Around Our Yard
Preparing Your Lawn and Garden for Spring
Winter isn’t over but do you wonder what has become of your lawn and garden? After winter, grass, trees and shrubs are hungry and weak. Your lawn and garden lay dormant and was entirely covered of snow and ice. They need to be brought back to life but how can you go about preparing your lawn or garden for spring? It is important that your lawn and garden needs to be prepared for spring. If you do not do so, they will be in poor health and you will need to deal with a lot of problems in the coming years. In order to avoid those problems, here are ways on preparing your lawn and garden for spring. Prepare Your Equipment A few weeks before spring check your lawn care equipment.… Read Full Post
Too late to plant tulips?
In a word, No! Now is a great time to get out there and plant tulips before the ground freezes. Until recently the weather was really warm and although the calendar said it was a good time to get these planted, my shorts and t-shirt indicated it was a little early. Well that has certainly changed and the time to plant tulips can’t be put off much longer. When to plant tulips? When your elephant ear bulbs quit looking like this… And instead start looking like this: My bulbs from Colorblends arrived in mid September but the warm weather was keeping all of my tropical plants looking great. I tell myself that they actually do better with a hard freeze to knock down the growth, but that may also be because I just don’t have it in me to remove these really great looking plants.… Read Full Post
Baby Robins… Throwback Thursday
Our busy spring included many changes and one of the things I really enjoyed was watching this clutch of baby robins. The beautiful blue eggs are like little jewels in the spring months and I was so excited to see these inside an electric panel box near our house. With a small opening about two inches round, this was a perfect protected space for these baby robins to grow. So for this Throwback Thursday (perhaps I should call it “catch up on things you forgot to share” Thursday?) I hope you enjoy these images of “my” baby robins. Baby Robins May 1: Robins usually lay one egg per day, creating nests of 3-6 eggs. The Iowa DNR says, “She then sits on the eggs for 16 to 17 days and spends another 16 to 17 days at the nest feeding the little hatchlings.… Read Full Post
Moving plants to our new home
Moving plants, or should I say, moving with plants? Moving itself is a torturous experience, but combine that with fretting about how you will move your great plants collected over the years and you’ve got your hands full. I am happy to write that Mike and I are now settled in to our new Zone 5 (okay, maybe 4) home in Iowa. It was very tough to leave our friends and careers in Florida, but we are excited about this new adventure. I know this sounds crazy, but I was very stressed out about my plants and what would be able to move with us and what would have to be left behind. I established very early in our moving process that I would require one large Tupperware container to go in the trunk of the car we were driving.… Read Full Post
Golden Trowel Award from LawnStarter
I am so happy to share this with our readers! MissSmartyPlants has been named with some of the Top Gardening Blogs as one to follow! Do you follow other gardening blogs? This list includes some really great writers and gardeners. Enjoy the full list of top gardening blogs here. There are thousands of incredible bloggers who share stories, photos and knowledge about gardening and sustainable living. LawnStarter’s editorial team scoured the internet to put together a list of winners for LawnStarter’s Top Gardening Blogs of 2016, taking into account blog posts and other online activity during the year. Winners were judged on their reputation on Google, influence and popularity in social media, and quality and consistency of posts. So without further ado, in no particular order, allow us to announce the winners of our first-ever Golden Trowel Award.… Read Full Post
Best Winter Flowers for Florida Gardens
What beautiful weather! Now is the time to enjoy the outdoors and get some flowers planted for the winter months. Not sure what to plant? Here are my top five best winter flowers for Florida gardens: Geraniums: Large balls of flowers held high make this one of the most catching of our best winter flowers. These are easy to see from a distance, so areas like the mailbox or front yard are great places to plant. Plant geraniums now and they will last well into May. Sweet Alyssum: These flowers will fill the air with their soft, sweet fragrance. Reaching just 6” tall, alyssum work great in containers or in the front of a flower bed. Although flowers are small, about the size of a pencil eraser, there are so many it will look like a patch of white.… Read Full Post
Assassin Bugs
I have to admit, assassin bugs are one of those insects I’ve known about, but haven’t seen myself. I don’t think I would have even known what they looked like if it wasn’t for “David Rogers’ Big Bugs” coming to Leu Gardens. All of the sudden I was learning about assassin bugs and helping to install a 7 foot long sculpture of this true bug. Introduction to Assassin Bugs True bug? Well yes, not all insects are actually “bugs.” Arizona State explains it this way: The key difference between true bugs and other insects is their mouth parts. True bugs suck. That’s right, the true bugs have specialized mouth parts used to suck juices. Mostly they suck fluids from plants, but there are some true bugs, like bed bugs, that feed on animals.… Read Full Post
Gardening for Your Health
It is easy to think of gardening and yard work as a task specifically for beautifying your home, but have you considered it as a way to grow a healthier you? Gardening promotes the physical activity that many of us are missing in our lives without requiring a gym membership. After the recent tragedies in Orlando I found myself at a loss. The only thing I wanted to do was be outside working in our yard. For me, gardening for your health means the mental benefits of gardening far outweigh any other type of relaxation. As I call it, “putzing” around the garden puts me at ease and allows me to find some calm that is often missing. I don’t accomplish a whole heck of a lot, but it lets me slow down.… Read Full Post
Removing Viburnum odoratissimum
Finally getting around to removing this huge tree from my yard is making me very happy. Removing viburnum might be one of my best gardening moments. Okay, probably not really, but it is still a good feeling. I consider viburnum to be my nemesis. Finally getting around to removing this huge tree from my yard is making me very happy. Removing viburnum might be one of my best gardening moments. Okay, probably not really, but it is still a good feeling. I consider viburnum to be my nemesis.You may be thinking to yourself, “why would someone find so much pleasure in removing viburnum from their yard?” A very good question indeed. The University of Florida’s publication on Viburnum odoratissimum states, “Often used as a screen or clipped hedge, its dense, spreading, evergreen habit makes Sweet Viburnum suitable for use as a small tree, reaching 25 to 30 feet tall and wide at maturity, with a dense, multibranched, rounded canopy.” … Read Full Post
Great Plant Combinations
One of the things I enjoy most about garden tours and visiting botanical gardens is looking for intriguing plant combinations. Occasionally you see two plants together that absolutely pop. They make make both plants look better and more interesting. I saw this plant combination of Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’ and an unknown orange lily together in Minneapolis and it still stands out in my mind as a stunning plant combination. I was very fortunate to have the privilege to present at the 2016 EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival. It was during this weekend that I came across this plant combination at EPCOT. I stopped, in the pouring rain, and took several photos as Mike and I hurried it find lunch. Later in the day the talented Ms.… Read Full PostFollow Me
About Me
My name is Keri and I am as comfortable speaking to a group about color in the garden as I am covered in dirt.
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