Flowers, In the neighborhood, Photos, Plants, Podcast, Show, Video No comments yet

Video: In the neighborhood…Crape Myrtle (Lagerstroemia) – A Photo Montage

By on August 3rd, 2013

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A photo montage of the Crape Myrtle blooming in the neighborhood this week.

For full resolution versions of these photos, visit the blog post on A Gardener’s Notebook.

Part of the “Dog Days of Podcasting” 30 Day Challenge - http://dogdaysofpodcasting.com

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Watch all past episodes of “In the neighborhood…” in this YouTube Playlist

Please Like this video and/or subscribe to my channel on YouTube.

Your likes and subscriptions directly reflect how many other viewers are suggested this video.

 

“In the garden…” is a series for A Gardener’s Notebook highlighting what is happening in my garden, my friend’s gardens and California gardens throughout the seasons.

Art, Flowers, Garden Alphabet, Photos, Plants No comments yet

Garden Alphabet: Clematis

By on August 2nd, 2013

Garden Alphabet: Clematis

Clematis seemed to be blooming everywhere on our recent visit back to our home state of Ohio. They were very popular wrapped around porches, mailboxes and almost any other trellis structure you could find. There was a tremendous amount of variety in the clematis, too. These purple flowers struck my eye, but I also saw white, pink and red — striped and plain and all different sorts of bloom forms.

Garden Alphabet: Clematis | A Gardener's Notebook with Douglas E. Welch

Clematis

“Clematis (KLEma-tis)[2] is a genus of about 300 species[3] within the buttercup family Ranunculaceae. Their garden hybrids have been popular among gardeners,[4] beginning with Clematis × jackmanii, a garden standby since 1862; more hybrid cultivars are being produced constantly. They are mainly of Chinese and Japanese origin. Most species are known as clematis in English, while some are also known astraveller’s joy, a name invented for the sole British native, C. vitalba, by the herbalist John Gerard; virgin’s bower for C. viticella; old man’s beard, applied to several with prominent seedheads; and leather flower or vase vine for the North American Clematis viorna.“ – Wikipedia.org

More information on Clematis:
Books:
 
 
Plants and Seeds:
 
 

Previously in Garden Alphabet:

Elsewhere, Flowers, Garden History, Landscape, Photos, Plants No comments yet

Garden History: Painting with plants, Miramar, Newport, Rhode Island, 1930

By on August 1st, 2013

The titles of many of my blog posts are often the first thoughts that pop into my mind when I see a picture or read something online. Painting with Plants was exactly the words I heard in my head as I came across this picture in the Flickr commons. It is hard to believe, in this day and age, that this is someone’s personal garden. Granted, it is a family that lived in high style in Newport, Rhode Island, but still, it looks more like a public park than a back garden.

That said, the effect is very painterly. There was obviously a lot of thought put into colors chosen and the light background (I would guess decomposed granite or other light colored stone material), which makes the colors “pop” all the more, especially in what looks to be bright, mid-day sun.

The garden might seem a little intimidating in the hot sun, but the cool shade of the tress beyond, along with the large fountain beckon from the house.

Painting with plants, Miramar, Newport, Rhode Island, 1930

Miramar [slide]

Creator: (former owners) Widener, George D
       Rice, Alexander Hamilton

Colorist: Van Altena, Edward

Landscape Architect: Jacques Gréber

Type: Projected media

Date: 1930

Topic: Summer
     Parterres
     Flower beds
     Walkways
     Box
     Ageratums
     Annuals (Plants)
     Fountains

Local number: RI021003

Physical description: 1 slide: glass lantern, col.; 3 x 5 in

Notes: The slides were commissioned by Mrs. Hugh D. Auchincloss Sr. Phelps, Harriet Jackson. Newport in Flower. Newport, RI: Preservation Society of Newport County, 1979, p. 50-56. Griswold, Mac and Weller, Eleanor. Golden Age of American Gardens. N. Y., N. Y.: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. in association with the Garden Club of America, 1991, p. 31

Place: Rhode Island
     Newport

Persistent URL:http://siris-archives.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?&profile=all&sou rce=~!siarchives&uri=full=3100001~!182587~!0#focus

Repository:Archives of American Gardens

View more collections from the Smithsonian Institution.

More information on Miramar:

Previously in Garden History:

Art, Flowers, Photos, Technology No comments yet

Free Kousa Dogwood Computer and Smartphone Wallpapers for August 2013

By on August 1st, 2013

Here is a selection of free wallpapers for your computer desktop or smartphone. Right-click and select Save Image As… to download them to your own computer. On your smartphone, click the image to see the full-sized image, tap and hold, then select Save to Camera Roll. You can then attach the wallpapers using your phone’s preferences.

Desktop Wallpaper

Kousa Dogwood desktop

Download full-sized version

iPad/Tablet Wallpaper

Daylily ipad

Download full-sized iPad/Tablet wallpaper

iPhone4/Smartphone Wallpaper

Daylily iphone4

Download full-sized iPhone 4 wallpaper

iPhone5/Smartphone Wallpaper

Daylily iphone5

Download Full-sized iPhone 5 Wallpaper

Previous garden wallpapers:

Announcement, DIY, Food, My Favorite Things, Technology No comments yet

My Favorite Garden Things for June/July 2013 – Douglas E. Welch

By on August 1st, 2013

My Favorite Things

As always, let me know what types of interesting items you would like to see and I will keep an eye out for them especially. — Douglas

Links to all of these items, and more, are on my Pinterest Feed.

Follow Me on Pinterest

Announcement, Podcast, Video No comments yet

Video Rewind: July 2013 – All videos from Douglas E. Welch

By on August 1st, 2013

Here is a playlist of all the videos I produced in July 2013.

You can find all my past videos on my YouTube Channel. If you enjoy a video, please click the Like button or Subscribe to the YouTube Channel. Doing that directly effects how many other people see my videos.

 

 
 
Point at each video thumbnail for more information and scroll through the available videos using the < > arrows in the lower right corner.
 
Visit Douglas E. Welch on YouTube
 

How-to, In the garden, Plants, Video No comments yet

Video: In the garden…July 31, 2013: Raising the garden bed and transplanting some dayflower

By on July 31st, 2013

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I add soil to the garden bed to start its transition to a raised bed and transplant some dayflower into a troublesome part of the garden.

Part of the “Dog Days of Podcasting” 30 Day Challenge – http://dogdaysofpodcasting.com

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Watch all past episodes of “In the garden…” in this YouTube Playlist

Please Like this video and/or subscribe to my channel on YouTube.

Your likes and subscriptions directly reflect how many other viewers are suggested this video.

“In the garden…” is a series for A Gardener’s Notebook highlighting what is happening in my garden, my friend’s gardens and California gardens throughout the seasons.

Education, Elsewhere, Flowers, Plants, Shared No comments yet

Elsewhere: Thunder and Lightning for Midsummer Garden Color – Field scabious (Knautia macedonica ‘Thunder and Lightning’)

By on July 31st, 2013

I had never heard of this plant before spotting it in this Houzz.com article. It looks like it could be something to fill some holes in my front garden.

Field scabious (Knautia macedonica ‘Thunder and Lightning’)

General contractors, home builders, and more ∨

Before starting a bathroom remodel, search for bathroom ideas and interesting products, including one-of-a-kind bathtubs, vanities and bathroom sinks.
Select outdoor patio furniture to match your style, garden sheds or even a backyard greenhouse to personalize your landscape.

DIY, Garden Budget, Photos, Products No comments yet

Garden Budget: Supplies for July 2013

By on July 30th, 2013

Back in March 2013 I decided to start spending a certain budget each month on improving the garden (~$100) and then blogging about it here on A Gardener’s Notebook. Of course, as often happens, I immediately got sidetracked and never made it back to the Garden Budget series I had hoped to start — until today!

On Sunday, I headed off to our local nursery to pick up some supplies to move a few projects forward. Much of this will be detailed in my 2 garden-related video series, Container Garden Update and In the garden… You can find all past episodes of these series either here on the blog or in a playlist on my YouTube Channel.

That said, today was a supply run. No new plants were acquired, but I am working really heard at the potting bench to bring on new seedlings and cuttings that will spare us from having to buy new plants.

Garden budget july 2013

I’ll admit that this receipt isn’t very enlightening, but I will break out what we purchased today.

Green arrow july 2013

  • 6 Bags of Planter Mix 2 to help build up the sweet potato/potato bed into a true raised bed
  • 1 bag organic fertilizer for the same bed, as well as the former onion bed, where I will soon be planting something new
  • 1 hose end repair kit for the front yard hose (watch for a coming Garden Tip video showing that repair)
  • Seeds
    • Radish ‘Sparkler’
    • Carrot ‘Parisian’ (for a soon-to-be retrofitted container)
    • Onion ‘Evergreen Bunching’
    • Cauliflower ‘Early Snowball A’
    • Green Beans ‘Blue Lake 274′
I am thinking of putting the green beans and the cauliflower in the newly rebuilt beds and the carrots and radish in some containers. I might mix things up a bit by trying them in both to compare and contrast how well they grow in different situations.
 
I’ll try to gather as much video as possible as I put these supplies to work. Watch here on the blog and on the YouTube Channel for upcoming content. If you aren’t already subscribed to the YouTube Channel, you can use the widget below to be notified each time I post a video.
 
Previously on Garden Budget:

Flowers, Interesting Plant, Photos, Plants No comments yet

Interesting Plant: Dahlia ‘Clair de Lune’

By on July 30th, 2013

Interesting Plant: Dahlia ‘Clair de Lune’

Dahlia claire de lune

Discovered via Pinterest User, Jennifer Showman

This Dahlia is so pretty you could almost lick it! (LAUGH) I love the double-petals, one inside the other and the large center, almost like a lemon daisy. I don’t have much experience with Dahlia, but this one struck me as being less “fussy” and less “heavy” than other Dahlia I have seen. That, combined with its light, pastel, color could make it a showpiece in any garden.

More information on Dahlia ‘Claire De Lune’:

Previously in the Interesting Plant series: 

Interesting Plant is a series from A Gardener’s Notebook blog and podcast that highlights the most interesting plants I find in my Internet and real-world travels — Douglas