Month: July 2012
Flowering Container Notes, Summer 2012
I have a lot of containers filled with flowers. I did not plan for that to happen. The thing is, the containers that came with the bigger plants I’ve purchased were usually not recyclable. And it seemed wrong to just throw them away. So the logical solution was to keep them and use them as planters. Of course, …
Tomato Report
I’m definitely a flower person first when it comes to gardening. Edibles come a distant second with me. However, Judy feels that a home is not a home without some kind of vegetable garden, so I try to oblige. Since the backyard is just too shady, I tucked a little vegetable garden into the front …
Gosh, thanks
I was very flattered to learn that Cheryl at Gardenhood has nominated me for the One Lovely Blog Award. Like most people, I like to get compliments and I like to get recognition. Of course, I understand that this is one of those awards given for the purpose of increasing awareness and readership of garden blogs in general – …
Weekend Notes: Floral Fireworks, Lean on Me, and Gardener in the Rye
A Glorious Weekend. After whacking us around for the last couple months, Mother Nature decided to take it easy on us poor mortals for a few days. First we got some serious rain (finally) on Wednesday and Thursday. Then Friday was the kind of day summers should be made of: sunny, dry, warm but not hot. As luck …
Currant Events: Berries for the Birds
This time of year you can see the cardinals and robins hopping around my wild black currant (Ribes americanum), helping themselves to the black fruit. I have a corner of my backyard devoted to wild black currant, which is one of my favorite native shrubs. It grows about 3-4′ and is about as carefree as …
Question of the Week: Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad Wasp?
I’ve always felt a true gardener should be comfortable with insects, and mostly I walk the walk on that point. In my view, bumblebees are cute and I’m happy when I find spiders on my plants. The bad guys like hornworms and Japanese beetles engender irritation, not disgust, and I have no problem dispatching them with various old-fashioned …
July Bloom Day
So mid-July is here, and it’s time for Garden Blogger Bloom Day. I like this custom. Anyhow, we have really entered the season of high summer. And when I say high, I mean really tall, as in really tall plants mostly with yellow flowers. At least, that’s how it is in the American Midwest. So, here’s …
The Return of the Prodigal Ironweed
Has something like this ever happened to you? I planted some ironweed (Vernonia fasciculata) in the fall of 2010. The following spring there is no sign of it. I assume they didn’t make it through the winter. All through 2011 ironweed seemed as absent from my garden as coconut palms. Fast forward to this summer. I saw some tall weeds …
The Evanston Garden Walk
The last time I went on the Evanston Garden Walk was in 2007, and I swore I wouldn’t go again. What stuck in my craw was that the event seemed to show off the gardens of people who were not gardeners, but who hired a pricey but very nice local garden center to produce an …
These are the Days of the Daylilies
I like daylilies, but I am not a fanatic, like some people I know of. I don’t belong to the American Hemorocallis Society. I don’t use up my garden budget buying the latest cultivars. My enthusiasm for daylilies is more episodic. Every few years I think to myself: what this border really needs is some …
gardeninacity 