tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84885992010-03-17T17:34:05.705-04:00All year I dream of the days of May when the sun is warm, the sky is blue, the grass is green, and the garden is all new again!Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.comBlogger1380125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-40287394211512285192010-03-17T07:18:00.003-04:002010-03-17T12:16:01.131-04:00

Embrace “why not” for a happier life in your garden Why not? Make your garden bigger and bolder this year! Why not? Buy that plant you’ve always wanted. Dig up some of that turf and plant some vegetables. Make that flower border a little longer and a little wider. Why not? Hire a garden designer and just  let her design a garden for you. Don’t put constraints or limits on her and see what

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-82210083610118461172010-03-16T22:28:00.000-04:002010-03-16T22:28:42.165-04:00

To help ensure that a winner was truly chosen at random, I asked  The Hoosier Gardener, Jo Ellen Meyers Sharp, co-author of Indiana Gardener's Guide, to use http://www.random.org/ to pick a number between 1 and 174, the total number of entries. She sent me an email just a few minutes ago to let me know the winning number is 33. Entry number 33 belongs to... Samia! Congratulations, Samia.

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-56385465483820696492010-03-16T05:00:00.053-04:002010-03-16T17:02:06.449-04:00

Dear Dee and Mary Ann and Gardening Friends Everywhere, Do you want to hear a funny story about pansies and violas? After work yesterday, I cruised by a local grower's to see if she had any pansies and violas out front, and she did! So I stopped in, liked what I saw, and decided to get some. After a minute or so, her Mom came out and just started laughing and said she should have guessed it

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-9368948593330959702010-03-15T00:05:00.051-04:002010-03-15T00:05:00.785-04:00

Welcome to Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day for March 2010!  (Yes, this is the place, May Dreams Gardens, with an updated blog template.) Is it my imagination, or is spring just a few steps behind this year in my USDA hardiness zone 5b garden? Or maybe I’m just a few steps behind? I have plenty of crocuses blooming, but I usually have crocuses blooming by mid-March. I have them in a few flower beds

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com113tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-88915084316600587562010-03-14T11:04:00.000-04:002010-03-14T11:04:32.651-04:00

Wait, come back!  You were looking for May Dreams Gardens, right? The blog that never changed its template in over four years?  Well, guess what? Blogger made it so easy to update templates in Blogger in Draft that I decided to give my blog a spring face lift. It's still a work in progress. I need to clean up the sidebars, remove some widgets, maybe add others, and move them all around a bit

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-69795666028754844102010-03-14T07:26:00.117-04:002010-03-14T15:17:31.396-04:00

When a gardener goes to the Indiana Flower and Patio Show... The first thing she does is head up the main aisle to see the display gardens. This year's show theme is "A Novel Idea!" and so the gardener tries to guess what novel the designer used for inspiration before she sees the sign indicating what book it is. The gardener sees this garden complete with a topiary serpent and guesses correcty

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-81208468316295704522010-03-12T20:26:00.002-05:002010-03-12T22:46:19.103-05:00

Garden fairies here. After getting “called out” for posting so infrequently last year, we’ve been biding our time waiting for Carol to relinquish control of the laptop so that we could get in here and post something. We’ve waited so long, we’ve almost forgotten what it was we wanted to post about. Oh, now we remember. We wanted to post about the language of gardeners, which we’ve dubbed “

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-19458261296439728062010-03-11T00:05:00.007-05:002010-03-11T06:20:36.214-05:00

May I introduce to you Iris histrioides 'Lady Beatrix Stanley', a new dwarf iris that I purchased last fall from Brent and Becky’s Bulbs. Did you know that there really was a Lady Beatrix Stanley? I assumed she was a real person, and went on a little Internet search for her. It turns out she was the daughter of the 3rd Marquess of Headfort, Thomas Taylour, and his second wife, Emily, who was

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-26767472867678467432010-03-10T05:00:00.003-05:002010-03-16T22:32:42.086-04:00

Win A Fiskars® Momentum™ Reel Mower! This spring I’m looking forward to mowing the lawn more so than ever before because I have a new Fiskars® Momentum™ Reel Mower in my garage, ready to bring out for the first mowing of the season. I recall fondly the final mowing of the season last year, my first time to mow with this new reel mower. What fun that was! Soon, in just three or four weeks, I’

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com186tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-81767441601861533672010-03-09T00:02:00.000-05:002010-03-09T00:02:21.657-05:00

I thought it was just me that suffered a bit from post-winter plant name amnesia (PWPNA, for those who like acronyms). After the long winter, the names of plants that last fall came easily to mind and rolled off the tongue now seem to be stuck in a haze, the words a bit blurry, the accents all mixed up. Even common names take a minute or two to bring to mind. I knew I should have studied up on

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-47275537728092416562010-03-08T05:30:00.029-05:002010-03-08T05:30:01.206-05:00

Dear Dee and Mary Ann and Gardening Friends Everywhere, Greetings from the beginnings of spring in my garden. It’s amazing how there were no blooms last week and now this week there are crocuses blooming everywhere. Out in the vegetable garden, henbit is starting to sprout and grow everywhere, too. I see some weeding in my future! On Saturday I went outside in the afternoon and looked over the

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-48116670388654853452010-03-06T22:36:00.001-05:002010-03-06T22:41:51.870-05:00

A seed update with a gratuitous crocus picture. Earlier this afternoon, out of the blue, I started thinking that in spite of all my seed ordering spread across four different seed companies, I had forgotten to order cucumber seeds. To confirm if this was indeed the case, I rounded up all the seeds, which were mostly all piled into one basket, and listed them out on a spreadsheet. Sure

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-45393391076525056992010-03-05T06:07:00.001-05:002010-03-06T22:43:01.794-05:00

Yes, that’s me, driving slowly by the still desolate garden centers, peering out the window hoping for a glimpse of the first pansies and violas for sale. I have my routes, I make my rounds. On the way to and from work, I carefully choose a route that takes me past a small garden center Sometimes I take a slight detour on the way home to go by a local grower’s place. She’s usually pretty good

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-457957375856968892010-03-03T22:58:00.000-05:002010-03-03T22:58:32.073-05:00

Just like that, today was overcast and the temperature was around 38 F at 5:00 pm. The crocuses that were blooming yesterday have closed up to guard against the cold.  Such is the fickleness of early spring flowers, and the unpredictability of the seasonal changes. Spring takes its time arrving, and Winter seems in no hurry to go. They taunt and tease in turn. One day Spring acts as though it

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-12128162942804547142010-03-02T21:38:00.002-05:002010-03-02T22:11:07.999-05:00

On this bright, cold sunny afternoon, there it was… the first crocus of the season. And nearby, another crocus. Both were just a few days later in arriving compared to when they showed up last year, but both conjured up the same exact thought… I still need to... (fill in the blank)! In that brief instant of seeing that first crocus, I suddenly realized that winter really is going to end and

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-29688217636035640912010-03-01T05:30:00.019-05:002010-03-01T05:30:00.685-05:00

I’ve always loved books with exchanges of letters, like Two Gardeners: Katharine S. White and Elizabeth Lawrence--A Friendship in Letters and 84, Charing Cross Road, an exchange of letters between the writer Helene Hanff and a British bookseller, Frank Doel. When I found out that Dee from Red Dirt Ramblings and Mary Ann from Gardens of the Wild Wild West shared a similar interest, we decided in

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-77865128115572631482010-02-28T13:32:00.003-05:002010-02-28T18:52:52.997-05:00

On this last day of February, our thoughts turn to gardening, as they always do.  We sense it is coming. We can see it in the tiny green sprouts, imagine it in the breeze, hear it as the last of the snow melts on the roof and trickles down the downspouts. It is Spring.  But just pointing out these little signs of the slowly arriving Spring may not be enough to soothe the winter weary

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-47701144609787885882010-02-27T12:52:00.004-05:002010-02-27T13:12:02.885-05:00

An alert friend recently sent me information on the world’s largest rabbit, weighing 42 pounds. Another equally alert friend, replied to the email with “We are going to need bigger spoons”. With friends like those two... Remember when I used spoons to keep rabbits out of the green beans? I won’t say emphatically that spooning or forking the garden is what kept the rabbits out of the beans

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-5999607500605867002010-02-25T01:03:00.002-05:002010-02-25T07:53:36.128-05:00

Chase away your last lingering winter fears with a chance to win six packets of seeds from Nature’s Crossroads and a hand weeder/cultivator from Cobrahead! Though winter seems like it will never end, we know it will! And then it will be spring and we will all wish we had some seeds and a Cobrahead to do some planting of early crops like peas, lettuce, spinach, and radishes. I’ve got my seeds

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com95tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-14158141874082340152010-02-24T00:10:00.006-05:002010-02-24T00:14:15.273-05:00

I think I’m ready to meet with the garden designer now. I've thought it all through and now I know what I want in a garden design. I want a garden that leads you along from one section to another with good transitions, personal touches and lots of plants. I’ve defined these five “wants” as the garden elements of Wanderability, Placeness, Well-Plotted, Gardimacy, and Hortiful. What else could

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-61074917079842916852010-02-23T05:00:00.001-05:002010-02-23T05:00:02.129-05:00

Not for me are those minimalist gardens, with hardscapes occasionally punctuated with a plant or two. I want my gardens to be full of plants. I want to be able to walk amongst the flowers in my garden and find bouquets of blooms ready to be cut. I want to go out to the vegetable garden and find enough fresh produce to make a summer evening’s supper. I want to walk down the path and be able

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-73641132810973219022010-02-22T06:00:00.001-05:002010-02-22T06:04:13.432-05:00

When I walk through a garden, I like to see the little details that give a hint of the gardener who tends that garden. In fact I love the little details that gardeners put into their gardens that show that they know their gardens intimately. These little touches may not even be noticeable to the casual observer, but they give the garden a more personal feel once you see them or they are pointed

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-1820702842583596642010-02-21T09:52:00.002-05:002010-02-21T17:10:34.440-05:00

A good mystery book, really any good book, takes you slowly through the plot, leaving clues throughout on how the book will end. At times you think you’ve got it all figured out and feel certain you know whodunit or how the story will end and then the author adds a little twist that you didn’t expect. When you reach the end of the book, you are sorry to read those last words because it was a “

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-41998017830681999492010-02-20T08:09:00.002-05:002010-02-20T12:00:48.889-05:00

“Where you going?’ as we like to say around here. Wandering around a garden following paths is fine to do, but eventually we want to get someplace in the garden. We want our gardens to have places to pause for a moment or two, destinations to arrive at, and focal points that we are drawn to. I call this element of garden design “placeness”, another word that I can’t quite find in the

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8488599.post-82373136432230103082010-02-19T00:05:00.002-05:002010-02-19T07:36:23.054-05:00

Did you ever walk into a garden and somehow you just knew where to wander? The placement of the planting beds, the lure of any focal points, even the way the birds flew, drew you into the garden. As you wandered through, you felt like the garden was gradually revealing itself to you, guiding you on where to walk. I call that element of garden design* “wanderability” or perhaps it is ‘

Carolhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796344366326535406noreply@blogger.com13