Featured Blog Posts (371)

Hi folks,



And welcome to GardenAsheville.

We've had a fair number of people signing up to join the site without any real relevant information. Because of lotsa spammers (some pretty icky ones too), I am now moderating who can become a member. If you'd like to become a member - and we welcome all levels of gardeners - you need to add more than name, age and town. Please add some qualifying information about what kind of gardening interests you.

And for our new members, I…

I recently read this entry in a garden photo book I have called “Mick Hales Gardens Around the World: 365 Days.”

“Aug. 6 – A Philadelphia Garden”

Before you bed down the garden for winter, or before winter shuts your garden down, there are still garden seminars, club meetings and the Chrysanthemum show at the arboretum this weekend. Here's a preview:

FALL GARDEN SCHOOL: Learn to make the most of your outdoor space, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Oct. 16, Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College, Ferguson Auditorium, Victoria Road, Asheville. $10, $5 half-day. For more information, call…

Ralph Coffey is an undisputed expert orchid grower. The owner of Whitegate Inn, you should just SEE his greenhouse. I have, when I had an opportunity to interview him for a story a few years ago.

He's also an active member of the Men's Garden Club of Asheville, and he'll give a talk at the club's next meeting. See below:…

With summer winding down and fall near, the garden may take a back seat for most folks. What better time to take a class to prepare for the next gardening season?

Gardening isn't the only topic being offered at the True…

Evergreen Perennial Plant Sale

With Labor Day behind us it’s time to think about fall plantings. Evergreen Community Charter School will hold a three-day Perennial Plant Sale at its campus at 50 Bell Road in Haw

Creek. The sale will take place from 3:30 to 5:30…

Has it been a year already? Last year's inaugural West Asheville Garden Stroll was a wonderful event, full of interesting, approachable gardens. These people really get their hands in the dirt. I was very inspired by what I saw, and I only got to a few of them.…

I know a lot of growers rent greenhouse space and apparently the Jackson County Green Energy Park in Dillsboro needs some tenants to lease space, starting Jan. 1. From their press release:

The Jackson County Green…

The gardens crew at Biltmore Estate began work earlier this week on the South Terrace of Biltmore House for this year’s flower carpet, which will be in place from Friday through Sept. 12.

More than 100,000 plants make up the 14,400-square-foot display. This year's design is based on a set of La Farge stained-glass windows, part of Biltmore founder George Vanderbilt’s art collection, that are on display at Antler Hill Village…

I had the joy, recently, of visiting a garden I often enjoyed as a teen and young woman. It’s the Founders Garden on the UGA campus in Athens,…

I saw some amazing native river cane while tubing down the Green River the other day. Giant, majestic, primordial. And not nearly as prolific as before settlers slashed them down.

But ... there's always bamboo. And most gardeners now know there are hundreds of varieties, some of which are NOT invasive. But did you know there's a nursery in Henderson County specializing in bamboo? Yes, it's the Haiku Bamboo Nursery. Anyway, the school is offering some bamboo crafting classes.…

I love the flower carpet! It delights with its fanciful designs. Last year, Biltmore Estate added special Flower Carpet Evenings too, which they will reprise this year. I so enjoyed my visit.

Don't know what a flower carpet is? Well basically, the garden folks arrange flowers in containers, closely to each other, to resemble a tapestry rug.

I took this picture of the 2009 Biltmore Estate flower carpets, which was made…

Buncombe County master gardeners have two interesting, informative programs coming up next week:

- Roses for WNC: 10 a.m. July 21 (Wednesday) at the Extension office, 94 Coxe Ave. According to a press release: “Attendees will have a great opportunity to ask questions and get tips and advice about roses from very knowledgeable rose gardeners.” Free, no reservations required. Parking is free in the…

An opportunity to visit the Elizabethan Gardens outside Manteo presented itself to me last week during a family vacation to the Outer Banks.

I had no idea I was in for such a treat.…

If you are looking for quality daylilies at a great price, be sure to go to Cheryl Alderman’s benefit daylily sale, which is earlier this year than it has been in previous years.

Set for 3-8 p.m. June 18, and 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.…

Overnight, the daylilies in my yard jumped up and bloomed. How about yours?

Such carefree, easy-to-grow plants. Not particular about soil, sun or water, although they love lots of sun, if…

Fragrance from the Linden trees in bloom on Spruce Street (near Pack Sq Park) literally stopped me in my tracks today. Fabulous trees!