Browse Tag: shade garden

White clematis bloom

Laura’s Garden: Perfection Takes Time

Patience may be a virtue, but it’s not one that I’ve ever possessed. In elementary school, my report cards all had the same comment: “Sarah needs to work on her patience — but don’t worry, she’ll develop it over time.”

Well, I sure proved those teachers wrong! All these years later, I still need to work on my patience. I’m reminded of this regularly as I garden — for example, just this weekend I found myself staring at the seedlings in my basement and willing them to grow faster. (In case you were wondering, that tactic does not appear to work, but let me know if you have other ideas.)

Luckily, there are more advanced gardeners who can demonstrate for us that good things take time. One of those gardeners is Laura, owner of stop #2 on last year’s 2018 JoCo Master Gardner Tour.

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Inspiration from 7 Glorious Gardens on the 2018 JoCo Master Gardeners Tour

***WARNING: The photos contained in this post may cause garden envy.  Use extreme caution if viewing within driving distance of an open garden center.***

Master Gardener \ ˈmas-tər ˈgärd-nər \: 1) A title worthy of respect and admiration 2) One of my life goals 3) Owner of an amazing private garden

Perhaps amazing is an understatement — it certainly would be if all of their gardens look like the ones I toured on the 2018 Johnson County Master Gardeners Tour.  The 7 gardens on display were like something straight out of a magazine.  If you were in need of garden inspiration, this was the place to get it.  (And I certainly did!) Continue Reading

Shade garden with gravel path

July Garden Update – dealing with drought, building a lotus bog, and adding a focal point

How is it late July already?  Between a new role at work, family in town, and various gardening activities, I’ve been slacking on the blog posts.  Don’t judge me too harshly, though; while I’ve not been writing, I haven’t forgotten about you — I’ve been out touring gardens, working on my garden, and taking lots of pictures (which means I should have plenty of awesomeness to help us get through winter next year!) But for now, I thought I should share a mid-summer garden update.   Continue Reading

Coffee cup and water garden in April

A year’s progress in the garden

It’s easy to look at pictures in gardening magazines, Pinterest, and Instagram and feel a bit discouraged when you compare them to your own garden.   At least I feel that way — there’s a big gap between where my garden is and where I want it to be.  I still have a lot of plants to buy, work to do, and time to wait for young plants to mature.  But it hit me yesterday that I have only been on my gardening journey for one year — and I’ve made an incredible amount of progress! Continue Reading

Woodland garden bench - GardenTails blog

You never know where you’ll find gardening inspiration–or who YOU will inspire

I’ll never forget the moment I walked into Rick and Stephanie’s backyard.

My mom and I were on the annual KC Water Garden Tour, and their garden was one of the last stops on the itinerary for the day.  We were greeted out front by one of their young daughters, who guided us to the back gate.

Their house was in the middle of the suburbs, where you’ll generally find a patio, tidy landscaping, and/or a small flower bed.  On the water garden tour, you’ll generally see a pond and waterfall added to the standard mix.  As we walked around back, I expected to see just that — but instead we walked into the woodland garden that would inspire my gardening journey.

This was no ordinary suburban backyard. Continue Reading