clairehoneybee

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Experiencing the Chelsea Flower Show

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Hearty Primavera Casserole

For a hearty vegetable casserole that makes awesome leftovers, try this Primavera Casserole. I am getting lots of fresh spinach, asparagus, and herbs from the garden this spring and was looking for a way to combine them. Primavera simply means spring time and I use a lot of spring ready vegetables. The vegetables are interchangeable for whatever you have on hand. Using fresh herbs and vegetables…

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Chelsea Chop: How and When to Use It

The Chelsea Chop is not a knife technique, ax throw, or dance move. A gardener term, the Chelsea Chop is a  pruning technique used on herbaceous perennials where you trim back the actively growing plant growth by 1/3 to 1/2 of its height, typically done in late spring, when the Chelsea Flower show is held.  Jeana Phlox can get as tall as it wants in my meadow The taller nepetas benefit from the…

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Stop staking! Do the Chelsea Chop on your perennials to make them more compact

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Gardening with Vego Garden Raised Beds - Transforming Your Backyard Oasis

Using several types of raised beds over my gardening career- all wood- I was excited to discover and start using the new modular metal ones available at Vego Garden. Wooden raised beds work fine for a while, but will ultimately deteriorate over time. So, I was interested in trying something more lasting with these food-safe high quality metal ones available at Vego Garden that are supposed to…

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In Celebration of Salvias - King of Deer Proof Plants

With over 1000 varieties, Salvia is a huge genus in the mint family, and comes in a dizzying variety of colors, sizes, and hardiness. Annual, perennial, temp perennial, or small shrubs, most of the varieties have stunning and colorful flowers paired with fragrant foliage. Tolerating a wide variety of soils and conditions, Salvias need minimal water to thrive. A garden designer for 30 years, I…

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Curly Willow Easter Nest Centerpiece

Spring renewal is in the air and I love using my foraged curly willow in floral arrangements and structures for the garden. The unseasonable cold has kept my stock of curly willow supple and ready to turn into projects. The first tiny leaves have appeared but are easy to pull off. Most of my curly willow was harvested in February when the ground was still frozen and I left the branches lay in my…

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Honeywort is the Star of the Pollinator Garden

  Honeywort has been on my radar for years as a bee flower power-house. I have grown it for about 10 years and people who see it in my garden are intrigued as they have never seen it before. I have only ever seen it grown in the UK, but it is quite easy to grow in the US. Honeywort with Gladiolus byzantius at Buckfast Abbey in Cornwall Cerinthe major atropurpurea , featured at Sissinghurst Castle…

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Growing the Blues with Grape Hyacinths

Grape Hyacinth (Muscari armeniacum) is an early blooming, perennial bulb in the Lily Family (Liliaceae) native to southeastern Europe. Not a true Hyacinth, the common name comes from the resemblance of the clusters of the small, bell-shaped, cobalt-blue flowers to upside-down clusters of grapes. Grape hyacinth is hardy in zones 3-9. Common Bulbs Many people dismiss these common flowers as they…

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Converting a Lawn to Flawn- A Flowering Lawn

Do you want to mow your lawn less, plus provide nectar sources for pollinators and reduce your environmental imprint? Then, change your lawn to a ‘flawn’! Reducing or Eliminating Your Lawn Turf grass lawns are an American tradition. Everyone who has any kind of yard or property aspires to having a perfect green manicured carpet. But as we now know, grass can be a dead zone for native insects and…

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Continuous Containers With Cool Season Flowers

Who says you have to wait and plant your containers in May after a final frost? I have plants in my containers all year long and start my season in early to mid March after pulling out Christmas greens, using a long list of early spring flowers (see below) that can tolerate and flourish in chilly weather. And when the summer flowers are looking tired in my pots in early Fall, I pull them out and…

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Hello to Hellebores!

Ok, drumroll here….I think I can say that Hellebores (Helleborus x hybridus) hybrid Lenten Rose,  are my favorite perennial plant. A plant that is becoming known by non-gardeners as well as garden enthusiasts, Hellebores or commonly known as Lenten roses, is a plant that is worth seeking out. What other plant resists deer, neglect, likes shade-even deep shade, is evergreen, arranges beautifully,…

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First Bulb of Spring - Winter Aconites

Winter Aconites will push up through snow Sunny yellow blooms fringed with a fringed ruff poking through snow is my first sign that spring has sprung. Eranthis hyamalis, or Winter Aconite, in the buttercup family, is a spring ephemeral, which means that it is a short-lived plant above ground with a burst of blooms, then disappears, remaining under ground until next winter. From a few tubers, I…

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Great Backyard Bird Count 2025

The Audubon Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) runs from Feb 14-17, 2025, which is an unique opportunity to get the family involved in this popular hobby to record bird sightings. This international annual Bird Count unites the world in connecting to birds and has expanded every year involving more and more people across the globe. Blue Bird perching in my Sycamore tree observing my bird feeder A…

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Chocolate Cosmos Growing Guide

Who wouldn’t want to grow a flower that smells like chocolate cake? Chocolate Cosmos, Cosmos atrosanguineus, has velvety, burgundy-maroon flowers so named because of their sweet, cocoa-like fragrance. The fragrance is due to vanillin, an organic compound also found in cocoa and is most noticeable on warm and sunny days. The flowers are similar to garden cosmos, Cosmos bipinnatus, but the flowers…

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Top 10 Ways to ReWild Your Garden

ReWilding is a big buzz word in the horticultural world right now. But what does it mean for you and your garden? According to the Oxford Dictionary, ReWilding is to restore an area of land to its natural uncultivated state, used especially with reference to the reintroduction of species of wild animal that have been driven out or exterminated. To put it simply, you are inviting wildlife in and…

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Updated: Pesticide Free Nurseries and Seed Suppliers

Neonics, or neonicotinoids, the nation’s most widely used insecticides, have been around since 1994, and the evidence on human health risks, especially infants continue to mount. Chronic neonic exposure may be linked to autism spectrum disorder and other adverse developmental and neurological outcomes, according to the American Bird Conservancy and the NIH. Our songbirds are suffering from…