Category: gardening

Fall in My Garden

Geranium
Welcome to my garden as it girds for a howling Halloween.
By Aquinas wired,
October 31, 2014 at 2:57 pm
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Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

  Spring has a full head of steam. And Mother’s Day beckons. For a vast number  of us,  it’s a perfect intersection. Mothers and Spring. Nature’s way of affirming “Life!” So to all moms, “Happy Mother’s Day!”  Especially to my Mom whose memory I will affectionately honor this coming Sunday.  Bernice Partacz, nee Babula.  She... Read more »
By Aquinas wired,
May 5, 2014 at 10:10 am
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Henri Fantin-Latour: In the Midst of Winter His Floral Symphonies Are Therapeutic

  Born today Fantin-Latour Flowers are what he’s noted for. He paints them with such bright profusion They fool our senses with illusion. “Fantin-Latour painted roses more than any other flower, but he also painted an enormous variety of old-fashioned cottage garden flowers, such as petunias, hollyhocks, tulips, dahlias, larkspur, forget-me-nots, peonies, sweet peas, hyacinths... Read more »
By Aquinas wired,
January 14, 2014 at 7:45 am
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Henry David Thoreau: Libertarian, Individualist, Ecophile, Rebel

Born today : Henry David Thoreau Who once into the woods did go And lived there Spring, Fall, Winter, Summer. And  simply marched to his own drummer.* * Some of his beats of wisdom: 1. “Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.” 2.”The price of anything is the amount of life... Read more »
By Aquinas wired,
July 12, 2013 at 9:42 am
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Tantalizing Snapshots of My Spring Garden

Miniature garden beneath Silver Maple
By Aquinas wired,
May 20, 2013 at 10:10 am
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Enter My December Garden

Here are some pre-winter  snapshots from my Zone 5  garden: 1. Irish heather: Diminuitive pink flowers. Needlelike leaves. Christmasy. Northern exposure. 2. Wintergreen:  Eastern exposure.   Great for its upspread growth. 3. Autumn fern: Eastern exposure.  Never has looked better. 4. Gardenia:  Still hanging in there even on the doorstep of winter. 5. Black ornamental grass:  Hardy... Read more »
By Aquinas wired,
December 13, 2012 at 3:44 pm
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More from Mother Nature's Palette in My Fall Garden

Picture Key: (1) Orange and red celosia along the driveway. (2) Mums along the driveway. (3) Euonymus alata: Burning Bush (4) New England asters, toad lilies, and dahlias. (5) red mums and ghost fern (6) Ornamental grass: Miscanthus sinensis. (7) Red landscape rose and dianthus (8) Mums, verbena, marigolds, canna lily, dusty miller, bugleweed, and ornamental grass. (9)... Read more »
By Aquinas wired,
October 17, 2012 at 12:59 pm
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Mums in My Garden: A Photo Essay

  Nothing says Autumn like cascades of chrysanthemums. Mums delay their colorwheel extravaganza  until the last stages of the growing season in Zone 5 (Chicago and envrions). They’re well worth waiting for. Here are a few variegated vignettes from my own humble urban garden:
By Aquinas wired,
October 17, 2012 at 10:49 am
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Gardenia Asthenia Revisited

  Back on June 26 I wrote about a  gardenia I was having no luck getting to flower. I think it’s  time for an update on the struggling emaciated beauty. In the weeks that followed, I continued to nurse the gardenia. I religiously watered  and fertilized it  (with Miracid)  through the July drought. If you recall, Gentle... Read more »
By Aquinas wired,
August 1, 2012 at 12:21 pm
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Gardenia Asthenia: A Gardener Plays God

Eve was enticed by a serpent to eat the fruit of the tree in the middle of the Garden of Eden. I didn’t see any serpents around  when I fell for a gardenia at Fasel’s Nursery in Oak Lawn.  This  gardenia was a beauty  with a brigade of flower buds ready to burst open. Who knew what was... Read more »
By Aquinas wired,
June 26, 2012 at 5:33 pm
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