Image from Proven Winners Are you thinking about curb appeal, wanting to clean up the planting beds along your home’s foundation? Did you just add a deck, and the yard around it looks bare and forgotten? Does your back yard have a pretty garden space left over from the former owners, but now it looks […]
It’s time to think about buying plants for your yard- you’re excited about some color and something new. But what do you look for? How do you know you’re getting a good deal? How do you know you’re getting quality plants? What if there’s more than one size- which one do you buy? They say […]
Happy August! At this time of year, garden centers in Iowa and in other cold parts of the country are beginning to mark plants down. Well, this girl loves a bargain! How do you decide if it’s worth it to pull over when you see those 30% off (or more) signs? Don’t be swayed by […]
I’m so grateful for peony season … when my very favorite perennial shows off! There is just nothing like the enormous ice cream cone blooms of an old-fashioned peony. Scent, cut flowers, great foliage – these perennials have it all. Maybe you have some questions about peonies and are thinking of planting some, now that […]
One of my very favorite ornamental trees, Magnolia stellata, or star magnolia, is just a showstopper in the springtime. Its strappy white blooms flutter in spring breezes (or sometimes FLAP in Iowa’s bluster!) and are such a welcome sight early in the season. The tree is native to Japan and handles our central Iowa culture […]
People often ask what plants to combine in a garden – How does a person choose? Take this clematis as an example. What blooms would work with this simple stunner? There are many factors that inform a decision about plant combinations. One way to help the decision is to get to know the delicate intricacies […]
Looking for a showy native shrub? It seems that new hydrangea cultivars appear everywhere you look, but this old stand-by is tried and true. Consider Hills-of-Snow smooth hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens ‘Grandiflora’) for your garden. It was discovered growing in the wild in Ohio around 1900 and is native to moist, wooded slopes and stream banks […]