Cottage gardens and English borders are examples of “Old Fashioned Gardening”. Why say that? I think it has to do with the amount of work one is prepared to do, the need for intensive gardening techniques, and the result of an abundant all season show. It is common in more modern landscapes and lifestyles to…
Interesting Facts for Gardeners
Discussion on What Versailles May Teach a Modern Homeowner
I found the following video fascinating. It covers many topics of interest to modern homeowners and gardeners, foodies and historians. I want to take some of the quotes- there were so many! The simplest, most zenlike is that there is no garden without the gardener. Watch the video… which topic struck you as one to…
Spring Fever Struck
Daffodils always bring Spring’s message All my life I’ve heard the phrase, “Spring Fever”, but oddly enough I don’t think I ever properly knew the meaning of it. I had the impression that it meant some kind of seasonal frenzy, a result of people becoming feverish to get on with the business of the new…
Garden Hints and Tips #457
I just made that number up, but not the helpful garden tip!Buy lots of Bounce Dryer Sheets. The Garden Professors shared this nugget: Entomologist Dr. Raymond Cloyd of Kansas State University and his group were intrigued by Master Gardener anecdotes of dryer sheets repelling mosquitoes, though no research had been done. Could your common Bounce…
Garden Fashion – New Trend
You may not think about it that way, but gardening is as much a fashion victim as home interiors. Who has avocado green appliances any more? And who admits to little circles of flowers in the front yard? Point made. Large scale landscaping follows the same track on a bigger scale, and probably over a…
Community Farming Video
Green Meadows Farm is a video recounting the community farming project that gives people of a community the opportunity to partner with a farm and experience the production and educate their family at the same time.
Nomenclature to just keep us on our toes.
Symphyotrichum… three guesses what old flower that new designation labels. Give up? Asters. Just plain old new world asters like the “aster novae-angliae”. Profiled here, properly, I’m afraid I used the old name when I wrote about asters in September. While researching for writing I also discovered that the autumn clematis had another name change,…
Diatoms
I happened upon a most amazing picture. Who knew that diatoms were such a lovely lot? Organic gardeners know that diatomaceous earth is useful for insect control, but I was surprised at its uses. There are food grade and pool grade, the latter being poisonous, but the food grade is good for worming, and to…
Helping Your Honeybees
Scientific American had an article on “Solving the Mystery of the Vanishing Bees” which follows the pathways of bee demise and the various theories surrounding why the bees and their colonies collapse wholesale. At the end is this statement: simple changes in agricultural practices such as breaking up monocultures with hedgerows could help restore balance…
Gothic Gardening
Hope you readers like this humorous look at poisonous plants. Amy Stewart, I love you! Cute, funny, and informative all at the same time. As pretty as monkshood is, I denied it a place in my garden for just that reason, “better safe than sorry”. Tags:Amy Stewart, poisonous plants