Mother Earth's Garden

My favorite spring pond plant is the water iris. Their blooms are so delicate, and they’re just as beautiful as their larger Siberian iris relative in my garden.

They’re actually more of a bog plant than a pond plant. They like to grow right on the water’s edge, getting their feet wet while they keep their tops dry.

Water irises aren’t hard to grow, and they come in a variety of colors. Just plant them at the edge of your pond, or in a boggy wet area and watch them take off.

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Hostas are truly one of the best plants for shady gardens. Here are some of the reasons why I have several hostas growing in the shady areas around my house.

They’re beautiful
When they’re mature they completely cover the ground around them for about a foot in each direction, completely shading out any weeds that may want to grow there.
They come in several varieties and colors.
Once you plant them they come back year after year, more spectacular every year.

Every year I find a new variety to add to my collection. We have several tall old …read more

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One of the largest herbs in my garden is comfrey. Comfrey is a large sprawling herb, and can get out of hand if you let it.

My comfrey plant actually planted itself from a potted comfrey someone gave me. I left it in the pot because I wasn’t sure I wanted to plant it, and eventually ended up composting it. But the comfrey had other ideas, the root of the potted plant came out of the bottom of the plant and planted itself in a corner between the sidewalk and one of my perennial borders (where the pot had …read more

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Peony blooms are spectacular, they’re truly show offs in the garden this time of year. No matter what color you have, you definitely know when they’re in bloom in your garden.

I think peonies are easy to grow, just give them a well drained sunny, or partially sunny location and they’ll take off.
 
They don’t spread, they just get a little larger each year. You can divide a chunk off of a mature plant to start someplace else in your garden.

The only drawback to peonies is the ant attraction. Ants love peonies, and not just your Aunt …read more

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I have a love hate relationship with clematis. I love it, but it doesn’t love me. I’ve never had much success with growing clematis. Every time I plant one it either doesn’t grow, or doesn’t bloom, or both.

My mom on the other hand has great luck with clematis, maybe she just has the perfect spot? She doesn’t do anything with hers and it blooms like crazy every year.
I think I might just give it another try. The beautiful blooms are definitely worth the frustration. Maybe I just need to find a better spot for it in …read more

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I spent the afternoon planting my garden. I had some plants to get in there and I didn’t want to let them sit in pots too long. I planted 18 different types of tomatoes. Most were heirloom varieties, including Cherokee Chocolate, Green Jubilee, Ivory Egg, Blueberry, and some of my favorites like Arkansas Traveler, and Brandywine.

I also planted some eggplant, basil, flowering kale, and 4 different varieties of peppers. They all joined the cabbage, potatoes, onions, greens, spinach, and peas that I planted in April.
I still want to get some melons, squash and beets planted, hopefully tomorrow. I usually …read more

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Burpee’s Fordhook Farm welcomed visitors Mother’s Day weekend for their first Open Day event of 2009. Called Root Camp, the two-day event took place Friday, May 8th and Saturday, May 9th at Burpee’s historic Fordhook Farm in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.

In addition to opening its doors to curious gardeners hoping to catch a glimpse of Fordhook’s eight specialty gardens, visitors came to participate in garden workshops, a plant sale and lectures given by well-known garden authorities Graham Rice and Rosalind Creasy.
The turnout for the event included a notable number of children accompanying their mothers in honor of Mother’s Day weekend.
Burpee’s Open …read more

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We have our winner for the $100 Home Depot Gift Card. I want to say a big thank you to Home Depot for sponsoring such a great contest, and thank you to everyone who participated.
Congratulations to Kelly, picked by random.org. Who said:
My project is going to be starting vegetables from seeds indoors
I will be contacting  Kelly in the next day or so to get her information. She’ll have a couple days to get back to me or I’ll have to pick a new winner.
Thanks again to everyone who participated! We’ll have more great giveaways soon!
Image via Home Depot

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I have more Irises blooming happily in my hillside garden. I love a display of cut Irises in a tall vase on my kitchen table. They’re a real eye catcher.
I enjoy their fragrance, but my husband doesn’t so much, so you may want to check with the other members of your family before you plop a whole vase full on the dining room table at supper time. I think they smell kind of like grapes, but they definitely have a scent.
My hillside is covered with white, purple, and yellow iris blooms so I have to share a few more photos.
My …read more

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In our area (USDA zone 5) the frost free safe date is usually Mother’s Day, but we’ve had two frosts since then this year. We had a fairly hard frost last night!

What can you do to protect your plants from a late season frost?

If you’ve planted any tender annuals, such as tomatoes, melons, peppers, petunias, or cucumbers cover them with a lightweight blanket or sheet.
Any newly planted plants that have been inside or in a greenhouse, and are not hardened off to the outdoor weather yet should be covered.
If your plants aren’t in the ground yet bring them …read more

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