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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

I will be speaking at the Tri-State Green Industry Conference on February 4 at the Sharonville Convention Center. I’ll be talking about perennial plants – some that are tried and true, easy-care and low maintenance perennials for our area, and some that are newer selections of these plants. For example, the Purple Coneflower, Echinaceae purpurea ‘Magnus’ [...]

I love the term “putting the garden to bed” for when you cut back your plants and add a layer of compost or mulch for the winter. I can imagine the little plants lying under their blanket of mulch, waiting to wake up and peek out in the spring! But not everything should be cut [...]