I managed to make it back to the Raker Trial Gardens for an end of season visit. I always find it worthwhile to visit trial gardens early in the season and later, to evaluate season-long performance. Here is a brief summary of the most notable perennials in the trials. Kudos to the Raker staff for yet another successful trial season. Continue reading
Category Archives: Pictures
Drought Tolerant Perennials
I’ve long been interested in drought-tolerant, low-maintenance perennial species. They are ideal for landscaping and naturalizing, creating attractive, multi-functional (with proper species choice) ornamental gardens.
Rose Chafer
It was another bad year for rose chafer (Macrodactylus subspinosus, Scarabaeidae) in northwestern Michigan. Continue reading
Raker Trial Gardens
Gallery
This gallery contains 40 photos.
I managed a very brief stop at the Raker Trial Gardens at the start of their officially opening, braving the heat wave to photograph perennials. Things are looking great in the gardens, and I wish I’d had more time to … Continue reading
More Butterfly Garden Pictures
Gallery
This gallery contains 13 photos.
I’m a big proponent of butterfly gardening, and my sister asked to see more butterfly photos, so here is a set of pictures of butterflies from the last couple years. Plant geek that I am, I don’t just try to … Continue reading
2014 New Variety Time!
2014? But 2012 isn’t even over…
While home gardeners ponder their seed orders for 2013 (I’ve been reviewing the new Johnny’s and SSE catalogs, and was happy to pick up the High Mowing catalog at the EXPO trade show), the wholesale horticulture world is getting presentations on new varieties being introduced for the 2014 season. The industry gets advance notice to evaluate and trial varieties before they reach the market and to get programs finalized and catalogs printed in time for the 2014 sales season. Continue reading
Butterfly Pics
Since my photo library is mostly recovered (if not fully reconstructed), I thought I’d share a few butterfly pictures from last August. Continue reading