Because gardeners love to look at other people's gardens, let me introduce Keith Phelps, manager of Country Farm & Home Gift and Garden Center in Mifflinburg, Pa. Keith practices what he preaches...and what he sells. These are pictures from his home.

Hi, I'm Keith Phelps.  We specialize in container gardening and have for the past 10 years.  I enjoy gardening at home as well and have tested lots of plants and products over the past years.  The Pamela Crawford Side Planting System from the Kinsman Company is one of the most unique planting systems on the market right now.  

The system is really easy to use, planting on the sides and the top of the containers with larger 3-inch and 4-inch plants, giving you instant results. The squared off shape holds a tremendous amount of soil and water which keeps your plants happy and healthy for the entire season. 

 In the photos I have used the side plant window boxes, column planters and basket on a column planter for large pots. I really enjoy working with the products both as a professional and as a gardener. 

Plant selection varies from year to year in our containers but some of my favorites are Solar Coleus, Upright Fushia, Sweet Potato Vine, Supertunias, Superbells, Diamond Frost Euphorbia, Bidens and new this year are the "BIG" Begonias which have performed even better than expected!

My wife and I really enjoy our little piece of paradise and hope that sharing these photos with you will encourage you to do a little planting in your corner of the world!

Continue reading "Your Garden: Crazy for containers" »

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Categories: Your garden
        

 Photos courtesy of Mary Felter

Today's guest post is from Mary Felter, a friend and long-time Annapolis journalist. The description of the conversion of her back yard, and her pictures, remind us that gardens are not all about work, they are about creating a space outdoors where you can relax and enjoy life.

Then I hired Waltnut Hill, a landscape company in St. Margaret’s, which does really large projects (one includes a $100,000-plus landscaping job on a new house out on Bay Head Road!) But they didn’t mind putting in a dry-laid slatelike patio for us, and then doing the landscaping for us.  

We already have nandina in the yard, so the woman landscape architect incorporated that into the plan, and since I love camellias from living in the South as a child, she picked out six WINTER camellia plants, which will bloom in the fall and we won’t have to worry about spring frosts killing off delicate buds.

(I’m suggesting that if people love camellias, they think about this variety. Lovely dark green leaves, which contrast nicely with the lacy nandina.)

She added blue hydrangeas next to the patio which also added to the new and happy location! Finally she put in "Plantain Lily" hostas and "Midnight Rose" heuchera and a few other plants I can’t find the names for – little spider like plants. We’re very happy with the results.

 

 

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Your garden
        

Those Garden Variety readers who are young and go out a lot at night must know my friend and co-worker, Sam Sessa, he of the Midnight Sun blog, recently named Best Blog by Baltimore magazine.

Garden writers get lots of free plants...more than we can use. And when these petunias arrived, I happily shared some with Sam, hoping against hope that he would share with me - I don't know - a round of drinks.

Well, Sam proves what the demographers think. Gardening is most often pursued by women of a certain age. And is most successfully pursued by those who actually water their plants.

Take it away, Sam!!

Photos courtesy of Sam Sessa

My family has always been good with plants.

Pop pop was a spinach farmer. Pops was a spinach farmer. And before becoming a nimbly pimbly, yellow-bellied writer-type, I was a spinach farmer, too.

But I am also a man, which makes me inherently lazy.

So when the lovely Susan Reimer offered me four pretty purple-and-white petunias, I couldn't help but say yes. I took them home, intent on getting some dirt from the nearby hardware store and going hog wild. I've had flower pot gardens for the past couple years, so I kinda know what I'm doing.

That's when the laziness kicked in. Those pretty purple-and-white petunias sat on a window sill and withered. I didn't plant them. Heck, I barely watered them. I got married. My wife and I went on our honeymoon, and believe me, the last thing on my mind were petunias. 

When we got back, my petunias were almost kaput. One was certifiably dead. The other three were in critical condition. Something needed to be done.

Finally, I got the necessarily potting supplies and put those babies in some Miracle-Gro soil, next to a leftover Mexican rose. At least that's what I think that other plant is.

 The point is, I wrote off those petunias. I even put the pot up on the roof deck, where no passersby could see them. I was kind of embarassed at my scraggly petunias.

But I didn't stop watering them. And, lo and behold, a week later, they went from brownish green to bright green. A week after that, they started to flower.

 This first photo was taken about two-and-a-half weeks after I planted my petunias. I know, I know, I should have taken a photo of the petunias before I planted them. But I was too lazy to plant the petunias in the first place, let alone snap a photo of them.

After about four weeks, the petunias just exploded. I was so proud of them I took them downstairs and set them on the front step. They swarmed over the Mexican rose plant, which is now almost smothered in purple-and-white trumpet-shaped bossoms. 

And look at them now. Aren't they pretty?

Thanks again for giving me thepetunias, Susan. Sorry I killed one. But the other three look good, don't they? 

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Your garden
        

 Photos courtesy of Reggie Greenberg

Today’s guest post is from Reggie Greenberg, another of our loyal readers here at Garden Variety. Reggie is a very spiritual gardener. And she isn’t too shabby with a camera, either. I think speak for everyone here at Garden Variety --We'd love to see a picture of the herb-flavored doghouse! 

My two year old Doberman/shepherd loves to dig and eat plants, grass and shrubs, making planting a garden in the backyard a bit of a challenge. I installed lily beds outside her fence, but I decided to plant my herb garden in the sun and out of her reach on the roof of her dog house, out of harms way, but close to the kitchen. 
 Every morning, I give her fresh water and  drench the herbs with the old water from her bowl.
The fragrances of basil, oregano, thyme, and rosemary waft up as I brush past the leaves.   I close my eyes breathing in the aromas as the warm air ruffles through my hair and caresses my skin.  
I am transported by the sound of the breeze rustling through millions of leaves overhead in the tulip poplars.  The wind whispers a melody as it moves along the branches like the bow on the strings of a violin.  My breathing rises and falls with the rhythm of the music as it swirls through the trees, teasing me to surf in the forest canopy.   I long to rise with the gusts to heights where only the red tailed hawk soars, leaving present day crises behind me.
 
 When I open my eyes the symphony has ended.  The fragrance of the basil and the feel of the cold steel dog bowl still in my hand bring me back to reality.  The newspaper lies open on the deck.  Somehow the cold realities of life are easier to digest now that I have been refreshed by the unexpected delights of the garden.  I can face the bad news when I know I can return to sanctuary of unimaginable treasures awaiting me in the garden. 

Continue reading "Guest post: Escape in the Garden" »

Posted by Susan Reimer at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Your garden
        

You don’t go to your beach house to garden. You go to your beach house to go to the beach.

Still, there is a pride of ownership that might inspire those who have oceanfront homes in the Carolinas to give them some curb appeal.

On my vacation on Emerald Isle in North Carolina, I noticed that some homeowners gave over their property to drought or desiccation. My guess is, these were homes used primarily as rental property.

Other, more lavish homes had built-in irrigation systems and neat, modest designs that draw on the native, highly drought-tolerant vegetation, including palms and beach pines.

Still others homes were planted with annuals and decorated with planters, a dead giveaway that these were season-long or year-round residences. Annuals and planters take too much water and too much attention to leave them for even a day in the climate of the Carolinas.

And finally, as this homeowner has decided to do, you simply give in to nature and to the nature of vacation…and you turn your front yard into a volleyball court.

Photo credit: Jill Mihoces

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Your garden
        

Meet my friend, Bev Jones, a woman I have known for more than 30 years and who was my mentor before there was such a term. Bev has a sprawling, ambitious, breathtaking garden on her farm, Buckeye Farm, in the Shenandoah Mountains, and her gardens have been featured in a number of shelter magazines. You must see it to believe it. Here she shares just a tiny bit of her gardening wisdom and just a few views from her garden. Enjoy!

I’ve always loved abundance in the garden.  When I plant a new bed, my heart thrills at the vision of tumbling masses of color and sweeping patterns of foliage.
 
Recently, however, I’ve been learning about value of clear space in the garden.  Paths and resting spots provide vantage points for appreciating all that abundant planting.  So this year I'm methodically extending the paths within my garden design. I find that newly opened spaces allow access to features and views that had been hidden. I'm whittling down the size of my beds, and yet at the same time I'm increasing their impact.
 
I think that the paths also can enrich the experience of exploring the garden. I hope that it’s intriguing to spot an opening in the hedge, and then follow a winding path through trees and shrubs until you come upon the gazebo at the edge of a pond.

Photos courtesy of Bev Jones

Continue reading " Guest post: Buckeye Farm" »

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Your garden
        

Photos by Susan Reimer

Eastport, a community cheek-by-jowl with Annapolis, is known for its expensive waterfront homes and its stubborn separatist traditions. (It wants to be considered a separate municipality, not just an Annapolis neighborhood.)

It is also known for its postage stamp-sized yards.

Gardeners in Eastport - and there are many very serious ones - have to make the most of small, narrow spaces.

These are pictures of Nancy's garden. And of the window boxes she created for an Eastport cottage that she and her husband renovated.

No one has told Nancy that if Eastport isn't Annapolis, it isn't England, either, because her garden brims with English cottage charm.

Don't be shy. Send pictures of your garden and a couple of paragraphs about its joys and frustrations to us sun.gardenvariety@gmail.com.

Continue reading "Your garden: An Eastport cottage garden" »

Posted by Susan Reimer at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Your garden
        

Reggie Higgins' garden will be a stop on the Charles Village Garden Walk this weekend.

Continue reading "Your Garden: A stop on the Charles Village Garden Walk" »

Posted by Susan Reimer at 6:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Your garden
        

There is something in my driveway that looks like a wooly mammoth sleeping on its side.

It is what is left of 4 cubic yards of mulch. And there is a lot left.

My husband and I leave Saturday to visit Joseph and his bride in San Diego, and I am much too compulsive to leave the mulch in the driveway until we get home.

So this week, I am mulching like mad. And taking a couple of vacation days to do it.

I could get someone else to do it. My friends all have "a guy" they call when it is time to mulch. But I can't bring myself to part with the $15 an hour most of them charge.

We'll see how I feel about that money on Friday, but right now I am determined to get this done myself.

It isn't that mulching is too hard. Mulching is boring. My colleague Jacques Kelly here at The Sun doesn't mulch at all. He says that's landscaping, not gardening.

But I like the finished look mulch gives a garden, so I mulch.

I waiting too long this year.

I stalled because I was hoping more rain would soak the soil before I sealed it with mulch. Then all it did was rain, and it was impossible to mulch.

Now the gardens have filled in to such a degree that there is no room left to mulch.

I don't think I am going to be able to use all of the mulch that is sleeping in my driveway right now.

So I made a deal with my neighbor, Bob.

Continue reading "Your Garden: My Garden" »

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Categories: Your garden
        

Photo credits: Baltimore Sun/Susan Reimer

My friend Betsy talks about the wisteria on her porch.

About 8 years ago my mom told me that I had to plant wisteria because one can't have a big, old front porch without wisteria. 

 What she didn't tell me, but what I have since learned, is that wisteria is an insidious, aggressive, parasitic, and a remorseless survivor. 

 It seems to grow during the night, stretching its tentacles in every direction until it finds something to latch onto, and when I come out in the morning, these stealthy creatures have wound their way around the porch railing, the potted plants, the porch chairs, the watering can, the dogwood tree, and even the broom leaning in the corner that I use to sweep up the falling cherry blossoms.

 During the growing season, my husband Ron has to climb to the porch roof every couple of weeks to hack the vines off the roof.  They resist his efforts by trying to squirm under the shingles.  But now, for the next couple of weeks, the wisteria is blooming, and the masses of lavender flowers, like clusters of grapes, take my breath away. 

 And when the blooms are gone, the blanket of leaves will shade the porch and create a private and peaceful living room. As Mother's Day approaches, I am again reminded of how my mom is always right!

See more pictures of Betsy's wisteria.

Continue reading "Your garden: Betsy's Wisteria Lane" »

Posted by Susan Reimer at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Your garden
        

 Photo credit: Barbara Holdridge

Barbara Holdridge, owner of the historic Stemmer House in Baltimore County and a past winner of The Baltimore Sun garden contest, talks about her "vision" of her 28-acre property.

"I began gardening at this site in 1973, when there were only some big oaks and tulip trees and such. Otherwise, there were acres of fields, which challenged me to work my will on them.

"I always tell people to start planting the big stuff -trees, bushes and other long-lived ornamentals- as soon as they arrive. Years later, they will thank themselves for the major, majestic landscape they have created.

"I love water in gardens, too, in ponds, pools and fountains. I don't fill all open spaces, though; the eye needs them. So water and vistas are essential to me.

"The garden grows in increments, as I stand in a spot and 'visualize.' That's what I call it when I am in my glassy-eyed mode: 'No, there's nothing wrong, I'm just visualizing.' And then the visualizing becomes reality, and I have taken over one more part of the acreage, like Attila the Hun rampaging through wherever, but leaving long spaces between, for those eye-pleasing vistas."

We'd love to see your garden. Send pictures and write us a few words about why you like to garden or what your garden means to you, to gardenvariety@baltsun.com

Posted by Susan Reimer at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Your garden
        

  When Jamie and Fred bought their Phoenix, Md., home almost eight years ago, it had an in-ground pool. But when they got the bill for repairs two years ago - $30,000 - they decided to it was time to give up the pool.

Jamie works at Ladew Gardens, and though not a gardener herself, she decided to create one where the pool had been.

A lot of fill, fencing and almost $10,000 later, this is the result. Fred did the heavy work and Jamie did the planting. Go to the end of the photos and read what Jamie has to say about her garden.

"Fred and I had never gardened before this, so if we can do it anyone can. There is such a level of satisfaction, not to mention perky flavor, when you sit down to a summertime meal that has grown from the bounty of your own backyard. Many nights last summer we enjoyed stuff like fried green tomatoes, steamed bush green beans, great salads with deep greens and red leafy lettuce, homemade salsa, snow peas, tomato sandwiches...all from just our little garden. PLUS a constant live flower arrangement on our table throughout late spring and summer that came from our perennials. And the wildlife!...butterflies, bees buzzing around, birds spashing in the fountain...it's a garden that makes you not want to leave home."

Posted by Susan Reimer at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: Your garden
        

Garden Variety wouldn't have much variety if it was just about one gardener.

It should be about you and your garden, too.

The first garden in our showcase belongs to Annemarie. Check out the amazing transformation of her Butcher's Hill backyard and read her story.

Continue reading "Your Garden: Annemarie's oasis" »

Posted by Susan Reimer at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (8)
Categories: Your garden
        

Because we all love looking at other people's gardens, Garden Variety will unveil a new feature tomorrow: Your Garden.

Send us photos of your garden - before and after, at its peak, whatever you wish - and write a few paragraphs about how your garden came to be, what you like best about it, and perhaps what you are thinking about doing next.

E-mail them to gardenvariety@baltsun.com. We will post your pictures and your story on Wednesdays here at Garden Variety.

This is just like sharing pictures of the kids!

Photo of Mary Trotta's 2007 garden by Amy Davis, Baltimore Sun

Posted by Susan Reimer at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Your garden
        

I'm Mary McCauley, and I work with Susan. I write about theater for the Sun and contribute to our Read Street blog, but in my spare time, I play with dirt.

After moving into my new condominium in July of 2000, I quickly appropriated an unloved 10 foot by 11 foot patch of mud. As my poor, aching back was to discover, the plot was filled with stones and tree roots. But, it also was surrounded on two sides be a wall, on the third by a staircase, and was conveniently accessible to a faucet.

My little garden faces southeast, but is directly under a maple tree. The light on two sides is blocked by four-story apartment buildings. Though the plot gets full sun from roughly Nov. 15 to April 15, only the last month of that period does me any good. I take the most of the rare opportunity provided by Mother Nature, and fill my plot with bulbs.  

Continue reading "Spring in the Shade" »

Posted by Mary McCauley at 5:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Your garden
        

Fellow gardeners!

I would love to see, and post, pictures of your gardens. Please send them to me gardenvariety@baltsun.com

Tell me a little bit about what we are seeing ...what county or neighborhood, what season, what kinds of plants. And perhaps a little bit about what your garden means to you ... or what frustrates you about it!

Posted by Susan Reimer at 11:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Your garden