Front vegetable beds

I didn't expect to have sugar snap peas coming in at the end of May, delaying the planting of beans, but the cool mild spring has kept them growing.With a forecast of mild days and afternoon thundershowers ahead, I went ahead and sowed climbing squash seeds on the front trellises, with some trepidation. They're...

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Battening down the vegetable garden

This is NOT a good time to be leaving my vegetable beds for a couple of weeks, even if it'll be a glorious time to be visiting gardens in Toronto during the Garden Blogger's Fling. The sugar snap peas have just started to produce (amazing for late May).  I've underplanted them with beans, which...

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Remembering the mountains

I was thinking about the mountains in South America today - we were describing our trip last winter to our visiting relatives (my dad and his wife). They were spared the digital version of our "slideshow" from the trip, which actually would have been quite nice; I would have enjoyed it!Posted with ...

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A robust hemlock and flame azalea in full flower

Adding plants... This Eastern hemlock and Rhododenron calendulaceum (in flower) have flourished in the side garden between our house and the neighbors. We're flanked by a rental house on one side and a probably century-old brick apartment building on the other; we've been cleaning up and gardening on...

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New book, book tour, and more

The Art of Maintaining a Florida Native LandscapeThe Art of Maintaining a Florida Native Landscape Yay! My new book is now available for preorder from Amazon. I've covered a wide array of topics, which I think have not been covered sufficiently in other books and online resources.List of Chapters1....

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A lovely white rose

When the Garden Blogger's Fling was in Asheville a few years ago, I was lucky enough to win a gift certificate from a rose grower as a raffle gift.  She was a Florida rose grower who grew all sorts of heirloom roses, etc.I'm not a rose person who's willing to coddle them, so I picked the hardiest...

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Bird communication

An illuminating piece about birds at the N...

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Tomatoes, peppers, basil, and eggplant

I finally managed to snag warm-season transplants last week, and they're now in the ground (with the usual dance around spinach, lettuce, garlic, and the peas that are finally growing rapidly -- probably just to be zapped by hot dry weather).Soon to follow are the direct-seeded warm season veggies, although not that many. I sorted through my seeds today, matching up space to seed and will need...

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Chives and vegetables

The chives that I brought last year (from dividing long-established plants) are huge, witness to the power of organic fertilizer, I suppose. They were never this big in my Piedmont beds, which were amended, but obviously not as well as I thought!chives in flowerI've already planted the tomatoes,...

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