Planting Ideas

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Naturalizing Crocus in the Lawn

Finally Flowers. Michigan had an abysmally cold February and March and all the bulbs and other plants were delayed, I heard that even one state to the South things were on schedule, but up here this is the latest start I remember in recent time.
But finally, things are waking up, and up first of course, [...]

Gardening Catalogue Deluge; What to Plant?

Apparently all the nurseries have a conspiracy to bury us gardeners in catalogues starting the week after Christmas. I don’t get why, but apparently we all must start thinking about what we want to plant as soon as we’re done taking down our Christmas tree. In the past week and a half I have gotten [...]

Edible Ornamentals

When planning your garden design do not forget that you can use vegetables in your ornamental beds.
Yes, I said it, vegetables in your ornamental beds. For some reason people see an ornamental bed as featuring eye-pleasing designs with organic layouts and nice flowers. Whereas a vegetable garden needs to have straight orderly rows like a [...]

Butterfly Bush

I’ve blogged about butterfly bushes, or Buddleia, before, but I felt the need to do so again today.
You see, I went outside and noticed no less than 10 large monarch butterflies on one of my bushes. I tried my best to get a picture of them all but it wasn’t working well, the best [...]

My New Tanyosho Pine

I went to Rome in June, read all about it here. I fell in love with the beautiful stone pines that dotted the landscape. They are a very graceful pine with no understory branches and an upside down pyramid flat-top upperstory. Unfortunately they are not hardy where I live in Michigan.
Well, a few [...]

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 [...]

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 far I [...]

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 [...]

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