The garden has peaked. The milkweed has faded, the rudbeckia is shriveling, and while a few flowers power on, the climactic moment has passed. The big show is about over. This is a good time of year for taking stock, as people do. Did projects go as planned? Did I get the results I wanted? […]
Author: mywildgarden
What killed my lawn? How to make organic lawns look good
New gardeners who wonder why their lawns died and what to do about it might be especially interested in this post
Dreams come true: visiting the chateaux of the Loire
A what-I-did-on-my-summer-vacation post: visited some Loire Valley chateaux
A conversation withTalis Bergmanis
Have you ever passed a private garden whose interesting street edge told you it was hiding something special? I knew about Talis Bergmanis’s garden long before I met him and was able to see it in person. The plantings along the street are so striking, almost other-worldly, with chartreuse ‘Tiger Eye’ sumac standing out against a […]
Still waiting…(It’s spring, but doesn’t feel like it yet)
I feel like I waited all winter for March. Now it’s here and all I want is for it to be April.
Wintry mix: first signs of spring
Welcome 2023! For so long winter has felt like it just wouldn’t budge. Then, all of a sudden, it budged. Birds are back. Finches are at the feeder. Yesterday I saw a dove. The first green spikes of daffodils have poked through some brown oak leaves. Today is dreary and cold, but the sky is […]
Saving pollinators, one yard at a time
Welcome to what will be my final post of 2022. Now that I’ve been at this a while, the pace of my revelations has slowed somewhat, but I’m still learning new things all the time. Sometimes I think might skip posting for a month, but then I happen upon something that interests me and I […]
Certifiable:Why you should get a sign for your garden
Here’s a headline from my internet feed: “How do I tell the new neighbors their lawn maintenance is unsuitable?” My neighbors could be saying this about me—or about the St. Peters, Missouri man fined $400 for violating his town’s turf-to flower-ratio, or about Dennis Moriarty, the Kansas City man cited for violating the weed ordinance. […]
Dig, till, smother: How to remove sod for a new bed
Everybody loves the idea of a secret garden, but I’m not exactly sure what one is. What makes a garden secret? How is that different from private? My husband says ours is almost a secret garden because it’s in back and passers-by don’t realize we have such a profusion of flowers and wildlife back here. […]
Pollen count: ways to beat seasonal allergies
Fall planting season is underway, and I’ve ordered a passel of plants to pick up at Saturday’s Missouri Prairie Foundation plant sale–but I can barely bring myself to think about them, I’m so tired. I have seasonal allergies. Maybe you do, too? When it’s allergy season, thinking about anything else is tough. What causes allergies? […]