By Claire Jones
Stuck at home during the pandemic, what could be better than a fresh delivery of a hand picked and arranged bouquet of vibrant flowers? That is exactly what Floriculture Microfarm specializes in. I love to promote small local horticultural businesses, and this one really brings joy to the life of many people - weekly! I …
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If you have never grown blackberries, this is one of the easiest and most satisfying berry to grow. I started with one "cane" or stem of a thornless blackberry variety some years ago and it grew to be one ginormous mass of a plant. Taming the canes by growing them on a trellis of cattle fencing …
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Whats blooming in my garden? Elderberries!! The sweet umbels of creamy colored flowers that can reach 12" across are so fragrant and have a unique smell, kind of like floral, creamy, and summery all in one package! All cultivars look very similar with their shrub-like plant structure, compound leaves, and big, beautiful clusters of white …
Continue reading "Elderberry-Growing and Using a Versatile Herb"
Inundated with cucumbers this summer, the cukes in my frig reached critical mass and I had to do something about it, or we would be over run with them. I had at least 100 of them stuffed into every space in my refrigerator and I had already made cucumber salad, cucumber water, and everything else …
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Medicinal, Culinary, Cosmetic, and Aromatic Ah....The fragrance of lavender! Evoking many memories, like wandering through blooming fields of lavender on a hot summer day buzzing with bees. This is one herb that if I were on a desert island, I would want to grow! Growing lavender in my garden every year is essential and I …
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Working outside I encounter a lot of unusual pests and annoyances. One of my most despised pests is the Tomato Hornworm. Tomato Hornworms are really big green alien-like caterpillars that can munch through and devastate your vegetable garden. Nondescript brown moths lay pearl-like eggs on your tomato, pepper, or eggplant, from which the big green monsters …
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With all the new intros of flowers, people forget the old-fashioned flowers that our grandmothers grew and enjoyed. 'Flowers with a past', or 'flowers with history' intrigue me even in the face of the preference of perennials in recent years. So many people when they hear that a plant is an annual turn up their …
Continue reading "Growing Heirlooms – Old Fashioned Annuals That Rock!!"
Growing your own food sounds like a great way to save money — until you spend a ton of money on soil and plants (not to mention a ton of time), only to end up with one measly tomato. Is growing your own food unrealistic, or can you really start a garden without spending a …
Continue reading "Gardening the Easy Way: No-Fuss Tips for Beginning Gardeners"
As a designer, I create many containers for people and try to do something different each time. There isn't a formula that I use over and over because each situation is different, and the plant I want might not be available. That means I might try something a bit different that I don't normally use …
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Lemon Verbena has always been at the top of my list of herbs to grow for its intense lemony fragrance. More pungent that lemon balm or lemon thyme, I ended up with a bumper crop last year and found many uses for it. Be sure to buy a transplant this spring and place it where …
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If you have deer visit your garden and want some color in partial shade or sun, consider planting Calycanthus floridus. A wonderful, easy-to-grow shrub, Carolina Sweet Shrub features strongly fragrant dark red flowers in early summer. The show doesn't stop there; the leaves often turn a nice shade of yellow in the fall. Carolina Sweet …
Continue reading "Carolina Sweet Shrub-Another Deer Proof Shrub Addition"
One of my favorite design jobs landed in my lap about 10 years ago. I really didn't know what to expect when I first visited the property - a modest home set on a busy road with a huge level back yard. There was a steep slope out the back door with some ancient concrete …
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