Heartland Gardening bloggers
(left to right: Michael Leach, Debra Knapke and Teresa Woodard)
Michael Leach, Teresa Woodard, and I were in Indianapolis in 2011 attending a GWA – The Association of Garden Communicators – conference. After a garden writers workshop we went out to dinner. Not an easy thing to do in a city where three other conferences were also in session. Over the second bottle of wine, while waiting for our table, we decided to create a blog together. We not only launched the blog, Heartland Gardening, but developed deep friendships.
In June, 2021, Michael passed, Teresa became more involved with her writing – please look for her book American Roots and her next book, Garden to the Max which will be published in March 2025. And I became involved with projects that focus on care for the Earth and and all who live on it. Teresa and I felt that it was time to let our blog settle into an archive as a beautiful testament to three gardeners who shared their passion for plants, people, and collaboration.
Enjoy.
Scary Plants
Needles, poisons and creepy shapes make some plants scary By Michael Leach My earliest memories of plants are a mixture of mostly delight and a modicum of dread. Fragrant flowers, tasty vegetables and juicy windfall apples were early favorites and remain so. My first...
Autumn Jewels II
By Debra Knapke I've often heard the complaint that autumn is dull, and all we have is mums and pumpkins. Well, I recently went searching for jewels in my autumn garden and found not only jewels, but a plentiful array of flowers. Below is a glimpse of these...
Autumn Jewels
Late Season Gifts from Nature Debra Knapke Teresa, Michael and I meet periodically to talk about the blog: its direction and ideas for posts. We always take a walk in the garden before we sit with our coffee (Michael and Teresa) and tea (me) and plan. This time I...
Prolonging Summer 2015
Dose of denial keeps summer around no matter what calendar says By Michael Leach The calendar shows autumn officially arrived September 23. Well excuse me, but I’m not ready to give up summer just yet. Granted this summer is a doozie. (Note the use of the present...
Hello, Fall!
Looking for some fall gardening inspiration? Well, check out some of the season's best posts on Heartland Gardening: Fall Veggies by Michael Leach Colorful Fall Fruits by Teresa Woodard Fall Maintenance Tasks by Debra Knapke The Guilty Gardener by Michael Leach...
Embracing the Bug
IPM’s Pro-Active Pest Control Approach For years, I battled with insects – wasps, Japanese beetles, bean beetles, stink bugs, aphids and more. Like the woman in the garden store line this weekend, I used to buy the most powerful insecticide to wipe out pests even...
The Power of Annuals
Winning Plants for Summer Color By Teresa Woodard In the gardening world, annual plants are often the step-child to the perennial darlings. But Scott Beuerlein, horticulturalist at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Gardens, opened my eyes to the virtues of annuals...
House And Garden Fight Over Paint Colors
By Michael Leach When it comes to choosing house paint colors, a gardener must satisfy personal tastes and those of the plants. This seems a snap, considering one generally grows plants with blooms in colors that please one’s eye. Not so fast. My decision to paint the...
Garden Editing: Tomato Renovation and Basil Triage
By Debra Knapke Late summer: the time of year when I look at the abundance of my garden and start taking away what is too much: pruning, thinning and removing diseased plants. I call this simplifying the garden and opening up space for ideas gleaned from seminars,...