garden

drawing: royal raindrops crabapple tree

Year two in my yard for this tree. Last year this tree grew five branches straight up, at least a couple feet above the rest of the tree. Then, this year, those same long branches started putting out new growth from their tall ends, which made them all flop to the sides from the weight.…

drawing: big cis plum tree

When I bought this tree last fall I thought its leaves were sparse because they had already been dropping with the turning season. Turns out, nope. The tree was just unhappy enough in the nursery conditions that it only had a handful of leaves, and a number of bare branches. It is starting to settle…

the first green, 2021

I spotted my first green growth of the year yesterday. These chives were weak enough last year (their first year, grown from seed) that I wasn’t sure I’d really see them again. But here they are, bringing some early strong green to my garden.

dig a hole, fill it up

I chose this Big Cis plum tree to block the line of sight from across the street to my back patio because of its beautiful leaves and perfect size. Arborists can look down on red leaf plums because they are overplanted in some areas and they only live about 20 years, making them a short-term…

leaves turning

I love the color details on these autumn crabapple leaves.

paperbark maple

The record heat we had this summer was not kind to this young paperbark maple in its first year in my yard. It only has a handful of leaves, and most of them have suffered from sun scorch. I’m interested to see whether this tree ends up doing well. On one hand, USU’s Tree Browser…

the jury’s still out on growing raspberries

This is year two for these Double Gold everbearing raspberry bushes (ordered from Burpee). Year one started like this: My raspberries have been enough of a hassle to make me question my commitment to keeping them around. Right now, though, I am getting a tasty Fall harvest and I know I’ll try at least one…

blooms

Just in case the wait was killing you, too – here are the apricot blossoms.

the wait is killing me

I’ve been checking on these apricot blossoms just about every day for a couple weeks now. You can see the petals are starting to split just a little at the tips, so they really should open up any day now.

the first green

This was the first green I discovered in my garden this year. Picture taken February 26 after I raked a clump of leaves away from the base of this raspberry plant. What a beautiful surprise.

about my garden

I love designing and caring for my yard and garden. I love trees, I love shrubs, I love flowers, I love food. I even love the work. If you love gardening too, I hope you find something here for you. (I’m in zone 6.)

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abstract art acrylics adobe illustrator apricot art art school art show atlanta autumn canvas charcoal chives copy crabapple drawing fall figurative art floral flowers garden geometric glass art graphite hardboard herbs illustration ink iron chlorosis landscape mountains oil paints oil pastels painting pan pastels paper paperbark maple pastel pencil perennial plum raspberry slobodkin stained glass still life trees watercolor