Do you love to make mud pies, grow a houseplant, eat veggies, or stop to smell the bouquet on your co-workers desk? Everyone enjoys a bit of green growing around him or her and then there are those that are passionate and needy when it comes to dabbling in the dirt. With this blog, we'll try to satisfy those needs and tell you about what's going on with the Anchorage gardening scene. You know, as I finally learned, it's all about the dirt.
Photographer and gardener Fran Durner (fdurner@adn.com) writes the blog.
Take an interactive tour of the gardens showing in Anchorage's garden tour, with photos and audio commentary from each gardener.
Deadheading and seed collecting
Harvesting herbs from your garden
Municipal Greenhouse Gardeners
Alaska Society of Outdoor and Nature Photographers
Alaska Plant Materials Center:
Fairbanks Georgeson Botanical Garden
Lazy Mountain Woolwood Gardens
Another beautiful pumpkin - 8/28/2008 4:06 pm
Plan ahead: 2009 Farmers Almanac is out now - 8/27/2008 1:52 pm
What Does Alaska Grown Mean to You? - 8/25/2008 3:16 pm
State Fair opens - 8/20/2008 5:07 pm
Happy Birthday Nickel! - 8/19/2008 9:30 am
Lunchtime light - 8/18/2008 3:00 pm
Farmer's Markets - 8/17/2008 7:26 pm
Floral carpet in Belgium - 8/14/2008 2:38 pm
An Herb Harvest - 8/13/2008 5:31 pm
An English garden - 8/11/2008 4:55 pm
Free Cooperative Extension Publications - While they last! - 8/7/2008 4:32 pm
The Tomatoes of Summer - 8/5/2008 4:39 pm
Creating Floral Displays - 8/4/2008 12:14 pm
August Calendar - 7/31/2008 3:50 pm
See Big Lake and Willow gardens this weekend - 7/30/2008 3:56 pm
Homer Garden Tour - 7/27/2008 8:49 pm
Dr. Armitage is a self-described plant nerd - 7/26/2008 6:34 pm
So many gardens, too little time - 7/24/2008 12:55 pm
State Fairgrounds in flower - 7/23/2008 9:38 am
Palmer Garden Festival - 7/21/2008 12:41 pm
Don't miss this weekend fun! - 7/17/2008 5:41 pm
Flowering indoor plants for low-light situations? - 7/16/2008 10:33 am
Posted: July 15, 2008 - 5:08 pm
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A shell planter full of succulents. Photo by Fran DurnerI keep seeing more and more gardens around Anchorage with absolutely no grass in them. Would you say that's a trend? I like the idea of not mowing every week but I also like having a swath of grass - it's peaceful and restful for the eye.
So I made a compromise. My front yard has no grass and my backyard has a small lawn. I really like having the two and mowing is no problem, in fact, sometimes it's as therapeutic as weeding.
In the front yard, even though I don't have what anyone would consider a real rock garden, I keep introducing rock garden plants. I love succulents: sedums, saxafragas, lewisias and sempervivums. When I see a new one, I have to give it a try.
About a month ago, Master Gardeners were invited to tour Mary Nan Cunningham's garden in East Anchorage. Mary Nan doesn't have much grass, maybe a little lawn in the back yard too. But she has lots of interesting succulents that were used in creative ways.
A grouping of succulents in shell planters. Photo by Fran DurnerPlanters in the shape of oversized hermit crab shells were tucked full of succulents that spilled out as if the crab was turned on it's back and it's little legs were wiggling in the air. Another set of shells looked as if you were viewing exotic underwater sea-plants.
Photo by Fran DurnerAnd finally, a little topiary cat stuffed with sempervivums, sat by a bench in the front garden as if it were surveying it's kingdom. I loved the effect.
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