"iris" yards, pictures, and ideas...
Give Your Garden The Blues
Blue (and shades of blue) is one of the most restful colors in the garden. Imagine fields of bluebonnets or the purple haze of lavender (another shade of blue) in bloom. You can have the same calming effect in your yard through the growing seasons by planting flowers of pure blue and shades of blue....
A Pot For All Seasons (and Reasons)
Potted plants make wonderful additions to the yard right through the year—even in winter. With a small army of pots of various sizes tucked away in the garden shed or behind the garage or barn, you can create a moveable garden of potted plants for each season....
Divide and Conquer - Gardening With Bulbs, Part Two
When we last saw Our Gardening Hero, he was carefully noting the locations of clumps of crocuses, daffodils, and the like. He mapped them out in a way designed to show his children that this was not a treasure map, and then he went on to live his life....
Divide and Conquer - Gardening With Bulbs, Part One
“Good, cheap, fast. Pick any two.” That's what is said about hiring somebody to do a job. It can also be said about flowering bulbs....
Springtime Yard Spruce-Up
Spring is just around the corner. How far around the corner depends on countless celestial and meteorological factors, plus, of course, whatever a certain furry resident of Punxsutawney, PA had to say about it this year. (Fun fact: Phil has predicted correctly only about 39% of the time since 1887. So you may not want to take him to the track and let him pick the ponies for you. Just sayin’.) Large rodent shadows notwithstanding, spring is, in fact, coming. I know you’re ready. But is your landscape?...
Be a Cottage Garden Renegade
It is easy to be intimidated by all the gardening and landscaping information out there. Books, magazines, websites, and how-to TV shows promise to teach you all the fundamentals of good design in one fell swoop and leave you ready to give your yard a full makeover in the time it takes to turn a page, click a link, or sit through to the next commercial break....
Drainage Dilemma
Drainage is a huge consideration when it comes to almost any landscaping project. One professional landscaper I know has told me that drainage is far and away the top item that he fields calls about. Seems like everyone thinks they have some sort of drainage problem… but do they really?...
