It has been so hot and dry in Cincinnati that I’ve been absolutely lethargic for weeks. But there has been a distinct chill to the air this past week that tells us fall is on its way. It is wonderful and energizing and I actually feel like gardening again! The cooler weather means it’s time [...]

On the 15th of every month, Garden Bloggers everywhere post pictures of the plants that are blooming in their garden. Here are a few from mine. The above picture shows purple coneflower, Echinacea ‘Magnus’, with white-flowering Echinacea ‘Avalanche’ in front. ‘Avalanche’ is a new cultivar that is shorter – to about 18 inches – and very [...]

In my daughter Kara’s garden, we are growing mostly fruits that are her favorites, like strawberries and blackberries. Since the blackberries haven’t grown much yet, we are using some of that garden space for other useful plants. We put our potato bags in that area. We planted pumpkin and watermelon vines. And we filled in [...]

On the 15th of each month, garden bloggers from around the globe post pictures of the things that are blooming in their gardens on that day. I’ve decided to join the crowd and add my own photo montage. There are a lot of things blooming right now, so I’ll limit mine to the most interesting [...]

During a recent visit to my brother’s house, he confessed that he might have killed some new Salvia ‘May Night’ plants that he had transplanted to the garden a few weeks before. Despite carefully burying the roots and watering the plants in, the plants had slowly turned brown. I took a look, and the plants [...]

One plant that I would be sad to live without is feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium, also sometimes sold as Chrysanthemum parthenium). It is a charming plant that is a member of the sunflower family. A perennial herb, it prefers to grow in full sun, and usually reaches about 24 inches tall. It is hardy to USDA zone 5. Feverfew [...]

Whew, it’s been a busy spring! I never got around to planting seeds for some of the summer crops in my vegetable garden, which I normally would have planted a week or two ago, so I tackled that job this weekend between thunderstorms. Here’s what I planted: Pole Beans: ‘Scarlet Runner’ from saved seeds and [...]

I was out in the back yard talking to a neighbor this evening when I saw the first hummingbird of the season. It was visiting this showy clump of Coral Bells. Heuchera ‘Florist’s Choice’ was introduced by Terra Nova Nursery in 2000. I was sent a plant to trial, and it has multiplied to form [...]

The Baptisia plants are putting on their spring show, and when they are blooming, they are my favorite flower ever! Of course, like many gardeners, my favorite flower ever changes every few weeks . . . Anyway, this native North American wildflower is commonly called blue false indigo, wild indigo, or simply baptisia. It is [...]

A former student from my herbaceous plant I.D. course at U.C. wrote to ask: What were some of my favorite spring blooming annuals and perennials? We had covered the summer bloomers in some detail in the class that runs from mid-June through August. So what did we miss? I thought it would be interesting to [...]