Category Archives: Creating a Garden

Snapshots from a New Hampshire Garden: Part III

Posted on February 19, 2023 by aheronsgarden

Our Garden Heroes There is utter madness behind our methods. We are designing and planting new gardens in our mid-eighties. Then again, we ask, why not? Gardening has become the biggest whodunnit for us, a larger-than-life mystery about outdoor place-and-space … Continue reading →

Posted in Armillary as a Feature, Brick edgers, Building stone path, Creating a Garden, garden maintenance, New Hampshire garden, Uncategorized | Tagged armillary, brick edging, building paths, creating flower beds, hanging shutters | 2 Comments

Celebrating the Roots of our North Carolina Garden

Posted on March 25, 2022 by aheronsgarden

A Lesson in Patience I’ve had a quietly satisfying epiphany! After listening to gardeners across the country I began to see how place — geography, environment, climate, soil — defines the character of a garden — and sets the limits. … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Change, Creating a Garden, Environment, Northeast North Carolina, Uncategorized | Tagged time in a garden, understanding limitations | 1 Comment

Memories Chase This Gardener’s Brown Blues

Posted on February 9, 2017 by aheronsgarden

Nothing like February to bring on a gardener’s Brown Blues. Brown leaves, brown stems, brown grasses, brown scruffy seed heads (broken-down brown) and, incidentally, gray days. Not to mention that all this brown has to be cleaned up before spring. … Continue reading →

Posted in Creating a Garden, garden maintenance, Master Gardeners, plant sale, propagation, Winter | Tagged Burford holly, chrysanthemums, crabapples, wallowtails | 2 Comments

Fifty Ways to Lose. . .That Special Plant

Posted on November 14, 2016 by aheronsgarden

Fifty Ways to Lose. . .That Special Plant Maybe not 50, but the couple dozen methods below have been extensively field-tested over a thirty-year period by seasoned experts (the author and fellow gardeners) whose experience and credentials are unshakeable. Let’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Creating a Garden, garden maintenance, spring bloom, summer bloom, Tips for Planting, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

A Pollinator’s Heaven

Posted on September 7, 2014 by aheronsgarden

I wish we could say we were brilliant and actually planned this little bit of heaven. Like everything else in our garden, it simply evolved. It happened this way. Several trees, their structure internally damaged by Hurricane Isabel, had to … Continue reading →

Posted in Creating a Garden, fall bloom, Native Plants, Native pollinators, summer bloom, Uncategorized, wildflowers | Tagged boltonia, Cutleaf Coneflower, Daylily, fall bloomers, Hidcote st johnswort, joepye weed, native plants, native pollinators, perilla, salvia guaranitica, shrubby st johnswort, skullcap (scuttelaria), summer bloomers, Swamp Sunflower, Tatarian aster, Turks cap, wildflowers, woodland sunflower | Leave a comment

From Beach Sand to Clay Pots

Posted on August 13, 2014 by aheronsgarden

Our first home and garden was set on top of one of the highest hills on Long Island. It sat in pine barrens more than 100 feet above sea level, and the breeze was lovely. In 25 years we never … Continue reading →

Posted in Compost, Creating a Garden, Creating soil, Soil, Uncategorized | Tagged clay, compost, creating soil, loam, sand, sea level rise, topsoil | Leave a comment

More Meatballs and Lollipops, Please

Posted on August 4, 2012 by aheronsgarden

Years ago, a certain company offered two types of fantastic seed tapes. Each one was guaranteed to produce instant results for cottage gardeners and formal gardeners alike. In case you want to follow up on this terrific offer, the order … Continue reading →

Posted in Birds, Creating a Garden, Hosta, Hydrangeas, Native Plants, Summer, Uncategorized, wildflowers, Wildlife | Tagged agastache, cardinal flower, crepe myrtle, deer, elderberries, fennel, Garden Paths, hummingbirds, New York ironweed, spider web, trumpet creeper vine, wildflowers, Wildlife | Leave a comment

Plants for Pennies

Posted on June 7, 2012 by aheronsgarden

It began in earnest many years ago with a Master Gardener class on how to propagate plants by taking stem cuttings. I must have been having a relapse of Empty Nest syndrome then. Oh, the possibilities! Bob the Builder was … Continue reading →

Posted in Creating a Garden, Hydrangeas, Native Plants, propagation, Spring shrubs | Tagged cranberry viburnum, New Castle red hydrangea, spirea double reeves, spirea shibori | 2 Comments

The Great Wild Ride our Hydrangeas Took

Posted on July 3, 2011 by aheronsgarden

We give the plants in our yard three simple rules to follow, and one option. They should not die. They should make every effort to grow. They should do their best to look healthy and attractive—most of the time. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Creating a Garden, Hydrangeas | Tagged Alice, Annabelle, climbing hydrangea, Grayswood, growing conditions, Hurricane Isabel, hydrangea paniculata, hydrangea serrata, Hydrangeas, lacecap hydrangeas, Mariesii, mophead hydrangeas, oak leaf hydrangea, Pia | Leave a comment

Great Expectations

Posted on November 6, 2010 by aheronsgarden

Wildlife, Woodlands, Two Gardeners, Two Decades Reflections on discoveries that changed our ideas of gardening We had great expectations for gardening when we moved to eastern North Carolina. Sunny skies, balmy winters, how could our garden not be a perfect … Continue reading →

Posted in Creating a Garden | Tagged Clean Water Act, Garden Paths, North Carolina, Wildlife, Woodlands | 3 Comments