Growing containerized shrubs has been sort of a game-changer for me. There is something about them that is stately, and while I love containers full of annuals (like, a lot) shrubs add a little something different to the palette. The problem with growing shrubs in containers, however, is winter. You invest a bit of money and a lot of time ...
I’m not even going to look in the archives, but I’m willing to bet that every year around this time I’ve started a post by telling you I’ve done no Christmas shopping. I think we can all safely assume that short of taking advantage of a few cyber week sales for things we needed, there will be no gift buying ...
FYI: I’ve posted an update to how this all worked out at the bottom! I am not a rose expert. In fact, longtime readers may recall that it wasn’t too long ago that I publicly swore that I would never grow roses again. The problem with making such declarations is that it’s difficult to hide from them when just a ...
Dahlias have become quite the favorite flower. Dare I say they’ve even become a bit trendy? I hate the idea of a flower being a fad. I prefer to chalk up the interest in dahlias to a combination of access to lovely new varieties, more information available on how to grow them and social media nudge from floral designers and ...
Well hello there! If you’ve made it here you’re officially on the new The Impatient Gardener site, the creation of which took a little longer than I expected and was probably poorly timed. But I think the effort was worth it and I hope you do too. My hope is that you’ll find the site a little more user friendly ...
You might have noticed that I didn’t write much about the vegetable garden this year. That’s not because I didn’t grow vegetables, but it wasn’t my best year in the vegetable garden.It’s been my pattern to really let a garden slip after I’ve developed a plan in my head for how I’m going to change it. The most recent example ...
Mr. Much More Patient and I spent a good part of the weekend dealing with the first round of fallen leaves at our house. Because we have a lot of trees, it works better to do it in two or three sessions rather than wait until everything is on the ground.And while some people bag their leaves or push them ...
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.
The staghorn fern got some new digs for the new year. You may recall that I wrote about how it was doing so well it needed to be repotted, and fortunately Kylee over at Our Little Acre saw my plea for some advice. Turns out she has a great tutorial on her blog about how […]
There are just two hours left in 2015 and although I might be a just bit late on pulling together a little 2015 retrospective, I’d be remiss in not doing so. In January I talked about the perennial of the year for 2015: Geranium x cantabrigiense ‘Biokovo’. I love that plant then and I love it now. […]
Gardening seems to be more insulated from the trends that drive home decor, but I think that’s because it takes longer to develop a garden. You can buy new furniture for your living room and change the whole look in a day but a change like that takes years in a garden. Still, I believe […]
I’ll admit I’m not a fan of Christmas on a Friday because from a regular job perspective, it’s a big challenge. On the other hand, two “extra” days after the holiday were pretty darn amazing to have. Christmas was great. Lots of good family time, great food, a Christmas Eve showing of the new “Star […]
Ever since we threw a Santa hat on our first dog Hudson when he was just puppy and mailed it out, Christmas cards featuring the dogs have become “a thing.” Mr. Much More Patient says we’ve been slacking off in recent years and needed to do something more extravagant this year, but I’ve found that […]
Christmas is pretty basic at our house this year and I can’t tell you why. Maybe it’s the unseasonably warm weather we’ve been having that makes it seem not-at-all like Christmastime. Maybe it’s having house projects in the plans and not wanting to have to deal with anything more. Maybe it’s the logistics of a [&hellip
‘Tis the holiday season of slow and steady for me. I can’t believe I’ve shown you pretty much nothing in the way of decoration at my house yet. I do have photos, but I’d like to supplement them with some taken at dusk with everything lit up and, since dusk is at about 4 p.m. […]
Houseplants are my downfall. I love them but I abuse them. Or perhaps neglect is the more appropriate term. Either way, I avoid buying expensive houseplants because my track record with them is not good. Flora Grubb greenhouse photo For years I have wanted a staghorn fern (Platycerium bifurcatum). I think they are the coolest looking […
I have rarely felt a case of the gardener guilts in mid-December. Gardeners are allowed to go whole hog on the holidays because, for most of us, there are few gardening tasks to be tackled at this time of year. The garden has been put to bed for the winter and it’s too early to […]
This downstairs bathroom renovation is becoming an interesting project. Little hurdles are popping up—nothing earth-shattering or more than the usual renovation snafus, but odd—but it looks like it’s going to happen. Soonish. Since I’ve blabbed on about it for a bit now, I thought I’d share with you some of the vision for what
Today’s post was supposed to be a big photo-filled post showing you all my outdoor Christmas decorations. But it’s not, mostly because on Sunday the dogs decided to go on an expedition down a bluff by my parents’ house. They made it down OK, but the old one got stuck down there and couldn’t get […]
We are getting close to officially committing to redoing the downstairs bathroom. This is a big deal because (1.) this was the room we swore had to be redone immediately when we first saw the house we would buy—more than 13 years ago, and (2.) it is pretty much the last room to be renovated […]
I’m a late Christmas decorator. At least it seems late, since I usually finish it up a couple weeks before Christmas, which is apparently late these days. But I like to take advantage of milder weather to do my outdoor containers, which is easily my favorite holiday project. I’m busy gathering materials now. I picked […]
I love giving and receiving books so perhaps it’s serendipitous that it took me so long to write about this trio of books that that has inadvertently turned into a holiday shopping post. The first is Charlotte Moss’s Garden Inspirations. This oversized book is published by Rizzoli, which is known for beautiful, photo-filled books and [&
