Contact
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 ...
Friend or foe?
I have a confession. I might be growing huge weeds in my garden on purpose. Well, sort of on purpose. Gardening guru Margaret Roach likes to identify her weeds and her reasoning makes sense: If you know what it is, you will know how to get rid of it. And I can safely say that I know most of the ...
The Garden Appreciation Society Week 7 — Link up!
I know gardeners (and particularly Midwestern gardeners) will find any excuse to complain about the weather so I’m trying not to be fussy, but a lot of people are experiencing a rather dramatic spring and early summer. The lines of thunderstorms south of us seem to come day after day and I’m sure there are a lot of gardens suffering ...
Don’t mind the ladybugs in the fridge
We’re having a houseguest over the weekend. We pretty much never have houseguests. In fact, this might be the fourth time in 11 years that someone has slept at our house. And this time it’s someone we don’t know, staying at our house for an event related to Mr. Much More Patient’s job. You know how you clean your house ...
The Garden Appreciation Society Week 6 — Link up!
After several weeks of really struggling to come up with something to bring inside to appreciate the garden for The Garden Appreciation Society, it was so nice this week to have a few things to choose from. Things are very slowly starting to come into bloom here. The garlic chives are flowering, and I love those little pinky-purple flowers. The ...
Lessons from a weekend of gardening
Whew … what a weekend. We had our first nice day of the year yesterday and it finally felt like summer. The screens are on the windows, the breeze was blowing through the house and the deck was the perfect temperature for a cocktail after a long day. Welcome back, summer. We’re happy to have you! I had an appointment ...
The Garden Appreciation Society Week 5
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, yadaing but it’s really such a useful device, don’t you think?) It continues to be a challenging time to find something for me to make ...
Please enjoy some plant touching during this delay
Hi everyone. I’m late with this week’s Garden Appreciation Society post because I got home late last night and didn’t have time to make a bouquet. Look for that tomorrow and do not miss the links from last week which were fantastic! You all are amazing. To tide you over, I bring you another installment of the possibly creepy plant ...
The kitchen is finished! A look at the new digs
I am exceedingly happy to tell you that the kitchen is finished. OK, not finished, but finished … for now. I need to touch up some paint (we came pretty close to slapping it on Memorial Day when we had family coming over for cocktails … we finished in time but had to warm them not to touch the walls) ...
Letters from the Garden
Letters from the Garden
