Author Archives: talesofanashvillegardener

These are photos taken today in my sister’s garden in Bow. The flowers and plants are pass-a-long New England favorites collected by my sister, and some newer additions. The following plants are newer perennials I added to this garden. This Campanula enchants my sister. In two years it has formed a patch that has triedContinue reading “Two Gardens. June 14, 2021”

Above is my first flower on Marigold “Cempazuchitl”, a large African Tagetes which is grown in Mexico to use as a floral symbol on The Day of the Dead November 1st. The plant has an open, rangy ,skeletal look and large pompon blossoms. I bought three plants from Annie’s Annuals in California, and now haveContinue reading “June 12 Blooms. Old Favorites and Exotics.”

Last year the Late Purple aster bloomed in my front yard garden. It was growing up against the side of the house, and when I dug up a garden bed there, I left it alone, not certain what it was. Another grew on the hillside just above my dry flower bed, and I believe itContinue reading “A Threatened Aster- Aster patens”

Nashville was too hot for Blue Lobelia, but I am hoping it will weather the short summer here. Everyone sells it, and it seems to be a real window box favorite. I suppose one could edge with it in open ground, but I do not care to see tiny, delicate plants spattered by rain ,Continue reading “Early Bloom in Containers”

I went to Bow this morning to take some rescued ferns and Siberian iris to my sister, and found the antique iris we moved from the shade beside the driveway two years ago in full bloom. These are not today’s showy, frilled, massive plants, but forgotten cultivars from years ago that survived root borers andContinue reading “Old Timey Iris”

When I lived in New Hampshire early in life I never saw the American Columbine growing, and it was in Tennessee at The Narrows of the Harpeth State Park that I saw it first on the limestone cliffs above the river. Yet I found it yesterday, growing on the verge along Gregg Mill Road. ThereContinue reading “Three Wildflowers and a Rose”

His resemblance to Gollum is remarkable! His sibling already has fur, but this little one looks like a runt. He is not cautious, and he ventured out into the wide lawn earlier, where there are many dangers. I did not see him yesterday and I thought about the Red tails, the local fox, and Luna,Continue reading “Baby Red Squirrel”

When the David Austin roses came to the US, I bought and planted about two dozen of them in my garden in Nashville. How seductive they were, and still are, and yet not one of them would I grow again. I never thought I would live in New Hampshire and be writing about those roses.Continue reading “A Few Words about the David Austin Roses”

This little rose campion is different from the ones I see in other gardens and and at garden centers. It lives in a dry, partly shady area in my sister’s garden in Bow. My sister does not remember where it came from, but bets that it was a pass along plant, probably from my otherContinue reading “Verbascum and Rose Campion”

Every year I try to test a few new plants and for every failure, I discover a new plant worth keeping. I have several new salvias this year, but the most promising and precocious are the Chiapas Sage from the forest verges of mountainous Mexico, and Salvia “Roman Red”, a cross between Salvia darcyi (alsoContinue reading “Two New Salvias”