One of my favorite things to do on Sunday morning is to meet friends for breakfast or brunch and catch up on the week. Normally, we go out to a variety of restaurants and alternate each week between them. This week, I wanted to have our friends over to our house for breakfast. I’ve been…
Amaryllis Bulbs are one of the easiest bulbs to force indoors. I ended up with one from a Yankee swap party last Christmas and planted it early in February to add to my collection of indoor plants. It was not long before the bulb was in full bloom. Having a splash of color indoors in…
This year has been a series of set backs in my garden. It is almost the end of May and I’m way behind, but finally have some progress to show for all my work. Things that set me back were: My father’s death in February which resulted in two trips to Maine. A very long…
Singing the Blues in the Garden Blue is such a wonderful color. It is not often found in flowers, although there are some. Many of the flowers that are called blue have more of a purple tinge to them. But you can add blue to your garden with carefully chosen garden accents, seating and other…
Each morning, all during the spring and summer, I start my day with a walk around my flower beds. I just love to see what has happened from the previous day. I’ve been waiting for my bearded irises to bloom so it was a lovely surprise today. This particular variety is one of my great early…
Spring is such a special time of the y ear. There is nothing quite like walking around a garden bed that shows a hint of what is to come with perennial bulbs starting to flower. These 3 easy bulbs will bring you color year after year. Plant these bulbs in fall for a blast of…
Growing perennials means lots of color when you plant gladioli. There is something about a bare piece of ground that suddenly breaks with foliage at an amazing rate and then bursts in a splendid show of flowers a few weeks later. Gladiolus are not actually bulbs but are considered perennial corms. Gladiolus is often called…
This has been the longest winter ever. I used to live in Maine and am used to long, cold winters. But here in North Carolina, normally, I have a lot of things growing, especially vegetables, by this time in March. Not this year though. It teases me into thinking it is spring and then we…
Squirrels in my garden last year made vegetable gardening a nightmare for me. This year, I decided to try combining perennials and vegetables in one garden bed to see how it worked out. I have long been interested in growing perennials. Adding some vegetables into the mix gave my garden beds an interesting new look.…
Facebook has so many great pages devoted to gardening, but the way the site now shows the content of pages, it is sometimes hard for them to get seen on news feeds. Facebook is one of the most popular of the social media channels. I thought it would be fun for the Garden Charmers (a…
One of my favorite things to do when I have some spare time is to visit Raleigh Botanical Gardens. I love the new perennial and annual plants that I learn about and it just de-stresses me like nothing else seems to do. Raleigh has a great Botanical Garden called JC Raulston Arboretum. The beauty of…
Much of my personal peace and happiness comes from the time I spend in my garden. It soothes my soul like nothing else that I do during the day. These images are flowers from my garden and I have teamed them up with sayings that describe how I often feel when I am outside working…
I have often thought that orchids are only plants that you should choose if you have green house conditions. But on a recent trip to several home improvement stores, I have seen scores of beautiful moth orchids that are sitting in normal low light conditions for what seems like weeks on end without losing their…
I have loved plants all of my life. For a large portion of it, that meant indoor plants. Now that I have a largish property, it means lots and lots of garden beds with perennials. I don’t have much time to tend indoor plants, but I still like to have a few of them around. …
Have you ever priced single Calla lilies at a florist? If you have, you will have discovered that they sell for $5-$9 a STEM. Why pay those kind of prices, when you can become your own florist – well sort of, anyway. Calla Lilies make wonderful indoor plants and comes in many colors, as well.…
Do you love to wear pins that show your love of gardening? So do I. I have a shop on Etsy that has a huge stock of all sorts of vintage jewelry but I went on a hunt today to see which pieces would suit the nature lover. These pretty pins are perfect! Gone are…
DIY Flower Projects for those who Love Gardening in any Form These DIY Flower Projects appeal to me because they are not your normal run of the mill cut paper flower. Most of those are cute but not very stylish looking to me. These projects take creativity to a whole new level. Some of them…
Nature’s Beauty: Frost Flowers My husband loves National Geographic nature shows and watches them often. The other day he told me about a show that he had watched on a phenomenon called frost flowers. I had never heard of these, so I wanted to research the topic to do an article for the site. What…
Dinner plate Dahlias are not plants that one would call shrinking violets. These majestic plants command attention in a garden bed and also need plenty of room to grow and flower. A Master of a Plant – Dinner Plate Dahlias I love dahlias and zinnias…and cone flowers….and on and on. Basically anything that looks even…
Gardening Cook Fan Tamara Martin’s Photos The fans of my Facebook page are always submitting photos of their gardens and projects for me to consider for this website and The Facebook page – The Gardening Cook. Normally, I include a photo or two in specific articles, such as vegetable harvests, or garden flowers. But every…
My daughter Jess’ favorite flower is the sunflower. I plant them in my garden each year and love to find new varieties that I have not had before. Growing sunflowers is pretty easy if you keep just a few things in mind. Plant a Sunflower to Brighten your Day I’ve written about sunflowers many times…
Aren’t these Fan Flowers Gorgeous? One of my favorite things to do on my Gardening Cook page on Facebook is to share the garden pictures of my fans. The pictures give me inspiration and ideas for my own gardens and the fans just love it when I share the fruits of there labor. Here are…
My test garden has been included in a garden hop. A gardening group that I belong to on Facebook has put together a group of garden tours to be featured on Facebook, Pinterest and Home Talk. The tour will take place this weekend and is being heavily promoted on all three sites. Let’s go To…
This lovely variety of the popular coneflower has large pink-to-purple daisy flowers and is a favorite in all wildflower meadows, as well as perennial borders. This pretty plant is called Echinacea After Midnight. Photo Credit: American Meadows growing echinacea and how to collect seed and propagate it herePurple coneflowers are native to South Eastern USA.…
Today’s flower is a Gazania – a lovely and bright perennial from the Asteraceae family which comes from South Africa. The flowers are often seen in shades of yellow but white, creams and dark reds are possibilities too. Gazania will bring a ray of sunshine to your garden. Gazania is a tender clumping perennial that…
How my Test Garden has Grown! Readers of my blog will know that my project for this year (and the next two) is my test garden. I have a model that I am emulating from Garden Gate and will grow shade, semi shade and full sun plants in it to write articles about for my…
