Flower & Garden | Gardening in My Rubber Boots

Dec 28

FOUND: Garden Mentors Online

Since joining Twitter in April 2009, I’ve met many gardeners and designers online that I’m proud to call my mentors. These folks have experience in vegetable gardens, perennial gardens, landscape design, container gardens, garden blogging and/or composting. They’re also a pleasure to chat with.

Just recently, one of my Twitter mentors, Dan Eskelson nominated me for the Honest Scrap Award. But, since I already wrote my post for the Honest Scrap Award (you can read it here), I decided to talk about what makes Dan a great mentor instead.

What’s great about being friends with Dan on Twitter is that he seems to know everything about gardening and landscape design AND he’s willing to share his knowledge with the rest of us. He’s also very approachable and often the first to respond to my crazy questions/situations — in my opinion this is what makes him a great mentor.

That, and he’s an all-around nice guy and a great conversationalist.

What’s great about Twitter is that I can also see Dan’s conversations with the other garden/design gurus that I follow (a.k.a my other mentors). It’s like getting to listen in as the Masters talk poetically about design, landscape design, plants, latin plant names and organic methods. I admit, sometimes I have no idea what they’re talking about and have to use “Google” to figure it out — but I enjoy learning new things.

Now, I agree that Twitter isn’t for everyone (I often wonder if it’s right for me since I spend more time reading other people’s posts than actually engaging in conversation) but, finding Dan and other garden mentors/friends online is one of the best things to happen to my garden. It’s like having an interactive resource manual, cheerleading squad and cocktail party at my fingertips. It has also helped me realize I have a lot left to learn about gardening and design — especially if I want to be a great mentor like Dan some day.

I’d like to thank Dan for nominating me for the Honest Scrap Award and for being so supportive online — both are apprecited. You can learn more about Dan by visiting Clearwater Landscapes or by following @daneskelson on Twitter.

Dec 15

5 Comments

What’s NOT Blooming December 15

I thought I’d mix it up a bit this month. Since it was DARK and all my plants are hibernating, I took pictures of my winter interest plants (and a couple fun things as well).

1. Urn filled with Boxleaf Hebe, Black Mondo Grass & Scarlet Leader Cotoneaster 2. Oak Leaf Huechera 3. My Lion
4. My Espalier Apple Arbor 5. Side of Apple Arbor 6. Japanese Maple
7. Old Fashion Rose 8. Red Twig Dogwood 9. Ginkgo Tree
10. Wisteria Vine 11. Glass Balls (rescued from frozen pond) 12. London Pride
13. Holly Berries 14. Euphorbia 15. Stella
16. Euphorbia 17. Euphorbia 18. Scarlet Leader Cotoneaster Berries

Dec 12

6 Comments

I Need More Short Plants in My Garden

When you look at my garden in full bloom during spring and summer, it appears I only like tall/medium height perennials and shrubs. I say this because I really only have a couple short perennials and ground covers in the garden, with the exception of my hostas, heuchera and hellebores (all planted in the shade garden). Because the main part of our garden redesign includes removing the hedge from our front walkway and adding a new front path, I’ll have a lot more room (and need) for full sun short plants and ground covers. As you can see in the picture, I also have a new garden space to the left of the grass that will need some shorter plants too.

So far my plant list includes bergenia, hardy geranium, ajuga and creeping jenny (along with more hostas and heuchera). I’d love to hear what short perennial/ground cover plants you recommend (hardy to zone 8a) that I can add to my full sun and part shade gardens.

Our front yard will have much better flow when we’re done. I got a little ‘hedge crazy’ when I first moved in, so we’re removing the small hedge that runs along the walkway to the front door. Don’t get me wrong, I still love hedges, just in a larger yard/garden than mine.

Leaves = New Garden Bed

I’d like to get working on our redesign, but the ground is still frozen. Until then, here are a couple of my inspiration pictures for our side yard that I took at Remlinger Farms a couple months ago.

Update

So far I’ve receive quite a few great recommendations from Twitter.

@AnniesAnnuals has a great online catalog everyone should check out! They gave me the following plant recommendations: Heirloom dianthus: http://bit.ly/6eVrFm, http://bit.ly/58wPov ; Alpine strawberry w/ chartreus foliage: http://bit.ly/6sxoZL ; almost turquoise CA native penstemon: http://bit.ly/6lRZcr goes perfect with this CA native poppy: http://bit.ly/6QTX7z , scabiosa is a bee magnet & bloom machine: http://bit.ly/7CXMor ; sidalcea for some height! http://bit.ly/72Bp2m ;geraniums would be fab, especially the more unusual ones: http://bit.ly/6RTS64,http://bit.ly/1LTX9X, http://bit.ly/7hBKXx.

@marykir recommended I try helianthemums in the sunny spots and epimediums in the shady spots. There are also some agastaches, salvias, coreopsis, and teucriums that are supposed to stay under 18″. Someone near Queen Anne library has slope covered with varieties of golden/reddish groundcover sedums, short grasses, and heuchera.

Dec 10

3 Comments

2009 Recap in Red

Starting at top left: blueberry bushes this fall; chicken coop and rain barrel; summer night dahlia; audrey grace dahlia; red rubber shoes; double peony; radishes; raspberries and blueberries; raspberry tart; vine ripen tomatoes; veggie harvest

Nov 18

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My Front Yard Inspiration Picture

This is my inspiration picture for our front yard redesign. I ripped it out of a magazine, scanned it and added it to my phone’s picture library. I like how the path flows to the front door and the garden appears to flow through the pathway.