My leaf mulch pile

POSTED BY KIM — Jealous?!

Holiday decorating “Tina Style”

POSTED BY KIM FOR TINA — Our own Tina Paletta gave a holiday decorating talk this weekend, and when I came in this morning I found one of the handouts, which I thought would be fun to share with ya’ll.  I love when Tina works, because the next day I come in, the gift shop [...]

Gaillardia: My favorite yellow in the garden

POSTED BY KIM — Do you see why I love this flower??  It is mid-November and this plant is going gangbusters.  This particular cultivar is ‘Oranges and Lemons,’ my favorites.  It blooms like an annual — this flower is never *not* in bloom.  And there’s no need to deadhead — the seedheads provide fantastic interest [...]

‘Abraham Darby’ goes out with a bang

POSTED BY KIM — Is this not the most beautiful rose you’ve seen in your LIFE?!  ‘Abraham Darby’ is the only climbing rose I have at the moment, and right now, it’s spectacular.  I could see this bloom from my bedroom window and I had to take a picture of it.
‘Abraham Darby’ is a David Austin [...]

Gifts of the Season

POSTED BY CALEB

I was walking back from a music test at 8:30 in the morning a few days ago when I was forced to stop, rub my eyes, and wonder if I was dreaming. A large patch of purple irises was in full flower at the edge of a parking lot. The sun had not [...]

Fall color: Not all hydrangeas are created equal

POSTED BY KIM — You’ll have to humor me.  It’s one of my last chances to write about hydrangeas this year, since they’re all getting ready to drop their leaves.  I’m always adding new hydrangeas to my garden (and this means pulling out and pitching hydrangea “dogs.” I recently gave ‘Penny Mac’ the heave-ho because it was [...]

Amaryllis care and feeding

POSTED BY KIM — It’s amaryllis season!  I asked my neighbors Peter and Renate yesterday about the status of their beautiful red amaryllis, which they had in their front window last year (and I enjoyed for several weeks from the view at my kitchen window).  They weren’t familiar with the forced dormancy period required to stimulate [...]

A sweet fall tableaux

POSTED BY KIM — I took my camera outside at work the other day (along with my umbrella) and noticed this beautiful combination of colors in the garden behind the gift shop.  (That’s Maria and Wendy’s garden.)  The red leaves from the Japanese Maple and the bright lime foliage from the Heuchera ‘Citronelle’ almost glow in [...]

I’ve got moss growing between my toes

POSTED BY KIM — It is raining — again (or I should say, STILL).  So I’m going to take a break from the plant catalogues and the gray sky to focus on something more uplifting — fall color.
If you’ve visited Sugar Creek Gardens, you probably didn’t notice the maples that line the subdivision drive to the [...]

The world’s best mum: The classic ‘Clara Curtis’

POSTED BY KIM — I gave a talk the other day at the nursery about the beauty of the fall garden, and one thing I like to do is go out that morning before work and cut a sample of anything that’s blooming in my yard.  There are still many flowers that put on a full [...]