Recent Volunteer Gardener Clips
Enriching the Compost Pile with Herbs and Weeds
April 10, 2025
Jeff Poppen, an experienced biodynamic farmer, shares his techniques for enhancing the compost pile comprised of hay, manures and plant residue. He chooses a variety of weeds and herbs that he adds to the pile, and these are in three different forms: live, dried and fermented. Jeff explains the attributes each herb or weed adds to the power of the finished product.
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Beginnings of a Pollinator Garden
April 10, 2025
There's a new pollinator garden at Ravenwood High School that was a project of the school's student-led garden club. In it's first season of growth, it's brimming with native wildflowers. An integral partner in this amazing instillation was the Tennessee Environmental Council who supported it with manpower and specialty seed mixes.
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Agave Selections and Care
April 03, 2025
Agaves date back 10,000 years. Plant Delights Nursery in Raleigh, North Carolina has one of the most extensive agave collections in the world. Renowned plantsman Tony Avent showcases several varieties with interesting form, size, color and habit. Learn optimum growing conditions plus propagation methods for this historically significant plant.
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Wetlands Garden
April 03, 2025
The Wetlands Garden at the UT Botanical Garden in Knoxville has been established in a low-lying area that once had been a difficult space to maintain. Now this area is working in harmony with nature. It features a series of ponds, plus a wide variety of native plants that together form a sustainable ecosystem that filters water and provides habitat for wildlife. Troy Marden tours the area and gains tips for homeowners who may have a situation on their property with water run-off and retention.
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Zoo Garden
March 27, 2025
The team at UT Botanical Garden in Knoxville Tennessee have put together a garden area that is delighting children, and piquing their interest in plants and gardening. This zoo garden features those plants that have a common name associated with an animal such as monkey grass and Lamb's Ear.
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Spring Ephemerals
March 27, 2025
Spring ephemerals are long-lived plants with a very short life cycle or period of active growth. Annette Shrader has found a grand collection of spring blooming ephemerals with interesting form and outstanding color at Plant Delights Nursery in Raleigh North Carolina.
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Southern Cottage Garden
March 27, 2025
Every bit of this urban yard is part of the garden design, whether its the front yard with a definite 'wow' factor, the planted strip along the driveway, or the secluded sanctuary at the rear property line. In this garden, the right plants are in the right places. There's a rhythm and flow between the spaces, and each part leads you on to the next pretty spot.
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Winterizing Ornamental Beds
March 20, 2025
Autumn should be a busy time in ornamental garden beds. Tasks are necessary to get plants ready for colder weather, but also looking toward what improvements are needed by next spring. We visit Andrew Jackson's Hermitage to see what activities are underway in their extensive historic garden beds to ensure healthy plants and tidy beds.
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Color and Performance Late in the Season
March 20, 2025
When peak summer blooms begin to fade, there's plenty of annuals and perennials that can offer lots of color and vitality. You can keep those garden beds and containers full of interest up until first frost with plants such as Mexican bush sage, pineapple sage, asters, coreopsis and more.
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Garden time = family time
March 20, 2025
What began as a few raised beds in a spot that couldn't grow grass is now a large garden space that's turning out loads of tomatoes, cucumbers, all kinds of vegetables, plus pretty flowers. Sheri Gramer tours this grand garden where every family member takes part.
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A garden designed with an artist’s eye
October 10, 2024
Troy Marden showcases what was once a typical, grassy residential lot that was transformed by the homeowners into a gorgeous collection of display beds and borders with desirable plants and lots of artistic touches. Japanese maples are definitely the darlings of this garden.
