Gardening « Oh What A Beautiful Garden

Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day – Best Blooms EVER On Thornless Rose

By Carol Cichorski, on June 15th, 2013%

Photo by Kevin Penczak

Zephirine Drouhin has never looked better. She is blooming with wild abandon on my Chicagoland garden gate. Zeffy, as she is affectionately known at Antique Rose Emporium, is officially a zone 6 rose. I’m zone 5 and I needed a thornless rose on my garden gate. Call me silly, but . . . → Read More: Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day – Best Blooms EVER On Thornless Rose

Zone 5 – Favorites On The 5th – Open Days Program

By Carol Cichorski, on June 5th, 2013%

Bill Kurtis drove me around his garden on a golf cart. Boy was I surprised. I figured the kind person offering to chauffeur us around Bill Kurtis’s garden was one of the workers. Actually, it was one of the workers – the one who just happened to be Bill Kurtis himself.

That moment was just . . . → Read More: Zone 5 – Favorites On The 5th – Open Days Program

Gardening Imagined vs. Gardening Reality

By Carol Cichorski, on May 30th, 2013%

From the Garden of Faith, Hope & Love FB page

There is a picture deep in our minds of what a gardener looks like, and the enchanting time they spend enjoying their garden. The image is serene and peaceful. Perhaps something like this one, complete with a graceful young lady gathering roses, clad in . . . → Read More: Gardening Imagined vs. Gardening Reality

Wally’s Tremendous (Organic) Tomato Tips

By Carol Cichorski, on May 22nd, 2013%

I knew I was doing something wrong with my tomatoes. Big bushy plants, very few tomatoes. I even know the main problem – me! I put the plants in the ground and pretty much ignore them. I did make progress last year. At least my tomatoes got some serious support from these old fence pieces. . . . → Read More: Wally’s Tremendous (Organic) Tomato Tips

Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day – Share Those Lilac Blooms

By Carol Cichorski, on May 15th, 2013%

You may find this hard to believe, but only 37% of the folks in Chicagoland have a flower garden. Of that 37%, only 13% have lilacs. Of those 13%, only 7% cut the flowers to make bouquets.

Ok, so I made up the statistics, but the principal is true – not everyone has . . . → Read More: Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day – Share Those Lilac Blooms

Zone 5 – Favorites On The 5th – This Is What Creativity Looks Like In Sweden

By Carol Cichorski, on May 5th, 2013%

How can it be time for Favorites on the Fifth again? Can today really be the 5th? Can it really be May? Doesn’t the world know I’m busy tagging, sorting, inventorying, and selling dahlias and can’t spend time at my computer? Is Erik Johansson really flattened onto the ironing board you see below? Ok, now . . . → Read More: Zone 5 – Favorites On The 5th – This Is What Creativity Looks Like In Sweden

Dahlia and Plant Sales

By Carol Cichorski, on April 24th, 2013%

Believe it or not, spring is coming. And so are plant sales! Our dahlias are hardening off outside, with some 400 of them going to various sales. Another 100 will be planted in our garden.

You might ask why — why the obsession with dahlias? That question is easy to answer with . . . → Read More: Dahlia and Plant Sales

Its So Sad When A Tree Has To Go

By Carol Cichorski, on April 22nd, 2013%

Mike and I knew that we’d eventually have to get some of the wild mulberry trees cut down. They were among the trees that line the back of our yard; at least they were till about a week ago. Now three of them are gone. There were others that could have gone too, but my . . . → Read More: Its So Sad When A Tree Has To Go

Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day – Buckets Of Bulbs Planted In December Are Blooming

By Carol Cichorski, on April 15th, 2013%

Morning snow flurries are not enough to stop an afternoon gardener. After all, it is April and I am itching to get outside. I need to see what is trying to bloom for Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day. I need to finish getting those grasses cut down. I need to plant the Pansies. I need. I . . . → Read More: Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day – Buckets Of Bulbs Planted In December Are Blooming

Zone 5 – Favorites On The 5th – Top 10 Takeaways From The Chicago Flower And Garden Show

By Carol Cichorski, on April 5th, 2013%

Session after session after session after session. As the On-Site Seminar Manager for the Chicago Flower and Garden show, you’ve got to figure I have some takeaways to share. No, not leftover plants from the displays (darn). For this month’s Favorites on the Fifth, I’ll share my list of favorite informational takeaways from the show.

Oh What A Beautiful Garden – Chicagoland