Planting Ideas

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Double Coneflowers

I find myself lately really enjoying double coneflowers (echinacea). Often in gardening we must make choices, do we want big, complex, showy blossoms, or do we want blossoms for a long period of time. Stella de Oro daylily blooms for a long time with relatively small plain yellow blooms, but there are other daylilies with […]

Taking Your Garden With You When You Move

In about a year I am moving to Tennessee as I’ve mentioned on this blog previously, and it is starting to feel closer and closer. I’m sure this last year will go quickly, and I’m starting to make plans for how to move my garden. One of the benefits of moving, in addition to the […]

Landscaping for Home Security

Your landscape can be beautiful, your landscape can feed you, but your landscape can also protect you. Much like a well trained dog can be both a friend and a security system, your yard and garden can serve double duty too. First Do No Harm The first step to deterring burglars and other miscreants with […]

Grow a Prehistoric Dinosaur Garden

There is something about a primordial forest, it looks old, it looks ancient, it piques my interest. The aesthetic of the old is greatly appealing to me, I think this is one of the reasons I like bonsai, which are small trees, but often so very old, and full of the character of age. The […]

Growing Mullein in the Garden

I had a volunteer mullein sprout in a crack in my stone walkway (at the end by some rocks) last year, and despite it being considered a weed by most, I left it, and this year I am rewarded with a great show. Why not grow this plant on purpose? Many actually do, it has […]

White Clover Lawn

What if I told you there was a way to have a greener lawn, that needed less water, less fertilizer, attracted beneficial insects, and yes, it would be greener? Would you believe me? You should. White clover is the answer to this riddle. A white clover planted lawn is sometimes called an ecolawn, you simply […]

Weeping Larch, Larix decidua ‘Pendula’, Like a big Bonsai

Somewhat as a followup to my previous post Niwaki: Bonsai in the Garden, about training unpotted garden trees in a bonsai fashion, today I bought a weeping larch. Long time readers of this blog will I know that for years and years I have wanted a Weeping Blue Atlas Cedar, Paul James had one on […]

How to Grow Hardy Hibiscus or Rose Mallow

This is a plant with many names, hardy hibiscus, rose mallow, swamp mallow, etc. It is a wonderful plant and should be in almost every garden. A North American native it can be found growing wild in the south, but it has been hybridized and many beautiful cultivars are available for the entire country. It […]

Front Yard Farming

I’ve seen articles recently about global food shortages and feeding our populations and whatnot, bunch of scare tactics mostly, but when you sit down and think about it, there is a lot of land that could be used to grow food, but isn’t. Highway medians, roadsides, parks, but mostly, front yards. Some backwards and oppressive […]

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 […]

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