Hydrangea paniculata 'Vanilla Strawberry' changing color as autumn approached last summer. Voles have found it and I'm scrambling. I'm on the verge of a Caddy Shack moment and if improvised explosive devices existed for vole management, I'd blow up my whole yard right now. For the first time in several days, the sun's out and I thought I'd walk the garden in search of the first signs of Spring. What I discovered had me spewing sentence enhancers. It's a far cry from the serenity I envisioned this morning. Last June, I planted a tree form Vanilla Strawberry panicle hydrangea. The caliper of the tree can't be much over an inch, as you can see in the picture above. It's immaturity and sunny southern exposure make it a perfect candidate for tree wrap, which I had every intention ...
A New Year, TONS of New Plants and a Growing Wish List
Kniphofia 'Hot and Cold' I have a thing for tropical looking plants and this perennial checks all the boxes. Photo courtesy of Walters Gardens, Inc. The new plant wish list is getting longer in my garden notebook. I also keep an updated one in the notes section of my phone just in case I happen to pass a garden center this spring. Who am I kidding? I write of it as though it's a possibility when the reality is I will visit MANY garden centers and road-side farm stands. It's an obsession and one my kids have learned to accept. I've gathered images of all the new for 2020 or new-to-me plants I'll be on the lookout for this year. It's a motley list of veggies, annuals, shade perennials, sun perennials, and a drop-dead gorgeous new grass. Perhaps you'll find one (or several) here that ...
Saying Goodbye to My Dog Stella
My plan was to kick off 2020 with a post about all the new plants coming out this year. Then just like that, life changed and in an instant it became more important to devote a post to my dog, Stella. She spent 12 years shadowing me, content to sit beside me as I toiled away in the garden. She died Dec. 21 and my heart is heavy. I've been a stay-at-home mom for 18 years, writing for magazines and newspapers in the moments between mothering and sleep. It gets lonely, writing. And when the kids go to school and the house grows quiet, even more so. I'm not the kind to join a mom's group or spend hours on the phone. It's not my style. But I am the type to confer with my dog on most things during the course of the day. I'd much rather spend it in the garden with her. My life must sound very ...
Plant Truck Chicago: Connecting Plants and People
What do you get when you cross a 1974 GMC van with an artist and one of the biggest names in the Chicago gardening scene? A plant truck, of course. While attending a garden media event in August, I ran into my friend Tony Abruscato, aka Mr. Green Chicago. He owns the Chicago Flower and Garden Show and was excited to tell me about his latest garden venture, Plant Truck Chicago. Think food truck, minus the food. As I tried to envision a mobile greenhouse, he told me to get over to the IGC (Independent Garden Center) show where the truck would make its official debut. It's pretty cool! The truck was the brainchild of artist Jason Verbeek. As Tony was telling me the story of how he acquired the truck, I had to stop him once he dropped the artist's name. It sounded so familiar. Turns out ...
Grateful for Goodbye and the Occasional Good Riddance
The title sounds rough and you may be wondering why the heck I go to the trouble of writing this blog, or gardening at all for that matter, when I look forward to saying goodbye to it. Sometimes sooner than later. The short answer is it's exhausting. But the longer answer, and the one I hope you'll relate to, is that saying goodbye for several months makes it all the sweeter when I return to it come Spring. Even on the days when I declare I'm DONE! I'm not really. Until I'm actually DONE DONE and everything goes to hell. It's the same with chocolate cake. By September, I'm feeling the itch to wind down. I've gone full steam since March and tucking the garden in for winter is pretty alluring. The anticipation of putting the garden to bed is the same feeling I got when my girls were ...
I’ve Got Voles…Again
Voles are cute and yet, I want to kill them. My thoughts weren't so violent before I discovered just how destructive those little buggers can be. They ain't so cute anymore. In early October, we had a wicked storm, the kind where the rain falls sideways, trees bend like licorice sticks and wind bellows like an Amtrak train at full throttle. When the storm finally moved on, we were left with water damage between the first and second floors (which insurance won't cover since they attribute it to faulty installation when the home was built 20 years ago!) and one leaning magnolia. I'm more upset about the tree. I have two Centennial Blush star magnolias that flank the corners of my patio. I planted them in 2016 and the one on the east side always seemed to struggle. When the leaves began to ...
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