A few days ago, Bonnie from Living With Thanksgiving commented on the tarragon I planted in bush beds around our yard. She had questions about it, and as I started typing an answer, I realized something. There is so much to say about French tarragon! I knew immediately that I could and should write an […]
Gardening
What’s Blooming Wednesday #58 – My Top 13 Southern Perennial Picks
How was your July 4th? I hope you had a great day (and/or long weekend)! Total subject change, and in reference to our yard, we have several volunteers growing in random places these days. Is that happening in your yard, too? As I began counting all the hardy bloomers that reoccur each year in my […]
What’s Blooming Wednesday #57
Welcome, summer! Last week, HH and I motorcycled through Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and back home through North Mississippi. Texas was beautiful, as always. We go through Texas quite often, and this time we stopped in Dallas to visit family. Southern New Mexico was, well, honestly…less than desirable with hot, driving winds. Northern New […]
What’s Blooming Wednesday #56 + Porch Swing Blooming Pillow
It’s been about six weeks since my last WBW post. Since this is a sacrifice year when I cut whacked(!) the bushes out front, I’ve backed off on all my planting activity while the bushes leaf out again. I’m not bothering the weeds too aggressively, either. I have a few things blooming to share with […]
What’s Blooming Wednesday #55
The day after I published WBW #54, I suddenly discovered more blooms appearing in different spots all around our yard. Daily, I see new blooms I’d forgotten would be here this soon. And, here I thought I had very few flowering plants remaining! Do the flowers in your yard ever surprise you that way? These […]
What’s Blooming Wednesday #52 – Why You Shouldn’t Fear the Ugly
I know all about the ugly. You probably know it, too. It’s that in-between stage of landscaping. Today, I’m sharing all my ugly with you. Don’t we love to see other people’s ugly? It helps us feel like our own ugly is doing pretty good! Last week, I shared what HH has been working on […]
What’s Blooming Wednesday #51 – How to Wake Up to the Loveliest Sound of Rain
It’s true. Yesterday morning, I woke up to the sound of the loveliest light misty rain. Have you ever heard misty rain? I didn’t think so. I’ll explain as we move through today’s pictures of what’s barely blooming here in The Land of Making Do. Hah! Did you notice my lack of What’s Blooming Wednesday […]
How to Moss-Emboss Your Ordinary Clay Planters
Early in spring this year, Spunky Daughter (SD) planted some seeds I shared with her. She bought clay pots and grew herbs in her bedroom window – the only window at their apartment that gets enough sun. Last month, we transplanted everything into larger planters – along with some flowers SD had bought. I kept […]
How to Best Maximize Your Bird House Power
After publishing my post last Wednesday, I Pinned this picture of my friend’s ladder to my ladder board. The next time I need to do something with a ladder, this is it (or something similar)! And you know what happens the minute you stick even your toe inside Pinterest. You never come out! (Please tell […]
What’s Blooming Wednesday #48 – How to Energize Your Fence!
If you were here for last week’s What’s Blooming Wednesday, you remember this gorgeous English garden tucked inside the inner fence in my friend’s back yard. Today, we’re venturing outside this gate – to the outer fence. Some of you noticed that bright yellow window frame right away. Isn’t it awesome? Don’t you love that […]
What’s Blooming Wednesday #47 – How to Dress Your Yard in English Garden
I’m very excited to share this post with you today because I’m always so inspired when I visit these friends. They live nearby, and they don’t live in a land of making do. They have what I call a regular yard. Do you know what I mean by regular? It’s a yard that may be […]
What’s Blooming Wednesday #44 at Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage
We quickly bounded up the highway to Nashville last week for a couple of days with our two kids (who are in college). With all our schedules for work, school, and blogging, we fit as much fun as possible into our time of under 40 hours. And. It. Was. Great. (!) Our first stop was […]
What’s Blooming Wednesday #42 – Deb’s Garden
Remember my friend Deb who gave me the Recipe for Tomato Plant Pots? Yes, my plants have more than doubled in size…and they have blooms. Tomatoes should be here soon. 🙂 But, that’s not all that important today. What I really want to show you is Deb’s garden plot. Or, I should rather say plots. […]
What’s Blooming Wednesday #41 – The Aroma!
Is there something blooming in your yard that you love to cut and bring inside? Do you love it more because it fills your rooms with its wonderful scent? Our Magnolia blooms started opening last weekend. The aroma is heavenly. I wish you could smell them here this year – because it seems to be […]
Tomato Plant Pots – Recipe for Success
My friend Deb, who shares lots of great recipes with me (and you’ve seen many of them here), told me how she grew tomatoes successfully last year inside 5-gallon buckets. Since horn-worms get mine every year when they’re in the ground, I’m doing this! Deb grew her tomatoes in five of these pots last year. […]
What’s Blooming Wednesday #40
Do you have irises in your yard? Mine aren’t doing so well this year. This first one appeared the other day. Notice it’s leaning against a tree. There are guilty four-legs around here somewhere. Ah-ha! Caught in the act…well, almost. I was glad to see these iris buds, but nothing had opened yet. The peonies […]
Tips to Eliminate the “Oh, Deer!”
A reader and friend who lives at the other end of my state (Mississippi) emailed me before Easter. She asked me to write a post about what to plant that the deer won’t eat. They have eaten everything in her yard down to a nub. Oh, deer is right! Why didn’t I think of writing […]
What’s Blooming Wednesday #38
So far this month, we’ve had mostly days of high winds and lots of sunshine. I’d have sworn it was March! Finally, we’re having April showers this week. The winds have calmed, and the temperatures are perfect…not too hot, not too cold. How’s the weather at your house? Is it a typical April? We had […]
What’s Blooming Wednesday #36 – How a City Girl Hauls Mulch to the Farm
Have your garden plots and bush beds been extra weedy this year? Please don’t tell me it’s just me! Seriously? Am I the only one? We’ve had rain and more rain this spring, so I let the weeds grow wild – until last week. Mr. Round-Up Imitator and I did a lawn dance from bush […]
What’s Blooming Wednesday #35
Finally…the first What’s Blooming Wednesday for 2016. Yes, I have yellow (Sunbrella Sunflower) blooming on the back porch now, too. The glider’s puffy cushions were much more difficult to re-cover than the front porch cushions. The basket on the wall is new. I visited a garden center recently that had several of these baskets filled […]