An early morning garden tour

Just after dawn on Saturday morning in the garden...A male black swallowtail butterfly looks like a jewel with the early morning sun backlighting his wings.The same butterfly with the sun at its back. He must have been newly emerged because he stayed on this grass flower head for a long time.A...

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Rampant squash

I've had such poor luck in recent seasons with squash (even the squash vine-borer resistant varieties like Tromboncino) -- uh, woodchucks love it -- that I overplanted this year in the mountains.What was I thinking?The vines are rambling everywhere, down the slope, up trellises, through tomatoes, etc....

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Understanding plant communities & creating pocket meadows

The heading titles were my gardening companion's message and mine at the Cullowhee Native Plant Conference today.It's been such fun to connect with avid native plant people of all persuasions (novice to expert!) over the last few days.Learning is always good, at whatever point in the process of learning...

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The herb garden: a (mint) family affair

Spearmint is growing into the basil area.My herb garden faces WSW and is just outside the back door. It receives no morning sun, but lots of the hot afternoon sun. This location is really handy when I need to harvest something quickly as I'm cooking.Many of our classic herbs are in the mint family...

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Visit a wildflower hotspot sometime soon!

My gardening companion and I are off to a conference focused on gardening with native plants this week (in Cullowhee, NC).  It's a great conference, and long-running (25+ years, I think).  It should be great.  I've been a number of times, but not as frequently as I would have liked.Check out this recent article in the Wall Street Journal about Wildflower hotspots! Who knew that...

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Is gardening political?

 The White House's organic vegetable garden The other day I posted this photo of Michelle Obama out in the White House vegetable garden on my Sustainable Gardening for Florida Facebook page. I asked the question:"Do you think Michelle's garden has changed the nation's mindset about organic gardening?" I...

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Nectaring after the rain

front meadow plantingAn exceptionally rainy spell (three+ days) finally broke, with bright sunshine late this afternoon.Tiger swallowtail and bumblebee (notice how battered the flowers are!)The swallowtail just kept working the flowers!A tiger swallowtail was taking advantage of the dry weather to get...

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