Phlox Subulata Planting Hints

Posted in easy garden lessons, plant profiles Another Plant Profile from ilonasgarden.com Once upon a time I grew pink Phlox subulata in a rock garden; in my garden, now, the blue variety is grown as a ground cover.  It produces a beautiful bright spot of color in the spring, no matter where you situate it.  Later, it has a pleasing textured green carpet of foliage, earning the “moss” appellation.  Phlox subulata is...
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Ten Best Articles On Pruning

Posted in easy garden lessons, hints and tips When and how should you prune? This is an important question when you care about the health of valuable trees, shrubs, and plants. It also makes a difference in the blossom and fruits for that year. So I thought I would gather together the ten best resources of the web in one place, and then follow those ten with other helpful pruning articles (including my own!) to give you the...
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Starter Vegetable Garden

Posted in Featured Articles, Gallery, easy garden lessons, veggies A small vegetable patch is one of the first gardens I made when I was a twenty-something. I hadn’t really gardened on my own, but I knew what a delicious treat a fresh homegrown tomato was… I had enjoyed them from my mother’s garden. And my mother’s vegetable gardens never changed very much from what is essentially an easy starter vegetable garden. So this little guide...
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The Xeriscape Solution

Posted in easy garden lessons, general gardening What is a xeriscape? Xeriscaping is the art of taking plants that need little water and using them in your landscape. That is the best worded definition I have found. The dictionary says, “environmental design of residential and park land using various methods for minimizing the need for water use.” Don’t you hate hauling that hose all over the garden when it gets dry? That is...
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Three Garden Questions

Posted in easy garden lessons, general gardening Many know of the garden author Christopher Lloyd and his famous ‘Great Dixter‘. Christopher Lloyd passed on from this earthly garden in 2006, but his achievement in creating one of the great gardens of the world continues. An interview with its head gardener, Fergus Garrett, presents some history and insights into how the garden was made, and from this comes three questions for our...
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Steps To Making An Herb Garden

Posted in easy garden lessons, herbs An herb garden is one of the easiest to begin. Herbs grow quickly and often need little care. After awhile they may become a bit ungainly in habit, then it will be time to clip and divide, but that might be one of the most pleasurable tasks you undertake in any garden- the fragrance of cut herbs is a delight to the senses. Let’s get started with our new herb garden! Pick a sunny spot Make...
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