Have I mentioned that my parents are trailer trash? No? Must’ve been an oversight. My parents are trailer trash. Whew, glad I got that off my chest! What I mean by trailer trash is that my mom and dad live in their fifth wheel trailer for most of the year. For the past few years they’ve spent winters in Florida and summers in Wiarton, Ontario. In the fall, between gigs, they come home to roost for about four weeks. Same thing happens in the spring. They drive back from Florida and hang out with Connor and I for about four to eight weeks until their summer camp opens for the season. The house we live in belongs to them, but Connor and I stay here all year and take care of things. Good thing for my parents - they have a home base, and a very good thing for Connor and I - we needed a place to go two years ago after a divorce. Even though the house isn’t mine, the gardens pretty much are. I do occasionally ask before making drastic changes, but mom is very generous and has given me free reign. So what does a die-hard gardener like my mom do when she’s almost never home? Container gardening of course!

Each summer she plants up containers with herbs and annuals to set out on her deck at the trailer.

Any perennial items that can handle the shade are stuck under a cedar hedge in the fall and left to winter over until the following spring when they are once again called to duty - filling containers for another summer. Some perennials have remained under the hedge.

Sweet Woodruff, Lamb’s Ears, Oregano

Purple Perennial Violet

Even before becoming trailer trash my mom planted beautiful containers. The color combinations were always stunning - one year it would be blues, another whites. The various pots would fill up and overflow in all the right places. My attempts at container gardening are a little less exciting. I have some planted, but they lack my mom’s special touch. I’m much better with solid ground, really!

Yes, these are mine - pardon the mess.

As for trailer trash gardening in Florida…she’s just starting to dig in down there. I fully expect to see pictures this winter of some spectacular southern plantings from down there as well.

If it’s too complicated to plan out your vegetable garden keeping the companions together and the ememies apart, stick in some of these hard-working herbs. They seem to improve the growth and flavour of nearby crops. Their scents and blooms attract and feed beneficial bees and butterflies. On top of that, they repel harmful insects such as spider mites, ants, root maggots, borers, aphids, snails, slugs, squash bugs, many beetles, cabbage and tomato worms. They even deter apple scab and black spot.

Plant some catnip, lavender, rue and thyme in the flowerbeds to encourage pollination and deter many harmful insects.

Herbs are just the best! I can’t resist sneaking them into all the gardens and even into pots here and there. Like other herb lovers I have trouble passing by without touching a leaf or a flower. They are so good for your body and your soul.

We moved into our house in August 2006. We being my mom, dad, my son and myself. (Strange living situation I know, but that’s a story for another time.)

There were gardens here, but they had been pretty much ignored and the plants, shrubs and trees within those gardens had been left to fend for themselves. Mom and I spent much of last summer trying to shape things up. Through ruthless trimming, the removal of ancient shrubs, and new shrub and perennial additions, we are finally making some headway.

continue reading "Front Yard Makeover"

One of my favorite herbs and the first one I ever grew in my garden was thyme. I think it was Doone Valley Thyme - one of the taller versions with dusty purple blooms on fine foliage that just begged to be touched to release it’s fresh fragrance.

I’ve grown lemon thyme for using snipped - fresh or dried in meat dishes or stuffing. I love the look of creeping thyme especially in a rock garden or between stepping stones. And the silver or gold tipped foliage of some decorative thymes mixes so well with other gray and blue herbs in the garden or in colorful mixed pots with summer flowers.

continue reading "Favorite Herbs - Thyme"

The two green thumbs of 2greenthumbsup.com added a couple of new gardens and a few new items to their existing gardens in 2007. We (okay, I) have a weakness for garden plants on sale. My mom, the other green thumb, has a little more self control, but can be persuaded, cajoled, heckled, and pressured into making the odd purchase. She’s a planner and I’m a bit more spontaneous - together we make an awesome gardening team.

continue reading "2007 - The Garden In Review"

With the hot and dry summers we’ve been experiencing in Southern Ontario over the past few years, it only makes sense to plant perennials that are drought tolerant or heat resistant. The move to conserve water is even more incentive to plant perennials more suited to our individual environments.

1. Dicentra spectabilis (Bleeding Heart)
2. Perovskia atriplicifolia (Russian Sage)
3. Armeria maritima (Thrift)
4. Sedum spectabile (Showy Stonecrop)
5. Echinacea purpurea (Purple Coneflower)
6. Coreopsis verticillata (Thread-leaved Coreopsis)
7. Gaillardia x grandiflora (Blanket Flower)
8. Lavandula angustifolia (Lavender)
9. Achillea filipendulina (Fern-Leaved Yarrow)
10. Artemisia absinthium (Common Wormwood)
11. Nepeta x. faassenii (Catmint)

Some of my favorite pairings are Lavender with Catmint and Purple Coneflower with Russian Sage. The different colors and types of foliage add interest and texture to a perennial garden.