Author Archives: talesofanashvillegardener

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”

My order from Romence Gardens in Michigan came today, and though the taller agastaches were a bit frazzled by box confinement, the plants were in fine condition. Romence is on Dave’s Garden Watchdog list of the 30 best reviewed mail order companies in the US. I had never ordered from them before, and I haveContinue reading “May 8- Arrivals”

Above is a photo of spring disarray. Plants outside to harden off, but still too vulnerable to plant. We are having gray rain now, day after day, and we don’t dare to complain, since it has broken the drought. I feel as though I am living in Seattle. A dooryard lilac and below, a showyContinue reading “May 5”