There are many people who love peonies, and I respect their point of view. I am not one of them, however. Judy is, though, and that’s why we have peonies in the garden. As it is, we have four, all from Klehm’s Song Sparrow Farm in Illinois. There are three hybrids: ‘America’, ‘Abalone Pearl’, and …
Some of my favorite perennial flowers are Geraniums. When I say Geranium, I mean members of the genus Geranium that also go by the common names Cranesbill or Hardy Geranium. I don’t mean the red flowering annuals that grow in pots. Those are really members of the genus Pelargonium, but are commonly called Zonal Geraniums, …
After the Chicago Botanic Garden, the Lurie Garden should be the next must-see item on the agenda of any avid gardener visiting Chicago. It is a five acre garden in the heart of downtown, designed by Piet Oudolf and Robert Israel. Truly a garden in a city. The Lurie Garden has a prairie-style design, but …
Amsonia tabernaemontana, that is, commonly known as Blue Star because of its star-shaped blue flowers in May and June. This is a plant that starts out small but gets quite hefty with time. The one in the front gets almost four feet high and three feet across. Flopping can be a problem after the flowers …
It’s been a very long day so I am just going to post some photos of various parts of the garden at the end of May. These pictures were actually taken on Sunday, but close enough. First, the driveway raised bed. The foundation bed at the front of the house. View from behind the sidewalk bed. …
Voila, Le Tuteur! Today is lovely, sunny and cool, which makes up partly for yesterday, which was cloudy and cold. It didn’t rain though, so at the conclusion of this weekend I feel almost caught up with staking, cutting back, weeding, etc. Close enough to caught up, anyhow, to prevent total panic. One accomplishment was …
Starry Solomon’s Plume is more properly known as Starry False Solomon’s Seal, but the people who write plant catalogues don’t like common names with “false”, it must drive down sales, so they came up with something with a more positive ring. I think they did right, because the other name implies that the plant is …
As I may have mentioned, starting last week and for the remainder of May I have to be out-of-town Monday through Friday. This is what we used to call a major bummer, especially given all that is happening in the garden. Yesterday I arrived home to find that the late season container tulips were blooming. …
Carol of May Dreams Gardens hosts Garden Bloggers Bloom Day on the 15th of every month, giving gardeners around the world an opportunity to show what’s in bloom on their home ground. So let’s get to it! May has been a good month for color in my garden. The lily flowering tulip ‘West Point’ is now …
The old-fashioned bleeding hearts (Lamprocapnos spectabilis) in my garden are looking very happy this year, the moist cool spring must agree with them. They are bushy and robust, with many long stems lined with dangling pink and white flowers. The unique shape of the bleeding heart flower certainly suggests the origin the plant’s name, though …
gardeninacity 