Garden Journal

Dividing some hellebores today — it’s not the recommended time, but this is when I have time / energy to do it, so it’s getting done now. The process is simple — first dig it up (I usually use a spearhead spade and dig in and lever up a bit in a circle, moving around […]

The Joy and Frustration of Planting Tulips in Oak Park, which I think I should make an annual post, since new gardeners in our area don’t know this (and how should they?) – tulips are marginally hardy in our zone; most (esp. the fancy hybrids, such as parrot tulips) should be treated as annuals, rather

When you buy plants at a nursery, you can lift them out of the pot a little bit, to check and make sure they’re not too root-bound. But if you buy online, you can’t check in advance, and even reputable growers may occasionally send you root-bound plants. If you look closely at the last photo,

Yesterday I started in on pruning the roses and clematis — it’s getting a bit late for the roses, but not TOO late, I think. This clematis is Jackmanii, which is a group 3, which means it blooms on new wood. You don’t HAVE to prune them, but if you don’t, they’ll bloom way up

Took a few minutes to plant up my hanging porch planter. It’s always a little bit of a tension on when I want to start planting in it, because it does need regular watering, since it doesn’t hold so much soil (you could do succulents if you want to water a little less often), and

. So, I indulged in a new garden tool — a cordless hedge trimmer. Now, I am having a bit of a hard time justifying the expense of this, because the truth is, I only have six boxwood shrubs to trim in my entire garden. BUT, I really really HATE trimming them by hand, I

I swung by Home Depot (Broadview) yesterday in the hopes that they’d have things to plant, and they do! Lots of little pots of spring bulbs, which I have skipped for now, but will likely come back for next week. But I went in on some big violas, and yesterday I cleaned out some planters

I took a few minutes to pick some more hellebore blooms today, this time for pressing. I’ll probably use these to made handmade cards — a thin layer of Mod Podge, dry pressed flowers, another layer of Mod Podge, maybe a third, and you’re all set. An easy craft to do with kids too, and

The best part about pruning red twig dogwood (remove up to a third of the oldest stems to stimulate new growth…or to rejuvenate older shrubs, cut the entire plant back to the ground every two years), is that you end up with a bunch of pretty red twigs… …which make free winter holiday decor for

One of the tricky things about pruning is that some plants bloom on old wood, and some on new. If you’re lucky, you held onto the plant tags and know the name of your plant and can look it up. But maybe you’ve lost that, or you’ve bought a home with established plants, and so