I vowed to tie up the stems of the Clematis durandii as they grew taller this Spring. They don't know how to hold on by themselves and they flop eventually if I don't tie them. I kept them tied until last week when I missed five days while most of the stems added another foot and buds. Curses, some of the stems flopped. It's... ...see more

The tulips and daffodils came to the end of their blooming times three weeks ago and the next wave of bulbs started with the giant onions and chives. They held their balls of tiny purple flowers for two weeks (and the bees showed up just in time to take their nectar). Then the flowers faded and the green seed capsules replaced... ...see more

The willing gardeners of my neighborhood have made short work of turning the mangy traffic circle on my street into a thriving garden. We covered the grass with newspaper six sheets thick (no light, grass dies) and we covered the newspaper with compost and mulch to hold it down. Today, three years later, the circle is almost... ...see more

Our early (very early) Spring worries me. Will we have one more frost, just when trees and shrubs have lost their hardiness and leafed out? Will we have insect outbreaks? Yesterday, the earliest butterflies showed up. Has the weather fooled them or are they in synch with the nectar plants. I think they've been fooled by the warmth.... ...see more

Roy Klehm talked about magnolias at Iowa Arboretum recently and brought with him from Illinois two dozen young trees for sale. I've coveted a yellow-flowered magnolia for years, ever since I discovered three mature trees in my neighborhood (see "the 'Hood'). But I was torn. Be frugal?  or give in and splurge? I splurged. I bought... ...see more

The wind was blowing hard and gusty and I kept losing my balance and feeling as if I'd blow off the roof any minute. The plants on the roof had been dealing for four years with a fierce combination of constant wind (sometimes gale force wind), searing summer heat and sub-zero days in winter with no insulation around their roots.... ...see more

Folks who buy a young tree that has grown in a container a bit too long want to know what to do about the roots--score the rootball vertically? cut off the circling roots at the bottom of the root ball, fluff up the rootball, bash the rootball until it loosens?
I start with what a tree wants to do, namely, make four or five major... ...see more

Roy Klehm, from Klehm Nursery in Illinois, spoke about magnolias at Iowa Arboretum last week. He brought with him a lot of young trees in containers, and I couldn't resist, so I went home with two cultivars, 'Spring Royalty' (deep purple flowers), and 'Butterflies' (yellow--real yellow--flowers) and a limp credit card. 
Here's... ...see more

We had a freakishly warm winter (winter by the calendar) and several days in the 80s as winter came to an end (by the calendar). The we hit a cold three weeks, temperatures closer to normal for early Spring here in Z5. So far awhile Spring was colder than Winter. Then it warmed a little and then it turned cold. For two days running... ...see more