Garden Dinner: Using What You Have
Tonight I went into the garden and picked a leek, some mustard greens and kale, broccoli, red peppers and salad. I felt blessed to have such a selection on November 7th – and with a hard frost expected at the end of the week, I was especially aware that the...
Rosemary Cocktail
Rosemary Comes Indoors If you’ve grown rosemary in a pot outdoors in the summer, you’ll want to bring it indoors for the winter. Once inside, don’t let it get super dry. Herb people say that “A dry rosemary is a dead rosemary,” and indoors...
I Love the Mad Hatter F1 Peppers
Name: Capsicum baccatum Mad Hatter F1 hybrid pepper. Type of Plant: A very productive pepper plant with a unique shaped fruit. This pepper was chosen as an All-American Selection for 2017 and with good reason. Why I love this plant: The All-American Selections people...
Winter or Thanksgiving Garden Dishes
These are the dishes that I mention on the November 23rd Plantrama podcast. They are what a vegetable gardener might have on their Thanksgiving table. A green bean with canned soup casserole for Thanksgiving? Are you kidding me? If you have a vegetable garden...
A Most Charming (and Edible!) Annual
Name: Tropaeolum majus – aka nasturtium Type of Plant: A warm weather annual that is the definition of cheerful. There are trailing varieties that are perfect for growing as an “understory annuals” around the stems of taller plants like zinnias, salvia and dahlias....
Not All Ideas “Come True”
We gardeners have a saying about seeds: when you get a plant growing from seed that is the same as the parent plants, we say that the plant “comes true” from seed. Hybrids often don’t grow true from seed in that you’ll get plants that resemble...
Recycle Wilted Mylar Balloons
On my husband’s birthday a friend surprised him by tying a large bunch of mylar helium balloons to his car. He brought the bouquet home, and they floated colorfully in our dining room for a couple of weeks. But after the helium leaked out, we were left with the...
Best Hardy Fall Mum…Dendranthema
Name: Dendranthema – aka Chrysanthemum or even perennial daisy mums. Whatever you call them, they are bone-hardy, dependable plants. Varieties commonly grown include Cambodian Queen (lavender), Sheffield Pink (pink), Autumn Moon (pale yellow) Mary Stoker (yellow to...
Plants and Pop Culture: Hydrangea macrophylla
As I mentioned in a previous post, I’ve been concerned that plants and gardening seem to be completely ignored by popular culture. Is it because the greenery is getting buried in a rain of digital devices? Is the garden getting dissed as being a place only for “girls...