grace grits and gardening

ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

The Little Pipevine That Could

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The Little Pipevine That Could

Two days ago, the best thing happened! The Little Pipevine That Could arrived on our doorstep.

Let me explain…

I’d been looking EVERYWHERE to purchase a pipevine plant. Pipevine is the host plant for the Pipevine Swallowtail, and I want to add it to our butterfly garden. Unfortunately, pipevine plants are difficult to locate. This spring, they quickly sold out at all the regular garden places I visit (if they were there to begin with). The Botanical Garden of the Ozarks offered a few starters at its spring sale, but I was a few minutes late to the on-line party and missed out. Continue Reading

Tomato-Growing Tips from Gene

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Tomato Growing Tips from Gene

I’m not a tomato-growing expert by any stretch of the imagination, so you may doubt my tomato-growing tips. But just like passalong plants, I can passalong gardening tips with ease.

I did successfully grow a few tomatoes once upon a time when I had a community garden plot in East Dallas. Here in Fayetteville, we’ve dedicated our small garden to herbs and pollinator plants, buying tomatoes at Farmer’s Market or Ozark Natural Foods.Continue Reading

Passalong Plants in the Garden

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Passalong Plants

Passalong plants are the BEST sort of plants to have in your garden! They add both charm and magic wherever they are planted.

I started thinking about this last week when my neighbor thinned out her bed of Solomon’s Seal (Polygonatum odoratum) and gave us several plants. I’ve been wanting to grow Solomon’s Seal for years but had not gotten around to buying and planting it.

I’m not kidding when I say John and I saw it growing in the neighborhood that very morning, admired it, and talked about adding it to our shade garden.

Voila! Just like that, a bucketful showed up on our porch.Continue Reading

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