For the second year in a row, my rose of Sharon looks like crap. Not all of it, just the side closest to the patio. Which stinks because that's the side most visible when we're chilling. I gave it the benefit of the doubt and hoped that with just a little more time it might finally pop. Instead, she pooped. Threats didn't work either, despite the fact that they seemed to with the wisteria. Don't judge me. My mom gave me this as a 6-inch cutting about eight years ago. I see it and think of her. So when it took a turn for the worse last year, then again this year, I started considering possible causes and who I should blame for its demise. Since the dieback has only occurred on one side, I think it could be caused by too much snow cover. We shovel and pile it up along the edges ...
Why You Should Grow Bath’s Pink Dianthus
Come mid-May, this diminutive gem explodes with very little effort from me. The perfect plant for busy lifestyles! I hate fussy. And Bath's Pink Dianthus (Dianthus gratianopolitanus) is anything but. Several years ago I planted three small containers along the edge of my flagstone path that leads up to our patio. Over the years, it's grown into an impressive three-foot clump of blue-tinged foliage covered with the daintiest little flowers. A clove-like scent fills the air and my teenage daughter throws open her window when the plant is in full bloom. For two weeks, the fragrance perfumes her room and the kitchen since the windows are located just above the planting. When flowering ends, a quick snip with scissors to remove spent blooms and you're left with a tidy blue/green mat that will ...
Trees: The Importance of Diversity
The main drag through our neighborhood is lined with Bradford pear trees and it's beautiful when in flower. Stinky, like dead fish, but pretty if you can get past the odor. Unfortunately, they are our neighborhood's harbingers of Spring. The trees were planted approximately 18 years ago and I'm guessing were bought for a song by the developer. They're common and it's always concerned me. Even more so now that my neighbor's gorgeous pear trees in her front garden have succumbed to fire blight and will have to be removed. Their invasive nature has landed them on the Illinois Invasive Plant List. In other words, choose something other than a pear. Ironically, the callery pear (Pyrus calleryana), from which the Bradford originates, was brought over from China in an attempt to thwart fire ...
How To Create A Simple Seed Starting Schedule
When I decided to grow my veggie garden from seed this year, I realized I'd have to spend a little time thinking about a seed starting schedule. But I'm a pantser which basically means I'm most comfortable flying by the seat of my pants. Plotters have a predetermined path which I find incredibly blah. But in the name of successful seed starting, I temporarily renounce my hair-on-fire ways and embrace a plotter-dom path. Pants on of course! As a newby, juggling all the suggested indoor sowing dates seems a bit daunting. Exactly how does one keep track? But I came up with a simple system to manage it. I began by sorting packets with similar indoor starting times based on the number of weeks before the average last frost date. You should see a section on the seed packet that reads ...
How to Build a Seed Starting Rack on the Cheap
As the saying goes, "Necessity is the mother of invention." After receiving a box full of seeds from All America Selections, I was inspired to come up with a plan to build an affordable seed starting rack. My seed collection is about to outgrow it's current accommodation - an air-tight metal box I bought at IKEA years ago. I've been coveting the Stack and Grow seed starting system from Gardeners Supply for a while, but the reality is I simply can't afford it. Two high school athletes, one on the verge of becoming a licensed driver, and a gigantic orthodontic bill mean things just got a bit more expensive. And I need to get creative if I'm going to continue to feed this insatiable green thumb. Every year, I head to the local garden centers and buy four-packs of tomatoes, peppers and ...
Two Great Tools for Easy Composting
If you've ever considered composting your food scraps, I say "What are you waiting for?!?" The above photo represents not even a day's worth of food scraps generated by my family of four. It almost covered the entire surface of an 11x17 inch cookie sheet. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that approximately 20 to 30 percent of your trash is comprised of food scraps and yard waste. When added to a landfill, they release methane gas, a highly potent and low profile cousin of carbon dioxide. Both are harmful greenhouse gases. As a gardener, it's a no brainer to convert our food scraps to "black gold." My first attempt involved a process used by Trudi Temple, a well-known Chicago area gardener who buried her food scraps in holes around her yard. I did this too, ...
