A year ago I wrote about how my woodland sunflowers (Helianthus strumosus) had pooped out on me. They had been the only plant growing in a little back garden bed along the path to the alley. What remained looked like this. I was tired of woodland sunflower, so a new plant selection was called for. …
The light was so perfect Thursday morning that Judy was inspired to grab her camera on her way out the door and take a few pictures. I know I just did a post on Yellow Coneflower (Ratibida pinnata), but look how the yellow flowers are luminous in the sun. Here’s the grassy path that separates …
Is it already the middle of July? Hard to believe, and yet it must be, because the mid-summer flowers are blooming their hearts out. I’m actually pretty happy with how the garden looks right now. Let’s cover the highlights, starting at the sidewalk border. The Monarda didyma ‘Raspberry Wine’ is at its peak, and I’d …
Many exciting developments in the Garden In A City since returning from San Francisco, hard to know which to write about first. Perhaps the most dramatic involves plants that climb and ramble: My Clematis ‘Jackmanii’, Illinois Rose (Rosa setigera), and Rosa ‘Darlow’s Enigma’. (Alberto – no snide comments, please.) First, Clematis ‘Jackmanii’. I realize there are …
You may have read my earlier post where I wrote about how I wanted to grow morning glories (Ipomoea tricolor) on my new tuteur. Judy and I have a history with morning glories. We grew it in our first garden, if you can call it a garden. We had just moved in together, into an …
Every year there is a sort of tipping point reached some time in November that signals the coming end of fall and beginning of winter. Yesterday seems to have been one of those days. Following a week of very mild weather, almost shirtsleeve weather, a biting cold arrived riding in on strong winds. Suddenly the …
Yesterday we drove up to St. Paul, Minnesota, to celebrate my birthday with my younger son, my brother Richard, and his wife Diane. When we get to St. Paul, we like to take a little hike at Minnehaha Park, site of the waterfalls made famous, though never actually visited, by the poet Longfellow (“By the …
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