Author Archives: talesofanashvillegardener

Veronicastrum virginicum “Fascination” is blooming now in the half shade garden in Bow. This plant came from the plant sale area at The Fells, the John Jay estate on Lake Sunapee. It is three years old, and it is planted on the richest soil in the Bow garden. Above is the Blue Vervain , VerbenaContinue reading “Elegant Spires”

I bought Agastache “Blue Boa ” this spring at Goffstown Hardware, and it is proving to be one of my smarter choices. I am excited about this plant because it is a purple that will contrast beautifully with my myriad goldenrods and the Showy Evening Primrose in mid to late summer. As fine as theContinue reading “The Hardy Agastaches”

This is my second summer growing the large nicotianas “Mutabilis” and “Alata”. I have also added this year “Crimson Bedder”, which I found on line at Annie’s Annuals. When I bought small plants of the first two in 2020, they formed basal rosettes around a foot wide, and their flower spikes reached three to fourContinue reading “Nicotiana”

I waited three months for a California on line nursery to catch up on back orders so I could finally put Plectranthus argentatus “Longwood Silver” into a garden again. Gray foliage is elegant. It is sophisticated and it shines, and to my mind “Longwood Silver” is the finest gray leaved plant I have grown. ItsContinue reading “Longwood Silver”

We have had some unsettling weather this past week. Ninety four degree temperatures and Mississippi Delta humidity for three days followed by three days of cold rain that has battered plants and flowers into the mud. And yesterday, while sitting at my dining room table, I looked out the door into the dooryard to seeContinue reading “Bright Colors on a Gray Day”

Little Gollum, the baby Red Squirrel, is still around. He is a daredevil tree climber. He is finally getting some red fur, but it has taken a month. He is so used to me that he lets me get close for pictures. These are the first summer bloomers of 2021. Except for the Globe ThistleContinue reading “Update on Baby Red Squirrel”

There are ten coneflowers in my sister’s lower garden. The garden drops off steeply into a field of five foot ferns. Does and fawns hide in these ferns, and all one can see are the doe’s ears. Now the Internet, quoting universities and suspect sources, says that deer avoid coneflowers, and urges the gardener notContinue reading “Ask Real Gardeners, not the Internet and its Content Farms”

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”