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Time to Create a Butterfly Garden |
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Friday, 25 April 2008 |
It's nearly springtime you say, and surely it is time to begin a butterfly garden. Really it is, so let's get started.
To me butterflies are one of our most beautiful of all creation. Look
closely and you will see eye shaped formation on their wings to
frighten off predators. Think about the swallowtails for instance. At
their most vulnerable stage, as a caterpillar, it resembles bird
droppings, and there is no better way to deter predators from sampling
it for a tasty snack.
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April Checklist for Your Garden |
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Saturday, 19 April 2008 |
Some days it's snowing, and other days it's 60 degrees outside. This
is very hard on gardening lovers. The following is a guide or listing
of things that can be done safely in April in USDA Zone 5.
If you haven't yet done so, get outside and fill your planters and
standing pots with new fresh potting soil. Plant your cold hardy
pansies and violas. You can even purchase your cabbage plants and get
them into the soil now. This gives you a little head start.
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Garden Gossip March 20, 2008 |
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Sunday, 23 March 2008 |
This year try something new in your garden. Most of us have seen the
orange black eyed Susan vine, with its most beautiful black center. It
has a cousin, Black-eyed Susan Alba vine, which is an annual, and grows
5-8' tall.
Alba grows well in sun and part shade, and loves rich soil which is
well drained. You will need to look on the internet for the seeds, or
in various catalogs that have been coming to our homes for months now.
When you are sure where you want to plant this little beauty, plant the
seed 1/4-1/2" inch deep. The seeds will sprout in 7-12 days. If you
want to be sure they are ready for spring, plant them 6-8 weeks before
planting outside after our last frost, which is around May 15, for our
USDA Zone 5 area.
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Friday, 14 March 2008 |
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Want to try something a little different this year? If your yard is
two acres or 50 X 100 feet or less, you can try a pocket garden. Is
there a small area in your landscape that needs something special?
Pocket gardens are used around mail boxes, or they can be made grand
and formal, growing large enough to hide an outside shower. There are
many uses and many choices of plant materials. Some of the pocket
gardens are used to surround a private eating area, or a place you may
want to go just to get away, or maybe read a book. These gardens are
usually meant to be private in some way, and they are most fun and
enjoyable to create.
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Wednesday, 13 February 2008 |
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While visiting University of Kentucky's gardens recently, I discovered
a most unusual tree, a bottle tree. Being an avid cobalt glass
collector, I found the tree wonderful. Most gardeners incorporate
unusual things in their gardens, and most of us use colorful objects
and fun loving expressions on concrete, and we call it all garden art.
The bottle tree was quite unusual.
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