I’m thrilled to announce a new monthly feature on Heavy Petal: a collaboration between me and Willowtree, a beautiful and informative website created by my friend Jackie Connelly (the woman behind the gorgeous photographs in Sugar Snaps and Strawberries) and her sister, Tina. “Willowtree provides information and inspiration to people with all types of food […]
Perennials
Succulent wreath
I snapped this photo at my mom’s the other day. It’s a wreath (duh) she made by tucking hardy succulents such as echeveria and sedum into a moss-filled wire frame. I just love the colours and textures. Maybe it’s just because succulents are so hot right now, but I can imagine this wreath fitting in […]
The best low-maintenance edibles: food growing for the time crunched
Potatoes: it doesn’t get much easier. I don’t have hours a week to spend in the garden. I wish I could say that I do daily rounds of all my garden spaces, carrying a big wicker basket and leisurely harvesting things that need picking, casually plucking the occasional weed, and generally doing a lot of […]
Seaside grasses
I love the simple drama of this Crescent Beach garden; there’s only, as far as I can tell, three types of plants used here. I could never be that restrained. Miscanthus sinensis ‘Gracillimus’ (Maiden grass) is in the background, Pennisetum villosum (Feathertop) is in the mid-ground, and there’s another grass in the foreground that I […]
Ferns and ephemerals
Hello. I’d like you to meet Shooting Star, aka Dodecatheon hendersonii. This sweet little thing is one of the native wildflowers blooming in my backyard “woodland bed” right now. Like many of the spring ephemerals (so called because of their fleeting nature), it’s not exactly a show-stopper (but just look at how it wows en […]
Garden Tour: Syd’s powerful plant palette
The basics Name of gardener: Syd Carpenter Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA Hardiness zone: 6 Size: Small city garden; 100 ft. long by 25 ft. wide; three garden rooms Orientation: South facing front garden Years gardened: 15 years Heavy Petal says: Quite simply, wow. Syd has done an amazing job of creating a garden using a […]
Contest! Win tickets to the World Rose Festival and $100 in roses
I know very little about roses, and I don’t totally understand their appeal. (Gulp! I can’t believe I just admitted that on a gardening blog! I feel like the Rosarians are going to target me for a hit now. Better watch my back.) So when the fine people at the World Rose Festival asked me […]
Berries in the winter garden
Photinia davidiana (David’s Christmas berry) is a tough evergreen plant that also has white flowers in early summer. I last wrote about how hardscaping can make your garden in winter – and year round, for that matter. I still maintain that the hard landscape makes the biggest overall impact on the garden in winter, but […]