Category: Virtual Garden

I love to keep peony seed heads up until spring for extra winter interest! This Paeonia × suffruticosa has some cute curled tips.

Remember to spend some time each day just sitting and enjoying your garden.

The wild honey bees are the main reason that I don’t use pesticides in my valley. In the six years that I have lived here, the honey bee population has tripled. Without the bees, we have nothing.

I am new to the Madison area and a mama, a former teacher and CSA farmer. My advice: grow what you love and what you find delicious. Never stop learning; your garden is your ever-evolving experiment! I can’t wait to find my new “food-loving-flower-growing-foraging and preserving-season appreciating” people in this beautiful part of the state.

I enjoy supporting pollinators with native plants.

During the pandemic we tried growing Cleome (Spider Flower) from seed for the first time. What a unique and interesting flower and we love that it’s a flower that is pollinated by bats in its native habitat.

Surprise visitors in my garden always make me smile! I am always amazed at the beauty and peace found in my garden. Working outdoors everyday helps keep the body and mind in shape! Can’t wait for spring!

Observe and learn from others, especially on what grows well in your area. My goal for my gardens is to never have a week without something in bloom. It’s taken me 25+ years, but I have reached that goal over the last few years.

We are restoring a floodplain in northern Illinois by removing invasive plants and replacing with natives. My best advice is to have patience as it takes a few years for native seed to establish.

I had all these random flower seeds—tall sunflowers, cosmos, etc. I planted them in a row by my sweet corn. The bees and hummingbirds loved it!