A single Goatsbeard (Aruncus dioicus) goes a long way. It’s a big plant – ours grows about 5 feet tall with a 4 foot spread. It’s a perennial but looks more like a small shrub. But if you have the space in a spot that’s moist and shady, this plant has a lot to offer. …
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Notes from a wildlife-friendly cottage garden
Jack’s in His Pulpit, All’s Well With the World
The last week of May is generally the busiest week of the year in my job. This year the last week of May effectively lasted until June 2nd, which is why I didn’t get home until this afternoon (after being away since last Sunday). I’m rather overwhelmed by all that’s going on in the garden, …
2 Useful Native Plants for Dry Shade
Starry Solomon’s Plume (Maianthemum stellatum) and Wild Currant (Ribes americanum) are both useful plants for the native shade garden, or any shade garden for that matter. They are blooming now in our own place. They are not spectacular, but they are beautiful in their own quiet way. Adaptable to a variety of light and soil …
A Fern Foundation
Somewhere it is written that foundation plantings must be evergreen shrubs (Yews, Boxwood, and the like). and that these shrubs must be clipped into geometric shapes. Judy and I, however, have defied this commandment and have come up with a different sort of foundation planting: Ostrich Ferns (Matteuccia struthiopteris) and allied perennials. I would also …
Trillium Time
The Large-Flowered Trilliums (Trillium grandiflorum) I planted a few years ago are slowly settling in and bulking up. It’s an elegant flower with its three gleaming-white petals.
4 Spring Flowers for Shade That I Love
Let’s talk about spring-blooming native plants that like shade, specifically those that have been catching my eye lately in our garden. With one exception, these are all plants that Midwestern gardeners should be using a lot more.
Before the Storm
So we got back from Tennessee on Friday afternoon, and the garden welcomed us back with a fabulous show. However, the weather gods were preparing a more malicious welcome, namely the 3-5″ of snow predicted for the following day.
Hardwood Cove: Another Wildflower Walk in the Smokies
Multiple sources indicated that Hardwood Cove was one of the best short wildflower walks in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It’s just under a mile, and yet it took us over THREE HOURS to complete the hike.
Schoolhouse Gap Trail: A Wildflower Hike in the Great Smoky Mountains
So guess where we’ve been? Eastern Tennessee, that’s where, visiting friends. They picked us up at the Knoxville airport and whisked us off to the Great Smoky National Park, primarily so that we could enjoy the abundant wildflowers that bloom there at this time of year. Our first day there we hiked the Schoolhouse Gap …
Early Spring at the Lincoln Memorial Garden
Last Friday I stopped to visit Springfield’s Lincoln Memorial Garden on my way out of town. It is one of the few gardens designed by Jens Jensen (a hero of mine) that still retains the essential elements of his plan, which included only plants native to Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky. There was not much in …
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