Archive for the ‘Projects’ Category

Replacing winter-damaged yews and boxwoods

With the delayed Spring this year, we’ve had the advantage of extended bloom times on spring-blooming bulbs while enjoying the regular festival of blooms at this time of year.  Unfortunately, many of the bulbs in my front gardens were only visible next to completely windburned boxwood bushes (an ugly beige color) and horrible orange winter-damaged […]

A few deer-resistant plants for the Barrington, Illinois area

A few deer-resistant plants for Barrington, IL gardeners

Hedge apples. We used to call them horse apples in Texas…

You may have seen the 4-6 inch round, wrinkled lime-green fruits lying on the side of the road recently.   These are the (inedible to humans) fruit of the ‘Osage orange’ tree (named for the Osage Indians).  They have fallen from large, old trees that were often originally planted by farmers and trained as a hedge […]