Gardening and Garden Design

Subscribe to The Renaissance Garden Guy Say Hello to Hellebores When it comes to spectacular late winter and early spring foliage and bloom displays, nothing delivers like a hellebore.  Its thick, textured leaves and ethereal flowers turn a shady spot in a frosty garden into a true paradise.  Without a doubt, growing hellebores is a

Subscribe to The Renaissance Garden Guy Late Winter Pruning in the Midwest It’s time to engage in some late winter pruning here in the Midwest.  Hit ’em while they’re still sleeping.  In hardiness zone 5B/6A, your soon-to-awaken perennials will thank you for the axe treatment. By John G. Stamos Greetings, readers and subscribers, and welcome

Subscribe to The Renaissance Garden Guy Does a ‘China Girl’ Need a ‘China Boy’?: Love Among the Holly Bushes Does a ‘China Girl’ need a ‘China Boy’ in order for this gorgeous green holly to make those awesome little red berries (that everybody likes to dangle from their fireplace mantels during the holidays)?  Sexual dimorphism

Subscribe to The Renaissance Garden Guy How Cold Hardy Are Gardenias, Really? How cold hardy are gardenias, really?  The emerging answer is currently shivering its ass off in my garden. By John G. Stamos Table of Contents How Cold Hardy Are Gardenias, Really? An Introduction Welcome, readers and subscribers.  Please accept my apologies for my

Subscribe to The Renaissance Garden Guy Autumn Leaves: Rake ’em or Forget ’em? “Autumn leaves: rake ’em or forget ’em?”  That’s the question of the hour.  When the trees are bare, but the ground is covered (and that includes the ground where your garden grows), what do you do with that brown and rustling terrestrial

Subscribe to The Renaissance Garden Guy “What the Hell Is a Toad Lily?” My ornamental perennial garden has got some pretty good stuff growing in it.  Well-known beauties like roses and hydrangeas share the territory with slightly more esoteric individuals like blue-flowered gentians and corydalis.  But maybe the strangest (and among the prettiest and most

Subscribe to The Renaissance Garden Guy Beautiful Blue Garden Blooms There’s just something so incredibly transcendent about a blue flower.  That color.  That color.  Takes me somewhere else…   Ok, I’m back.  And I’m going to show you some of the beautiful blue blooms that grow in my garden.  Ten different kinds, in fact.  With pics and