Share my passion for all things gardening!
How many of you are yearning for some color in your garden right now? If you live in a temperate area of the country like I do, you’re just as anxious as I am. One of the things I’m slowly starting to see in my garden is spring bulbs. They are a sight for sore eyes, let me tell you! […]
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OK, so your Amaryllis (a.k.a. Hippeastrum) bulb has bloomed. Now what? Don’t throw it in the trash or the compost bin! With a little care, they can bloom again for you next year. Every winter, I love growing these amazing bulbs. Why? It makes me feel like I’m gardening while the snow is flying outside. The flowers are absolutely gorgeous […]
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Do deer drive you insane? It seems like they are a huge problem in so many areas of the country. As a result, I get a lot of questions about how to keep them out of the garden. While visiting a friend late last summer, I saw how she is dealing with deer — easily and successfully. And you need […]
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I recently wrote that February is the month to pot up any geranium plants you may have overwintered. Well, it’s also time to pot up your overwintered Canna lily bulbs. That’s pretty exciting, right? Think of how nurseries and garden centers sell a single potted Canna lily for anywhere from $6 to $12 each. This method is well worth your […]
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If you overwintered your geraniums using my method of knocking the soil off the roots and storing them in a bag or box, it’s time to pot them up again. I don’t know about you, but that’s exciting because it means spring really is coming! I just potted up mine and had fairly good results from the overwintering process. There […]
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I recently wrote about using “vernalization” for starting artichoke seeds. There are two other seed-starting terms that you might find both interesting and useful. Those are stratification and scarification and they apply to the seeds of different plants. I thought it might be helpful to define and elaborate on all three terms here. That way, so everything is together in […]
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I know I’m forcing the issue here but I can’t help myself! The bulbs we’ve all known for so many years as Amaryllis are actually called Hippeastrum. So here is an update on how my Hippeastrum is doing! (After all, as a garden writer, I should probably be using the correct terms myself, right?) This gorgeous flower is ‘Papilio’ and […]
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Well, here we are in the dead of winter and I’m talking about how to propagate geraniums by taking cuttings. Why now? Well, the cuttings I took of my ivy geraniums last fall have been doing so well, I decided it was an important skill to share with you. The take-home message from my latest video is simple: Don’t be afraid […]
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Have you ever noticed how we humans tend to focus on the things we have done wrong? Yet we neglect than all of the things we’ve done right? Well, we gardeners are no exception. We often fixate on our “failures” rather than learning from them, which ultimately leads to success in our gardens. As a garden writer, I often hear […]
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Do you enjoy growing Amaryllis bulbs? Those are the popular bulbs that are usually sold during the fall months for growing indoors over the winter months. Their flowers are huge and gorgeous. But what if I told you they’re not Amaryllis but Hippeastrum instead? Say what?! Yup, all these years, we’ve been calling them by the wrong name. There are […]
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