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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