Balsam Apple (Momordic charantia)

Balsam Apple Seed Pod(Momordic charantia)September 22, 2010
I have taught my husband well!  He was out on the golf course with a couple of buddies and spotted a rather interesting plant so he brought me home a seed pod for identification.  Despite warnings he should not touch unknown plants just in case apparently this plant did not pose a warning for him.  I now have to get him used to taking

Pinnacle Salmon '07 Geranium

Pinnacle® Salmon '07 GeraniumJuly 12, 2010

Geraniums have never been my favourite garden plant.  The reason being my mother would line every windowsill in the house with geranium cuttings in the fall so she would have geraniums for the following year.  I found the scent overpowering.  The past few years I have come to appreciate the simple beauty of geraniums.  They are available in a wide range

Magenta Madness® Petunia

Magenta Madness® PetuniaJune 25, 2010

The Magenta Madness® petunias are in full bloom, quickly filling their container.  The blooms on this petunia are large and colourful.  I love the gorgeous lilac colour of the blooms!  They are so bright and cheery.  Did you know petunias attract hummingbirds?  They do although so far I haven't seen any hummingbirds flitting around the garden yet.  I planted

What's Eating My Sweet Basil?

Herbs generally are rather problem free plants in the garden yet this year I have encountered more problems with herbs than in previous years.  The oregano has been attacked by spider mites and fungus gnats.  Earwigs attacked the potted parsley and I just discovered an unidentified caterpillar attacking the potted sweet basil.  I'm hoping this isn't a sign of things to come for this growing

Starting to Plant the Beds

The following day my husband stopped on the way home to pick up a flat of flowers and herb.  I was not specific in my instructions other than marigolds, petunias and herbs.  I figure he has been helping me around the gardens long enough to have a good idea what I like.  He brought an assortment of marigolds, deep purple petunias, thai basil, purple basil and lemon basil.  Apparently my comment

Geraniums

Geraniums May 13, 2010
The common garden geranium is likely one of the most popular of gardening plants perhaps tying in popularity with petunias.  I think every home gardener has at least one geranium growing in their garden.   They do nicely in pot, hanging baskets and in garden beds.  The reason for their popularity aside of their showy blooms is for the most part geraniums are rather low

A Taste of Summer - Yellow Petunias

Yellow PetuniasJune 14, 2009I have always loved yellow petunias. The problem is they are annuals here and hard to find. Pinks, reds, purples and fuschia tends to be the most popular petunia colours. Last year I did a lot of petunia seed collection specifically yellow petunias. I am really looking forward to an abundance of yellow petunias this year!Happy Gardening!Garden Gnome©2006-2009

New Raised Beds Layout

Over the past weekend we worked on two new raised garden beds (more here). The beds are being created while we are continuing to rip out existing vegetation so the new beds were not planned using Garden Manager software mainly because the beds were going in late spring. I would have to reboot in Windows as well since this software is not Mac compatible. I've been using the combined with

Over-wintering Plants

Our ADFF was October 12th this year meaning on that date there was a 50/50 chance of a damaging or hard frost. Unfortunately it came earlier than predicted spelling disaster to local tomato farmers. There were hundreds of thousands of dollars lost due to the early frost. Our property is water front so tends to be a bit protected from frost longer into the season still it is time to bring in

This Lawn is Your Lawn

I'm of the mindset that every household should have a vegetable garden. This is not a new idea as Victory Gardens were encouraged as a way to save energy and keep people fed during World War I and World War II. Twenty million of these gardens existed producing 40% of the vegetable produce consumed nationally in the United States. Planting a vegetable garden was seen as a national duty.I hope

Petunias

Common Garden Petunia(Petunia x hybrida)Very few gardeners are unaware of the common garden petunia (petunia x hybrida) with their beautiful showy, cascading trumpet shaped flowers. These plants are members of the family Solanaceae (nightshade plant) that originated in South America and are thought to be a hybridization between P. axillaris and P. integrifolia. There is a wide variety of

Daffodils

Daffodilsgenus NarcissusApril 28, 2008Who can resist the cheery bright yellow of daffodils blooming in early spring? These beautiful flowers have graced gardens for centuries. Botanically, daffodils (common name) are are in the family Amaryllidaceae, genus Narcissus. All members of genus Nacissus have a central trumpet (corona) surrounded by a ring of 6 floral leaves (perianth) that forms a

MarigoldThe marigolds were wonderful last summer so I have several close-ups. I'm playing with Adobe Photoshop today. Can you tell I'm bored and itching to get into the garden? I'm learning lots of neat tricks and thought this photo would lend itseld to the technique I wanted to use.It is getting time to start seeds indoors for us. Some of the seed packs say to start 8 to 12 weeks before