Mix it up with a fun annual combination – I planted several containers with purple and green mixes I adore and tucked them on tables and benches for a shock of unexpected color. Above the container was in full sun and below the container was in shade. You see a tropical plant from Plants Nouveau, Colocasia ‘Red Eyed Gecko’ PPAF, planted in the center of each container surrounded with annuals;  Bacopa ‘Calypso Jumbo Lavender’, Zinnia ‘Profusion Yellow’, and Verbena ‘Imagination’.

Creative and bright, these containers get more florific and beautiful as the season goes on if you add an organic fertilizer or a manure tea like Moo Poo Tea to the containers. Try this combination in your garden!

Special Note – Because the FTC requires it, I am telling you that Plants Nouveau,  Organic Mechanics Soil, and Natural Industries supplied the plants, mulch, soil, and soil additives I used in these colorful garden containers. I have used their products because I WOULD even if they had not given the products to me.  Opinions are my own and I have a lot of them.

Summer is here, my peeps, and my feet need to be happy. It’s all about the summer lovin’! Your little footies need some green summer lovin’ too. At the bottom of this post enter to win a contest for a free pair of shoes. When we discuss shoes we must discuss a problem: sustainable shoes made from renewable resources which are actually really-truly comfortable are nearly impossible to find. Birki.us has come up with the perfect solution in building their shoes with natural cork – a renewable resource.

Birki’s contacted me and asked me to put these greener than average shoes through “The Shawna-marator”. Being a doubting Thomas I said, “There’s no stinkin’ cork that can hold up to the Shawna-marator.” They laughed maniacally and sent me the shoes anyway.

Below is the Birki Milos – it is colorful, fun, comfortable, and creative looking. In other words, absolutely perfect for my quirky personality. The bed of the shoe is made of cork and is comfortable. The strap between the toes is ever-so slightly pull-ish and rubs a bit with long walks. However, the shoe is comfortable and perfect for wearing around for summer (especially in the garden).

At the top of the post you see my new favorite shoe of all time; the Birki Tahiti Soft in Mesh Trekking Orange. This is seriously one of the most comfortable shoes I have ever worn. No exaggeration. In the top photo you see me wearing the shoes, brand new, in Mexico during my last eco-trip. We spent the day snorkeling and walking through jungles. First day out I had no blisters and I probably walked 6 miles. I wear them to garden in and have found that the foot bed raises my foot up just enough to avoid getting splinters and the like in between the foot bed and my foot. This is good because my husband is sick to death of pulling splinters out of my feet.

To test this shoe further I put them on a hard ride through the Shawna-marator: I have put them in the freezer for two weeks, run them under water, tried to cut it with a knife (unsuccessfully), and drove over them with my car. These shoes cannot be killed. I officially deem these Birki’s kick-ass garden lady worthy!

HOW TO WIN A PAIR OF SUMMER SHOES –

It is easy to enter to win a pair of shoes. In the comment section below tell me the funniest summertime story in the history of all stories. One randomly selected funny story teller will win the shoes.

I will randomly select a winner to the contest next week on May 24th and have the Birki team send out a pair of rocking cool shoes for you as the prize.

Meanwhile, while you people are telling me stories I’ll be singing Summertime and sipping cocktails with my eco-friendly sandals on out in the garden.

May the best sustainable shoe addict win!

Happy Summer!

Dear UPS Corporation,

Today I received a delivery of fresh young test plants that were sent so that I am able to try them out in the garden. I am a test gardener and plant arrival is always an exciting moment for me. My readers, and I’m sure your delivery team, know that categorically I have a deep and passionate obsession with gardening, right? It’s like a love affair with none of that messy controversy, except when my city gets upset with me (but that’s another story).  I actually work out in my garden in the spring at night with a head lamp on because I MUST get the plants in the ground in time.

But I digress.

What I’m trying to say is I’m garden nutso. And you get this by now by seeing the sheer quantity of plants you deliver to my household annually. Having said all this, I’m sure you understand how important it is to get these plants in good condition.  You’ll note in the photo above how the plants arrived on my front porch today. Do you see something wonky here? Note the very specific arrow placement.

Now I understand that this might be your busy season because it just happens to be my busy season too – I’m planting the front lawn veggie garden, my kid just graduated from college, I’m writing a book, and I’m touring the country speaking all over the place. Perhaps your drivers are so busy that they have forgotten which freakin’ direction is up. This is surprising to me because the word “UP” is actually a part of your corporation’s name.

Let me confirm. ::rereading your company name::

Yes it is true: UPS has “UP” in it!

I just wanted to remind you hereto and forevermore which direction is really up. It’s the direction that plants grow. It’s where you look when you look at the clouds. It’s the place you go after you sit in a chair then change your mind and decide you need a cup o’ coffee. It’s the direction that success can be found. Up is always at the top of things. Generally speaking, it’s the opposite of down.

I hope you’ll continue to deliver lots of plants and other stuff to me, but  will be sure to face the box the direction the shipper intended.

Thank you ever so much,

Shawna

Today I woke up and the front lawn was smothered in crabapple snow. I have horrid allergies to tree pollen, so every day of gardening while the 35 year old white tree is in bloom is painful for me.

Yet when I walked out this morning, coffee in hand, and saw this orange Geum ‘Sea Breeze’ smiling at me in the middle of all that snow, I was overcome with garden happiness.

Geum loves a rich, moist, soil in full sun. They blend well with Salvia’s and are a great bloomer from April through June.  Most geum reach 24″ high and about 12 to 18″ wide. Plant a Geum this month and find your own little corner of happiness!

Sometimes the simple things are the best things in life. Like crabapple snow and an orange smile.

When my youngest daughter was tiny she became fascinated by a purple flower in the garden. She would say, “Mama, there are aliens in our garden!”  Without a doubt, the Allium Globemaster looks like a little man with a purple head standing above the rest of the perennials. Part of what makes me love gardening so much is the uniqueness that each plant brings to the garden bed. Alliums are my particular favorite and start to dry in the garden late May and early June (here’s a link that tells you how to grow them – LINK).

When the flowers fade, they need to be clipped off the plant or they remain brown and dead looking the rest of the season. I take these dried dead heads, paint them a bright color and use them in centerpieces and on wreaths. Above you see a recent wreath I created – it is super-easy to make and a great way to reuse dried flowers.

HOW TO MAKE A WREATH FROM DRIED ALLIUM FLOWERS

What you need:

• Old Allium deadheads
• Stiff wire or an old hanger
• Twine
• Spray paint

How to:

1. Spray paint your flowers and stems a color of your choosing (I chose Kick Ass Green and Aubergine)
2. Shape your wire into a circle.
3. Arrange flowers into the design you like.
4. Using twine, attach the flowers by wrapping twine around the stems.
5. Circle twine around naked wire.
6. Tie twine once you have enough thickness.
7. Hang.

Here’s the issue: I have to travel a lot and am concerned about how millions of taxi’s in the world are touching the environment. I’m also concerned that I might die in a cab ride. Over half the cabbies I’ve ridden with are texting simultaneously while driving, which is an accident waiting to happen. Either the car smells like a small animal died in the back seat or it smells heavily of air freshener, both are likely to trigger an asthma attack for me. Why does it have to smell like death? Why?

Above you see a poem I wrote about a few of the taxi drivers I have ridden with. The photo of the texting taxi-driver was taken in Lisbon, Portugal at night while riding a frightening, death-defying trip through the city. I lived. Nothing short of a freakin’ miracle.

How to get a green taxi:

Speaking around the world means I need to climb into a taxi at least once every city. Cabs are frequently gas guzzlers and contribute to our environmental problems. Sadly, there seem to be no conveniently located eco-taxi’s. You have to phone and special request a green taxi to come out to your location and pick you up if you want a eco-friendly option. Benefits of greener taxi’s include a better-for-the-environment ride. For example, hybrid vehicles use less fossil fuel and have significantly reduced emissions.

Want to go greener on your travels this summer? Search “green taxis” online before you travel and reserve an advance ride – it will make a difference.

OH – and I would be thrilled if some of my readers would do a dramatic video reading of the above photo-poem and put it up on YouTube for me to see. Please put links to your dramatic reading in the comment section below so we can all check it out and have a good laugh!!

Happy Green Taxi-Riding!

Every season, no matter what that season might be,  my 12 year old daughter and I are presented with a view. Out the front window to the garden, that is. We call it “TV”. You know, “Fall TV” or “Summer TV”. Currently we are in  “Spring TV” and the show is quite tree-spectacular. We sit together in our pajamas with happy smiles on our face watching the birds, squirrels, and nature nearly every morning.

Recent estimates say that children watch somewhere between 28 and 32 hours a week of television. Might I suggest that “Garden TV” is a much better idea? We have discovered lots of wildlife in my garden and a lot of that search starts out when we open the curtains and take a closer look at Garden TV in the morning.

Do you have a view of your garden? No? Then build it. Make sure your children share it with you because there’s nothing like sharing a great view with the ones we love.

Happy Spring!

When Kylee Baumle and Jenny Peterson asked me to be part of the Indoor Plant Décor Virtual Blog Tour and contest give-away I was SO excited. Kylee and Jenny are long time garden writer friends who also happen to have two of the kick-assiest garden blogs in existence:

Kylee’s awesome garden life blog – Our Little Acre

Jenny’s great design blog – J Peterson Garden Design

Reading their book was fabulous because I am mainly an outdoor gardener and have virtually no experience or knowledge of houseplants and indoor urban planting design. If it does not involve a pallet, a weird vertical wall design, stacked containers, or wine bottles I’m lost like a blind mouse in a fairy tale. I like to call myself a “Houseplant Idiot”. No seriously – I need help.

In step authors Kylee and Jenny to save the day with great ideas. These two ladies are indoor planting super heroes who are helping save me from a dreadful houseplant disaster. Always a relief. Indoor Plant Décor, The Design Stylebook for Houseplants is exactly what it sounds like and more; a fantastic full-color book filled with astoundingly cool ideas for nifty indoor plants. For those of you who have tired of a single cactus or boring spider plants, these houseplant gurus suggest over 136 pages of magnificently creative ideas.

There are step-by-step container garden crafts, eight cool decor style chapters, with tips and hundreds of eye-goggling design photos (see a few of them on this page) to make gardener and designer alike drool with envy. This book is filled with both Kylee and Jenny’s imaginative choices. They dare readers to build a Japanese Moss ball and try their hand at planting a container necklace, giving full instructions for several planting techniques. This lovely and artistic book is an imaginative guide bringing a better understanding of the delights of the garden indoors.

Get the great guide book at this link – HERE.

~HOW TO WIN THE PRIZE – A SET OF DRAMM PRUNERS~

It is easy to enter to win the prize on this blog give-away. In the comment section below leave me a short story about your experiences growing houseplants. The funnier, the more ridiculous, the sillier; the better.

I will randomly select a winner to the contest next week on Sunday, May 12th and will have the Dramm team send out some great clippers for you.

AND THE RANDOMLY SELECTED WINNER OF THE PRIZE IS JEAVONNA CHAPMAN! Congrats!!!

Also -

Several other bloggers are participating in this virtual book tour, each offering a different prize. Visit each blog and leave a comment on the giveaway post for a chance to win that prize. The more blogs you visit, the more opportunities for you to win some goodies!

Steve Asbell – The Rainforest Garden
Debra Lee Baldwin – Gardening Gone Wild
Carolyn Binder – Cowlick Cottage Farm
Shawna Coronado – Shawna Coronado
Charlotte Germane – Dirt Du Jour
Pam Penick – Digging
Stacy Risenmay – Not Just a Housewife
Christina Salwitz – Personal Garden Coach
Erin Schanen – The Impatient Gardener
Rebecca Sweet – Gossip in the Garden

ABOUT THE PRIZE: A Set of Dramm Pruners

The ColorPoint™ Compact Shear is ideal for cutting flowers, or multiple household uses. The lightweight shear is made with corrosion-resistant stainless steel blades for precise trimming and shaping – great for bonsai! The ergonomic handle and non-slip grips fit your hand for a comfortable cut every time. The ColorPoint™ Compact Shear has a blade lock mechanism for safe storage. Available in six vivid colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue and berry.

The ColorPoint™ Garden Scissors are great for cuttings and garden clean up. This popular item is ergonomically designed to reduce carpal tunnel syndrome. The ColorPoint™ Garden Scissors are made with a carbon steel blade and fit in the palm of your hand.  Available in six brilliant colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue and berry. These lightweight scissors have been featured in Better Homes & Gardens. A perfect gift!

The winner can choose the color they would like!

For more information on these products or the Dramm company: http://www.rainwand.com/cutting.html

Mother Nature Network has started a great educational push to teach people how to grow their own groceries and make a difference in community. This week they invited me to participate as the host for a Google+ Hangout episode right in my front lawn veggie garden.

Our episode this week was focused on teaching viewers the basics of amending soil.  You can see that it’s too early in the Chicago planting season to see plant growth yet. I talked about soil amendments and the basics of putting the plants and seeds in the ground. Please click on the video below and watch to learn more.

Half way through the video making process you will note that my computer broke down and I had to run – and I mean RUN – to my inside computer as fast as I possibly could. This is why the last part of the video shows me sweating profusely in my bedroom. However, it all worked out in the end – message delivered and the video was excellent fun to make.

Thanks MNN.com for having me host a great Google+ Hangout – now let’s get growing!!!

I planted Hibiscus rosa-sinensis ‘Erin Rachel’ (above) completely expecting the plant to fail – I have never grown a bush in a pot before. Not only did it thrive, but it was truly one of the most spectacular flowers in my garden.

Bottom line, when the folks at Hines Growers asked me to try out the bush Hibiscus rosa-sinensis ‘Erin Rachel’ from their Bahama Bay Bloomtastic collection, I said okay not knowing what glorious sunshine was going to greet me every morning (see below). I used some old leftover soil mixed with a little rotted manure in the container and fertilized once with an organic fertilizer. Threw the plant in and SH’BANG! Glorious colors the rest of the summer.

Erin Rachel displays 5″ blooms with dark burgundy centers opening to shades of pink, red and orange all summer. Great hedge or container plant. With drought conditions, the hibiscus did not grow large, but it definitely flowered well. This plant can grow up to 5′ tall and 4′ wide, so be prepared for growth if you put it in the ground. Best in zones 8 – 10, but will grow anywhere in a container as long as you put it in full-sun.

My review: a tough container bush with plenty of color punch and no disease problems even in drought conditions. I loved it and think you will too.

According to the FTC I need to let you know that I got this gorgeous plant as a sample from Hines Growers at no cost. Every morning I talked to the plant to help it grow and also chatted with it because I’m crazy. Just so you know – all opinions are always my own.