Kylee Baumle's Blog, page 14

PBS Takes a Stroll Through Smiley Park Children's Garden in Van Wert, OH

Whenever something new and fun pops up in the neighborhood, there's a lot of hoopla and to-do about it.  Then time passes and locals settle in with whatever it is and it doesn't come to mind as often.  That's natural, of course, because there's everyday life and no shortage of other things that occupy our time and our minds.

But time does its thing in other ways too, including things that require effort in order to keep up appearances and remain that wonderful thing that stole our at...

7 Reasons to Shop at an Independent Garden Center

Clichés are just so...cliché. When we see them, our eyes tend to move quickly past them, our brains barely registering the words we just read. Yet we somehow grasp the meaning in a split second, giving clichés inherent value even as we dismiss them as a tired communication tool. 

You hear it all the time - “Buy local!” We generally take it to mean that we should spend our dollars in locally-owned businesses. It can be a tough row to hoe (cliché alert!) for the smaller independent business...

Planting Seeds Is Easier With Garden Row Markers

As a garden writer, I receive a number of garden products to try in my own garden each year, some new, some not.  I enjoy doing this because in some cases, it allows me to try something I'd never heard of before and might never, had it not been brought to my attention.  When I'm approached with something to review or try, I don't always say yes.  If it's not something that I think I would actually use in my garden or that I feel that is not well-designed or well-made, I'll pass...

'Tis the Season for Peony Jelly!

Collected petals from various peonies at Our Little Acre.I know.  I hadn't heard of it before either. Then a few people called it to my attention on Facebook and wondered if I'd ever made it.  No, but it looked like something that should go on my to-do list, so I did it.  Wednesday's rain did a number on the peonies, so I decided to go out and pluck some petals and make that jelly.

I love peonies and also love that we live near the once Peony Capital of the World - Van Wert, Ohio. ...

American Lady Butterfly Loves Pussytoes

Antennaria roseaWe could not have asked for a more perfect Memorial Day weekend weather-wise than what Mother Nature served up this year.  It was just delightful and much of the time was spent in the garden.  We needed that time to do some catching up, after the long winter and petulant spring we've had here in Ohio.

As I was working away, pulling some of the 40 trillion Washington hawthorn seedlings and encroaching grass from the garden beds, I noticed a familiar butterfly flutterin...

Get "Happy" at Moss Mountain Farm

There will be more to come about what we did, but for now, let's get happy with the Garden2Blog bunch at P. Allen Smith's Moss Mountain Farm near Little Rock, Arkansas!



YouTube video:  Pharrell Williams Happy Gardeners #G2B14
Yes, it was that much fun.
Want to win?
Want to win a prize package of gifts from some of the Garden2Blog sponsors?  Just go to Allen's Facebook page, "Like" it, and then leave a comment there saying, "Kylee and Marge sent me."  (Marge is Allen's cat that he...

Taking Risks in the Garden

Once upon a time, I bought a Daphne 'Carol Mackie' shrub.  I bought it because its fragrant pale pink flowers and its green and yellow variegated foliage caught my eye and my nose.  It's one of those decadently delicious fragrances that makes you want to just stand as close to it as you can and sniff it for a very long time.

But daphnes can be belligerent things, and mine was no different.  They're notoriously fussy about growing conditions, but I was certain that I could grow it. ...

Wordless Wednesday: Dwarf Bearded Iris

Dwarf Bearded IrisIris pumila
Zones:  3-8Height:  6 to18 inchesLight:  Full sunBloom time:  Mid-spring

The Best Toffee In the World

No one loves toffee more than I do.  It's my favorite candy in the whole wide world.  I've tried toffee in so many places that I've lost track and that includes several foreign countries.  I like most toffees that I've had, but there's only one that I truly love.

I encountered Lambrecht's Gourmet Toffee in April 2011, when I attended the first Garden2Blog event, hosted by P. Allen Smith at his Moss Mountain Farm just outside Little Rock, Arkansas.  He put us up in the Capit...

Garden2Blog 2014: Return to Little Rock!

Boy, do I feel blessed.  Or lucky.  Or both.  In 2011, I got to visit someone who became one of my favorite people, who lives in a house on a property that most of us just dream about.  It was the very first Garden2Blog, held at P. Allen Smith's Moss Mountain Farm just outside Little Rock, Arkansas.

Garden2Blog 2011Twenty (give or take) garden bloggers from around the country spent two days touring private gardens and whooping it up at Allen's farm, all the while learning g...