In depth gardening advice from an expert gardener
Wild Iris by macropoulos
TheGardenLady wants to continue to write about some of the flowers in her garden that make people stop and ooh and aah. Today she will talk about irises.
2012 has been a spectacular year for irises. I love them all but am particularly fond of the dark purple Siberian Iris.
Continue reading “People Enjoy Irises in TheGardenLady’s Garden”
For you… by VinothChandar
TheGardenLady wants to continue to write about some of the flowers in her garden that make people stop and ooh and aah. Today she will talk about roses.
There’s a reason why roses are the most popular flower in the world. Even Shakespeare immortalized the rose by writing “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
Continue reading “People Enjoy Roses in TheGardenLady’s Garden”
Smartleaf Compost pH Test Results shows 7 by Wayan Vota
How to test your soil at home has been written on behalf of The Garden Lady by Mr McGregor, a popular Notcutts gardening writer.
It’s extremely important to discover the type of soil you’re working with in the garden as it determines what flowers you can and cannot grow. As soon as I moved into my home in the countryside I went straight outside and conducted a soil test. If you have a desire to create a beautiful outdoor space or have just moved home, I implore you to test your soil. It’s quick, easy and once you know there will be no stopping you when it comes to creating the garden of your dreams.
There are many methods you can use to test your soil and below you’ll find two of my favourites. One is very simple, but can be only used to test alkaline and acidic soils, whereas the other takes a bit more time and effort, but offers a wider range of results.
Rhododendrons and azalea by London looks
In the last two posts(here and here), TheGardenLady talked about the hellebores and peonies in her garden, flowers that make people stop and ooh and aah. Today she will talk about some more flowers in her garden that have the WOW factor.  These flowers are rhododendrons and azaleas.
Rhododendron and Azaleas by David Le Masurier
Continue reading “People Enjoy Rhododendrons and Azaleas in TheGardenLady’s Garden”
“Peony Pink,” Explore #444, January 11, 2012 by Puzzler4879
In the last post, TheGardenLady talked about the hellebores in her garden that make people stop and compliment. Today she will talk about another flower in her garden that has the WOW factor.  These flowers are peonies.
Paeonia lactiflora-sinensis ✽ Pivoine herbacée “Bossuet” ✽ Herbaceous peony “Bossuet” ✽ Pivoine de Chine ✽ Chinese Peony. by ✿ nicolas_gent ✿
People are especially complimentary when the Chinese tree peonies are in bloom. It is hard not to admire the gorgeous 8 inch flowers These shrub like plants can produce almost a hundred plate-sized flowers when the shrub is mature. The Chinese tree peony, either because it blooms earlier and is sturdier, does not seem to have the flower stems knocked over as readily as the herbaceous peonies. Still when the herbaceous peonies are in flower, they, too, are magnificent.
Continue reading “People Enjoy Peonies in TheGardenLady’s Garden”
Pretty in pink by fotovision47
As people compliment my garden when they walk by, I take mental notes of which flowers have the WOW factor that encourage these compliments. Even though everyone loves lilacs, for example, they do not elicit compliments. Nor do showy plants like canna lilies, salvias or zinnias. Of course, flowers planted in large groups, like evening primroses or the overall effect of a plant situated in the lovely landscaping elicits compliments. However, in the next several weeks I will be listing 9 plants that make people stop in their tracks or in their cars to tell me how impressed they are or to take photos. Almost all the plants chosen do have huge, showy flowers- nothing subtle about them. To me they are the fireworks that are the big grand finale in a fireworks show.
Continue reading “People Enjoy the Hellebores in TheGardenLady’s Garden”
Tulipmania by The Great Photographicon
Almost all the gardeners that I know love getting new plants for their garden. But this compulsion to buy more unusual plants is nothing when compared to what happened in Holland in the 1600s.
Tulip mania was what they called what was happening in Holland. The Dutch had recently learned about the beautiful tulip flower which was unlike anything they had ever seen before.The Dutch were not the first to be smitten by the tulip. Long before the tulip was introduced in Europe, in Bavaria in 1559, the flower had enchanted the Persians and bewitched the rulers of the Ottoman Empire. But the Dutch reaction was so much more intense. Flower paintings became extremely popular in the 1630s and 1640s. Such paintings were cheaper than real bouquets – and kept longer! See here. They were so enamored with the tulip flower that the Dutch were bidding extraordinarily high levels for the bulbs and speculating on them. Prices of bulbs sold for more than 10 times the annual income of a skilled craftsman. One person was reputed to have sold his house for 3 bulbs.
And then the market suddenly collapsed.
The New 2007 Model by Mr. Greenjeans
TheGardenLady recently attended a lecture about yellow jacket wasps, or simply known as wasps in other English speaking countries. In England there is a wasp watch. Most of the yellow jacket wasps are black and yellow. But don’t confuse them with the black and yellow honey bee. Yellow Jackets are wasps not bees and are NOT covered with the tan-brown dense hair that is on the honey bee worker. A very good article on yellow jacket wasps can be found on the bug info site.
Thirst by Jason A. Samfield
Early bird gets the worm…. by . : : v i S H a l : : .
TheGardenLady loves all the visitors to her garden. I love when family and friends and strangers come to see what is growing in my yard. I love to see and try to count the bees that are engrossed in sipping the nectar and are pollinating my flowers. I love seeing the butterflies flitting from flower to flower and sometimes sitting so long on a flower and drinking so intently that one could pick the butterfly up. Though I prefer just to stand and watch, entranced.
But other visitors are very important to this Garden Lady. These visitors are the birds. At the break of dawn, they are all singing in the garden so that their voices blend in an orchestral symphony. I always want to see if I can pick out the individual bird by its song as well as its plumage. Do my readers know the sounds of the birds in their garden?
through the flowers. by Casey David
Sometimes I wonder if this Garden Lady is always on top of what is happening in the world. I guess I am too busy in my own garden, weeding, planting or just plain enjoying the results of my labor to keep up with everything that is going on. Or I am enjoying the beauty of other people’s gardens.
So I missed telling my readership about a gardening event that happened, around the world, on Sat. May 5th. Now this is not a gardening event that I would ever attend, nor do I know anyone who would attend it. I am too modest to be part of such an event – I was born modest and grew up believing in modesty. And I don’t know how many of the readers of TheGardenLady would want to participate. But, still, I feel duty bound to write about gardening events that are happening, even if I think these events are humorously odd.
Now though the event happened on Sat. May 5th, I just learned about it on Monday, May 21st. So I apologize to those of you who depend on TheGardenLady to keep you informed of world gardening events. Though I apologize, I had never heard about this event even though this was the 8th year it was being held. It is thanks to reading the Irish Times online that I became informed of this event.