The Daily Gardener

This past week, I started looking for perennials I want to divide. After the hail storm and siding installation we had earlier this month, I don't feel too bad about digging up the plants. The garden looks tough. Might as well dig up old plants. I always start with my hostas - in part, because they recover so quickly. Next spring, you'll never know that they were transplanted this fall. In addition, they, like the ferns, get used make great ground covers....

Today is National Banana Lovers Day. Botanically speaking, the banana is a berry - a many seeded fruit. And, banana trees are not trees. The banana plant is a giant herb. Inside the guts of the banana tree trunk is a white tube. It may be cooked, and tastes like bamboo shoots. Under a black light (ultraviolet or UV), ripe bananas glow a beautiful bright blue. Scientists believe this is a signal to banana eating animals like insects and bats that can see UV light...

If your garden looks a little sad right now, it could probably benefit from the addition of some no-fail fantastic fall perennials. Here are some of my favorites: If you have a sunny, wet area, Joe-Pye weed is a perfect choice. The blooms are super tall and a favorite with pollinators. The latin name is Eutrochium purpureum.  Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ (Hylotelephium telephium) is fantastic this time of year. It's super easy to propagate as well...

Sometimes I think cutting your bangs are a great analogy for pruning in the garden.   You know how when your bangs are growing out - maybe a little past your eyebrows - and you think, "I am gonna grow these bangs out. I’m gonna have amazing hair." Then, they start to go past your nose and you realize that this was a complete mistake. Then, you don’t have the stamina to make it all the way to having no bangs, and it’s time to get this crazy idea back in check...

At the cabin, a Mullein has seeded itself in one of my beds and I’m letting it grow.    (I was touring gardens in Washington DC a few years ago and the garden had a section for Mulleins. It was so pretty.)   On more than one occasion, I have had to rescue it - to make sure that no one in the family pulled it or weed-whacked it. Now, there it stands; 6 feet tall, big leaves, soft as lamb's ears, and the yellow florets are just starting to pop out from the flower spike. ...

How do you start adding living mulch to your garden?   One of the simplest ways, is just to look for the spots in your garden that are bare.    Look for the open areas and start there.   Look under your shrubs.   Look along the edges of your beds.   Instead of adding another layer of mulch, add plants.   Think about planting these living mulches in terms of planting families. In other words, planting en masse. This is what the naturalists and ecologists do naturally...

"You don't have a garden just for yourself.  You have it to share." -  Augusta Carter, Master Gardener, Pound Ridge, Georgia Pass-along plants have the best stories, don't they?   They have history.   They have personal history.   One of my student gardeners had a grandmother who recently passed away from breast cancer.   Her mom was no green thumb. But, when her daughter started working in my garden, she let me know that her mom had some plants...

Today is National Potato Day. Here are some fun potato facts: The average American eats approximately 126 pounds of spuds each year...

Are you swimming in zucchini yet?   Emily Seftel, of The Tennessean, wrote an article in 2006 that was titled Gad zuks!- which I think is hilarious; we don’t use that term enough, do we?   Anyway, the article started out this way:   "Zucchini, the summer squash, is the Rodney Dangerfield of the produce world it gets no respect."   Then, the article goes on to share some recipes, which were offered by Chef Laura Slama who said,   "When you’re cooking with zucchini, all you need to do...

Last week was one of turmoil in my garden.    We decided to put new windows and siding on the house.   Then we decided to enjoy the ravages of a hail storm  which dumped ping pong ball sized hail on the garden for about five minutes - the entire storm lasted 30 minutes...

Today, August 14, is Saint Werenfrid's Day.    Werenfrid is the patron saint of vegetable gardens.   He is often portrayed as a priest holding up a ship with a coffin in it or displayed as a priest laid to rest in his ship.   Werenfrid is also invoked for gout and stiff joints; which, if you’re a vegetable gardener, those three sometimes go together.

Boy, nasturtiums are such wonderful plants aren't they?   August is a time when your nasturtiums look fabulous; even after a summer of blooming their hearts out. Right about now, you’re nasturtiums will bloom better if you remove a few of the center leaves. Opening up the plant a little bit will promote airflow - and allow the sun to shine on the base of the plant.   Nasturtiums are 100% edible...

If you’re looking to grow an onion that won’t make you cry and give you that bad breath, Sweet Onions are your thing.    If you buy them in the store, they’re usually more expensive than the regular onions.   Sweet Onions are sweet because the sugar and water content are higher. That’s the upside.   The downside to the higher sugar and water content, is that they won’t store as long as regular onions....

Every now and then, plants can surprise you.   In this case I’m talking about more than just a beautiful bloom or general survival. I’m talking about variations that could lead to exciting new varieties. This topic was covered in the newspaper out of Richmond Indiana on this day in 1938.

John Tabb wrote:   "A flash of harmless lightning, A mist of rainbow dyes, The burnished sunbeams brightening From flower to flower he flies."   He’s talking of course about the hummingbird.     Gardeners are enthralled by hummingbirds and will do next to anything to attract them to their garden.     One of my happiest memories is being in my garden, working away, when I suddenly felt a little displacement of air on my cheek...