Last weekend I dug a hole that was large enough that I figured any neighbors who might have stopped by would probably slink away assuming I was digging a grave. I’m not kidding. This hole was about 6 feet wide by a good 3 feet deep and almost 3 feet wide. When I was finished moving all that soil out ...
For many years I resisted the idea of planting a tree or shrub to memorialize a loved one who has passed. I can’t imagine something worse than planting a tree to remember someone and having it falter. It would be like revisiting that loss all over again. And then I planted a tree as a memorial and I changed my ...
For many years I resisted the idea of planting a tree or shrub to memorialize a loved one who has passed. I can’t imagine something worse than planting a tree to remember someone and having it falter. It would be like revisiting that loss all over again.And then I planted a tree as a memorial and I changed my mind. ...
Plant death happens. But it sort of stinks when it happens to you. Every spring I check in with all my plants. It doesn’t take but a minute: Dead or alive? Sometimes it takes some time so this is a question asked frequently. Sometimes all that remains is an empty spot in the garden where I could swear a plant ...
One the biggest challenges gardeners face, particularly in certain parts of the country including the Midwest, is wildlife damage. It is soul crushing when you go to your formerly beautiful garden to find plants mowed down overnight by deer. The deer in our neighborhood are so bold they basically give you the stink eye if you interrupt their meal. There ...
I hate to complain about the weather, but this weekend was complete garbage. The end of last week was cold and dank, and things have only gotten worse from there. I spent Saturday frantically working in the garden because I knew there would be no gardening on Sunday with 3 inches of rain predicted to fall and temperatures hovering around ...
This is the hardest part of growing plants from seed, if you ask me. I started my first seeds at the end of February and I was so into them. I tended them lovingly. I checked on them four times a day. And now, well the relationship has changed. There are still plants to be started and hundreds to be ...
The Impatient Gardener blog was started in 2009 and its library of posts includes practical how-tos, plant guides, favorite garden gear, successes and failures and much more. If you’re looking for something specific, the search function at the top of the page can help.
My affinity for meatball boxwoods is no secret. In my very informal garden, they are one of the few nods I give to formality and I like the structure they provide. I usually prune boxwoods toward the end of June, but this year was a little behind weather-wise and then I left for awhile so […]
So happy to be bringing you some Friday Finds today. We have enjoyed the most perfect week of summer weather and although I’ve been flat out catching up on work, I’ve been taking every possible moment to soak up the summer goodness because I know how fleeting it is. I love looking at dream properties […]
God bless the cloud. When my phone took one bounce of the deck of the boat last week before plunging into the depths of Lake Michigan I had no idea what had all backed up to the cloud before it offed itself. Thankfully, upon returning home I found all of the photos I had taken […]
If it ever seems like your garden changes very slowly, just leave it for a couple weeks in the middle of summer and see what it looks like when you get back. Although I do this (rarely for this long, however) every year, it never ceases to amaze me how much the garden changes in […]
I had posts planned for you this week and in fact all set to go, but Murphy’s Law has made itself known and I dropped my phone with everything on it (including a ton of photos of beautiful gardens that I can only hope backed up to the cloud first) right into Lake Michigan. Almost […]
I’m leaving my garden for almost two weeks. It’s a bittersweet time to be away as I want to savor every bloom and new leaf and change and mentally bottle it to be conjured up come January. At the same time, summer is about much more than just gardening and it’s time to do some […]
Every year I have the good fortune of growing several new plants, some provided for me to trial and others that I seek out and purchase because I NEED them. Since the garden is finally filling out, I thought it would be a good time to show you some of the interesting new plants I’m […]
Last week I had to go to Newport, Rhode Island, for work, and although business travel isn’t high on the list of things I want to be doing in summer, it was a pleasure to be in such a beautiful city. Before I left I gardened like a mad woman to get all the major […]
It’s a rare Saturday blog post! I figured I owed you a little something with my sporadic posting over the past few weeks. The garden is finally coming alive, and although there isn’t a lot of things flowering just yet, it is a lovely combination of greens and almost everything is still looking fresh and […]
I love looking at photos of gardens. I study them and after a while I think I know them. I’ve been following Linda’s blog Each Little World longer than I’ve been following any other garden blog and I feel like I’ve become close friends with her Madison, Wisconsin, garden. But a couple weeks ago I […]
I’m nearing the tail end of the major work in the garden, which now consists of pulling out weeds by the handful and mulching. I’m certain I’ve weeded at least 10 wheelbarrows full and the mulch situation is completely out of control. I’m fussy about mulch. My favorite is a very fine pine bark with […]
I forgot to show you a couple of photos that I meant to include in yesterday’s post about what’s happening in the garden. The ‘Blue Angel’ hostas in a corner of the garden have not yet recovered from a hasty division a year or two ago when they were badly in need of it so […]
So many things have been happening in the garden and I’ve not had to time to show you any of them, so I thought it was high time to take a few peeks at what’s happening. Not much is blooming yet, but in a matter of weeks I expect the yard to be a riot […]
You are reading the blog of a movie star. Well, not quite, but I sort of felt like one for a day. A couple weeks ago I drove 60 miles west to the charming town of Merton, Wisconsin (where I think I actually covered a school board meeting once for one of my first jobs), […]
