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Posted by Ilona Erwin on Apr 6

Annuals For Your Garden: Nasturtium

Lovely Summer Nasturtiums Tropaeolum majus are a favorite for a Child’s Garden because their seeds are large, easy to handle, and germinate fairly quickly – 10 to 14 days. They were beloved in Grandma’s old fashioned gardens and Monet lined his garden walk at Giverny with them. Nasturtiums are not only pretty, but used as a companion crop, an edible addition to salads, and as an herbal...

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Posted by Ilona Erwin on Mar 23

Annuals For Your Garden: Nicotiana

Nicotiana For Summer Evening Fragrance Nicotiana, Flowering Tobacco, is an annual flower that scents the night air and comes in the most delicious colors for a summer garden. I grew it from seed for the first time long ago in my city garden. I had read of its fabled fragrance, and that appealed to me. Trying Nicotiana sylvestris, which grew quite tall and had milky white flowers, and a mix of Nicotiana...

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Posted by Ilona Erwin on Mar 22

Annuals for Your Garden: Dahlberg Daisy

Thymophylla tenuiloba, The Dahlberg Daisy A tiny annual plant that goes by this big name is one of the plants that I like to use every year. It make a fine fringe along a path or a lacy spill of golden flowers in a container. Nothing is better for a Fairy Garden, and it even pops up between the flagstones, occasionally proving hardy enough for this Ohio zone 5 climate. 3 Important Things To Know About...

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Posted by Ilona Erwin on Feb 24

Fragrant Flowers: Mignonette

For years I had planted mignonette, one of my favorite flowers, but then I couldn’t find a source for the seeds and it has not been grown in my garden for at least seven years now. In vain, searching through racks of seeds in my local stores for either “Reseda odorata”, the proper Latin botanical name, or its commonly known Mignonette. No plant joy. I looked online a couple years ago and...

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Posted by Ilona Erwin on Feb 19

Annuals for Your Garden: Calendula Officinalis

Calendula Officinalis Called “Poor Man’s Saffron” and “Pot Marigold” the proper Latin name of Calendula officinalis tips you off to the fact that this was a plant which was accepted as an important medicinal plant, belonging in a monastery necessary storeroom. The genus label was so called because the flower was reputed to be in bloom on the calendsthe first days of each...

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Posted by Ilona Erwin on May 19

Container Gardening With Favorite Annuals

Using My Favorite Flowers For Container Gardening [Part One] [Part Two] Continuing to feature some of the beautiful ways that annuals can brighten up a garden. By joining the container recipes and annual plant highlights in the post, this gives ideas you can use in your garden beds, too. Simply increase the numbers of the same plants combined in the containers to give visual impact in flower beds! See...

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Posted by Ilona Erwin on May 10

Container Recipes with Favorite Annual Plants

[Part One] [Part Two] I love annuals. So much so, that it is a daunting task to try to profile all my favorites. As I was planting up my containers, it occurred to me that the ones I was combining in my pots and baskets would be an ideal way to share some of these favorite annuals. Putting together the annual combinations in a recipe that can be repeated every year, or tweaked to produce a new effect...

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WELCOME to my personal garden site with this philosophy: "The lesson I have thoroughly learnt, and wish to pass on to others, is to know the enduring happiness that the love of a garden gives."~ Gertrude Jekyll
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How To Transplant Peonies

Posted in easy garden lessons, how-to, perennials

May is the time when Peonies begin to bloom, and we start wondering “How to plant this beautiful plant in MY garden?” Why plant a peony? It is full of fragrant bloom for spring and the foliage remains...

May Chores 2013: Time To Get Out The Gardening Tools

Posted in general gardening, monthly chores, soil

It has a been quite a cold spring in many areas of the country, and Ohio, while fluctuating wildly, has had cooler weather for most of April. That is usually a time filled with gardening, but I have delayed most...