I grew up on a family farm in northern Wisconsin and from a young age, I was part of the family enterprise of growing food and tending to the farm animals. Each spring my dad would plow up our large vegetable garden and prepare the soil to be planted with both seeds for common vegetables […]
Garden Notes
Onondaga, Ornamental Shrub
Our home is located on a corner lot with most of the yard in front. While I like the overall look, I want our yard to feel more like a retreat. To that end, I have been slowly planting a perennial border interspersed with shrubs to create more privacy and decrease the amount of lawn […]
Astilbe, Graceful Shade Perennial
Our yard is quite shady and I spend a lot of time researching plants that are likely to do well. One plant that is intriguing to me is astilbe. It is a perennial that sports beautiful, showy flowers atop glossy, fern–like foliage. The fact that it blooms for quite a long time in summer is […]
New Dawn Redwood, Local Giant
In my efforts to become better at identifying trees and trying recognize at least the trees growing in our area, I came upon a new dawn redwood growing just a few blocks from our house. This local redwood is simply planted in a neighbor’s front yard and has grown into a huge landmark. It is […]
Arugula, Spicy Salad Green
Arugula is one of my favorite salad greens. I remember it from my childhood, except then it was called the rocket (the rockets being a corruption of the French roquette). My dad was particularly fond of this peppery lettuce and planted it every year. It had spicy green leaves with sort of a peppery-mustard flavor […]
Garden Classes – A Lot to Learn
I have been attending Master Gardener Classes for the last few weeks and have enjoyed meeting fellow gardeners while learning a lot of new information. Also, it turns out that gardeners bring really great snacks to share with their friends! In the last few classes we have covered: General Gardening Practices Plant Pathology (Diseases) Entomology […]