Beauty of Foliage

Forest Garden

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Consider how beautiful foliage can be;  whether the brightly veined leaves of a Caladium, the dark ruffled leaves of AnglewingBegonia, or the velvety leaves of Coleus.

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All of the these plants produce flowers, but the flowers aren’t the main event.  These plants produce bright, beautiful stems and leaves month after month.

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Many people head to the garden center looking for flowers to plant in their gardens.  This is fine, but flowers are only a tiny aspect of what makes a garden beautiful.

Flowers open and fade- sometimes very quickly.  Many flowers last only a day.  Many perennials flower for a week or so, and then are finished until “same time, next year.”

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Although perennial  flowers are often followed by interesting seedpods, somehow it isn’t the same.  Annuals give a longer season of bloom, but again are unreliable. …

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Late Flowers

My Plants And Favourite Places

At the start of the year I planned to photograph plants in flower on a weekly basis.  This patently never materialised  (the same fate happened to many of my other projects!) – I will have another go next year so please bear with me!

Below are a few late flowers in the big greenhouse.  These here are all members of the Mesembryanthemum family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Bringing the Outside Indoors – The Seasonal Culling of Plants

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Succulent Garden Extravaganza

lazar landscape

Our design department field trip to the Succulent Garden Extravaganza was super fun. The folks over at Succulent Gardens put on a real nice shindig. We enjoyed the presentations, our fellow succulent lovers, and good barbecue – and we all came back with lots of new plants for our gardens. Here’s a collage of some of our favorites from the day. Stay tuned to the next “The Delinquent Gardener” for garden photos.

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Terrariums

Weekend Project: Container Gardening

lazar landscape

Looking for a quick weekend project to spruce up your patio, deck or even you front porch? Container gardening is a great, easy project to do just that. Whether you are sprucing up some pots you already have, planning to buy new containers or creating a specific container garden, you will be pleased with your results.

Have some boring clay pots? Add some interest by sprucing up your old pots with paint! Spray paint can be used on clay pots; even plastics can now be painted with spray paint. Think about creating a design on your pot, use painters’ tape to create color blocking details or stripes. When purchasing new pots you can be a little adventurous with color depending on the selection available to you. One thing to consider when deciding on container colors is the plants you are going to plant. Make sure the plants and the pots…

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Urban-Gardenig=Important.

A Kitchen Herb Garden – You Can Grow That!

Gordon's Gardens

If you have enough natural light in your kitchen, you can grow an herb garden.   Growing a variety of herbs you use on a semi-regular basis can be both easy and incredibly satisfying.  All you need to grow an indoor herb garden in your kitchen is good light.

In years past, I attempted growing rosemary in my kitchen, but being a city dweller, I rarely ever lived in a place that received enough daylight to keep it alive.  Our new house in the city has two skylights in the kitchen.  The previous owners remodeled and put the refrigerator under one of the skylights, which we at first thought created a rather odd space above, but it’s actually been quite beneficial for growing herbs (with a pothos and a cactus).  It’s a perfect platform for growing since it’s just the right distance from the skylight.

But what if you don’t…

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Mason Jar Ideas

Confessions of a Barefoot Kitchen Witch

Mason Jar Terrariums
Terrariums can cost you up to $160, but this solution costs only a few dollars and is perfect for a centerpiece or mantel:
1.    Take your Mason jar and put rocks in the bottom of it. 2.    Add charcoal (this prevents bacteria). 3.    Add a layer of soil (potting soil is recommended, as it’s bug free). 4.    Add succulents (plants that need very little water). 5.    Add sand. If you don’t want to purchase sand, you can take beach sand, but just bake it at 350 degrees for 20 minutes to kill and sand fleas.
Mason Jar Luminaries
These candles are a fantastic way to brighten up a picnic or outdoor event:
1.    Take about four feet of wire and make a twist or loop at one end. 2.    Wrap the wire around the lower lip of the jar 3.    With the end of the non looped end…

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What’s Glass and Dirt and Awesome?