by Keri Byrum | Aug 20, 2015 | Garden Visits |
In June I had the pleasure of visiting several beautiful public and private gardens in the Minneapolis area. It is so overwhelming to try to accurately describe the beauty of these gardens in a single sitting, so I am breaking down some of the different garden and spaces individually. Whew! I want to make sure to share some images from the beautiful Sunken Garden at Como Park Conservatory. I was completely blown away by the colors and textures in this conservatory. The mixes of tropicals and perennials were perfect and the color combinations were spot on. Enjoy these images of this great garden! The Sunken Garden has a pool of water running down the center, allowing for water lilies and gorgeous reflections.… Read Full Post
by Keri Byrum | Aug 16, 2015 | Around Our Yard, Plant Spotlight |
The Foxtail Palm, Wodyetia bifurcata, is one of my favorite palms. It has a nice full look and it is “self cleaning” so you do not have to try to trim off brown fronds because they simply fall to the ground. If you look at the part of the palm where the trunk meets the leaves you will see an area called the “crownshaft”. This crownshaft is essentially an extension of the leaf that wraps around the trunk where it is attached, so when the leaf dies it essentially lets go of the trunk and falls off. Less pruning equals less work! The green crownshaft of foxtail palms is very attractive and helps make them easy to identify. While most palms with these distinctive crownshafts are very tropical, the foxtail palm does well in central Florida and can tolerate occasionally cool temperatures.… Read Full Post
by Keri Byrum | Aug 12, 2015 | Garden Visits |
A break from the Florida summer was just what we needed last week when we visited Milwaukee. Between baseball games, the Zoo and a brewery tour, I managed to sneak in a trip to Milwaukee’s Boerner Botanical Gardens. I am very lucky to be blessed with a 4 1/2 year old niece who loves plants as much as I do, so a quick “gardens-gardens-gardens” chant was all we needed to add this to the agenda. The gardens themselves are quite extensive and there are at least 13 named gardens within the formal garden space. We didn’t make it to the surrounding arboretum, but I am sure it would be easy to spend more time exploring these areas. Our entire visited lasted about an hour and half, which considering we had little ones with us was quite a feat.… Read Full Post
by Keri Byrum | Aug 18, 2015 | DIY Garden Projects, Succulents |
Have you noticed these cute hanging succulent terrariums popping up in your favorite catalogs and decorating blogs? Don’t be fooled by their sleek design and beautiful colors, these are extremely simple to put together and are a great way to add plants to even the smallest spaces. Read on to learn how I make mine and how to maintain your plants. Supplies. Keep it simple. All you need is some potting soil (less than 1 cup per globe), simple top dressing like these stones, succulent cuttings and your globe. The one that you see here is from CB2 and is actually in their catalog as “whirly hanging candle holder.” They are pretty cheap at $4.95 each and I love the flat bottom on the globe.… Read Full Post
by Keri Byrum | Aug 2, 2015 | Plant Spotlight |
The rain outside is keeping the garden and green and me inside today. I swear you can almost see things growing! I am taking advantage of this rainy afternoon to get some work done and prepare for the coming week, most importantly to get ready for a presentation tomorrow afternoon when I am going to Marion County to speak to a group about my favorite new and underused plants for Florida gardens. I’ve been working on compiling my list of plants for a few weeks and the gorgeous plants in the FNGLA’s Floriculture Field Day trials were the starting point for me. From double snapdragons to new caladiums, the plants in these trials have been impressive. There are also quite a few plants recently introduced by Monrovia or the Southern Living Plant Collection series I think will work really well.… Read Full Post
