Nan Chase's house in Asheville, NC, where she grows vegetables and fruit in her front yard too. When we were in Asheville, we visited a lot of beautiful, creative and interesting gardens. The last one I saw was Nan Chase's front yard where she grows lots of food mixed in with her ornamental plants. She has fruit trees and artichokes--Bill now wants one, dang it! She also grows other edibles. As we strolled through the garden, Carolyn Choi of Sweet Home and Garden Carolina asked me if I had fruit trees in my front yard. One of our apple trees. Due to late freezes, we often don't see any fruit, but this year was different. Surprised, because I hadn't thought about it for awhile, I said, "Actually, yes, I do." I have three apple trees, a semi-dwarf 'Enterprise,' a dwarf 'Gala' and another dwarf one. I can't recall the name...

A green frog rests within the petals of Hemerocallis 'North Wind Dancer'. As soon as the sun rises, I wander the paths of my garden. Gravel crunches under my sandles. Small green frogs and toads jump above and below plants while earthworms crawl beneath the soil. Winged insects feast upon nectar, pollen and even each other. Creatures climb over vegetables and lie beneath tomatoes as tall as skyscrapers from their viewpoint. Birds swoop from their perches intent on feeding their young. Once the dawn chorus finishes, my shiny, dark friends, the crows, discuss me and other possible dangers as they fly from tree to tree. It is a song almost as old as time itself, but some notes are missing. The familiar hum of my favorite creature is merely a whisper on the wind. The bumblebees, my dearest, roly-poly companions, are all but absent this year. I don't find them sleeping...

Hemerocallis 'Azure Violets' which isn't always consistent in color, but is beautiful nonetheless. Daylilies and roses are two of my garden passions. Of these two, daylilies are more reliable and give more bang for the buck in my climate than the fairest Queen of May. For the most part, they are easy, but there are certain things you can do to help your daylilies prosper. This post is all about the care and feeding of daylilies. Hemerocallis 'Pocket Change' (Crochet 1985) is a small red I grow in partial shade. I do this because it's an earlier red, and its substance won't hold up in our harsh sun. Plant in spring or fall. Don't plant daylilies when the weather is very hot, or you are setting yourself up for failure. Because of their fibrous roots and thickened spindles for water storage, newly-planted daylilies are very susceptible to root rot under...