What is is with men who can design beautiful interesting and inspiring gardens?….first it was Diarmuid Gavin…then James Wong… and now Brendan Moar.  Brendan Moar is the totally beautiful designer and host of Dry Spell Gardens, an Australian garden makeover show that builds stunning, imaginative gardens that are water wise and earth friendly.  HGTV, can you please air this show?

Here is just one of the transformations…in this episode, Brendan helps the homeowners choose the right rain barrel for their needs as well as install a grey water capture system for their home.  Do I need to say it again? HGTV, can you please air this show?

The Dry Spell Garden website is overflowing with before and after images from amazing gardens that Brendan has created.   I tweeted every HGTV person I could find to tell them that I thought they should get this show here in the USA.  Maybe you can too…or if you know of another way to get in touch, I really feel it so important to improve the quality of programming for gardens in the USA.  Don’t you ?  I am brainstorming other channels that I can contact and make suggestions to….so far I have Discovery, Fine Living, and the green channel (that I can’t remember the name of right now)  any others you can think of?

Here is the remarkable after….

…and here is the remarkable Brendan… and you know he has an accent.

The French have always had the corner on the ‘cloche’  with beautiful bell shaped glass pieces being the classic go-to standard for terrariums….but I have to give it the Dutch now… These little terrariums that I found over at FoKal are so modern and perfectly suited for a sleeker space.   It think they are  the perfect alternative for a gardener with a contemporary sense of style.

You can buy these here and you can see more terrarium posts here and here.

VW will be showing this car called the Caddy in Dusseldorf, Germany later this summer.  I love that it is a combo car / deck chair on the go, I am imagining driving this around with kids in tow and a heap of plants in the back and when we all get a little tired of garden and nursery hopping, we just take a nice nap in the sun up on the roof while parked somewhere in natures great garden.

ok- now back to our regularly scheduled programming….

Looking for a great planter idea for 10$…..check out this project at design*sponge….

Created by chad at BaldManModPod.

Once again it is time to introduce you to another of my favorite bloggers by way of taking inspiration from them and their home states for my Native Plant series. This time my inspiration is from the state of Utah and is perhaps one of the most well known bloggers around – Heather Armstrong of Dooce. As a fellow mom…but one who is slightly beyond the baby stage, I look forward to Heather having a nearly 7 year old girl to see what she is going to say about that.

Once again, let me say, in the blogging world, it is not so often that you get a chance to meet people in the flesh and rather only know them through their online personalities and by stalking them on the various social media sites (twitter, facebook, etc.) So please understand I am doing this all in fun and my picks for people are meant to be the sincerest form of flattery and based entirely on their online personas.

Penstemon eatonii, the firecracker penstemon is a native of many arid western states and specifically desert Utah. Its clear red stands out as the forefront of any composition. Everyone’s eye goes their immediately and everything else is viewed in relation to it.

image by Mountain Mike

I found this little quip about the penstemon “Prefers full sun and well-drained soils. Fully cold-hardy. Drought hardy (i.e., needs no supplemental water after establishment on the Wasatch Front) and intolerant of overwatering and excessive fertility. Too-lush growing conditions can cause the flowering stalks to fall over (lodge), and may shorten the life of the plant.”

Which makes me think one thing...‘intolerant of …excessive fertility…’ WHAT? I think I might be intolerant of excessive fertility…and I think Dooce too, but a plant? What does that even mean?…I must be misreading this, because I find it way more funny than I should.

1. Firecracker, 2. Ruby-Throated Hummingbird, 3. Penstemon eatonii Firecracker Penstemon, 4. Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Coyote Gulch, Eaton’s firecracker, 5. Firecracker Penstemon, 6. DSC_0073-1, 7. Firecracker Penstemon, 8. Firecracker Penstemon, 9. Firecracker penstemon (Penstemon eatonii)

The bright red tubular flower are a hummingbird and bee favorite. The common name for penstemon is ‘beardtongue’, named for the infertile stamen that protrudes from the flower and looks like, well, a hairy tongue. Interesting really.

I think the penstemon might be one of the most relevant native plants for the garden.  Like our inspiration,  it really is a completely reliable performer even in the worst conditions, and while incredibly popular, it still has the ability to surprise and excite making it a favorite to many.

And Just a little update about where we are ….here is the map of what is done and left undone….I am on the downhill side, but here are the states that are left to come.
FL, GA, IA, ID, IL, KS, KY, LA, ME, MN, NC, ND, NV, OK, RI, SD, TN, TX, VT, WI

Indigo Gardens just tweeted an excellent looking find – a book that I might just need to add to my library.

Written by Ruah Donnelly, an attorney and Massachusetts neighbor, the Adventurous Gardener is a travel guide for New England gardeners to find some of the best, most unique and interesting nurseries. Always on the lookout for something new and interesting to encourage and excite my clients, I am hoping that this book will lead me to some great finds.