Garden tours

I've been going on garden tours the last few weekends. Totally fun and often inspirational.I love seeing how gardeners create their gardens.  Everyone is different -- what plants they like, how they maintain their gardens, what sorts of elements they include, etc., etc.This pot vignette was...

Read More

Coral honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens)

Lonicera sempervirensNormally, Lonicera sempervirens (coral honeysuckle) flowers heavily in the spring, sporadically (one or two periodic flower clusters) through the summer, and then a bit more in the fall.This plant is looking fabulous in late June -- practically in spring form! I imagine the cool...

Read More

We have Met the Solution and It is Us

"We have met the enemy and he is us." Pogo's wise words (via Walt Kelly) have been repeatedoften in environmental circles, but have "people" beenlistening?? I hope so.I agree with Pogo and one of the reasons that I continue to write about green gardening and environmental issues is to convince others...

Read More

Tuscan kale

I've grow Tuscan kale before, but this plant doesn't quite fit.  It has the dark green crinkled leaves of dinosaur or Tuscan kale, but it keeps growing.  It's not Jersey kale (walking stick kale) -- I have seeds of that, but the leaves aren't right.It must just be a robust Tuscan kale plant...

Read More

Summer Solstice 2012

Sunrise this morning as we greet the longest day of the year--6/20/12.Here's an informative solstice article over on the National Geographic website. Last year's onion harvest--Granex Sweet onions were yummy!Day length is an important consideration for gardeners, because plants are dependent on...

Read More

Roan Mountain

I had the pleasure of being on an excellent birding excursion to Roan Mountain today.  The Roan Mountain massif straddles North Carolina and Tennessee in the Southern Appalachian Mountains of the SE US.  We saw interesting plants and plant communities (grassy balds and spruce-fir forests)...

Read More

A more practiced fledgling robin

The fledging robin is looking much more practiced searching for earthworms and insects.  Our mulch must be rich territory -- we had at least 8 robins poking around this afternoon along with this fledgling and mom. I posted about them before (with equally ho-hum photos). They've been great...

Read More