At Gardening Gone Wild, they're holding another Picture Perfect contest, and this month's entries are roses, so you know I had to participate.  I can submit up to three photos.  Above is 'Frontier Twirl', one of my favorites, although it does get blackspot in early summer.  However, it is such a rampant grower that it seems to outgrow the disease.  I just clean up the debris and hit it with some copper spray.  I don't have another rose with this precise coloring, and the petal configuration of the fully open blooms is something to behold.  Being from the Midwest, Dr. Buck nearly always named his roses cheery names like 'Hi Neighbor', 'Aunt Honey', and 'Country Dancer'.  I like the fact that most of his roses don't suffer much from blackspot and also are extremely cold and heat hardy. What I love about 'Graham Thomas' is its free form habit.  In...

We're supposed to wrap up any Spring Fling posts before Friday, so here are a few photos from the event of the people who were there.  One thing I noticed when going through my pictures is that I don't especially like the ones I take of people.  Flowers, trees and shrubs are easier.  They don't blink or move just when I think I've got the shot.  (That's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it.)  However, I promised you some, so here goes: The first is Chris from Flatbush Gardener in the Lurie Garden.  In this, you can see that Chris is a serious photographer.  He's climbed up on the retaining wall of the lower garden; he has extra stuff in his camera bag; and he has his camera ready to shoot.  In the next frame, he was taking the picture.  It was great to meet Chris after reading his blog...

Dear Carol and Mary Ann (and all of our other friends), Sorry I'm late to the party.  Sunday night, two thunderstorms came through and knocked out my Internet again.  (I am planning to fix that problem for good this week.)  Speaking of Sunday, I returned from vacation to a garden not as weedy as I expected.  The mulch I laid beforehand definitely helped.  All of the turnips bolted while we were away, and much of the lettuce turned bitter in the heat.  I noticed, however, that the lettuce shielded from direct sunlight by nearby perennials tastes pretty good.  We had it for supper last night with grilled salmon and chicken. My nephew, Coleman, did a great job watching and watering my container plants.  However the garden is a bit dry.  I may need to set the irrigation system to water more deeply.  I will watch it this week and let...

Throughout our travels, there were three plants I saw in nearly every garden, public or private. Amsonia tabernaemontana, blue dogbane or blue star as it is known in my garden, is the first. Actually, I may grow Amsonia hubrichtii, but right now, I don't have access to my garden to look at the leaf shape. I know I'm bad, but I never paid attention before. Both are native wildflowers, and both grow beautifully in full sun. Mine has finished flowering, but the foliage is still lovely. I plan to divide it next year. The second is Baptisia. I saw several different varieities, but the most beautiful was again in the Lurie Garden, although the Chicago Botanic Garden had some beautiful examples too. I grow three different Baptisias in my garden, but they are young and take awhile to establish. I hope that someday they will be similar to the one...