Why is it that the paper wants to come take pictures when you're dirty and sweaty? Why does the tv crew have to come shoot, with no notice, after a long day at work...when I'm tired, in desperate need of a haircut and look like HELL!!  And why do they have to edit out all the good useful comments and use one where I stammer about stupid tomatoes??? Julie..surely you know my pain...LOL. But, these are the things I do for the good of the cause. And at least there are some good shots of the chickies...and Mona sure looks fab...

And btw...JULIE is the chicken lady...I am only chicken lady JR. Her Highness of Horticulture I'll take, but Chicken Lady goes to Julie!

Proper pruning seems to be a point of confusion for many...I get regular questions on the subject. So in response to all those questions, and an email plea from a friend of mine with a pruning and cilantro harvesting conundrum, here are a few photos of how to prune a few different types of plants (and harvest some cilantro...)  This is by no means a comprehensive review of the subject..the light was fading this evening and it's not exactly easy to get good one-handed pruning shots! But I hope this will at least help a bit. I'll delve deeper into the subject at a later date.

Cilantro...click photos to enlarge...

1. Simply cut individual leaves for use  2. Or cut entire stem at base of plant if you need a bundle, or you've already removed most of the leaves from that stem. 3. Prune flower stalks all the way to the base of the crown of the plant. you should try to keep cilantro constantly deadheaded so it will continue to make leaves, instead of only more flowers. you can leave the flowers if you want to collect "coriander" seed.

General pruning..

For plants like Roses and Salvia, that will continue producing new blooms along the same stem, prune the expired flower stem back to the next leaf node, where a new sprout will emerge. Prune about a 1/4 inch above the node.

For plants like this Tiarella, where the flower stems originate from a central crown, rather than along a stem, prune expired blooms all the way down to the base of the plant. If you prune them higher, all you'll be left with is a decaying brown stalks...not too attractive. Same goes for any flowering stalk that is totally finished booming...Irises, daffodils, daylilies, daisies and the like (you can also refer to the way I'm pruning the cilantro flower stalk above).

So I hope this helps a bit? Please post follow up questions if this is at all confusing.... 

After all this rain we've had my yard has been a fungus festival. Madame Leslie hooked me up with the necessary potassium bicarbonate and I sprayed rather, ahem, generously... which brings me to my question.

Ok, again, after hosting somewhere between 600-1500 people through my yard yesterday (it seriously felt like 1500!) I realized that I'd not gotten a moment to take any photos before or during the tour. Perhaps some folks on the tour got some shots during. I know I didn't get a chance to answer everyone's questions, but hopefully a good time was had by all. I took a few quick photos after the tour last evening, so forgive all the smashed turf and pathways, etc.! Click on the photos to enlarge them:

Cardoon, Bronze Fennel were popular in the front yard...Dwarf Bear's Breeches (Acanthus spinosus) drew a lot of attention in the back shade garden.

In the background, Sean doing what he does best...I set the patio table with my botanical china...I had to laugh at how many ladies were checking out the dishes, on a garden tour, LOL...us ladies are like that...

Lily of the Nile, Agapanthus 'Royal Ama' totally stole the show...you can't beat that blue! And in the background...Ramona telling everyone to get out!

 I have lots going on in the veggie garden, so I'll update soon...

Muuuhhhaaahahahahaaaa......but don't worry...I bled plenty for it! LOL

OMG....so 1500 people came through on the garden tour...not sure exactly how many made it through my yard but the volunteers said at least 500-600. Needless to say, I'm sunburned and exhausted...I'll have to update you later and post some garden pics...I have to go flop down somewhere! OH, and to those of you that read the blog and came by it was so nice to meet you! And thank you to Nikki for "working" my yard...couldn't have managed with out you! Les

Hello! I'm Nikki. I work for Leslie although we were friends well before that. I never gardened before I started working at North Haven Gardens and now I fancy myself quite the little grower. Of course, I really have my own brand of gardening. I like to plant hostas in mostly sun. Daylilies in heavy shade. And test the limits on how little I can water everything without killing them. I'm a good test case to see how hardy something is. Somehow I manage to keep most of my plants healthy and alive. The perennials come back every year and every time they do, it's like a little miracle just happened in my front yard. Btw: you can always click on the images to get the full detail...if you dare!

I grow veggies (those are my little onions from this year), daylilies, hostas, columbine and various other plants. I am still trying to balance the veggie thing, but it's going pretty well. This year, I got all my seeds going in January only to forget to cover the plants during a freeze once I got them in the ground. So, all those tomatillos and Martian Giant tomatoes I so lovingly cared for all winter, RIP. Oh, well. Live and learn. 

Be forewarned... when you need sound advice, go to Leslie or Julie. I'm here for garden comic relief. I got you covered in the cooking department, though! Later...

As a kid I hated Saturday afternoon yard work with the parents. Hated it. But I loved, loved, loved The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I just finished The Scent of Water by Elizabeth Goudge, and several times I thought, this is The Secret Garden for grown-ups! I'm one of those who firmly believes Jane Austen's only fault was the dying too young thing, and this can certainly be filed under Austen-esque.