Letters from the Garden

Friday Finds

FRIDAY FINDS

So, I’m not entirely sure what happened, but apparently Thanksgiving is next week. I am rather shocked. So I guess that means I better spend some time this weekend figuring out what kind of pie (or pies) I’m going to make. That’s my contribution to the meal. One year I made the turkey. It was terrible. Now I stick with ...

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Friday Finds

FRIDAY FINDS

Thank you all so much for your nice comments on Wednesday’s post of beautiful gardens. Few places can bring peace like a garden. Maybe I need to do that more often on the blog. But for now it’s Friday and a weekend in the garden will be an excellent thing indeed. Now, on the other hand, if you’re looking for ...

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Friday Finds

FRIDAY FINDS

Well folks, I’ve just set a new personal record. I just ordered plants. For next year. Certainly this is the earliest I’ve ever done such a thing, but I needed to just make a decision and move on. So I did. Someone should remind me in spring that I ordered these because I’m sure I will forget. Onto Friday Finds, ...

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Friday Finds

FRIDAY FINDS

You can tell that it’s fall and people are starting to move inside because there’s been some great stuff on the Internet this week. Before I dig in, a quick programming note: I mentioned bulb augers (that’s an affiliate link) the other day and I realized, while in the throes of mass planting the other night, that a little bit of ...

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Friday Finds

FRIDAY FINDS

Some weeks Friday it feels even better than usual when Friday rolls around. So it goes this week. Some affiliate links may be used. This means that if you buy what I link to, I may get a small percentage of the purchase price. This helps support this blog and I very much appreciate it! Before we kick off into ...

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Friday Finds

MONDAY MUSINGS

I’m sure you’re confused about what Monday Musings are. Well, they are Friday Finds when you were too busy on Friday to do Friday Finds but didn’t want to wait a whole week to share some goodies. And god forbid I not use alliteration in a headline.I decorated the house for fall. Yep, that’s it. I’ve never been much a ...

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Friday Finds

FRIDAY FINDS

It’s officially fall. I will allow myself to use the word now, but that doesn’t mean I’m happy about it. But there’s nothing to be done about it, so I might as well make the most of it and enjoy what really is a beautiful time of year (even if I spend it dreading what comes next). Affiliate links may ...

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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.

If you had told me last March when I wrote on this blog about my rather grand plan for a new vegetable garden that I would still be updating you on it nine months later, well, I probably wouldn’t have done it. Suffice to say, I had no idea what a big project I was […]

This post is a paid partnership with Lowe’s Home Improvement, but I’m responsible for all of the opinions expressed here as well as the horrific state of my garage when this all started. One of the last garden-related tasks of the year is the annual cleaning out of the garage. Well, not the entire garage. […]

Have you finished your Christmas shopping? If you’re like me the more appropriate question might be: Have you started your Christmas shopping? Yes, we’re officially down to the wire, but I am here to help. And to me one of the best gifts period, and the best last-minute gifts are books. Most people still have […]

If you are like me and you are just a tad behind on your winter containers, you might feel like you need to scramble a bit. One thing I’ve learned is that, especially around the holidays, scrambling leads to spending.  So in a nod to keeping things simple and affordable, here are some things you […]

Lowe’s Home Improvement partnered with me on this post to provide a big surprise to some great friends. All words, opinions and griping about the weather are my own. If you aren’t familiar with the Midwest, you might be confused by what you’re about to see. The fact is that there isn’t a lot of […]

First we covered practical gifts for gardeners, but now we head to dream gifts: the amazing, the luxurious and the downright absurd. There is one gift that I didn’t have a proper illustration for that definitely falls under the dream gift category in my mind: Someone to help in the garden.  1. Cheryl’s she-shed has […]

Judging by my overflowing email inbox this weekend, I guess holiday shopping season is fully upon us, and that means that it’s time for a few gift guides. And I’m starting it off with my guide to practical gifts for gardeners. By the way, many of these items might be on sale or be offered […]

Well this was not in my plan.  An early season snowfall has put a damper on my fall gardening plans and even worse, it has pretty much killed any desire I have to be in the garden. It’s just so hard to get inspired to garden when the option is getting your winter gloves dirty […]

More than once I’ve written here about the misconceptions I had about spirea. For a time it was, to me, the most boring of shrubs, the least interesting of what I call the “landscaper’s trio” of spirea, daylilies (almost always ‘Stella d’Oro’) and a (usually sickly looking) hydrangea. Somewhere along the line this combination

Bulb planting continues for me. I’ve been a bit pokey about it this year, just because the lack of a mid-fall warmup has me running a bit frantic in the garden. There’s lots of cleanup to be done, and some jobs, like digging dahlias seem to be taking longer than I planned. I have about […]

We’ve been enjoying a particularly beautiful fall here. Beautiful not in terms of weather, as gray days have far outnumbered those crisp, sunny fall days with royal blue skies, but the trees have put an amazing show. Last year, a late-summer drought stressed trees, plants and gardeners alike, dropping leaves to the ground before most [&hellip

This post is a paid partnership with Lowe’s Home Improvement, but all words, opinions and the recipe for the perfect s’more for non-marshmallow lovers are my own. If Mother Nature is feeling generous we’ll enjoy a long autumn with a few excellent Indian summer days mixed in for good measure. I know I spend a […]