~*Can't Believe I've Been Gone So Long*~

I honestly can't believe that it's been so long since I last posted. Time sure flies!!! Thank you all for continuing to stop by for visits and for your wonderful comments...I really appreciate all of you!

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I thought I'd share some pictures from my daughter Emily's 16th birthday party. She wanted to go with a pink and green theme since that's her favorite colors. I found small boxes at Wal-mart (Wedding section). My friend, Beth, and her daughter came over and spent an afternoon spiffying up these little favors. We filled them with pink and green M & M's. When Emily was little she called them Emmy M's.

We held her party at Foggy Mountain Lodge

Her caked was baked by Jim from Dainty Pastry Shoppe

Here's the birthday girl!

Emily dancing with her daddy!

Opening some presents.

Standing proudly by her new car.

Watch out world...here she comes! She just got her permit several weeks ago so, we've been spending our afternoons driving.

Thank you all for stopping by...I really appreciate!

♥ Kim

Progress in the Vegetable Garden

If you have been following this blog you will know we've been busy establishing our new square foot garden. Pictures of our square foot garden at our previous house can be found here and throughout the archives up to late June 2007 when we moved here. This garden has been 2 years in the making as we focused on clearing out a lot of overgrowth. The planned design is 4 - 4' x 10' raised beds and

Build a Bear Winner

Here are your random numbers:54Timestamp: 2009-06-29 20:57:32 UTC The winner is Her5Boys and she actually did a lot of those bonus entries, which helped ensure her spot. Take a look at these: My 7 yr. old son really wants the Brown Sugar Puppy and he wants to dress him in a Laker's Uniform!# posted by her5boys : 10:06 AM I follow you on Twitter!http://twitter.com/her5boys480# posted by her5boys :

Guarding the Phlox

Deer eat phlox and rabbits eat phlox. However, I'm determined to grow my favorite perennial phlox paniculata varieties for summer blooms.

To keep the deer away, I grow all of the garden phlox inside the cottage garden fence. The rabbits fit under the fence. Since planting a few new varieties this year, I've had to spray an organic repellent on the tender young phlox.

The tall garden phlox that I grow:

unknown	warm salmon pink; 2-4 feet; zones 4-8
Robert Poore	deep pink; 2-4 feet; zones 4-8
David	white; 2-4 feet; zones 4-8
Nicky	rich purple; 3-4 feet; zones 4-8

Since the salmon pink doesn't work well with the deep pink that I favor, this phlox is mixed with the blue flowers of hardy geranium 'Brookside' and platycoden. At her feet, is heliotropium amplexicaule 'Azure Skies' a perennial ground cover with blue-lavender blooms. This year, some of the blooms appearing from this plant have reverted to a deep pink-purple. I'm going to mark these stems with floral tape so that I can divide and move them this fall.

Phlox 'Robert Poore' is an outstanding performer that bloomed from late June until early autumn last year. The deep lavender blooms work well with purple foliage plants such as heuchera 'Palace Purple'. I also use a mass planting of 'Robert' in front of the stone chimney behind a semi-circle of Indian Hawthorne evergreen shrubs.

This spring, I added phlox 'David' beside the Knock Out® Roses 'Radrazz'. The rabbits found the new, tender perennial and ate the top off. That's when I started spraying the phlox with I MUST GARDEN Rabbit Repellent every two weeks. The white phlox is shorter due to the pruning and has just started to bloom. I have also planted geranium 'Rozanne', annual ageratum and petunias in purple at the feet of the 'David' phlox. The geranium has to be protected from rabbits, too.

Another new addition is phlox 'Nicky' that is a very rich, deep purple. This was an impulse buy, so 'Nicky' is currently being tried out with the yellow border as it advances into the hot summer. However, I think 'Nicky' is a bit too red for the yellow border, so I will transplant the six young plants to the large cottage garden bed that includes purple coneflowers, raspberry monarda, purple agastache, salvia guarantica and salvia greggii.

Phlox grows in full sun and should be watered regularly at the base of the plant and needs good air circulation to prevent powdery mildew. Phlox provides huge blooms for the summer garden and attracts bees and butterflies. With so many colors to choose from, it's a great perennial for the garden!


Story and photos by Freda Cameron

Growing Moss on Garden Pots

I've already written about my love for repurposing objects like bowls, pots and pans as plant containers. One way to integrate these finds into the garden is to encourage a natural layer of moss to grow on them. This always works best where you have a shady spot to keep the pot once it's sporting a nice mossy finish.Recipe for Adding Moss to Pots1/2 cup of garden moss (This acts like a seed

Can You Have Too Many Flowers?

I was planting yet another wheelbarrow full of flowers. I do that a lot. A person passing by drove down the long driveway to chat with me. She jumped out of her car and exclaimed... you have too many flowers!

What went through my head, although I didn't say it out loud was... Really? Isn't that like saying that the sky is too blue?

And so it goes with those of us who dare to garden out front, in the open for all to see!

We live on 4.5 acres of land in a rural setting. Still, we are in a neighborhood and have to abide by covenants. If I could plant it up, the two acre grass meadow out front would also be filled with flowers. But, the grass must remain and it must be kept mowed per our rules.

The south-facing exposure of the front is great for full sun flowers, but during the summer and times of drought, it can be a harsh environment.

We have no backyard space for gardening. Our wooded area of 2.5 acres comes right up to our back deck. We built the house in 2005, so all the garden areas are young. There's still much tweaking to be done.

Sharing land with wildlife is part of the gardening equation. I've learned to garden with the deer. Everything outside our cottage garden fence has to be deer resistant. There's too much garden to use repellents, so I select accordingly.

I keep the birds and butterflies in mind, too. With both a NWF Backyard Habitat and a Monarch Waystation certification, all of the gardens include nectar, host and habitat plantings.

In addition to the front gardens, the butterfly garden wraps around the east side of the house. There is also a waterfall garden with a patio, as well as a fragrance garden with a dining patio, on the east side. Nothing has been done on the west side of the house, other than a few shrubs and perennials to soften the guest parking area. A dry stream garden was also built there to manage the runoff from the meadow and downspouts.

Inside the cottage garden fence, I grow full sun plants that I love, without concern for the deer. However, I've come to prefer the deer resistant perennials of agastache, salvia and monarda. I recently pulled out shrubs and added a mass planting of those right in front of our porch.

Too many flowers? After the spring and early summer rush of weeding, planting and gardening, I start to feel like I have too many flowers for one person to manage. But, as for how it looks... I still have a very long wish list of more flowers for the front gardens!



Story and photos by Freda Cameron for Gardening Gone Wild Design Workshop; June 2009

Herbed Tilapia Recipe

This is a fast and easy summer dish. If you'd prefer, you can cook it on the grill instead of in the oven; just coat the fish with a little olive oil and butter, and clean/oil the grill.Baked Tilapia Ingredients6 Tilapia fillets1 tablespoon paprika1 tablespoon dried marjoram1/4 teaspoon red pepperJuice of 1/2 limeSaltBlack pepper2 tablespoon fresh chopped chivesFish Cold Sauce Ingredients1/3 cup

Time to get our drink on!

And what better way than with the very British "Pimms Cup".


The anglophile in me would naturally glom onto this summer staple of the highbrow set. Wimbledon proudly sells 80,000 half-pints each year. What is it you ask? Well really only three, yes three, people truly know. A well-kept secret since 1859. What we do know is that it is gin based, the Pimms No. 1, that is. Do not bother with #2, #3.................THIS IS THE FAVORED.



So, back to Eddie Ross ( notice how i keep bringing that up :-)

When we found out Eddie and Jaithan were coming to the shop I read that Eddie liked Pimms, in luck, my speciality! And many calls later asking for the recipe, here it is;




Per glass;

1 jigger Pimms No. 1
1 jigger white rum
ice
lemon soda, typically not found in the US, do not substitute ginger ale. Target sells lemon soda

and fruit, lots of fruit; cucumber spear (a must)
strawberries
orange
lemon
garnish with mint.

But..................

I prefer to make it in giant pitchers. Add to taste the ingredients, let the fruit sit for an hour or two and pour.

have a summer cocktail party, invite and make new friends, cheers!

Weekend Thoughts

A few thoughts for this warm weekend.How to Treat Mosquito BitesMosquitoes are coming out in force around my house. To help reduce the irritation of a mosquito bite, rub any of these household, garden or medicine cabinet substances on the bite: aloe vera, baking soda, a piece of sliced onion, vinegar, salt, or witch hazel. I've heard that toothpaste and bleach work too.

Iris verna

Iris vernaPictured is the Iris verna growing in one of our gardens. Iris verna is a beautiful, delicate looking wildflower that is hardy throughout Canada and the United States. It blooms in early spring. This clump forming iris is well behaved in the garden. Deer It reaches a maximum height of 12 inches at maturity making it an ideal border plant or as a statement plant. Iris verna grows

Echinacea Sundown, Ya Better Take Care

The colorful coneflowers lure us in with their beauty. In the past few years, there have been so many new (and patented) coneflowers appearing in the garden shops.

Two years ago, I planted several of the new designer colors. Echinacea 'Sundown' from the Big Sky™ Series was the only one with a 100 percent survival rate. Last year, there was a problem with gray mold, so I was glad to see all of the plants returned this spring.

I pay close attention to the care of these survivors to make sure there are no problems. This year's display is quite impressive as the clumps have had time to mature. As with my other coneflowers, this one is also quite photogenic!



The orange of 'Sundown' has been an easy color to use in my butterfly garden. The two mass plantings are squeezed between the yellow blooms of a hypericum (St. John's Wort), the green and white foliage of miscanthus 'Cosmopolitan', the blue-purple blooms of a vitex, the orange-red blooms of crocosmia and the pink-orange blooms of agastache 'Salmon & Pink'.

I've not had a problem with rabbits trying to nibble these at all, but I think it is only because they prefer to nibble the nearby rudbeckia! Deer haven't bothered any of my coneflowers this year, but there is always the possibility that they will sample the first buds.

If you are interested in growing this coneflower, it is rated for zones 4-9 and needs well-drained soil and full sun. The bees, butterflies and birds love coneflowers, no matter which color you grow.

I deadhead my coneflowers through the summer for repeat blooms, but the final flowers are left on the stems in the fall to provide seed for the Goldfinches.


Story and photos by Freda Cameron; Location: Home Garden; June 2009

Lime Balm Tea Recipe

Lime Balm makes a light refreshing tea that will settle your stomach and help you relax. With its natural lime aroma, it's tasty both hot and cold. Although you can find dried lemon balm at your local health food outlet, you might have to get your garden implements out and grow a supply of lime balm yourself. Don't worry. It's easy to grow both indoors and out, and it can be used in tea either

How to Grow Lime Balm

Lime balm (Melissa officinalis ''lime") is a perennial herb that shares many characteristics with its cousin lemon balm. It is as easy to grow but has a distinct limey fragrance.Growing Lime Balm in the GardenLime balm is a half-hardy perennial that can add the aroma of lime to your dishes without the citrus. It likes dappled light and moist, fertile soil. Like its cousin, mint, lime balm can

Midweek Thoughts

For a wonderful photo of St. Johns Wort, visit Earth and Tree. Hedgewitch has a delightful blog and makes clay jewelry too. Her clay impressions of herb leaves are stunning little gems. I own one myself.If you love to eat what you grow, head over to How Stuff Works.com and read their article about edible landscaping. If you've ever resented the amount of space your lawn takes up, this article

Wordless Wednesday: Loves Yogurt

This picture was inspired by a product review and giveaway coming up in my next post. My son absolutely LOVES Yoyo Baby and walks around saying "yo-yo baa-by." Happy Wordless Wednesday!

Crocosmia Combinations?

Gardeners often receive a passalong plant from another gardener. Gardeners in zones 6-9 may be given crocosmia. Most likely it will be the red 'Lucifer' that is so commonly grown. There are many other interesting colors of crocosmia in shades of yellow, gold, orange and red that I'd like to try in the future.

In my butterfly garden, there are two clumps of crocosmia. I planted orange crocosmia (which is looking more like the red this year) with orange coneflowers. My idea was to pair up the crocosmia bloom with the deep orange cone of the coneflowers between the blue-purple blooms of the vitex and the green and white foliage of miscanthus 'Cosmopolitan'. This crocosmia is so enveloped that it cannot be reached by the deer.

I also have a large clump of 'Lucifer' that was given to me by a friend. Right now, 'Lucifer' is standing quite alone at the top edge of the butterfly garden. The butterfly garden has to be deer resistant. So far, the deer have walked right past the crocosmia, so I'm ready to think about companions for him.

This is a hot, dry site that receives about eight hours of sun here in my zone 7 garden. It takes a tough plant to grow at the edge of the butterfly garden and meadow. Other plantings up there that are in progress include yarrow, verbena bonariensis and nepeta.

Crocosmia is loved by hummingbirds. Yesterday, I was weeding between the two clumps of crocosmia. A female hummingbird perched on the orange one, while a male hummingbird sipped from 'Lucifer'. I want to keep the hummingbirds and butterflies in mind when I give 'Lucifer' some companions.

I will need to dig up the crocosmia next spring as the corms grow right on top of each other, forcing the plant out of the ground. This is one drawback about this perennial and one reason why 'Lucifer' still has no close companions. I have to decide how much space to give 'Lucifer'. Should I have a huge, mass planting? Or, shall I divide it and place it in several strategic places?

There's a garden inspiration that I've seen in a photo of the summer garden (photo #4) on the Bressingham website. Crocosmia is planted with steel blue sea holly (erynigum) and helenium. I do believe deer will eat both the erynigum and helenium.

I have echinops 'Ritro' in my garden that would work for the blue. However, it is nowhere near blooming right now while the crocosmia is in full bloom. I could substitute rudbeckia 'Goldsturm' for the helenium, but the rabbits eat that. It isn't blooming, yet either. Timing is everything with companions!

So, gardening friends - if you grow crocosmia 'Lucifer' what companions are you using? Even if you don't have this crocosmia, do you have any combination ideas?


Story and photos by Freda Cameron; Location: home garden; June 2009

Make Organic Herbal Shampoo

Making your own organic herbal shampoo is simple and inexpensive. Best of all, you can tailor it to meet your own needs and tastes.Organic Herbal Shampoo RecipeTwo cups of distilled water1 1/2 tsp. Soapwort root*30 drops of essential oilDecorative bottleDirections for Organic Herbal ShampooBring water to a boilAdd soapwort root, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.Remove from heat and cool for

Tuesday Toot MeMe

Earlier this week I decided to go back to my all positive posts and no negative. Pretty much that'll be easy but after looking at Toot MeMe and reading all those other entries I think looking at even the smallest things for accomplishments can improve one's image or thoughts. We all know that we attract what we put out there so there is no way I want to attract those awful things. So I need to

Make Lemon Furniture Polish

Smarten up your kitchen cabinets or wood furniture with baby oil. Just wipe it on, leave it for a few minutes, and then wipe off the residue. Make it part of a maintenance program by prepping your cabinets with a wood cleaning product like Murphy's Oil Soap first.

Because I'm a dedicated herber, I make my own polish using a cup of baby oil and lemon balm, lemon verbena, or lemon eucalyptus.

Ruby Tuesday: The Red Sleeper

I'm new to Ruby Tuesday, I've only posted one other time. Here's my Ruby Red post. Oh look at the two of them. As you can see, it was still a bit nippy in the air so Little A was constantly in sleepers but this was such a great shot of him and his sister, BabyGirl running around and playing soccer. Remember those sleepers? Oh the days when we were younger and could get away with wearing them all

Blooms from Seed Swap Plants

Not only did I get free seeds, but my seed-swapping friends planted the seeds for me! They are so considerate, don't you think? My friends were very careful and chose the best companion plants and color combinations when sowing their seeds.

My seed-swapping friends are birds! All winter long, we fed the birds plenty of seeds. They gave me some interesting flower seeds in return for the food. I don't think some of the seeds came from the bird food that we supplied. I think some of these seeds came from other gardens.

Maybe this yellow lily came all the way from Jamie and Randy's garden! They received a sunflower gift from the birds and THEY grow Oriental lilies in their gardens! Perhaps their Goldfinches brought the lily to my garden?

The birds planted the lily with the deep purple salvia nemorosa 'Marcus' and gold/burgundy blanket flower, creating a nice little grouping in the butterfly garden. There is also a purple coneflower in that mix of free seeds. Since I grow the salvia, blanket flower and coneflower, then I suppose my flowers could have reseeded. However, there's no way that the yellow lily came from my garden.



There are also two perfect yellow, short sunflowers. The plants have very similar flowers with a height around 30 inches. I have no experience with sunflowers, so I have no idea how to find these seeds - other than buying sunflower bird food! I like these so much that I'd love to have a mass planting to brighten up the color in the butterfly garden.

One sunflower showed up in the cottage garden between the color-coordinated pale yellow shasta daisies and yellow coneflowers. The other showed up in the butterfly garden with agastache 'Blue Fortune'.

Not only did I receive some interesting plants in the seed swap, my feathered gardening friends were gracious enough to sow the seeds in good locations!



Story and photos by Freda Cameron; Location: home garden; June 2009

Smucker's Has New Toppings

It's an ice cream type of day here in Missouri. Why? Oh ummm, because the weather is 92-101 and we deserve a cooling off. So what better way to cool down? Have an ice cream party. Thankfully Smucker's recently sent us a few of their delicious products. We got the Smucker’s® Apple Cinnamon, Smucker’s Special Recipe® Dark Chocolate, and Smucker’s Magic Shell® Vanilla Cupcake and I went and got

Strength in Numbers

"In union there is strength"
Aesop


This year, 2009, is my 20th year in business. The learning curve was, and still is, huge. The rewards beyond measure. My company is my only child, my heart and soul. Gratitude is an enormous component, via my business I have made countless friends, lost a few, shared our lives and grown together. My blessings are counted daily.

And again, together, we will tough out the economy. Old patterns will be modified, I will learn to shift gears, you may see changes but that is the cycle of life. By and large I am happy to say we are "still in the game", thanks to you. But do I ever worry, absolutely, we all do.

A recently discovered organization has grabbed my attention, full on strength. Read below;


learn more here (or to read without a magnifying glass)


Together, those of us that can, have a responsibility to actively support our favorites. My three businesses are;

Town House Books and Cafe in St. Charles, Illinois. Here






Sandra Webster clothing in Geneva, Illinois. Here




Moveable Feast in Geneva, Illinois. Here

Random Picture Weekend

It is the close of the weekend with it being 10:21pm on Father's Day and I thought I'd do a bit of catching up on all the things we've been doing. We had a bit of fun in the pool over the last few days, then we tried moving the pool to a different location because it kept becoming lower and not by splashing.First lesson- a pool stinks very badly when it is moved after sitting in one location for

The Summer Solstice and Other Sundry Sunday Fare

I hope you enjoyed this morning's Summer Solstice. It was early, so the possums probably beat you to it! Today will be the longest day and shortest night of the year. If you live in the Southern Hemisphere, this is the Winter Solstice, an interesting factoid associated with living on a sphere.If you enjoy camping, take a look at this humorous piece at the National Parks Traveler site about naked

Plant Your Own Saffron Spice

Growing your own saffron (Crocus Sativus) is easier than you think and can add some spicy and refined taste to your dishes. Pound for pound, saffron is the most expensive spice in the world.Don't confuse it with Indian saffron, an inexpensive substitute, the red threads and distinctive yellow saffron flavoring you can extract from them is a subtle and unique flavor that you'll develop a taste

He's Home & I Drove to the Airport

Okay ya'll are probably wondering about that title right? Well for those that know me know I do NOT drive. Okay, I got my license at age 26 and we lived on a base, speed limit is what 25mph on a base? We then moved to Camp Lejeune, NC (jacksonville) and I barely ever left the base, so once again only around 25mph and sometimes 45 when off-base. Like I said, that was rare.We moved out to Misery,

Organic Gardening

Organic Farming and Compostingcartoon courtesy of SeppoHappy Gardening!Garden Gnome©2006-2009

Captivating Coneflower

My new photogenic garden favorite is echinacea purpurea 'Prairie Splendor'. I used my Canon SX10 IS for all photos.

Build a Bear Gift Card Giveaway

Build-a-Bear sent us this adorable puppy and Endless Summer of Hugs beach towel, which he's sitting on in the picture. They also sent us a $25 Gift Card to Build-a-Bear that one lucky reader is going to get. This little guy hit the stores on June 12th (my brother's birthday). The beach towel has already been poolside, but not to worry puppy stayed in the coolness of the house.Isn't this puppy

New Raised Beds Layout

Over the past weekend we worked on two new raised garden beds (more here). The beds are being created while we are continuing to rip out existing vegetation so the new beds were not planned using Garden Manager software mainly because the beds were going in late spring. I would have to reboot in Windows as well since this software is not Mac compatible. I've been using the combined with

What is Distilled Water?

Distilled water is water that has been evaporated and then cooled back to a liquid. During the process of transforming into a gas, chemicals and microorganisms are left behind and the final product is clean and pure. Distilled water typically has a neutral pH (7.0) because most solids in water are heavier than a water molecule and won't piggyback onto the vapor.In herbal recipes, distilled

How to Fry Zucchini Blossoms

For a taste of the subtle pleasures of a spring garden, try fried zucchini blossoms. You won't find these in the grocery store. They're a special reward for the vegetable gardener. So enjoy one of those unique payoffs for all your hard work.

Fried Zucchini Flower Recipe

6 Zucchini blossoms
1/2 C flour
Pinch Salt
Pinch Pepper
1/4 C Olive oil
2 Pats butter
1 Egg
1 Tbsp Water

Directions for

On the Sunny Side

The most challenging flower bed in my garden has a full sun problem. All day long. From sunrise to sunset, year-round, this narrow strip in the cottage garden is in full sun without relief unless it's cloudy or rainy.

This narrow strip squeezes between a gravel path and the stream in the cottage garden. I wanted a succession of blooms here since this is our "front yard" so to speak. In early spring, the edging of cottage pinks is pale pink. During the rest of the year, the dianthus provides soft edging along the gravel path to keep this area from looking too bare during the winter months.

Achillea 'King Edward (zones 3-8) is a low-growing pale yellow ground hugger that blooms in early spring. The six-inch high yarrow is a filler until the daylilies crank up. Edward doesn't like humidity, so he'll be cut back to hide during the summer.

As summer begins, the yellow and white blooms of a random mix of 'Happy Returns' and 'Joan Senior' daylilies take over. Happy blooms before Joan. Both are reblooming varieties and dependable choices.

I grouped three leucanthemum 'Broadway Lights™' at one end. As those shasta daisy clumps mature and need dividing, they will be interspersed among the daylilies. This shasta starts out a pale yellow and eventually becomes white in full sun, so there can be a mix of subtle color differences on the same plant.

An orphaned echinacea 'Harvest Moon' from a group of non-survivors in the outer gardens is planted with the leucanthemum. This lone survivor is glorious right now. I do hope it continues to flourish. (Note: This plant was labeled 'Harvest Moon' but I've seen photos on the web that show a pale orange flower instead of yellow.)

This spring, I added several groups of gaillardia 'Golden Goblin' here and there for the long, hot days of summer. The plants are small seedlings and haven't yet bloomed. I've tried gaillardia labeled "yellow" before - and, they were burgundy and gold. I hope these will bloom as labeled!

As summer heats up, the flower bed will be cooled down a bit with a mix of purple blooms. Zinnias, angelonia, gaillardia 'Grape Sensation' and phlox 'Nicky' are randomly interspersed between the earlier perennials. These are all new additions this year to fill gaps in the border.

Why did I use yellow as the predominant color? There's another angle to this bed.

Looking across the yellow border and the stream, it is backed by the cottage garden mix of magenta, purple and blue. This backdrop of deeper bloom colors gives the narrow yellow border an illusion of depth.



Story and photos by Freda Cameron; Location: Home Garden; April-June 2009

Dealing with the Unexpected in Gardening

Gardening is one of those activities that come with a lot of risk. You plant your seeds and seedlings then with a bit of tending you hope for the best. Many a gardener has woke to find their carefully planted garden destroyed by hungry rabbits or deer. Gardens are often raided by marauding four legged and two legged thieves. As if that is bad enough the gardener is faced with adverse weather

First of the New Square Foot Gardening Beds

New SFG BedsJune 16, 2009Little did we know when we moved here 2 years ago we would be spending a good portion of our gardening time ripping out vegetation overgrowth. Our property had been over planted in a willy nilly fashion without regards as to growing conditions in certain parts or how the plants would mature or what problems some plants would create. It was so over grown we could not see

Wordless Wednesday: My Office

I moved my office from upstairs to downstairs and have lined my wall in the basements with nothing but books and plants. What do you think? Now I can see everything the kids are doing and when they are playing outside. Happy WW!

Sedum Tips: Gardening in a Pinch

How do I keep the fall-blooming sedum in my garden from splaying open?

That was my question on a gardening forum. The answer was, of course, to pinch back the tips anytime in late May through July 4. That wasn't all the advice that I received from Carrie, another North Carolina gardener. Carrie suggested that I take the tips and just stick them in the soil to make new plants.

I posed the question about sedum maintenance as I had not grown the large-leaved sedum long enough to have experience - because the deer eat them! You wouldn't think a sedum would be on the deer menu, but they sure ate the 'Autumn Joy' that I tried a few years ago.

In September 2008, I planted three fall-blooming sedum in the protected and fenced cottage garden. I purchased 'Bekka', 'Green Expectations' and 'Purple Emperor' (top photo) from a local nursery where I could see the bloom colors to make sure they coordinated with my magenta, purple and blue color scheme.

I've used this "pinch and plant" method with delosperma cooperii (ice plant) quite successfully. It works especially well when the soil is wet from rain.

To be able to expand my sedum population with just routine maintenance pinching is great. Sedum can be quite expensive, so this is also an economical way to expand the garden.


Using my smallest hand pruners, I carefully cut off the full tips of the sedum. Most of the tips were 4-5 inches in length. I trimmed off the lower leaves to create enough stalk to plant the tip. After a few weeks of keeping the soil slightly moist, all of the tips are now firmly rooted as new plants.

I had almost too many tips to find space! When I started pruning off the tips, I hadn't stopped to think about how many new plants I would have. Making a quick decision, I planted the tips along the stepping stone and gravel paths in the cottage garden. I tried to mix them in with other edging plants, rather than creating a row of edging. I think the plants will be easy enough to move when I need to do some rearranging.

The "mother" plants look great as the tips are growing back quite nicely. I will have pretty, mounded plants for my fall blooms without any splaying.

With so many free plants, I may even try to grow a few sedum outside the fence again - in deer territory!




Story and photos by Freda Cameron; Location: Home Garden; June 2009

How To Make Rose Wine

Making your own rose wine can be a hoot. It takes a while, but like making beer, especially if you like to experiment with the recipe like I do, you never know quite what you're going to end up with.The nice thing about rose and dandelion wines, as well as other seasonal wines and liqueurs, is that they distill a season. In winter, when you're shivering your way to the mailbox, you can think

Top 10 Family Friendly Restaurants

Parents Magazine recently did a survey asking what readers thought the friendliest family restaurants were and here's the list:#1 Cosi#2 Jason’s Deli#3 Noodles & Company#4 Fazoli’s#5 Panera Bread·#6 Zpizza#7 Atlanta Bread#8 Corner Bakery Café#9 Taco Del Mar#10 McAlister’s DeliEach restaurant answered a 25-question survey and submitted nutritional information for all of the items on their kids’

Echinacea and Monarda Pairing: Berry Red

Who doesn't like raspberries? The blooms on this monarda really do have that deep berry red color.

I'd like to claim the pairing of monarda 'Rasperry Wine' with purple coneflowers as my original design idea, but I can't. The combination came from a garden forum friend. I'm using a different variety of coneflower. The friend used echinacea purpurea 'Magnus' and I'm using 'Prairie Splendor' in my cottage garden.

This is the first year of bloom for these perennials. Not a bad showing at all!

The monarda is slightly taller (48" instead of 30") than I expected, but we've had a lot of rain so far this year. A White Flower Farm introduction, Monarda 'Raspberry Wine' is suitable for zones 4-9 and can spread rapidly in southern gardens like mine. I planted three in the outer gardens and one in the cottage garden last fall and every single plant is now a mass planting. I think this is a good thing as they are easy to pull up and/or move. I prefer to move them in the fall, but the monarda can be divided and moved in the spring, too.


Echinacea purpurea 'Prairie Splendor' was a Fleuroselect 2007 Gold Medal winner. While it is also supposed to be short (around 22" high), mine are taller after a lot of rain and full sun. This coneflower is rated for zones 3-9. This perennial is supposed to bloom the first year with a long bloom season. I'll provide an update on the bloom time later in the summer.

Our garden inspirations often come from each other's plant combinations. Garden forums and blogs are filled with great design ideas!


Story and photos by Freda Cameron; Location: home cottage garden; June 2009