Gingham Gardens

  One of the first rules of garden planning and design is to visualize the future. Try to picture when your garden(s) will be full and the plants mature. But, if you’re actually planning next year’s garden when the garden is at its peak, then you don’t have to visualize at all. It’s just so […]

I love the makeovers, the flower garden tours and the tips, but my favorite posts to share are the ones showing off my garden vignettes using vintage items and junk that I’ve picked up at flea markets, estate sales, thrift stores and garage sales. I’m so excited to show you more flower garden vignettes using […]

Whether you’re a new gardener, or you’ve been gardening for a very long time, you probably don’t give much thought to the benefits of gardening. You simply garden because you enjoy it and it’s your hobby of choice. Sometimes we gardeners like to show off the fruits of our labor like having friends over for […]

For purposes of this article, let’s define “Cozy Outdoor Garden Room” as a place to sit outdoors and enjoy your surroundings, either with friends and family, or by yourself. This place to sit can be nestled in among your flowers. It can be a bench in a shady area of your backyard. It can be […]

Believe it or not, some people actually enjoy gardening chores. It’s their favorite hobby and they love to tinker about in the garden the way a car enthusiast enjoys tinkering on an engine. For the rest of us, garden chores are more like necessary maintenance that just needs to be done. I’m mostly in the […]

We’re all familiar with classic perennials, the plants that are the backbone of a flower garden. Today we’re focusing on flowers that are underused and uncommon perennials, or perennials that you don’t see very much. The perennials that made this list aren’t your run-of-the-mill perennials. Although beautiful or unique in their own right, these plants […]

Before I had shade gardens, I thought of hostas as boring shade garden plants. Now that I have lots of shade, I’m embracing growing hostas and all the beautiful varieties that are available. Yes, there are still many plain-Jane hostas, like Royal Standard, lancifolia and the common variegated green ones that other gardeners give away. […]

There seems to be a turn towards including native plants in our flower gardens. Is it just a trend? Trends come and go, so I hope not! I believe most gardeners already include native plants in their gardens, although perhaps unknowingly. So why all the hype? Do you need native plants in your flower garden? […]

Do you have a perennial plant in your garden that blooms for a short time and then it’s just there taking up valuable space. Or, maybe the plant blooms for a short time and then you’re left with ugly foliage. Perhaps, you have a perennial in your garden that you don’t even like, or maybe […]

Do you have a flower garden that desperately needs a makeover? Or, perhaps your flower garden is just overgrown and needs help. Maybe you inherited a complete weed pit from previous owners of your home. Perhaps it’s just a mish mash jumble of a garden that needs some TLC. Maybe it was once a great […]