Reblooming plants have become a real favorite for gardeners in recent years. But are they worth all the hype that the green industry puts upon them? As a nursery manager, I do sell quite a number of various reblooming plants, but do they do what they claim? Or should we be focused on succession planting instead. What is succession planting? Succession planting is planting that focuses on successive or continuing blooms of perennials and shrubs in a season. Such as having plants which bloom for a few weeks planted next to another plant which blooms after the the first is done, and so on. Person ..read more

Recently, a colleague asked me about plants for tidy gardening. But what is tidy gardening, and how does one achieve it? I have discussed many times my gardening ideals, which include diversity, and lots of plant materials. But I realize there are many homeowners, and some gardeners who prefer to have a tidy look, with spaces between plants and landscape spaces. It may not be my ideal, but for many, tidy gardening is the way to go. What is tidy gardening? It is gardening or plantings which do not mimic natural settings, but rather go against the flow of things. It includes plants which either ..read more

When fall finally arrives, it seems as if all the colors in the garden are playing me for a fool. I love the way the garden looks during spring and summer, with the many bright splashes of flower colors and all the greens! But October, wow. It seems as if an entire palette of mixed paints has spilled over into the garden, creating some many different hues and new colors that I cannot even begin to name. The greens are still around, though much subdued, and mainly in the lawn and among the evergreens. One would think it best to plant every moment of the spring and summer gardening just to creat ..read more

What is low maintenance landscaping? Every year, I hear about new and old clients who complain about their landscapes. “Its too much work to maintain.” “Do you do landscape maintenance?” And more. A lot of the problems associated with landscaping can be avoided by correct planning up front, to design a low maintenance landscape. But how? Low maintenance does not mean NO maintenance. It means knowing when and how to do the minimalist amount of work and yet still have a beautiful area. The biggest mistake I see when someone puts in a new landscape is that they forgot to take in the natural lands ..read more

Showy sedum is our September Plant of the Month for 2023. Also known as live forever, orpine, tall sedum, and butterfly stonecrop; it is one of the best late summer and fall perennials for pollinators. If you have not planted this perennial then you cannot imagine the amount of insects it attracts. Easy to grow and care for, showy sedum can live for decades and is often spread from neighbor to neighbor. A native of Korea and China, showy sedum is a member of the succulents. This means that in drought conditions, the plant holds moisture in the form of saps or juices within the leaves or stems ..read more

If you live in an urban setting, then attracting wildlife may not be the thing for you. But what does wildlife mean? To me, attracting wildlife mean providing homes for birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, arthropods, and other creatures to the garden. For some of you, it may only mean birds. For others, it might be birds, butterflies, and bees. All of these and more can come to the right setting, and even the wrong one. In landscapes across America, wildlife comes in uninvited, feeding on our plants, knocking into trash cans, and scaring or eating the family pets. Large predators such as bea ..read more

Do you know what your soil is? It is one the most fundamental building blocks to a healthy landscape. Or ecosystem. And we have a problem. Most gardeners, farmers, and landscapers know it is important, but they rarely know where to begin when it comes to building soil. Where do we begin? Since the beginning of 2022, I have started experimenting with different gardening techniques which limit soil disturbance. All because the way I was growing food was not working. Building soil takes time, but maybe not as long as any of us think. And if we can change our home gardening methods in regards to b ..read more

What is a rain garden? A rain garden is an area within the landscape that gets the majority of its moisture from rain. It may also get wet from a hose runoff or hillside springs. The rain garden can be a functional and beautiful part of the landscape. I have heard some people call their bog or wetland garden a rain garden, because it would fill up during heavy rain. The main purpose of a rain garden is to capture runoff before it can enter streams and then bigger bodies of water. Coming off a roof or concrete area, the water can contain heavy metals, pesticides, or other residues which the pla ..read more

The seven son tree is our September Plant of the Month for 2023. This is one of my all-time favorite trees. Ever since coming to Grimm’s Gardens in 2011, I have loved using and selling this tree. It is a great plant for a variety of locations, is drought tolerant and durable, and has 3 season interest. I hope you will come to love it as much as I do. Originally from China, it may not even exist in the wild anymore. It was brought over to the US in 1980 and promoted by the Arnold Arboretum. Its smaller size and adaptability has made is a valuable tree for many landscape in the Midwest, Great Pl ..read more

Cherries are one of the most rewarding fruits to grow, mainly because there is nothing else like them. I love almost all things with cherries: cherry pie, black cherry ice cream, cherry pepsi, fresh cherries off the tree. So I grow them in my landscape. One thing I always wanted to do was to plant 2 rows of cherry trees on either side of my driveway, for the flowers and the fruit. Unfortunately, when we bought our house, it was already surrounded by trees along the drive, and I could not plant cherry trees. Since then, however, I have planted several cherry trees around the house. Here in Nort ..read more