Blotanical's Best Pennsylvania Gardening Blogs of 2009

I live in New Jersey, but feel a special kinship with my gardening friends in Pennsylvania. It, of course, is the home of one of my favorite public gardens, Chanticleer, and so many other lovely gardens and gardeners. Here are Blotanical's Best Pennsylvania Gardening Blogs for 2009:
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1. Hayefield - one of my favorite blogs that I was happy to see ranked first. It is garden writer Nan Ondra's personal blog: "I live in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, about 40 miles north of Philadelphia (mid-Zone 6 to lower Zone 7, depending on whose map you use). Under the supervision of my two alpacas, Duncan and Daniel, I garden on four acres in full sun: about two acres of managed meadow, one acre of pasture, and one acre of intensively planted and open shrubbery areas. This garden is entering its eighth year in 2009."
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2. Poor Richard's Almanac - this was a new discovery for me. "Author, editor, homesteader, collector–our friend Ben is all that and (of course) much more. When asked by the moderator at one of those corporate seminars what I’d be if I could be anything at all, the answer popped into my mind like Athena bursting full grown from the forehead of Zeus: I’d like to be the head of my own think tank. That’s because I love to think, about all sorts of things, all the time..."
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3. Burbs and the Bees - this is another new one for me and one I look forward to reading more. "Adventures of suburban homesteading and novice beekeeping. Trying to jam as much farm life as I can into our little piece of suburban woodland! Thanks for stopping by to share in our adventures of suburban homesteading, gardening, and novice beekeeping!"
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4. Veggie Gardening Tips - as a novice vegetable gardener, I have found this blog to be full of wonderful organic vegetable gardening ideas. "...In 1985, a few years after graduating from college, I resigned from a great job with the Federal Reserve Board in Washington D.C. and moved to Pennsylvania to accept an internship on a forty acre organic farm...At the time, many of my friends and family thought it was a crazy idea, but it turned out to be the best decision I ever made. During a few short years on the farm I learned an incredible amount about gardening, nature, and self sufficiency."
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5. My Little Patch of Green - this is another new one to me. "My name is Dawn and I have been an on-again-off-again gardener in my yard in Northeast Pennsylvania. I love the idea of gardening. I love looking at pictures of gardens. But while I have big dreams for my garden, I always seem to fail in the execution. I have sadly neglected my garden for the last few years, but this year will be a new beginning. It won’t be an extreme makeover, but a slow transformation."

Poemas del río Wang: Imperial crown

I grow and love Crown Imperial Fritillaria in the Rose Garden, but I've never seen such an amazing display as this--an entire mountainside in Iran: Poemas del río Wang: Imperial crown.

Blotanical's Best Gardening Blogs for New Jersey 2009

Thank you so much for everyone (all 104 of you) who voted for Heirloom Gardener! Here are the rest of Blotanical's Best Gardening Blogs for New Jersey 2009:

2. Best in Bloom Today - a new discovery for me, "Married to Hubba Hubba, proud mom of 2 Darling Daughters, passionate gardener (is there any other kind?), especially daylilies! Addicted to nursery hopping...name any garden center in NJ/PA...I've been there...honest!"
3. View from Federal Twist - a favorite of mine for some time, "We moved to Rosemont in June 1999. Originally known as Cross Keys Tavern in the mid-18th century, Rosemont has remained an agricultural community for over two centuries..."
4. Miss Rumphius' Rules - a new discovery for me, "My blog was conceived in 2007 as an online journal exploring my continuing journey as a designer with a focus on design, gardens, and the creative process."
5. Garden Endeavors - a new discovery for me, "Gardening by the shore in southern New Jersey.My husband and I both enjoy the garden, all the vegetables are grow by him and everything else by me..."

I'm honored to be among the many 2009 award winners. Check out all of the winners here.

2009 Blotanical Awards - voting ends in two days

Just browse some great blogs or vote here.

Some Noteworthy Gardening Blogs

Thank you to the following blogs for their links and referrals to Heirloom Gardener over the past month:

1. http://www.gardeningonewild.com/ - this is a group effort with great writers, photographers, the Garden Bloggers' Design Workshop, the Picture This Photo Contest, the Plant Pick of the Month and more: "The idea for Gardening Gone Wild came out of the wonderful interactions I have had over several years with gardening professionals throughout North America, all of whom are passionate gardeners."

2. http://www.kenschill.blogspot.com/ - if I lived in Sweden, this is what my garden might look like: "We are two amateur gardeners. We are interested in everything in the garden both plants and garden-design."

3. http://www.blotanical.com/ - of all of the lists of gardening blogs out there, I still think that this is the best one: "where garden blogs bloom."

4. http://www.phillipoliver.blogspot.com/ - from Alabama, a great personal gardening blog: "...creating and maintaining a 3/4 acre garden for 15 years now which I have chronicled on my web site. I also enjoy movies, reading and photography."

5. http://www.thequeenofseaford.com/ - from Virginia, another great personal gardening blog: "After gardening in Texas, Florida, and Germany I am now in Tidewater...trying to have an attractive garden while battling dogs and tidal inflows of mysterious seeds."

6. http://www.maydreamsgardens.blogspot.com/ - from Indiana, the well-known host of Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day: "Eccentric gardener? Gardening geek? Passionate about plants? Join me in my Zone 5 garden in Indiana!"

7. http://www.queenmothermamaw.blogspot.com/ - from Kentucky, a blog about more than just gardening: "Retired RN loving time with my children, grands, art, literature and blogging and loving the creativity. My name comes from my dear grandchildren. I called them all princess, then their moms queens and my sons kings. They started to call me Queenmother Mamaw."

8. http://www.flowerhillfarm.blogspot.om/ - from Massachusetts, Carol lives on a dream, twenty acre property: "Farming, observing and documenting a twenty acre hillside paradise, which includes organically cultivated rambling gardens, fields of organic blueberries, forest, fabulous views and expanse of sky."

9. http://www.northmobilegardensociety.blogspot.com/ - from Alabama, I share Dirt Princess's feelings about spending everyday outside in the yard: "I live in the deep south, where everyday is a bad hair day. I am married to my best friend (The Hunter) and we do everything together (except garden). I would spend everyday outside in my yard if I could."

10. http://www.acornergarden.blogspot.com/ - from Nebraska, Sue is a dedicated suburban gardener: "I am married with 2 grown children and a grandson. We live in the house on a corner lot that my husband grew up in. I have been talking him out of more grass over time in order to increase space for gardening. I like growing veggies, flowers, and herbs."

Thank you Queenmother Mamaw!

Queenmother Mamaw, a kind mother/grandmother, retired RN, gardener and blogger from Kentucky, sent me a lovely red velvet cake via her blog and the following quote of St. Teresa of Avila from Interior Castle:

"This secret union takes place in the deepest center of the soul, which must be where God dwells. God appears in the center of the soul, not through an imaginary, but through a subtler intellectual vision, just as He appeared to the Apostles, without entering through the door. This instantaneous communication of God to the soul is so great a secret and so sublime a favor and such delight is felt by the soul in such a way that they have become like two who cannot be separated from one another. The Soul remains all the time in that center with its God.

We might say that this union is as if the lighted ends of two wax candles were joined so that the light they give is one. Or, it is like rain falling from the skies into a river or spring: there is nothing but water there, and it is impossible to divide or separate the water belonging to the river from that which fell from the skies. Or, as if in a room there are two large windows through which the light streams in: it enters in different places but it all becomes one. Perhaps this is what Paul meant by saying , the one who is joined to Christ becomes one Spirit with Him."

Gardening Gone Wild: Native Plant Photo Contest

Gardening Gone Wild just concluded its native plant photo contest. They have some great photos of native plants and plant combinations.
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I didn't get around to posting this photo during the contest, but it is one of my favorite photographs of a native flowering tree. This Cornelian cherry dogwood (Cornaceae Cornus mas) was on my property before I was and it blooms in late March/early April here in zone 6b.

The Best of Heirloom Gardener (updated as of March 2009)

I. Trees, Shrubs, and Plants

• Twelve Great Nurseries for Heirloom Plants: Roses, Perennials, Annuals, Bulbs and Seeds
• Two Perfect Flowering Plants for Arbors: Betty Corning Clematis and Dortmund Rose
• Growing Tulips in New Jersey: Squirrels, Deer, and Clay Soil
• Container Plantings: Variety, Soil, and Care
• Twelve Months of Garden Color in New Jersey (Zone 6b)
• Hardy Annual and Biennial Self Seeders
• Calendar for Forced Branches: When to Cut Various Flowering Branches for Forcing
• Forced Branches and Bulbs: Forsythia, Hyacinth, Tulips, Muscari, and Crocus
• Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day
• Index of Rose Photos

II. Pruning

• How to Prune Caryopteris, Spirea, Butterfly Bush, Pee Gee Hydrangea, Annabelle Hydrangea, Smokebush, Elderberry
• How to Prune Pee Gee Hydrangeas and Wisteria
• Hydrangeas: Why and How to Prune
• How to Prune Roses, Part I: An Introduction
• How to Prune Roses, Part II: Old Rose Pruning Secrets
• How to Prune Roses, Part III: Why Prune?

III. Hardscaping

• Path Makeover: Replacing the Terra Cotta Stepping Stones with Pebbles
• Maintaining the Pebble Path
• Creating Space for a Garden: the Cutting Garden
• Four Year Makeover of the Front Garden: How to Improve Boring Suburban Landscaping

IV. Gardening With Children

• How to Build a Children's Playhouse (the Fort)
• How to Build a Sandbox
• Ten Tips for Planning a Children's Garden
• Five Tips for Growing Edibles with Children
• How to Make a Crown and Boutonniere with Fresh Flowers

V. Vegetables and Herbs

• How to Build Raised Beds (on a Slope/Hill)
• Organically Preparing the Soil for Planting
• Farmer's Almanac Spring Planting Schedule (March/April) and Heirloom Seed Sources
• Farmer's Almanac Spring Planting Schedule (May)
• How to Make the Perfect Soil Mix for Seed Sowing
• Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds - the best heirloom seed offerings
• How to Build a Planting Grid for Square Foot Gardening
• How to Make a Planting Square to Uniformly Space Your Seeds
• How to Plant Corn the Way Squanto Taught the Pilgrims
• How to Plant Potatoes and Harvesting Asparagus

VI. Pest Control

• Advice Wanted: How to Keep Rabbits Out of the Garden
• Keeping the Deer Out of the Backyard: the Deer Fence
• Keeping the Groundhog Out of the Cutting Garden
• Organic Pest and Fungus Control: Garlic Barrier - Yes, It Really Works
• Organic Rose Gardening: Dormant Oil Application for Pest Control
• Organic Pest Control: Colorado Potato, Threelined Potato, and Japanese Beetles

The Most Influential Garden Bloggers

Bumblebee Blog has a very interesting post on the most influential garden bloggers. I read the post with great interest because what is influential or inspiring is so personal. I was nodding my head as she walked through many of the most popular and familiar gardening blogs, so it got me thinking about which garden bloggers have been most influential to me? Here were the top three that came to mind:

1. Gardening Gone Wild: A group effort, Gardening Gone Wild inspires by their posts and encourages me to thoughtfully contribute to their monthly Garden Bloggers' Design Workshop. I love participating in these workshops and reading about how other bloggers approach gardening topics and design issues. Some of my best and most popular posts have been contributions to these workshops.

2. May Dreams Garden: Shortly after I started reading gardening blogs, I noticed this regular post called Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day. I'm a little slow, so it took me a while that this was the brainchild of Carol over at May Dreams Garden. Perhaps more than any other garden blogging activity, this really brings the garden blogging community together to share what is blooming in their garden on the fifteenth of every month. Since I started adding my own Bloom Day posts last year, I haven't missed a month.

3. Gardening Tips 'N' Ideas/Blotanical: Both websites are managed by Stuart in Australia and have been influential to me by opening up my eyes to the many gardening blogs throughout the world that I would never have found on my own.

A Late Season Bouquet in Tyra's Garden

I always take note of particularly inspiring arrangements and Tyra's of papavar seed heads, fig, ivy and more is a beautiful example of a bouquet without blooms. Check it out here:

http://waxholm.blogspot.com/2008/11/gardeners-wrap.html

Perhaps we garden bloggers can help remember our veterans and war dead by posting a picture of a poppy today?

Many years ago, on my first trip to the U.K. during this time of year, I was struck by the fact that everyone from all walks of life wears artificial poppies in honor of those who died at war for Remembrance Day or Poppy Day. I later learned that these artificial poppies are sold as an annual fundraiser by the Royal British Legion, a charity dedicated to helping war veterans.
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According to Wikipedia: "The poppy's significance to Remembrance Day is a result of Canadian military physician John McCrae's poem In Flanders Fields. The poppy emblem was chosen because of the poppies that bloomed across some of the worst battlefields of Flanders in World War I, their red colour an appropriate symbol for the bloodshed of trench warfare. A Frenchwoman, Anna E. Guérin, introduced the widely used artificial poppies given out today."
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In the U.S., we celebrate Veterans' Day today for the living and reserve Memorial Day in May for the dead. Unfortunately, we do too little--we do not wear poppies or pause for two minutes of silence at eleven o'clock--on both of these holidays to truly celebrate, remember, or honor those who served and returned or those who died. Fortunately, Zoe over at Garden Hopping helped me to remember this holiday today with a picture of a poppy and this poem: Garden Hopping: Lest We Forget.

How to Grow Flowers on a Military Base in Iraq

Imagine that you are a committed gardener and find yourself stationed in Iraq in the middle of a desert. What would you do?

The post: http://www.instructables.com/id/How_to_grow_flowers_on_a_military_base_in_Iraq/

The author's blog: http://www.spf400.blogspot.com/

Pray for our troops and their families around the world.

One Garden That Still Looks Great After the Frost

I always tell my husband that we can never, ever move to a colder climate. We're in zone 6b and we have not yet experienced our first frost. However, I've been admiring Yvonne Cunnington's blog entries over at Country Gardener (Ontario, Canada) and her photographs remind me that the post-frost garden can look beautiful too. Here's her latest:

Country Gardener: November color - fall is not over yet

Garden Hopping: A Posy From My Garden

Click on the this post from Zoe at Garden Hopping for a picture of a truly inspiring autumn flower arrangement--roses, dahlias, berries, etc. I'm going to have to try something like this myself.

Carrots and Kids: Now That's More Like It

Here's a great post from a fellow gardener and mother of five about what gardens with children really look like: "I like reading gardening and house magazines, supplements and blogs but not very many of these tell it like it is..."

Gardening Gone Wild: Bananas in the Basement

This is a great post about moving the tropicals in for the winter. I don't have as many tropicals as the author Steve Silk, so just moved my elephant ears and other tropicals into the great room. The kids think it's like a jungle now.

The Best of Heirloom Gardener (So Far)

I. Trees, Shrubs, and Plants

• Two Perfect Flowering Plants for Arbors: Betty Corning Clematis and Dortmund Rose
• How to Prune Pee Gee Hydrangeas and Wisteria
• Hydrangeas: Why and How to Prune
• Growing Tulips in New Jersey: Squirrels, Deer, and Clay Soil
• Container Plantings: Variety, Soil, and Care
• Twelve Months of Garden Color in New Jersey (Zone 6b)
• How to Prune Roses, Part I: An Introduction
• How to Prune Roses, Part II: Old Rose Pruning Secrets
• How to Prune Roses, Part III: Why Prune?
• Hardy Annual and Biennial Self Seeders
• Forced Branches and Bulbs: Forsythia, Hyacinth, Tulips, Muscari, and Crocus

II. Hardscaping

• Path Makeover: Replacing the Terra Cotta Stepping Stones with Pebbles
• Maintaining the Pebble Path
• Creating Space for a Garden: the Cutting Garden

III. Gardening With Children

• How to Build a Children's Playhouse (the Fort)
• How to Build a Sandbox
• Ten Tips for Planning a Children's Garden

IV. Vegetables and Herbs

• How to Build Raised Beds (on a Slope/Hill)
• Farmer's Almanac Spring Planting Schedule and Heirloom Seed Sources
• Organically Preparing the Soil for Planting
• How to Make the Perfect Soil Mix for Seed Sowing

V. Pest Control

• Advice Wanted: How to Keep Rabbits Out of the Garden
• Keeping the Deer Out of the Backyard: the Deer Fence
• Keeping the Groundhog Out of the Cutting Garden

Links to Some Great European Gardening Blogs

One of the really fun things about garden blogs is that you can peak into others' gardens all around the world. This list in no way is exhaustive, but just some of the European gardening blogs that I have discovered and enjoyed. If you have suggestions of others, let me know.

A Garden Diary (Budapest)
Bliss (Netherlands)
Carrots and Kids (UK)
Down on the Allotment (UK)
Ewa in the Garden (Poland)
Garden Dreams (Sweden)
Garden Hopping (UK)
Jardin Miranda (France)
Lady Greenthumb's Garden (Croatia)
Roses and Stuff (Sweden)
Roses in Gardens (Denmark)
The Constant Gardener (UK)
Victoria's Backyard (UK)

Gardening Blogs are Growing in Chatham, New Jersey

I'm pleased to announce that there are two new gardening blogs from fellow gardeners in Chatham, New Jersey:

Marta McDowell, "a blog about digging in the dirt, growing flowers and vegetables, garden history, horticulture and nature."

Visual Thinking in a Fairmount Garden, "A textile designer among the weeds of her mind."

Nan Ondra, Garden Writer/Blogger, Featured in The New York Times

Nan Ondra, one of my favorite garden bloggers, the genius behind both Gardening Gone Wild (a blogging consortium and host of the Garden Bloggers' Design Workshop) and Hayefield (her personal blog), was featured in last week's New York Times. In the article, "Where Foliage Eclipses Flowers," journalist Anne Raver talks with Nan about her life, her garden, and her books (Nan just published her twelfth).