Hear what Sheri Ann Richerson, author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Year-Round Gardening, Magical Gardens and 101 English Garden Tips has to say about successfully getting poppy seeds to germinate.
Filed under Flower Gardening by on May 31st, 2010. Comment. 
Hear what Sheri Ann Richerson, author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Year-Round Gardening, Magical Gardens and 101 English Garden Tips has to say about getting Delphiniums to over winter in Indiana.
Filed under Flower Gardening by on May 31st, 2010. Comment.
Hear what Sheri Ann Richerson, author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Year-Round Gardening, Magical Gardens and 101 English Garden Tips has to say about the new series of Knock Out Roses.
Filed under Flower Gardening, Roses by on May 31st, 2010. Comment.
Hear what Sheri Ann Richerson, author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Year-Round Gardening, Magical Gardens and 101 English Garden Tips has to say about the new Pretty Much Picasso Petunia from Proven Winners!
Filed under Flower Gardening, Gardening News by on May 31st, 2010. 2 Comments.
Friday found Jerry, his mother and I at a native plant sale in Anderson. It was fantastic! I was able to acquire numerous native plants, some of which I was unfamiliar with. Those are the kinds of sales I like to attend.
This sale was put on by a group of nice ladies who were very knowledgeable. We came home with a trunk load of plants. Of course, it rained that day and has been cold or rainy since so I have not managed to get them planted yet. Here is what I bought.
Lobelia siphilitica – Giant Blue Lobelia
Asclepias texana – Texas milkweed
Dalea purpurea – Purple prairie clover
Ageratina altissima ‘Chocolate’ – White snakeroot
Filipendula rubra ‘Venusta’
Silphium laciniatum – Compass plant
Helianthus maximiliani
Asclepias speciosa – Showy milkweed
Asclepias incarnata – Swamp milkweed
Eryngium yuccifolium
Liatris aspera – Tall liatris
Lychnis floscuculi – Ragged robin
Stylophorum diphyllum – Celadine poppy
Oligoneuron rigidum – Stiff goldenrod
Parthenium integrifolium – Wild quinine
Filed under Fragrant Flowers by on May 9th, 2010. 1 Comment.
Walking in the garden reminds me to slow down and smell the roses. It also reminds me that every moment is fleeting and should be cherished.
Just yesterday the yard was full of brightly colored white and yellow daffodils gently nodding their heads in the wind. By nightfall, a mere day later, those same daffodils have faded. They are no more now than a shriveled flower, that no longer displays any of their previous glory.
Quickly opening to take the place of the faded daffodils are the tulips. They come in so many shades – red, pink, peachy, purple, yellow – you name it and I bet there is one out there! There are single tulips and double tulips – large and small. Like the daffodils, they will bloom, show their glory, than fade in a few days.
Of course, there will be other flowers to take their place and soon spring 2010 will be no more than a memory. Photographs will remain, but the glory of the flowers will be gone for another year. Snowfall will come and cover the garden in its thick white blanket.
For now, however, I will cherish each flower as it blooms – the pears, peaches, weeping cherry, apples, plums, magnolia’s, Virginia bluebells, hellebores, lungwort and more. Each day, as I walk through the garden, I will be amazed by what I see, and hopefully be able to record it onto video, or at least get a photo that I may share with others who cannot see my garden. Of course, this will let me have the visual memories to look back at over the long, hard winter when I see nothing but a cold white blanket of snow outside my door.
Filed under Flower Gardening by on Apr 7th, 2010. 2 Comments.
Do you feel lost when it comes to making plans for your spring garden? If so, you are not alone. Many people simply do not know where to begin.
If this is a new garden, the first step is soil preparation. After all, you cannot grow a garden in grass or weeds. Make sure the area is tilled or hand dug, weed free and necessary amendments are added and worked into the ground. If possible, lay down big sheets of cardboard to help kill the weeds and grass the fall before you intend to plant.
The next part involves the seeds or plants. Do you want to grow flowers, herbs, vegetables or a combination? Think about what your family would use the most of. If you choose flowers, do you want ones that are fragrant, a specific color, ones that dry well or ones that attract butterflies? These are just a few of the possibilities. Once you have decided this, look at numerous garden catalogs and websites to determine what plants do the best in your area.
Consider the space you have to plant in once you know what you will plant. This will help you determine how many plants you can grow in a given area. If you are planting close for weed control, choose annuals. Perennials will need frequent dividing if they are planted too closely together to begin with. Intermixing annuals and perennials is fine. Some flowers such as marigold, nasturtium and zinnia do well in a vegetable garden. Experiment and remember gardens are ever changing.
Filed under Flower Gardening, Vegetable Gardening by on Jan 8th, 2010. Comment.
Seed starting time is rolling around in the Midwest once again. If you are seeking early blooms this season, now is the time to start seeds of dianthus and snapdragon.
Also if you didn’t get your pansy and viola seeds started back in November, be sure to start those.
These cool weather plants will do fine, once germinated, in a cool greenhouse. As spring approaches and the weather warms, sometime in mid-March to early April, these young plants can be moved into a cold frame and then on into the garden.
Once they have been hardened off, they are sure to survive light frosts. Should a severe frost threaten your area, simply cover them with a make shift cold frame made out of an old milk carton or two liter plastic bottle. Be sure to vent the cold frame so the plants do not cook when the sun comes up the next day.
Filed under Flower Gardening, Seed Starting by on Jan 5th, 2010. Comment.
During the cold, snowy season, I like to share with my readers photos of some of my favorite plants from the previous season. I think it gives everyone a chance to escape from the dreary cold outside their window and helps all of us plan our garden for the upcoming here. So hang on tight to your chair and let’s see what the stars of 2009 were!
Tulips say spring to me in a way no other plant does. I really enjoy seeing them come up and bloom. I wish they were a bit more prolific here like daffodils, but hey, at least a few seem to come back year after year.
I love the dark colored flowers of Akeiba. Some years it blooms, other years it doesn’t. This year one vine bloomed and the second one did not. You need to vines for cross-pollination to get fruit. So far I have not had any fruit set on my vines, but I am sure it is just a matter of time.
The common name for Akeiba is chocolate vine. It is said the vine emits a chocolate scent when in bloom. The flowers do have a slight chocolate scent, however it is not a wafting scent. Of course, as stated above, both vines have not been in bloom nor has either vine ever been in full bloom, so I will keep waiting and hoping. A wafting chocolate scent would be fantastic!
Ah, what would an exotic garden be without exotic plants? Best of all, this one is perfectly hardy here in Indiana. Dracunculus vulgaris is the scientific name of this beauty. The first several years I had it, only the leaves came up, then in the summer of 2009 this beautiful flower formed.
This dark beauty is Zantedeschia ‘Edge of Night,’ a fine introduction from Dan Heims at Terra Nova Nurseries. Dan comes up with the coolest – and I do mean coolest – plants. Don’t take my word for it though, visit his website and take a look at the unusual plants there that just beg for a place in your garden!
While it is true there are not as many photos here as usual, the summer of 2009 caught me inside writing several books including The Complete Idiot’s Guide To Year-Round Gardening. So, that is it for the photos now. I hope you enjoy them and find some new plants for your garden in 2010!
Filed under Chocolate Colored Plants, Chocolate Scented Plants, Exotic Gardening, Flower Gardening by on Jan 1st, 2010. Comment.
