Kate on May 31st, 2010

Memorial Day celebrates the armed services, so I went in search of red, white and blue
Blue was not a problem – I have hydrangeas everywhere and they are are all standard mop head blue. Alice Morse Earle commented that the hillsides of Long Island looked like they were moldy when the hydrangeas were in bloom [...]

Continue reading about Red, White and Blue Day

Kate on February 8th, 2009

Yesterday on the radio show I had Steve Guiness who enjoys playing around with tropical plants. He takes people on gardening trips to the South American continent, so he was the perfect person to ask about my hardy bananas and how to prune them.  I have now neatened them up by taking all the dead [...]

Continue reading about Hardy Bananas and Bamboo

Kate on February 8th, 2009

The weather turned mild this past 24 hours, so I was able  get out into the garden to work today.  The chore was made more pleasant by the fact that the first daffodils were out.  These cheery little guys are just the wild variety not posh ones, but they are always a welcome site.
 
The problem [...]

Continue reading about The First Daffodil

Kate on November 26th, 2008

Yesterday I had the pleasure of talking to a poinsettia guy. He works as the production manager at Smith greenhouses, in Oregon and we talked about all the wonderful new ‘flavors’ that are now out in the poinsettia world.  Mints and fruits seem to be the current naming trend!
One thing that really fascinated me though was the [...]

Continue reading about Poinsettias

Kate on October 15th, 2008

 
Last year at a garden sale, I picked up two little hardy banana cuttings.  They grew and grew and gave the tropical look that I wanted.  Hardy bananas plants are not fruiting bananas and if I find time this winter I may well determine if these are the ones grown for twine or something.
But…  there [...]

Continue reading about A Banana??????

Kate on September 28th, 2008

I have very mixed feelings when some of my old favorites are picked up by large breeding companies and ‘new’ patented versions swamp the market.  Two that come to mind from the past week are Agastache and Abelia.
 
 
Agastache (Anise Hyssop).
Agastache foeniculum is a wonderful herb that can be used in teas, but it also makes [...]

Continue reading about New Cultivars of Old Favorites

Kate on September 14th, 2008

Well as this is a new home for the blog, I think that some newcomers to the garden are in order.  As I wandered around this morning, I found some babies of the plant world that I was not expecting.  One was the hardy banana tree that has produced some new shoots, but I noticed [...]

Continue reading about Babies in the garden