Gardening
Below are links to articles posted in Gardening.
My Favorite Daylilies
Daylilies are my favorite flowers. They are hardy, relatively disease resistant (depending on area), nearly carefree, and come in a wide variety of shapes, colors, and sizes. There are though thousands and thousands of named varieties of daylilies, so to help you find some good ones here are my favorites: FAVORITE OVERALL: All Fired Up […]
Roses from Cuttings, or Roses from Grafts
Most roses sold are hybrids, which means they will not grow true from seed. So to propagate such roses there are two main methods used, cuttings & grafts. Which is better? Well, let me tell you a story. I have a ‘Zephirine Drouhin’ climbing rose planted near an arbor on the north side of my […]
A Border of Happy Returns Daylilies
My back garden is looking great again this year and I attribute much of it to my row of “Happy Returns” daylilies. Remember, a daylily is so named because each bloom lasts only for 1 day, and yet each day this row is covered by atleast a hundred blooms, and such blooming power will last […]
The Gardens of Rome
I just got back from a week’s vacation in Rome. The ruins were nice, the art, it was all good, but I really liked the landscape. All over the area we traveled around Rome (though not so much in Florence to the north) there were these massive pines I had never seen before. Turns out […]
Barberry, a great shrub for the landscape
There is something to be said about barberries. They do not have beautiful flowers. Their scent can be bad. Their foliage, though nice, is beat by other plants. And yet I find myself thinking of them as one of the best bushes for the landscape. The reasons? Sheer growability. Japanese Barberry (Berberis thunbergii) are hardy […]
Nature Hills Makes Good
Last Spring, well over a year ago, I purchased a ‘Forest Pansy’ redbud from Nature Hills Nursery. It didn’t bloom that first year, so I couldn’t confirm bloom color, and the leaves were green, instead of the purple they are supposed to be. I gave it the benefit of the doubt though and thought maybe […]
My New Plant Wish List
Late last Winter I posted a plant wishlist and I thought it’d be fun to do one again. I still haven’t gotten an American Beautyberry with it’s wonderful purple berries, so that is still on my list. Luckily or unluckily I did have a tree die, and I so bought my ‘Forest Pansy’ Redbud, so […]
Beware the Chocolate Mulch
It sounds good on paper. Cocoa bean husks used as mulch, get use out of a waste product, smells nice as you walk by. I’ve seen this mentioned on websites and on TV shows. But I have never seen it in a store. This Spring through I saw a bunch of bags at Meijer and […]
Use Water Crystals for More Flexible Plantings
Plants should be planted with similar plants that have the same soil, light, and watering needs. You shouldn’t plant a water loving plant like a hardy hibiscus (rose mallow) next to a dry loving plant like a yucca or sedum, or should you? Well, there is a way to do this. Something I’ve just started […]
Get a Gardening Hat
2 weekends ago it was amazing. We finally kicked the cold weather problem and had 2 days of beautiful, warm, dry, weather. I did a lot. I installed a new garden bed with around 150 large retaining wall bricks. I went through around 100 bags of dirt and 100 bags of mulch doing that and […]