Martinis & Marigolds | Refreshingly Simple Garden Tips
Transform Your Garden Year-Round with These Stunning Shrubs
Oct 17, 2025
In our effort to add really unique perennials and annuals to our gardens, we can overlook the value of shrubs. Maybe it's because they can seem a bit boring.
But shrubs can provide a great filler for larger beds and become a nice backdrop for flowering perennials and annuals. They are an important addition for curb appeal in your front yard. And, can really add to the backyard landscape if chosen for low maintenance and interesting textures and colors.
My favorite reason to grow shrubs is that they can provide multiple seasons of interest.
Read on to find 4 of my favorite shrubs that add color, texture and interest to my yard throughout the year.
Bloom Smarter, Not Harder: How Perennials Slash Your Gardening Costs and Chores
Oct 02, 2025
Fall is a great time for planting and a great time to take advantage of plant sales. By planting perennials in the fall you get a jump on spring.
Read on to find out how to get the best value for your dollar when buying and planting perennials.
Planting Bulbs for Spring Color
Sep 25, 2025
Fall is a great time for gardening. Cool temperatures make for a great climate for both gardeners and new plants. While it may be tempting to put away your tools and forget about gardening until spring, fall is the perfect time to plant for spring color. And one of the most colorful spring plants that do need to be planted now are spring flowering bulbs.
Read on to find out how to plant bulbs this fall for spectacular color next spring.
Fall Projects for a Stunning Spring Garden
Sep 18, 2025
Fall is a great time to prepare for spring! You see there are so many things going on in the garden in the spring, that it’s almost too much to get done. And while spring is a really inspiring time to start new things in the garden, fall is actually a better time for certain garden tasks.
Read on for details on 5 Fall Projects that you can do in the fall to make spring gardening season a lot easier.
Cozy Up Your Home: Fall Decorating with Fall Flowers, Gourds, and Pumpkins
Sep 11, 2025
As autumn’s crisp air settles in, it’s time to cozy up your home with vibrant mums, asters, flowering kale, quirky gourds, pumpkins, and stunning flowering kale and cabbage! 🍂🎃
Our guide shares expert tips on selecting the perfect varieties—think tight, colorful kale rosettes and firm, hollow-sounding pumpkins. Learn how to carve jack-o'-lanterns like a pro, keep your decor fresh through the season, and care for mums and kale to keep them blooming until the first frost.
Ready for a festive fall vibe? Dive into the full post for all the details!
20 Gorgeous Perennials to Plant This Fall for a Blooming Garden Next Spring
Sep 04, 2025
Perennials are one of the most popular types of flowering plants, both for the beginning and experienced gardeners. And fall is a great time to plant them.
But there are so many varieties, choosing can be overwhelming.
Read on to find out about some of the most popular varieties to plant and how to get started.
Maximize Your Herb Garden: Tips for Preserving Your Herb Harvest
Aug 29, 2025
If you’re like me, when fall rolls around and frost is on the horizon, you hate to just throw the plants away.
And if you've grown herbs you probably have a lot of wonderful foliage on your plants. So what’s a gardener to do with all of this beautiful herb foliage?
Happily there are lots of ways to preserve your herbs for use during the cold of winter.
Read on to find out how!
Easy Steps to Create a Stunning New Garden Bed
Aug 21, 2025
Knowing that Labor Day is just around the corner usually makes me sad. But this year I am really looking forward to cooler temperatures and planning ahead for the spring. You may have heard that fall is a good time for planting shrubs and perennials. The fall is also a great time to create a new garden bed. My method uses some very simple steps and time to create a bed that is ready for spring planting. Read on to find out how to create a new garden bed The Easy Way!
Illuminate Your Garden: Simple Outdoor Lighting Tips to Transform Your Outdoor Space
Aug 13, 2025
One of the best things that we’ve added to our exterior landscape was lighting. I love coming home and seeing the front of our house beautifully illuminated in a way that highlights the plantings and architecture of our house.
Read on to find out how we did it and how to get started.
Banish Garden Pests the Natural Way: Smart, Safe Solutions for a Healthy Garden
Aug 07, 2025
As gardeners, we deal with lots of challenges in our gardens.
Unwanted insects in your garden are just that: unwanted. Unwanted insects may eat and destroy your vegetables and prized flowers, something both farmers and home gardeners have in common.
Organic gardening is a means of controlling unwanted insects naturally, without the use of dangerous pesticides.
Read on to find out how to control unwanted garden insects naturally that are also cheap, easy and good for the earth.
Guarding My Blooms: Strategies to Discourage Deer in a Country Garden
Jul 31, 2025
I have a live-and-let-live approach to dealing with wildlife that sometimes can be destructive. As long as things don’t get too out of hand, we share and deal with the downside.
In the past the deer have browsed on the lower limbs of trees on their way to other feeding grounds. Not a problem until last summer when I found that they had eaten every single daylily flower (and there were lots) and munched on my favorite begonias. And this year they’ve added flowers from the pots on the front porch to their menu.
Read on to find out what options I've explored and what I'm doing about it!
Kickstart Composting: Transform Your Scraps into Soil Magic
Jul 24, 2025
I love this time of year! We are so blessed with the bounty of summer fruits and vegetables. I hope that you are finding delicious ways to enjoy them!
But we are also faced with the resulting peels and pits that many times end up in our trash. According to the EPA “The estimated 35.3 million tons of wasted food that went to landfills in 2018 represents 24.1 percent of all MSW landfilled.” Somehow that just doesn’t make sense, since all of this organic waste can quickly break down and return lots of nutrients to the soil.
So what’s a home gardener to do? Composting your kitchen and garden waste is a great way to reduce the amount of waste you dispose of in the trash. By composting, you can generate a free source of nutrient-rich material to help improve your garden.
Read on to find out how to get started!
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