July 2007

A small change in routine can make a big change in the gardenI was the oldest of a large family, and I aspired to be a good girl. Not so much in the sense of morally superior; I wanted to do it right, correctly. Even as a child, I was a perfectionist. Perfectionists: You know [...]

I call creeping bellflower (Campanula rapunculoides) the evil twin because it looks just like ladybells, (Adenophora confusa), only it is aggressively spreading and ineradicable, and ladybells is well-behaved. So they say. I outline my futile attempts to figure out the actual differences between these two plants in an essay on the last page of the [...]

Most gardeners don't start out as weather geeks, but I think most end up that way. The fate of one's plants is just too tied up with the weather. Garden chores will be different depending on the weather. And while golfers and swimmers rejoice at yet another hot, sunny day, we gardeners know another sunny [...]

A reader asks: I am considering relocating to a colder clime (UP of Michigan) and I have never gardened further north than Wichita, KS so am wondering if I can have a koi pond if I run the heater (I do this now to keep a spot open in in the ice) and what plants [...]

Turns out that was a clump of three plants, not one stupendous oneTo all the admirers of the huge feverfew in my last post, especially Digital Flower, Pam, Layanee, and Bonnie, it turns out it was a clump of three plants. The flowers were looking brown and tatty, but I could see new growth breaking [...]

Larkspur 'Sublime Dark Blue'Ah, yes, Garden Bloggers Bloom Day has rolled around again. I always seem to have trouble finishing these bloom day posts on time. Even though I take photos for days ahead, the actual middle day of the month always seems to be a busy time. I should probably make it short and [...]

Long-time readers of my blog know that I have never shied away from being honest about the poor upkeep of my garden. Sometimes I find beauty in the weeds, and sometimes they depress me, but I've never pretended they didn't exist. I agree with Colleen that fear of "not doing it right," or "not being [...]

Unknown species of filipendulaThis filipendula has been growing well in my garden for several years. I ordered it in the mail as Queen of the Prairie, Filipendula 'Venusta Rubra', but the flowers aren't pink enough for that. In the last couple of years, I've noticed that although it grows vigorously, the center has died out. [...]

Forsythia before pruning beganBack in April, I discussed my upcoming plans to prune my forsythia bush. It wasn't flowering very much, and my commenters agreed with me that it needed a heavy pruning. Some even suggested cutting the whole thing down to the ground. But I felt a little too nervous to do that. On [...]