Throw me a liana

Throw me a liana and  hoist me up out of this new rabbit hole I've been exploring.

Liana, you ask? 

Yes, liana - a woody vine that is rooted at the ground and uses trees and other vertical structures to climb up. That's the first thing I found in this rabbit hole.

Liana - like this Trumpet Creeper vine, Campsis radicans, that is growing up and over a metal trellis in my sister's garden. I

Dial-A-Horticulturist: Assigning Common Names

Hello. Thank you for calling Dial-A-Horticulturist where our motto is "gardeners rule". How may I direct your call?

I'd like to speak to someone about common plant names, please.

Certainly, please hold while I direct your call. Our current wait time is 10 minutes as this is our busy season. While you are on hold, you will hear the sounds of a garden - bees buzzing, birds singing, and water

Clematis scampering through the sedum

On the twelfth day of June, Clematis x triternata 'Rubromarginata', scampers around and through tall sedum.

I always wanted to have a little vine scamper through a garden, without looking like an invasion the way field bindweed would look, but looking very sweet and innocent like this little clematis looks.

I wondered how people got this to happen in their gardens, and as is generally the

Blooming to distraction

Clematis 'Pagoda'.

I'm still smitten by this clematis.  It's grown quite a bit more this year and is full of purple blooms now.   I can hardly believe that at one time I thought clematis were just so-so and I didn't think I needed any in my garden.

What was I thinking? 

I do love these bell-shaped flo...

Hey are those foxglove over there?



Yes, those are yellow foxglove growing in

Clematis 'Pagoda'

Clematis 'Pagoda'.

It speaks softly, "Slow down and notice the details of the garden."

It whispers, "Pause and admire me."

No shouting, chortling or guffaws from this little flower.

Sweet. Dainty. Subtle.

A sure magnet for garden fairies.

Clematis 'Pagoda'

My new favorite small-flowered clematis.

Protecting my green beans

First strawberries from the garden

The good news from the vegetable garden is that the strawberries are beginning to ripen.  I ate a little bowl of them this evening.

I'll be picking strawberries every day now for awhile. These are everbearing strawberries, so they'll continue to produce some berries through the growing season, although not in the same quantities as they produce in June.

The

When Plants Disobey - Clematis 'Pink Fantasy'

I had visions of a nice line up of Clematis vines along the back fence that borders the vegetable garden. The vines would grow up various and sundry trellises, that in and of themselves would be architecturally interesting, and provide color and interest throughout the season.

I started my little line up with three clematis that had to be moved for the garden design and three old trellises.

"

An impractical good choice of Wisteria

If one is going to do something  impractical like purchase a wisteria, at least purchase a native wisteria like Wisteria macrostachya, sometimes referred to as the Kentucky wisteria.

Why is it impractical?

This is a woody vine that grows up to 25 feet so it will need some support, some strong support. 

I've just about figured out how I'm going to provide that support.  I need a bit of

My Clematis Phase

Clematis 'Pagoda'
My Dear Dr. Hortfreud,

And so I find that I am rather inexplicably entering into a Clematis phase in my evolution as a gardener.

Mother Nature, with help from some enabling nurseries like the nearby Soules Garden, has put me in the enviable position of having eight new Clematis plants to put out in my garden

Truly, I thought I was safe going to Soules Garden, at least when

Choosing the right music for my grape vine

Some people might look at this grapevine with frost damaged leaves and decide it is time to go get a shovel and queue up Chopin's Piano Sonata No.2 in B Flat Minor, Op.35, CT.202: III. Marche Funebre  to play on their iPod while they commence digging out the vines.

Everyone knows Chopin's Piano Sonata No.2 in B Flat Minor, Op.35, CT.202: III. Marche Funebre. Hum along... dum dum de dum dum de