I'm all for a spring garden cleanup that saves me time and money. Toss in the added bonus of increased organic matter and improved soil health and I'm sold. Several years ago while working at the Chicago Flower and Garden Show, I was chatting up my friend Scott Stewart who, at the time, was at the helm of Chicago's Lurie garden. It was mid-March and I mentioned that their compost bins must be overflowing with all the debris they were cutting back. What he said changed my approach to spring garden cleanup forever. You know the drill. Cut, rake, bag it, haul it to the curb, repeat. The curb in early spring used to look like a skirmish line of lawn bags waiting for the garbage truck to haul them away. It bothered me to think that all that garden goodness would benefit someone else. I ...
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Great Gifts for the Gardener
Great gifts do two things. They show you really put some thought into it and they give the recipient something they may not have bought for themselves. If you can check both boxes, you're golden. But when you're not a gardener and have a gardener on your shopping list, how do you decide what to buy? Well, that's where I come in. I picked a variety of gifts, all of which I have personal experience with in my own garden and feel confident in their quality and craftsmanship. Ok, that's not exactly true. The personal experience part, not the quality and craftsmanship. I'm secretly hoping my husband will read this post and give me a rain chain. More on that later. All kidding aside, I chose things for a variety of budgets and interests, all with a gardening/landscaping vibe to them. I would ...
May in the Garden: A Mix of Beauty and Brawn
May has been a blur with all the clean-up and gear changing that comes with extreme temperature fluctuations, torrential rain, and the relentless march of weeds through every bed. It seems like the moment I pull a weed, three more grow in its place. Kinda like when you pull a grey hair. So I stop pulling altogether, the hairs not the weeds, and I can only imagine what that would look like if I did the same in the garden. Nonetheless, the garden is shaping up and plenty of plants are having their moment. I often imagine how beautiful it would be if it all just popped at once and remained so all season long. But then if it did, the novelty would wear off and there would be nothing to anticipate. I like knowing that no matter what, something in my garden on any given day is going to grab ...
How Do Insects Survive in a Garden Surrounded By Fear?
For years I've feared my garden was nothing more than a siren's song. A place full of beautifully enticing things birds and insects can't resist. And, in recent years, the place they've unwittingly come to die. My neighborhood has about 300 homes. Fire blight ridden Callery pear trees line the parkway and most of the ash trees that populated the other streets 15 years ago have been leveled due to emerald ash bore. It's not pretty. But wait, it gets worse. About eight years ago, many of the homeowners jumped on a "good deal" set up by another homeowner that involved the mass annihilation of insects. It's incredible what fear and lack of knowledge can do. This lethal cocktail fueled a Facebook neighborhood sign-up list for quarterly insecticide application on houses, fences, swing sets. ...
Tough Plants for a Driveway Garden
Every once in a while, I surprise myself. As I was looking back at last year's garden, I found this shot of my driveway garden and thought, "Hey, that's pretty good!" I don't do that as often as I should. The driveway garden is a miserably hot place and since I'm not the most reliable waterer, the plants are forced to fend for themselves. It's a test of sorts. One that involves extreme neglect worsened by heat radiating off an asphalt driveway and the high expectations of a crazed gardener. Aside from the spring clean-up and the occasional weeding, this garden is on its own. Totally. In addition to the elements, it's survived the bumps and bruises of all kinds of athletic balls, floor hockey games and the occasional kid. In many ways, it's a lot like me. Like most gardens, it's evolved ...
A Traffic Stopping Front Yard Garden
In all my garden scouting, I very rarely saw front yard gardens. Most had the typical smattering of evergreens and deciduous trees, but few relied on perennials to carry a design. Oftentimes, front yard gardens are like mullets - business in the front, party in the back. Fortunately, the figurative garden mullet is much more appealing than the actual hairstyle. Homeowners often save the good stuff for the backyard or more intimate spaces not observable from the street. What a treat it was to experience a true front yard garden where the homeowner let it all hang out! In a good way, of course. The garden was designed by landscape architect Robert Milani for a home on Chicago's North Shore. There's nothing cookie cutter about the area. The one thing most homes have in common though, is a ...
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