Many pollinator species have suffered serious declines in recent years. Unfortunately, most of our landscapes offer little in the way of appropriate habitat, forage, and housing. Even the most beautiful gardens are not always healthy ecosystems. Design choices, plant selections, and maintenance practices can make a huge difference in creating your own healthy ecosystem, filled …
Continue reading "Grow These For the Bees Garden Plan"
Lilies are my favorite flower. They last a long time in the garden, are usually fragrant, make great cut flowers, and pollinators flock to them. Oh, and they are so easy to grow! All these attributes make lilies my go-to flower to plant every year. But some lilies just increase in number and come …
Continue reading "Black Beauty Lily"
Raising Monarchs inside to observe their incredible transformation is simple if you have a good supply of Milkweed and an easy to make enclosure made out of a tomato cage.
Growing a tiny garden on your desk at work or on your windowsill is the perfect project to start spring. Creating a miniature scene combining small plants, miniature furniture, tools, moss, and colorful pebbles combines crafting with gardening. Shopping at a big box store or local nursery for tiny terrarium plants instead of taking on …
Continue reading "Take Four-Springtime Miniature Gardens"
Underutilized and unknown to many people, Summer Snowflake, Leucojum aestivum, should be planted in more gardens. Deer resistant, easy to grow, and thriving in shady situations, this bulb deserves more recognition. Resembling giant snowdrops, these bulbs bloom for weeks in late April, and not in the summer like the name indicates. If you have deer …
Continue reading "Summer Snowflake-An Heirloom Bulb"
The old-fashioned Bleeding Heart, Dicentra spectabilis, has been a garden favorite for years. A stalwart of the shade garden, this plant just got better with the addition of golden-colored foliage and peach colored stems instead of the usual green, that lightens up a shady corner of your garden. The long, arching racemes of pink flowers …
Continue reading "Gold Bleeding Heart-Favorite Shade Plant"
One of the main reasons that I grow flowers in my garden is for the fresh cut flowers. Blooms to bring in by the arm load and arrange in buckets and vases, is the reason that I slave hours in the garden. Buying fresh cuts from a florist or grocery store isn't the same as …
Continue reading "Backyard Blooms-Top 12 Cut Flowers"
A flat of 'Jeana' phlox sits in my greenhouse ready to plant as soon as the weather cooperates. Possessing outstanding mildew resistance of shades of lavender-pink flower clusters, this native phlox is a star in my garden and always draws a lot of interest from visitors. Pollinators cluster around the heads constantly, providing a …
Continue reading "Jeana Phlox-An All-Star Pollinator Performer"
If you haven't seen my posts on growing the ultimate shade plant that is evergreen, deer proof and blooms for 4 months, go to Hellebores-Low Maintenance, Deer Resistant, Evergreen Perennials. So many beautiful varieties, doubles, singles, picotees, and ruffled with colors ranging from ruby red/wine to a wonderful creamy with rosy specks, this perennial deserves a …
Continue reading "Floating Hellebores"
Painting hive bodies a boring white was the norm when I started beekeeping 20 years ago. Fast forward to the present and everyone is trying to outdo themselves with wild and beautiful designs decorating the bee yard. Art and beekeeping?.... Great combination of two of my favorite past-times and I can give you some pointers …
Continue reading "Beehive Art-Your Apiary is a Work of Art"
