Echinacea thriving in the garden.

In: Garden, Garden Basics

Each year, as the garden season winds down, it’s a good idea to assess how your garden grew. Hopefully, everything you planted was amazing but things don’t always turn out the way you hoped. Sometimes flowers do not grow and thrive. And sometimes you’ll struggle with diseases and pests. And of course, you might over-plant and regret the excessive amount of growth. The best gardeners will learn from each mistakeRead More →

Give a gift from your garden. The ultimate gift for under the tree.

In: Garden, Garden Crafts

It’s getting to be that time of year again. You know where you have to scour the Internet, rack your brain, and walk the isles of Target trying to get inspiration for gifts. Each year seems to get harder to find those “perfect” gifts. Try something a little different this year. Gifts you can give from your garden can be a great place to start. When you come up withRead More →

Hang this simple hydrangea wreath to enjoy the autumn garden.

In: Crafts, Flowers, Garden

This time of year, hydrangea flowers are abundant in my garden. It was not always this way. My husband had some sort of bias against them. He would refer to the hydrangeas as a funeral flower. Whenever I suggested we plant one, he was firmly against it. But one day, I found a white hydrangea on the clearance table and couldn’t resist it. I planted it in an out-of-the-way areaRead More →

Enjoy time spent in your fall garden.

In: Flowers, Garden

The weather has turned cool. An October chill is in the air. You might think that it’s time to put away the garden tools for the season. But fall is actually a perfect time to garden. When the first frost hits, many gardeners throw in the seasonal towel. But as long as you don’t have a hard killing frost, you can still get mileage from your garden. There are aRead More →

Aches and pains become more common as we grow older.

In: Garden, Garden Basics

Have you noticed more aches and pains as you’re getting older? It’s a little harder to squat down without your knees hurting. Picking up that pot hurts your back just a little. Your fingers get too stiff to hold the rake sometimes. Ahhh aging! As we grow older, we don’t have as much energy to work in our gardens. And when we do, we seem to have more difficulty doingRead More →

Blackeyed susans growing along a picket fence.

In: Garden, Garden Basics

Can you squeeze in 30 minutes a day? Think of all the time you spend on non-essential activities like scrolling through your Facebook feed, watching a mindless TV show (Family Feud anyone) or reading the latest magazine before you get to the checkout line. I hear so many people say they don’t have time to garden. You can’t squeeze in another minute for creating a beautiful garden…a garden that willRead More →

In: Garden, Garden Fresh Recipes

You’ve been weeding and deadheading flowers for what seems like hours. And now it’s time for a break. It’s 95 degrees in the shade. You could go inside to relax or you can pull up a chair and enjoy the heat of your garden. This is a perfect time to enjoy the bees, butterflies and swooping dragonflies circling your yard. The robin is cooling off in the birdbath. Your dogsRead More →

Sweet William in the kitchen garden.

In: Flowers, Garden, Herbs and Vegetables

Two years ago, a “freak” summer storm rumbled through our neighborhood. The winds were blowing hard, lightning was fast and furious and rain was pelting down. Then one of our incense cedars came crashing down. I was standing on our deck at the time and almost in slow motion I watched in horror as the tree toppled over. This massive 30 foot tree fell into our neighbor’s yard with anRead More →