Plant Profiles

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Video: How to Build a Raised Island Bed with Retaining Wall Bricks

I’m doing videos now, this is the first one I’ve posted (though the fourth I’ve filmed). Some notes.
1. Expect to spend around $5 a linear foot for a 2 brick above ground (3 rows total) retaining wall as in the video. This assumes $1.50 per brick.
2. Use high quality soil for back filling. I used […]

Carpet Phlox, a great groundcover

When this blog started I really liked Ice Plant and it was my favorite groundcover. Not anymore. As much as I liked ice plant for it’s drought invulnerability and it’s nonstop all summer long flowers, it is only marginally hardy here and I had problems keeping it coming back.
I planted some carpet phlox way back […]

Kudos to Stark Bros

My first plant of the year has arrived, a ‘Goldcot’ Apricot Dwarf from Stark Bros, and I need to sing their praises.
I’ve talked up Stark Bros before, mentioning them as my favorite place to get fruit trees, but they beat themselves in quality this time. This dwarf apricot was around 4 feet tall, and nicely […]

Japanese Irises are Better than Bearded Irises

There can be no discussion, the Japanese iris is superior, in fact, I think I hate bearded irises now, and they used to be my favorite flower.
Bearded Irises, Falling Down on the Job
So, seriously, what kind of slob falls down on the job? The bearded iris, thats who! These beautiful flowers used to be my […]

Garden for Dollars, Grow Asparagus

One of my favorite things about gardening is that you’re making free food. Well, not exactly free is it? Anymore than anything is free. You spend the time, you buy the gardening supplies, fertilizer, etc. Many people probably do garden at a loss, I’m sure I do, but I enjoy it, so there is that.
There […]

Endless Summer Hydrangea Diary

I love my Endless Summer Hydrangeas, I’ve blogged about them before (See related posts below) and I’ve got… about 10 of them I guess. I’ve also given them as gifts.
I love the big bright blue, pink, and purple flowers of big mophead hydrangeas, they really brighten up shady spots, they’re some of my favorites. But […]

One Massive Sunflower

On a whim I saw this packet of seeds at the store for “Massive” sunflowers and bought them. I put them in various spots in my landscape, here and there, and boy, are they massive.
The leaves are absolutely huge, the stalk is atleast 3 inches in diameter, and the flowers are massive as well. The […]

Lunaria Annua ‘Money Plant’

I got this plant courtesy of my grandfather, it is one of his favorites and always grew at his house in a large mass planting.
This is one interesting plant with many phases for you to enjoy.
It is a biennial, which means it lives for two years and then dies. The first year it grows […]

Sambucus nigra. “Black Lace” Elderberry Update

So here we are about 9 months after I first planted this bush and I thought I’d give an update, because really, I have so much more to say. I first blogged about Sambucus “Black Lace” when I first got it, so while I could talk about the colors whatnot, I couldn’t tell you much […]

Something to Grow: Black Currants

I was just reading an article about black currants and my interest was piqued. I am really into nutrition and apparently black currants have twice the antioxidants of blueberries, double the vitamin C of oranges, and double the potassium of bananas, among other health virtues.
But you cannot buy them in the store, even if […]

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