Nature journaling and watercolor fun

Writing a blog about nature and gardening is really nature and garden journaling, but I've always wanted to practice real-time with sketching and art, too, but found the format intimidating, even though I loved drawing and art when much younger. So an all-day workshop around using watercolor in your...

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Growing peanuts

I can't claim that I've ever grown peanuts, even after living in the South for 3 decades.I know it's possible. One of my younger colleagues grew giant Spanish peanuts with the kids in one of our after-school programs (at the botanical garden where I worked, and now volunteer) some years ago.Peanuts need warmth and space. They flourish in the coastal plain of SC and GA.So I found this article in the...

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Penstemon digitalis "Husker Red"

Penstemon digitalis in the pocket meadowPenstemon digitalis (in the pocket meadow) is looking lovely now, in full flower. Its lovely clear white flowers are a great addition to the mix!Penstemon digita...

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Neem - The organic insecticide

Neem is one of my favorite things to use when it comes to controlling disease and pests. Its Organic, and as you all know when growing your vegetables, why use anything that wasn't organic.You want to get a 70% Neem Oil Like this one!As Mike McGrawth, Host of "You Bet Your Garden" says,...

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Flame azalea and Eastern hemlocks

We've gardened in our neighbor's yards on both sides of our house in the mountains (with their permission - so not guerilla gardening, but shared landscaping). It's been fun to replace weedy things with desirable native plants, ones that restore some mountain habitat to an old urban neighborhood (and...

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Carolina rose

We've enjoyed our Carolina rose: we planted it last year and it's flourished.This is how it looked this afternoon. Lovely....

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"Pocket" meadowThe plants in the pocket meadow out front are such a nice mix, flowering sequentially throughout the growing season.  This is somewhat (although not entirely) by design.It was heartening to see how many of them survived the exceptionally cold winter -- and the ones that didn't; well,...

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Native rhododendrons

This year has been kind to our evergreen Rhododendron catawbiense, if not to deciduous native azaleas (we lost one and another doesn't look robust).  Catawba rhododendrons (species) have been lovely here in the mountains as well as around town; their hybrid forms (often with Asian species) have...

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A sweet onion harvest, Frostproof, and more...

A sweet onion harvestThe sweet Granex onion harvest was variable from 5 inches across to less than an inch.Last week (before the rains came) most of the Granex onion leaves had fallen over, so it was time to harvest them and hang them to dry in the garage. Earlier this week I harvested the short-day...

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Fairy Garden DIY: Picture Frame

Fairy gardens are my favorite things to look at. Last year I did an article on fairy gardens that I saw at the garden centers. They were so fun. I have started to collect my own supplies and I will be doing a series on creating your own Fairy Garden! To start us off nice and easy here is how I made...

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Garden Plan 2014

Hey Kids, this year is fun, we are redesigning the garden, and it's overdue. It was a large 12x12 garden. Which means that you have to walk through it, which compresses the soil and makes it hard (no oxygen, or water). Last year I wanted to break this big bed up into a couple smaller raised beds and...

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Assessing climate impacts

Here in the Southeastern U.S., we've had a very usual year weather-wise.  Way more rain than normal last summer, then bone-chilling cold in the winter.It's made for some interesting losses and die-backs.So, it was a reminder about how extreme our variations were over the past year to read this piece in the NY Times about the impact that extreme cold has had on midwest gardens.  It's telling...

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What's New

Okay Kids, So I talked last spring about what is my favorite place to shop at for such a large variety of vegetables and flowers. Again I went to Baker's Acres and got some NEW Varieties. (Click here for last years new veggies).Juane Flame, Big Zac, Ananas Noire, Abe Lincoln, Tomande, LipstickIve never...

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Vegan Dandelion Pesto

Okay Kids, what about those dandelions? They are beautiful...okay take a second look and really look at their beauty. Right you see it now! I was weeding the garden and looking at all of the dandelions that I was throwing away. I am sure that I can do something with all of this "waste". What about Pesto,...

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A field trip, a Florida native plant hero, & pasta salad

I traveled over to Gainesville on May Day to meet with my editor at University Press of Florida and Marjorie Shropshire who will be illustrating my third book, "The Art of Maintaining a Native Landscape." It was a productive meeting and good progress is being made on the book--it's currently out...

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