I can’t wait! Spring is on its way and I’ve been invited to Garden2Blog 2013, hosted by award-winning garden designer and TV host P. Allen Smith.

I’m one of a couple of dozen lucky bloggers who’ll travel to Little Rock, Arkansas and visit the Moss Mountain Farm Garden. We’ll meet each other (really cool, since we’re coming from around the country and will have lots to share) and meet reps from the trade and garden industry.

G2B 2013 takes place on May 7 and 8. Start thinking about what you’d want me to find out about while I’m there, so I can tap into all the great gardening know-how!

Image: Shutterstock/Stephen Rees

Out of room—always my problem.

In my closets, in my kitchen cabinets, and now in my garden. We have a small house, but I’m running out of space in the yard, too, which means I’ve got to get creative if I want to add more sun-loving flowers and veggies this year.  So I’m going to think UP, and grow up with a vertical garden trellis like the one we featured here, on the Home Depot Garden Club site.

This is super easy. You just use a section of garden trellis and some S-hooks. Lean the trellis in a corner or other spot that will keep it from falling over, and pot up your plants in lightweight plastic pots. Slip the hooks under the rims, and hang as desired. You could do petunias, lantanas, or any kind of colorful flowers, or plant herbs to keep near your grill or the kitchen door. I’m thinking of trying strawberries.

Is your garden “upward bound” this year?

Easter comes early this year, and it has almost slipped up on me. I want to grow my own centerpiece, using an idea I saw once at Barnesly Gardens Resort in Adairsville, GA.  Talk about easy: this setting uses inexpensive burlap (some is left natural, and another length is dyed green) to hold an oval-shaped container sown with grass seeds.

Once the grass sprouted and grew a few inches tall, the table designer inserted handmade seed packets and a few small figures. You could make this more colorful by adding tiny Easter chicks, eggs, and bunnies, or by putting some pansy or daffodil blossoms into the scene.  On the left, you can see a short section of a log that’s been drilled to hold votive candles. I’d add some small garden hoes or trowels around the base of the arrangement for extra charm. If your grass gets too tall before the holiday, just mow it with scissors or garden shears.

You don’t have to spend a lot for a pretty Easter centerpiece–just start soon, so your miniature “lawn” will be ready to go!

I’ve been reading about Thomas Jefferson’s gardens at Monticello lately, and I’ll be writing about them for President’s Day for The Home Depot Garden Club. Now I’m itching to visit Monticello’s winding flower walks and 3-football-fields long kitchen garden. Jefferson was a passionate gardener and botanist who grew seeds and plants from around the world, and if you remember your high school history, explorers Lewis and Clark also sent him “exotic” plants from their travels during their Corps of Discovery Expedition in the early 1800s.

If you’re planning a spring trip, check out Historic Garden Week in Virginia. From April 20 – 27, 250 of Virginia’s most beautiful gardens will be open to the public for tours. Ticket prices vary, depending on which activities and tours you select, so see the website for more info. The only problem will be choosing which ones you want to see!

I ordered a cuppa while on a press trip to Rosemary Beach, Florida, and look at how they served it! It’s the little things, like a grin on top of the golden-brown foam (called creama, if you’re drinking espresso) in your breakfast brew that starts the day off right.

You can start this year’s garden off right, too, if you know a few tips. I’m going to try sweet peas again this spring, although I seldom have much luck with them, as our weather heats up so fast. (Okay–I’ll admit that I usually sow the seeds too late. This year, I’m resolving to do better, so they’ll have a fighting chance before our temperatures climb here in the Deep South.)

This year, I’m planting ‘Color Palette Cupid’ sweet peas, which are available from Renee’s Garden and seed sellers who carry her brand. These are said to be great for containers, as the little vines only grow 8-10″ long. The pastel flowers have a soft, sweet scent, and bloom in shades of pink, lavender, purple, and rose. I’ll keep you posted on how my sweet peas perform this year. Meanwhile, I’m headed back for another cup of joe. I’m not at the beach anymore, but I can make my own smiley face with a little chocolate syrup (as if I need an excuse for chocolate).

One of my favorite mail order sources is Renees Garden (disclaimer: Renee allowed me to use some of her images in my book, Gardening with Heirloom Seeds, but I’d loved her seed offerings long before, and still grow them).  I want to grow more cosmos this spring, like these:

Actually, these flowers didn’t come from Renee’s seeds. I shot the image as we were traveling down I-75 south, headed to Atlanta from a trip out of town. These cosmos are planted and maintained by the Georgia Dept. of Transportation. Even if you live elsewhere, you can visit their site for a list of flowers that grow along Georgia roadways and tips on how to grow them in your own garden. Thanks, Georgia DOT!

Here’s how the flowers look from the road, planted in one breathtaking sweep of pink, dotted with a few white blossoms. See the woman in the far right of the picture? She stopped her car in the emergency lane–something you’re not supposed to do–to make a few photos. Irresistible!

Many states have programs that allow them to plant wildflowers, including Texas, home of the beautiful blue bonnets. It’s a great alternative to planting grass that requires mowing, so we use less fuels that add to our air pollution and increase the noise level along our highways.

Speaking of which….a big carpet of cosmos, scattered around the yard, makes a great alternative to mowing your own grass, too. It’s easy to start their seeds indoors, about 4-6 weeks before the last frost, and transplant outdoors when the weather is reliably warm. These pretty annuals tolerate heat and drought,  aren’t fussy about soil, attract butterflies, and make good cut flowers. What’s not to love?

Merry Christmas from Miss Paws!

Miss Paws and Molly and I, along with The Boy and his dad, are home for Christmas, safely out of the rain and cold and hoping that travelers on the roads and in the skies will be safe this season, too.

We’re watching the weather, since the forecasters are already warning of possible tornadoes for the next couple of days. You can never tell, here in the southeast, when the clash of warm and cold fronts will stir up violent winds, a la The Wizard of Oz. Needless to say, we’re hoping for fair, calm skies (we don’t want Santa’s reindeer facing any harsh headwinds, after all).

Blessings to you and yours for the coming New Year!

A papileo amaryllis bulb-- commonly called the butterfly amaryllis.

I’d almost forgotten my order, placed weeks ago, for a single amaryllis bulb. I limited myself to only one, because the variety I wanted was pretty pricey–$18, plus shipping costs.

But I came home yesterday and found the cardboard box holding my new treasure sitting on my doorstep. That’s the bulb, pictured above. Doesn’t look like much, does it? Even to me, it hardly seems worth the same amount of money that would buy a nice dinner at a local restaurant.

Then I looked back at the website I’d ordered from, to remind myself what the bulb would look like when it flowered, and it made me catch my breath again. The directions that came with the bulb tell me to pot it up in a good quality potting soil; water it thoroughly just once, until growth begins: and to keep it in a warm, brightly lit room. In 2 or 3 months, I should see this:

By Jerry Richardson from Warsaw, Indiana, USA (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) via WikiCommons

Oooo….aaahh…are you taken by its beauty, too? You can buy amaryllis pre-potted, from nurseries and all sorts of garden centers, but the variety I’m growing is a rare type called Papileo, and it’s commonly known as the butterfly amaryllis. Its nickname comes from the way the flowers open, much like the wings of a butterfly in flight. I’ll post more pictures when it blooms, so you can see the details.

For now, I’m tucking my bulb into the soil and coaxing it back to life with sunshine and a warm spot in the room, and a big drink of fresh water. I can’t wait to watch it grow. Gardening really is all about faith, isn’t it? You commit something you value to the ground–or God, if you’re a person of faith–and do your best. But your biggest task is to simply stand back and wait, and let something bigger than you do its good work (mother nature, in this case).

I’m so eager to see it develop, just as I’m eager to develop my writing career and my blog. Please visit me again, and we’ll see what we can grow together.

XO

Lynn

Am I a gardener who blogs? A writer who gardens? A pet parent who posts? I need to find an identity!

Today I’ve started an e-course to help me polish my posts and become a better blogger. It’s called “Blogging Your Way,” and it’s offered by author and popular blogger Holly Decker, of decor8.

I’ve quickly learned that it’s not hard to create a blog. All you need is the right software or a good designer. The trick is finding something valuable and fun and interesting to say every week.

That’s why I’m hoping Holly and her fellow instructors, along with the other blogging students I’ll meet over the next several weeks, can help me shape a distinct personality and theme for my blog. I’m a writer, so I’m wondering: should I blog about the writing process and its perils and rewards?

Then again, I’m a person who loves doing creative things with my hands, so should I post about my occasional forays into sewing or beading or decorating? Can’t forget my sweet rescue doggies, either, Miss Paws and Molly, who have been known to tap out a few lines for my site (ahem…with a little help). Should I drop my blog nickname, The Bark, and ban my little biscuit-breath friends from its pages?

Then there’s my real-world work as a writer for The Home Depot Garden Club. You can find my gardening articles and projects under “The Good Seed,” where I write about good gardening practices, and the many ways in which gardening makes our world and our lives better. And I’m also a reader who enjoys reviewing books, so what about those?

Hmmm…much to think about, and lots to learn. Hope you’ll stick with me as I make my way through the course and figure out who I am.

Lynn

Image copyright M.R. Coulter

Can’t believe our beach vacation went by so fast. Recently I led a workshop at Kennesaw State University; a week later, we were packing for a trip. And now our week is up, we’re home, and the washing machine is chugging away, washing the sand out of our clothes.

At least our memories remain.

I felt sure I’d come home re-energized and ready to write. But the only thing I feel like doing is—well, nothing, to be quite honest. What’s up? I keep asking myself. Why am I dragging when it comes to firing up the computer and getting back to my middle-grade novel?

Ever have that problem, fellow writers? What do you do about it?