My husband and I recently finished this budget front yard make over in an afternoon. I love the way it turned out. I am all about gardening on a budget. With the amount of garden beds that I have, (8 and counting!) I have to be. I had a neglected Pine tree garden that was …
There are times that I am simply amazed by the beautiful, unusual and sometimes humble side of our planet. I especially love unusual nature photos. Since I am a gardener, it stands to reason that I love everything beautiful in nature. I thought it would be fun to have an ongoing page featuring some of …
10 Fabulous Cozy Courtyard Spaces. I have a good sized yard now so I can pretty much do what I want with my garden beds. But there have been times in the past when I had just a strip of space between me and my neighbor, or a tiny back yard that could only hold …
Baptisia Australis perennials are rugged and easy to grow. Their lupine-like spires of bloom are real attention getters and they have season long interest from foliage too. They are also often referred to as wild indigo. Baptisia Australis is Easy to Grow I have transplanted divisions of my original small plant many times in my garden …
I’ve always considered strawberry begonia plants as an indoor plant, since that is the way that I have generally grown them. But I had a surprise this year when I discovered that the plant is a hardy perennial for me here in North Carolina. Growing Requirements for Strawberry Begonia Plants I purchased several small strawberry …
My local garden center does not often have plants that are too much out of the ordinary, so I was delighted to find this Mexican Hat coneflower right here for sale in Raleigh. This interesting variety of coneflower is also called the “Red Prairie Coneflower.” The perennial served as a dye source for Native Americans …
These tips for growing clematis will help you give this vining plant a home in your back yard. Last spring, I repurposed an old mailbox into a place for my garden tool storage. I planted a few different plants around the base, but I was never happy with the look of it. I decided I …
Iris is one my favorite flowers when it comes to growing perennials. I remember that my mother used to have them in all her garden beds, and when I see them now, I get very nostalgic. What I love most about irises is the color they, and other early spring bloomers, bring to my garden. …
My family has long loved gardening. It all started with my great grandmother (and I am sure her mother before this but I never knew her). She loved vegetable gardening and particularly yellow pole beans. The seeds from her pole beans have been passed down from generation to generation and are now growing in my …
Growing herbs adds a ton of flavor to all your recipes, but keeping track of what is growing can be challenging. These wooden spoon herb plant markers are both functional and decorative. Herb Identification might seem easy but those tiny seedlings have a frustrating way of looking the same! I have a large group of herbs …
My husband used to buy me lilies all the time because he loved the look of them so much. I love them too, but not as cut flowers indoors (they have a stinky smell inside that I don’t like.) I never had the inclination to tell him that they were not my favorite cut flower …
I have a garden bed in my front yard that I call my “Jess border.” The reason for the name is because my daughter and I made the bed together and it always has a big patch of sunflowers in the middle of it each year. Sunflowers are Jess’ favorite flowers. Like all my other …
Container Vegetable Gardens are a great way to garden when your yard is small. Vegetable gardening is such a satisfying experience. There is nothing quite like biting into a tomato that was just picked from your garden. The flavor is nothing like that of the ones bought from a store, even the vine ripened ones. …
It’s time for my front garden make over! This has been a year of garden make overs for me. I spent so much time last year dealing with my squirrel problem and tending my vegetable garden that I did not have a lot of time to deal with my flower garden beds. And I can …
Trying to get color and interest in a shade garden can be a challenge. But there are some that don’t mind it at all . In fact, these 20+ perennial and annual plants love the shade. There is a lushness about them that I really enjoy, too. Keep reading to learn what you an grow …
Join me for an early summer garden tour. Let’s discover my garden in June! Spring starts early here in North Carolina, so many of my plants have been flowering for a while. It’s been a long spring with a ton of work put into my gardens. So many of them were overgrown, and neglected last …
Let’s test your garden smarts. I thought it would be fun to take a photo from my garden, and enlarge it to show only the bloom, and see if you can name it. A few hints: it does not mind if the soil is dry it flowers all spring and summer the flowers come in …
My husband and I recently attended a wedding on the coast of North Carolina. While we were there, we took the time to visit the Elizabethan Gardens at Manteo on Roanoke Island. Seeing statues that depict characters from real life is so inspiring. For another post on this type of experience, be sure to check …
I love vegetable gardening. There is nothing quite like harvesting and cooking vegetables that you have grown. If you like to grow vegetables, be sure to ready my post about how to troubleshoot vegetable garden problems as well as some solutions. One of the problems that can happen when you start a vegetable garden is …
Anyone who has priced hardscaping lately knows how expensive it can be, particularly if you have large areas to cover. I am redoing my whole area that I used last year for veggies. Long story short, the squirrels were a nightmare for me and I don’t plan to go through that experience a second time. …
This year, I changed my vegetable garden into a combined perennial/vegetable border. It’s a long story but basically, the squirrels got the better of my veggies last year and I swore never again. Since I will have flowers and vegetables growing in one space, I wanted some decorative and functional items in it. This DIY …
What is better than a perennial garden bed and a vegetable garden bed? Why, a garden bed that combines them both together. And take it a step further and add herbs to the mix. You will end up with one fantastic garden that meets all your needs. And that is just what the Garden Charmers, …
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 …
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 …
I was born in Maine, and one of my fondest memories is the collection of fiddlehead ferns each spring. Even though I have moved away, each year my family boxes up a whole bushel of them and sends them to me by priority mail here in NC. It’s always a special day when that box …
It’s time to check out my garden in March to see what is blooming for me. 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 …