Jacki Kellum Garden May 2019 In my Zone 7, Ozark Mountain Garden, My Gene Boerner Rose Bloomed 1 Month After I Planted It As A Bare Root Rose. It was my first rose to bloom this year. Gene Boerner is a prolific bloomer, and it is highly resistant to diseases. For many years, I have…
My Gene Boerner Rose Will Bloom for Mother’s Day
For as long as I can remember, roses and Mother’s Day have gone together. When I was a child, the people whose mothers had passed away would wear white roses, and the rest of us lucky devils would wear red roses. I am a very lucky devil. This Sunday, I’ll be able to visit my…
Why Everyone Needs A Secret Garden – The Cloisters in NYC and My Gardens, Too
Not long before I left New Jersey, I visited The Cloisters in New York City. By definition, a cloisters area is an open hallway that surrounds a protected garden. It is a natural walkway where monks and nuns might retreat into nature and still have a degree of protection from the elements, like wind, rain,…
Lil Dicky’s Earth Music Video Goes Viral – If the Lyrics Were A Little Cleaner, It Could Be Dynamite for Children’s Programs
In 1985, Michael Jackson and over 40 other musical greats came together and recorded the music video We Are the World. I had long been a bit of an old hippie. In fact, I sang in a folk group during the ’60s, and I grew up singing songs of love, hope, and peace. Does…
Sweet Autumn Clematis – A Fragrant, Evergreen Vine That Grows in Partial Shade
I love the smell of old roses, and I would love to plant them all around my porch–close to where I sit. But my porch doesn’t get much sunshine at all–and every rose needs a lot of sun. In mid-summer, it is too hot to sit outside during the day, but I love to sit…
I Wonder the Weeds! Who Decides What Is A Weed? Spotlight: Dandelion
A Weed Is but an Unloved Flower – Ella Wheeler Wilcox When appraising nature, I am perplexed by the question, “Who decided that some plants were weeds that looked like flowers and who decided which were flowers?” Take for instance the common violet that weaves a purple and green carpet across my lawn in spring….
Trying to Define A Cottage Garden
In his introduction to The Cottage Gardener’s Companion: A Seasonal Guide to Plants & Plantings for Informal Gardens, Douglas Taylor said that cottage gardens are like horses. They are easier to recognize than they are to describe: “Perhaps the chief hallmark is informality.” He observed that the old cottage gardens did not have lawns because…
When Spring Comes to the Cottage Garden
“Long before winter is ready to leave the cottage garden, spring has started to coax blossoms from the bare branches and the cold dark soil. Hazel twigs are hung with yellow ‘lamb’s tail’ catkins, and the mahogany wands of pussy willow are studded with beads of silvery white. Buds are plumping along the Chaenomeles’ knobby…
It Is Spring, But I’m Preparing for My Autumn Garden – Planting Sedum Autumn Joy
It’s only April. The daffodils only quit blooming a few days ago. My climbing roses are just beginning to leaf out and reach toward the arbor. My hollyhocks are barely out of the ground, and last winter’s pansies are still in full bloom. But today, I began thinking about fall, and I planted 5 Sedum…
Up from the Grave, He Arose – At Easter, We Remember the Ever-Renewing Power of Spring
Perhaps everyone feels this way, but I cannot help but notice that I experience an abundance of ups and downs in my life. It is almost seasonal. Of course, all of us are moving toward an inevitable final winter, the last season of our lives, but in addition to that, we experience repeated seasons–repeated winters,…