week’s Garden Appreciation Society! (cue cheering) I really love this week’s bouquet and not just because it features one of my favorite flowers: nasturtiums. I won’t blab on about them because you’re probably thinking, “Cripes, does this girl talk about anything other than hydrangeas and nasturtiums?” I love it because ...
Secret roadside gems
I have been such a bad blogger lately. I’m so sorry. Basically I’m suffering from a lack of interesting things to write about. And I hate writing about boring stuff. I’m working on it. Honest. In an effort to get a little more active, I’ve been trying to walk more, which means that I’ve been seeing the neighborhood in a ...
The Garden Appreciation Society Week 13 — Link up!
Getting a bit late on The Garden Appreciation Society this week, aren’t I? Sorry about that. I had a bouquet all made Tuesday night and then left it outside and and overnight storm pummeled it. For me, purple coneflowers (the native ones, not the new fancy cultivars, which have stolen more money out of my pocket than any other plant ...
Those are some big Incrediballs!
Last year my mom and I had a little to see who could grow more tomatoes at our shared community garden plot. I don’t remember who won. I’m not sure anybody did. Tomatoes were plentiful last year, unlike this year, so really we all won. Suffice to say, our family is just a wee bit competitive. Anyone who can turn ...
Thinking of a new garden, but it’s not my fault
I have a bad habit of adding gardens. I certainly do not need anymore gardening space right now. I find it hard to keep up with the maintenance of what I already have and there are plenty of holes in the existing gardens that need to be filled. Plus I already have my eye on an area in the back ...
The Garden Appreciation Society Week 12 — Link up!
I really can’t believe we’re already on Week 12 of The Garden Appreciation Society. What do you think? Are you enjoying it? I think I’m a flowers-in-the-house convert because of this. I haven’t missed the few flowers that I’ve brought inside each week from the garden and I love that there are always fresh bouquets inside. Even Mr. Much More ...
How to combine plants with special needs in containers
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just stick any old plant into a container with any other plant and have it be beautiful and grow perfectly? Anyone who has tried this knows it just doesn’t work that way. I scoff a little when I see some beautiful container planting in a photograph that makes absolutely zero sense because I ...
The Garden Appreciation Society Week 11 — Link up now!
We’re back on track, more or less, for this week’s Garden Appreciation Society link-up. I have to say I’m particularly happy with what I came up with this week because this is something I never would have thought to do if it weren’t for this weekly effort to appreciate the garden in a new way. Many of the container plantings seem ...
The mystery is solved, aka How a California wildflower ended up in my Wisconsin garden
Before I left a couple weeks ago an exciting mystery was solved. Reader Carol Y identified the mystery plant! To back up a little, you might recall that I found three mystery plants, planted in about a triangle as though they were put there purposely, in the garden this spring. Since I had a vague recollection that that was where ...
Better late than never: The Garden Appreciation Society Week 10
Don’t worry, I have beat myself appropriately many times with a wet noodle as punishment for taking off without so much as leaving a single post in the can. I have to say, I admire bloggers who are organized enough to have a bunch of posts all lined up before they go on vacation. I’m just happy if I can ...
The Garden Appreciation Society — Week 9 — Link up!
This week’s Garden Appreciation Society bouquet is a first for me on two counts. For one, it is the first time I’ve ever had enough roses to make a bouquet from my own garden. And secondly, it is the first time I’ve endured serious pain to make a bouquet. Holy smokes these roses are thorny! These Oso Easy roses (I ...
An as-it-is tour of the garden
Last week I promised that I’d take you on an as-it-is garden tour. I’ve never done this before because I hate people to see the garden unless it’s looking in tip-top shape, which, frankly, it rarely is. But I figured after I showed you this, the state of my garden couldn’t shock you that badly (and unlike that other post, there ...
You’re no friend of mine
Well, the friend or foe mystery is, I guess, solved. The mystery plant has bloomed and it’s not one I’m familiar with. It has these insignificant maroon-colored, cup-shaped flowers and, well, that’s about it. I STILL haven’t dug it out of the garden but I blame that more on running out of time to do everything this weekend than anything else. Still, ...
The Garden Appreciation Society Week 8 — Link up!
It’s raining again. Go figure. I had to quick run outside this morning during a lull and cut a quick bouquet for this week’s Garden Appreciation Society. I think you’d be hard pressed to find a better cut flower than a peony. I mean, it’s a no brainer kind of flower, isn’t it? OK, maybe I’d put hydrangeas on top ...
Letters from the Garden
Letters from the Garden
