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Sunday, December 28, 2014

Plant of the year - Geranium cantabrigense


2014 was a tough year for gardening. With a new garden location, much of it was spent in removing plant material. The new plants introduced to the garden had little time to settle in. I found it hard to decide what to buy, so many plants that I've had in the past and wanted once again but there's only so much room and so much money.


You can see from this photo that these are new plants, they will need a year or two to settle in but the first to grab a hold and go crazy was this hardy geranium. I've written about them in the past, they are wonderful plants, their foliage in the winter will often remain, sometimes with lovely red coloring.



My second choice would be the Ladies' Mantle, Alchemilla Mollis. It had some ugly days though because the roots just haven't had a chance to settle in. I'm really hoping that Liatris blooms this coming year, it's another favorite of mine.


One plant that was already here and taking over the garden is Ligularia. I had to thin them ruthlessly, a very hard thing for me to do. This coming year I'm going to try to trade some for other shade plants. I'm looking for ferns and Soloman's seal.


The troughs out front were planted with Sedum and Sempervivum, they did quite well and filled in completely. I'm hoping they make it through the winter well. We'll know in a few months.

What was your favorite plant this year?

melanie

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Back to Basics


Well, only a year and a half since I last posted… what can I say? A lot can happen in a year and a half!

The goods news is I've been taking photographs the whole time, struggling a bit to learn a camera that is way above anything I've ever worked with before. My partner in life, Andy, gifted me with a fabulous Nikon 5300 and it's been a bit of a challenge for me to get used to it.

While my garden here is small and just in it's beginning stages, I can still share lots of advice and tips on plants that do well here on Long Island.

This photo of a simple Zinnia was taken this past September at SUNY Farmingdale. It's a wonderful secret place to visit just a half hour away. We grew Zinnia's in a pot this year and fell in love with them. Just like the title says, "Back to Basics".

I've begun a new blog, it's covers more of what we do since we tend to travel every chance we get. I'd love to have you pop by and take a look, it's brand new, still need to add all the bells and whistles. You'll find it at The Island Walkabout, stop by and leave me a note, I've missed you!

melanie