As the Garden Grows

What's blooming today?


You are here: Home / Archives for In The Garden

Do you think Live Earth will make a difference?

by

There’s an interesting conversation going on about the Live Earth concert at Go Smell the Flowers.

The blog author asks the question:

Live earth is kicking off around the world today with performance in all 7 continents with over 10,000 events promised globally. Will it really help? Are we too late or no need for concern?

There’s been quite a few replies to that post. Some people are being quite pessimistic stating that whatever we do now won’t make a difference and that the message of the concert won’t really get through to many people. Others are more optimistic stating the changes they’ve made in their own lives towards becoming more green and how every little bit will help.

What do you think?

Do you believe global warming exists?

Whether you believe in global warming or not, do you think that if we all made a few changes in our lives it might help the environment or that it might really be a better way to live?

Chris and I aren’t totally green, but we’ve made a lot of changes in our lives over the years toward living green.

Here’s just a few of the things that we do:

  1. Almost all of our lights are energy efficient, as are our appliances.
  2. We turn the heat down in the winter
  3. We live a few blocks from work so we walk to work
  4. Our car is a 4 cyl and because we live so close to work and many small shops we really only use our car once a week or so for short trips to get groceries etc.
  5. We have a few small trees in our yard
  6. Not all of our plants are drought resistant but many are so I don’t have to water a lot
  7. We grow many of our own veggies and fruit
  8. Our garden is organic
  9. What we do purchase in the grocery store is local whenever possible
  10. We don’t eat much meat
  11. We rarely eat processed foods,
  12. We recycle and use recycled products if they are available
  13. We dry many of our clothes on the line instead of using the dryer
  14. We bring our own reusable bags to the grocery store.
  15. We try to use eco-friendly products whenever possible ie no harsh cleaning chemicals etc.

Do you do any of these things? Perhaps you have some more ideas on how to live green for those who read this site?






The Fairy

by

Join Green Thumb Sunday
Join

The Fairy Rose

The Fairy is a very easy rose to grow. It’s a Polyantha, a species of rose related to the floribunda rose group. The fairy only grows to the size of about two feet so it’s ideal to use en mass as a ground cover or even as a low growing hedge.

I was going to post a photo of one of my lilies today but as I was going over the photos I’ve taken recently this one caught my eye. The rose, as it normally does, had cluster upon cluster of blooms. I decided to take a photo experimenting with soft focus. I’m pleased with the way the photograph turned out.

The Fairy is a great rose to grow, especially if you are in a cold zone because it’s hardy to zone 4. It also flowers almost continuously throughout the summer so if blooms are your thing The Fairy is your rose.

* I’m sorry to be so late posting for Green Thumb Sunday. I had a busy weekend and couldn’t post until now. I hope I didn’t miss everyone. I noticed I had an increase in comments on one of my recent posts with a photo in it. Perhaps my visitors thought that was my green thumb post.

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Plants that complement one another

by

DSC02220

Everyone seems to be enjoying photos of my garden so I thought I would show you a photo of my beautiful Tamukeyama cutleaf Japanese maple and a Hosta Gold Standard.

The rose, with the faded blooms, that you can see behind the hosta is my Compte de Chambord. Possibly the smelliest rose in my garden. When I say smelly I mean most beautifully scented rose.

This photo doesn’t really do the Japanese maple and hosta combo justice. The colors of these two plants are so vibrant and depending upon the light falling on them they can look slightly different at various times of day.

The hosta leaves range from a yellow tinged green to a chartreuse. All hosta’s love shade but this one actually needs a shady area as the leaves are very delicate and can be damaged by bright sun.

At this time of year the Japanese Maple’s leaves are a deep reddish maroon. In the early spring they are a bright light red, and in the fall they are an orangish fiery red. It’s a lovely small ornamental tree.

I think that the two plants complement each other nicely. What do you think?

Meta