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…
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…
Have you ever purchased a plant that wasn’t originally on your list? Dumb question. We’re gardeners. Lists are a distraction and feel so limiting. Therefore, I rarely stick to them. Which was the case last May when my mom and I visited Sunrise Greenhouse in Grant Park, IL. In addition to the coleus, banana plant,…
When I was a kid, my mom would sprinkle her philodendrons with a combination of coffee grounds and egg shells. The plants grew like wildfire, especially the one on the kitchen table. It got an additional jolt from the mixed vegetables my brothers and I buried in there during dinner time. We were raised in…
Several years ago, my mother-in-law, a devout Catholic, gave me a St. Francis of Assisi statue for my garden. As the patron saint of nature and those who care for the environment, she thought it perfect for my little Eden. And it is in so many ways. I’m not religious, but I deeply appreciated the…
All opinions are my own. I was not compensated to promote any of the following products. So you have a gardener on your shopping list and no clue what to get them. I have some ideas. All have been tested in my garden for at least a few seasons. You’ll see from the pictures that…
