Lilies 2020 7.16.2020

Here are photos of the glorious lilies that bloomed in my garden this year.

starting seeds 3.21.2019

I started seeds this week. The last frost date where I live, in Madison, Wisconsin, is around the first week of May. So I have about 7 weeks until then to get my plant babies grown large enough to transplant into my garden outside. All the seeds I'm starting in advance are flowers. The red …

late-summer garden 9.27.2018

spring garden 5.24.2018

My garden is looking gorgeous this spring. Here are photos of just a few 😉 of the plants that I tend. Ferns: Ostrich (Matteuccia struthiopteris,) Maidenhair (Adiantum) and Japanese Painted (Athyrium niponicum) Barrenwort (Epimedium) - three types Forget-Me Not (Myosotis) Hosta and Lungwort (Pulmonaria) Columbine (Aquilegia) (Hybrids) Leaves of Peony and Japanese Red Maple (Acer …

late-summer garden 8.24.2017

The late-summer light brings on a change in feeling/emotion for me. Rather nostalgic, and in a good way. I always considered autumn my favorite time of year here in what we call the "midwest" of the United States. Perhaps it's because this year's weather has been unusually cool-- or perhaps it's the angle of the …

plant marker organization 8.10.2017

Last month I went on the annual local garden walk put on by one of Madison, Wisconsin's gems, Olbrich Botanical Gardens. At one of the gardens, the gardener had all of his plant markers piled on his backyard table in about 8 different piles. As I looked closer, I saw that each pile was held together …

spoon plant markers 5.18.2017

I don't like the white plastic plant markers that usually come with plants. I've also tried making my own plant markers out of old window blinds. Or wood popsicle sticks. They fade and break over time, and they're not aesthetically pleasing to my eye. I usually plant the plant in the ground and save the …

gardenista 6.18.2016

After the week-long ceramics workshop I attended a few weeks ago, I've visited Midwest Clay Project, the ceramics studio where I work, only a few times. May and June in Wisconsin means high gardening season for me, where weeds seem to grow faster then other plants.  Of course, "weeds" are in the eye of the …

Rachel as Gardener 5.20.2015

It's the middle of May, which means I'm completely immersed in gardening. I try to stop and it's hard to not pull another weed or plant another baby or water a dry friend. Since I haven't been creating much visual art, I like to think that in this slice of my delicious life pie, I …