Rob's plants
home garden plants wildlife seed photos
plant sale journal topics plantlinks fun guestbook

Guest book

Please sign my guestbook

Your name

Your comments

Please note: if you have a question for me, you'll have better luck e-mailing me directly than asking it in my guestbook. Comments including html markups will not be processed - please submit your comments in plain text.

Guest book entries

2004  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009  2010  2011  2012  2013  2014  2015  2016  2017  2018  2019  2020  2021  2022  2023  

Debbie McPherson (December 31, 2011)
Great site, Rob. I LOVE all your lists. (I'm a List-lover). Definitely going to revisit your site.
 
Tracy T. Nelson (December 27, 2011)
nice site, bookmarked it for future use.
 
George Baucom (December 20, 2011)
Your website has been very useful in helping me choose which plants to grow in my garden, and which to grow from seed. Very informative and nicely done.
 
Susan K (November 25, 2011)
Hello Rob, you have a nice website and I enjoy browsing the plants. Your pictures are great. I was wondering if you plan to include the native range of the plants?

I sometimes include that information, but I don't think I'll make a point of providing it for all plants -- there are other resources better suited for that. But I'll try a little harder to remember adding details such as that.

 
Jeanie (November 22, 2011)
Happened on your web page quite by chance. I'm so pleased I've found it, I shall make sure I'm a regular visitor from now on. Thank you.
 
Justin Dale (November 12, 2011)
Great site, really enjoyed the experience. Great work
 
Eve (October 28, 2011)
I don't know why I haven't run into your site before, but I did looking up Indigofera amblyantha. I purchased the plant in Portland, OR, but I live in eastern Washington. Was trying to make sure it was safe to put this in the ground for the winter. Your site tells me that it could be iffy, but it will be in a sheltered place, so I'll go for it. Was very helpful to know that it dies back to the ground and like the phoenix....... Thanks
 
Simona (October 21, 2011)
This is an amazing website! Congrats, Rob! You have a beautiful garden! I live in PA also (Pittsburgh), so I hope that next spring I 'll be one of your customers :-) For me your site will be very helpful, because I am from Bulgaria (Southern Europe)and to care for garden here is still to difficult.
 
Judith Knott Tyler (October 06, 2011)
Stumbled across your site while wasting time on the web. Enjoyed seeing how people on the other side of the USA garden. Thanks
 
Jean Chandy (September 20, 2011)
Great site!
 
Kathi B. (September 07, 2011)
Hi Rob, I'm so glad I found your site. I love the photography and the fact that you've included all of the residents of your garden (like the bugs) not just the wonderful plants. Thank you for sharing! kb living and gardening in hot, no very hot Paso Robles, CA
 
Suzanne Blanktonson (September 07, 2011)
What an amazing website! A co-worker of mine suggested that I use your website as a gardening aid. He also said that your website has more information than almost all other gardening sites...he was right! Many Thanks.
 
Jo-Anne Lemaire (September 06, 2011)
Hi, Rob. Great site you've got here. I'm starting with your journal entries of 2004. I love seeing how people's gardens progress and change through the years. So far I'm having fun at your site. Hope you continue for a while yet with your gardening journal. Thanks for a great place to visit on a cold, wet day in Sept. 2011, here in Ontario, Canada.

It's been a cold and wet day here too, Jo-Anne. Not exactly inspiring me to journal about the garden, but I'm sure the fall glory will turn things around in due time :-)

 
Elisabeth Wijsman (August 19, 2011)
Thanks a lot for your web-site. Now I am sure that I bought the right sedum. Sedum Sieboldii. For covering the bottom. Hurrah. Correct. greetings, E.Wijsman
 
Kim Klein (August 10, 2011)
I love your web site, you have such great information. You have inspired me to journal about my garden, its great to look back from year to year to learn and also be proud with all the changes! Thank You Rob!
 
Neil Gunther (July 25, 2011)
This website is my favorite in the world! I can’t stop going on it! I can’t keep off of it! P.S.: Buy more plants to write about, please. I would buy a ground cover. Maybe Sedum makinoy or some other Sedum.

You'd be surprised. I've probably bought plants just so I could feature them on the website :-)

 
Tom King (July 14, 2011)
Hello, Rob. Just spent the past three nights combing your site. Really impressive and useful--thank you for your good work. I'll be a regular visitor. I live and garden in northeastern Kansas.
 
Donna Pike (July 13, 2011)
Wow! What a site - just amazing and I managed to identify a couple of plants in my garden who's names I didn't know....I live in New Westminster BC. Thanks Rob! It's like visint paradise. :)
 
Uzma Azad (June 30, 2011)
hi rob i mam from Lahore, PAKISTAN your work is so great and u explain every thing clearly. this is so well defined i love your work thanks
 
Rosetta (June 29, 2011)
Lucky I saw your comment 'bout shearing them back to their new growth--jest now I went to look in on it & thought it was weeds but these new leaves look like their tiny twins so they must be their new growth....also on another site I noticed that the yellow flowers may get brownish--I almost took it out thinking it was not happy in its location--relax if I do take it out, which is not gonna happen jest yet, it will not be this summer, fer sure. I found the perfect spot for it--under a bottom cut cedar tree--unsure of its real name, you know, the Christmas tree--could be a spruce tree. I did not cut the bottom but now that it is cut, it serves a purpose--the perfect home for my newly acquired herman's pride, afterall.
 
Louise Schuchman (June 29, 2011)
Thank you so much for the Cleome information/photos. I miss having a yard. I am in an apartment now with a very small balcony that I have over-crowded with Cleome, marigolds, two tomato plants and butterfly weed. Do you have any suggestions for us gardeners with limited space? Your web site is wonderful.
 
Joseph Moran (June 27, 2011)
Gr8 site do u have newsletter or twitter acct?

Afraid not, I'm pretty old-fashioned that way. Just the journal and the comments/guestbook system.

 
Jude (June 25, 2011)
I was all set to offer you some smyrnium seeds...... they grow like a welcome weed in my Oxfordshire (UK) garden but I think posting them would be illegal! The trouble is I've found loads of things on your "wanted" list that I now want too:-) Ironically I'll be in Canada and the US next week but the seeds aren't ripe and I'd probably get locked up anyway if I smuggled some! Good Luck with the search once you've got them you'll never be without them!

The thought is appreciated, anyway :-) I've tried to grow them from traded seed a few times, but I think the seed has low storage viability. No luck so far.

 
Amy Broekhuis (June 21, 2011)
Hi Lynne, He surely does-(Rock, that is!) It still amazes me that our lot of flat green has turned into something so magnificent! Rob and I enjoy reading your comments- thanks everyone! Best- Amy (Rob's wife)
 
Lynne Bashaw (June 20, 2011)
You are my hero! I own a design business in Onalaska Washington, perennialpassionsgardendesign.com . I have hundreds of perennials and blooming shrubs conifers etc. I Have never taken the time (recently) to map and ID all my plants in all the beds. I did this for a few years and just couldn't keep up. I have many of the same plants you do, so it has made it easier to find out the varieties on your site! You Rock!
 
Amy Brattain (June 19, 2011)
I bought my hen and chickens last year and this year they have a ton of roosters! It appears from the comments this does not happen very often. I took a few pictures for the memory book:) We have really enjoyed watching them take on a new life!
 
Patty Hicks (June 17, 2011)
Rob, I must say you have a wonderful site here. I very much appreciate your detailing of propagation. I will be sharing this on facebook with the Gardenaholics Anonymous group. Thanks again and I'll be peeking in off and on to see what's new. ~Patty~
 
Karen Carpenter (June 09, 2011)
Rob your site and your flower gardens are exceptional.I am just starting out with my garden with my 20 different flowers and when I look at your site I think wow what aa gift this guy has he ssurely must be a botany major...I worked in a flower shop for 5 years and I have to be around flowers they make me happy and keep my sense of wonder alive...I was looking up eryngiun when I found you...love your journal entrys
 
Terry Pugh (June 05, 2011)
I love your website. It is so well laid out. I envy your organization.

Thanks -- a little bit at a time, spread out over seven years, goes a long way.

 
Patricia Chapman (June 04, 2011)
I was trying to find out how to treat Mrs Wilmott, I planted a cottage garden this is its 2nd year, only 18 ft by 6 ft mrs W was gorgeous last year, but this year a bit disappointed, perhaps I should give her a feed eh1 loved your site, and your border, thank you for sharing it with us.
 
Shirleyanne (June 01, 2011)
You have brightened my day. I was trying to identify a plant when I came across your page. My garden is in sub-tropical Queensland, Australia, so find most of the plants on your site quite exotic. I shall email my question. Thank you for a wonderful website. I shall come back again and again. Warmest wishes
 
Diane Joan Mahbouby (May 31, 2011)
Wonderful, informative website. Much pleasure in reading comments and chat. I've been a geranium addict for years, but only had a garden to indulge it in for the last four. Live in Leicester (UK)
 
Heidi (May 27, 2011)
Your site is outstanding and you are filling a significant gap in information that exists for many of your featured plants. As a gardener for 20 years, I'm increasingly exploring species that are not in the garden center and only briefly mentioned in books. So glad you're online with the rest of the story.
 
Ken Dobbs (May 14, 2011)
Interesting site this, i found it while looking for info' on Solanum Atropurpureum,I bought one of these plants from a garden show here in the UK where i live,GLOUCESTER,the plant attracted me as i like cacti,and the spiny nature appealed,guess i'll e treating this one with care having noted it's toxic nature ! Great garden you have,best wishes from Ken
 
janice s (May 10, 2011)
Hi love your site especially the geraniums i have over forty different ones, and hope to be getting some more soon.Its been very dry here in the UK for ages the geraniums seem to survive a lot better then other perennials . All the best keep up the good ,Janice
 
Darren Poulter (May 07, 2011)
Hi Rob, What a fantastic informative site ,like others stumble acrossed and added it to my favourites for further studying.Shame im in the UK and cannot get to the plant sale.Have a great day, Kind regards daz
 
Bev Turner (May 05, 2011)
Wow, what a great site! I came across you researching the best time to transplant a rare Thalictrum for a client. I started a small Garden Center near Wilkes-Barre in the early 90's, partly because myself and a collector friend wanted plants and no local garden centers had them. We continue to offer an amazing variety of hard-to-find plants, but I do see a change in availability as plant patenting and branding is taking over the 'industry'. I used to carry the previously mentioned Lillium fomosanum, but the grower no longer grows it. I am glad you are doing what you do! Thanks!
 
Norhaini (May 03, 2011)
Greetings and warm regards from Malaysia....i m just learning my way around blogging...have just started....like your site...can i buy some seeds...m yaerning ...sourcing for Lillium formosanum ....or Lillium philipense.... http://juntaiankesidang.blogspot.com/
 
Yvonne from Bulgaria (May 02, 2011)
I love your style, the detailed info and wonderful photos!
 
Fran Rozyskie (April 27, 2011)
Thank you for a valuable resource! You’ve done a great job, the pictures are wonderful and the descriptions are exceptionally informative. Love your wildlife links, I find my joy of gardening is enhanced by listening to the different birds, watching the animals and discovering just who it is who is decimating a plant at any given time. I've bookmarked your site so that I can visit often. Kind regards.
 
claira ferreira (April 25, 2011)
Hello, I am from England (sorry don't know Wills and Kate) and I have just sat down to eat my lunch, look at some pensteman images on the web before going to the garden centre to have a mooch and have come across your website -what a facinating world we live in!
 
Zach Thompson (April 25, 2011)
Love your website, very informative and you have a great way to explain things. I do have a question though. I'm in the San Diego area (new here) and directly sowed zinnias, beans, and okra about two weeks ago and some now have come up, but the zinna cotyledons look wrinkled, and the first true leaves of the beans are wrinkled and small. Was the soil too wet or cold? I have a feeling I sowed them too early. I'm definitely trying the baggie method though!

I doubt your soil would be too cold in San Diego this time of year. If they're up and growing, I figure they'll be fine.

 
Norma Teresa Daglio (April 23, 2011)
Los frutos del Membrillero de la China (Pseudocydonia sinensis) son comestibles; puede hacerse mermelada con ellos. Se les quita la cáscara, se cortan en pequeños trozos y se ponen a hervir con azúcar a gusto, a fuego bajo; hay que agregarle las semillas que le dan consistencia y color a la preparación ya que pòseen pectina. Las semillas se colocan en un lienzo (como si fuera una pequeña bolsa) y se echan dentro de la preparación, al cabo de un rato, se quitan. La mermelada es agridulce y astringente, parece el dulce de membrillo. Este árbol es el único representante del género Pseudocydonia, tiene su orígen el Asia (China), tiene similitudes con el género Cydonia (membrillo) y con el Chaenomeles. Es un pequeño árbol ornamental apto para jardines de tamaño reducido. Espero que puedan hacer la mermelada y disfrutarla con un rico té. Saludos desde Argentina.
 
Kelly Woodall (April 23, 2011)
Just found the web site, been gardening almost 30, this is the best web site I've come across yet. I did email a question. Great work, I'll be sending some of my picks. I get a lot of stuff from other people when I see they have something I don't. I do have one plant I got from someone, absolutely gorgeous, don't know what it is. Maybe you can help.
 
lori wilson (April 15, 2011)
I'm so sorry I don't live in PA any longer--my husband was transferred to So. Orange County, CA--I know a lot of people would say what bliss, but a day doesn't go by when my husband and I give a little sigh. We truly miss the acrage, weather, people and plants of your beautiful state. PA is the only state I've lived in where I felt I was finally at home.

Hi Lori - I lived in California before moving here, and similarly sigh when I remember the grand outdoor opportunities of the golden state. But I never gardened there, so wherever I move, PA will always be the place where I built my first garden :-)

 
Sandy (April 12, 2011)
LOVE your site and all the work you put into it to make it so wonderful. I stumbled on it and then, as Becky did, noticed you are a neighbor. I'm right above Lake Nockamixon in Haycock Twp, Bucks Co. I hope to visit some day.
 
Gail Cunard (April 03, 2011)
Thank you for a very helpful site.
 
Becky (April 01, 2011)
It is so nice to see someone else from the Lehigh Valley! I found your site today while looking for articles and advice that wouldn't confuse or confound me--as this year, I finally own land with my husband, and we will be planting our very first garden! I was reading through your musings, and then realized that you were talking about the LV! Wonderful! I am sure to be an avid reader from now on!

Likewise, nice to hear from a neighbor! Let's hope that this season will have garden-friendlier conditions than last, for your first foray into gardening!

 
Alison Garahan--Eastern Shore Maryland (March 20, 2011)
Stumbled on the site like many others; this time looking for info on hardy begonia fertilizing. Still no info here, but did found out they should not be OVER fertilized. So what and when do they need in the Mid-Atlantic zone 7? Anyone out there?

If you have decent garden soil, I wouldn't bother fertilizing, besides perhaps a bit of compost.

 
Danielle and Iain Ross from Australia (March 20, 2011)
My husband and I have just set in motion our total backyard renovation. We have enjoyed reading and looking at your website as it has inspired and excited us for our journey ahead.
 
pdxbookworm (March 20, 2011)
I am amazed at your website. You have the best collection of pictures I have found for plant ID. How do you manage to get all your planting , labeling, sales and seed collecting done and still manage a website?

The website has been 7 years in the making (and counting), so it's a little bit at a time :-)

 
Dianne Nichol-Brown, Polemonium Plantery (March 16, 2011)
Please please dont swap seeds of yout Polemonium you have called pulcherrimum under that name - I have to sort out all the wrongly named ones that get into cultivation and your picture is of Polemonium caeruleum subsp. villosum or van bruntieae,thanks, dianne

I'll try to sort things out (thanks for your email followup!), and avoid further contaminating the Polemonium gene pool ;-)

 
Mary F. (McCarthy) Bexfield (March 14, 2011)
Dear Rob: I just discovered you site. I was looking up info on Tithonia and found out, again, how much I still need to learn about gardening. I found out that they are, in fact, Mexican Sunflowers. I was looking for "Mexican Sunflowers" in the store when I bought the Tithonia. I thought they would do until I found what I was looking for. In the now famous words of Charlie Sheen, "Winning, duh!" I got what I was looking for in the first place. Thanks! I have a butterfly gardern or rather a butterfly yard here in FL and am always trying new nectar and host plants. I also USUALLY try to stick to native or at least non-invasive non-natives. Thanks, again.
 
genepher (February 26, 2011)
Greetings from snowy Richmond Hill Ontario Canada. I have been gardening for many years and worked at various garden centres. I only recently received my laptop and am a web newby. Found your site by accident and looking at your journal I see you get into warm spring weather a lot earlier than we do. I have spent a long time on your site, still haven't seen everything. Congrats it is a real pleasure and I shall return. Am starting some perennial seeds (Acanthus) and putting them outside as we still have snow and cold. Cheers and roll on spring!

Welcome to the web, Genepher. And best wishes for an early spring!

 
Ruth (February 21, 2011)
Wonderful pic's and comments. I stumbled in hours ago ... Thanks for your work! I am in the northern edge of zone 4 -- outside Minneapolis, so a bit more limited than you. A BIT more, yeah
 
Nico Reints ebox@live.nl (February 20, 2011)
I have absolute can't find surfing all over the world a nicer wunderful site you've Greetings from our tulipscountry the netherlands
 
Karl Holmes (February 15, 2011)
Thanks for the propagation tips, especially w/Cephalaria.
 
Celeste Lindsay (February 07, 2011)
Hi Rob. it's me again! I'm in Collectors Nursery neighborhood. Owner Diana Reeck is a friend of mine, and she told me that your right, she does not sell it any longer, but said she would go out with a shovel and dig me a chunk. Small world!! Thanks Rob Celeste Lindsay Battle Ground WA. P.S. She sells such unusual and great plants.

Wow, that's a great story. Good luck with your variegated horseradish!

 
Beverly Letter (February 06, 2011)
Hi Rob, Years ago, I decided that if I didn't absolutely love a plant, it wasn't staying in my garden. Along with Hostas (of many kinds), Johnson's Blue is my absolute favorite. I love the beautiful periwinkle blue of the flowers. I cut all my geraniums right down to the ground once they are spent and they always come back and bloom again. I do have Roxanne but I think that Johnson's Blue will always be my favorite. By the way, I don't plant Hostas, which are in deep shade on my property, with the Hardy Geraniums. I tried it, but the geraniums didn't bloom. I just replanted them and they took off. I have lots of other flowers that I love, but Johnson's Blues just blow me away every year. I like to use yellows around them, like Stella Dora Day Lillies.

Thanks for sharing your favorites, Beverly!

 
Carla Koehn (February 06, 2011)
Love the information you give. It has helped me a lot. Keep up the good work.
 
Celeste lindsay (January 16, 2011)
Hi Rob, What a wonderful site you've (or had )created. I'm impressed.I love the photos.It's such a picture of a wonderful all-American home. I guess I am seeing that you do not do mail order. Well, I've been looking for the Variegated horseradish from some time, and spotted your gorgeous shot on Google. I guess I'd better look closer to home; which is SW Washington State. Good luck on the 2011 sales. Celeste L. PS I've placed you wonderful shot on my desk top. Thanks1

Ha, that's kind of funny - my variegated horseradish came from Washington State, by mail order from Collectors Nursery. It doesn't look like they still sell it, though.

 
Dawn Herbst (January 15, 2011)
hi, Rob-what a fantastic site...my new favorite! Also, thanks for your help with the NARGS seed list; it was a real godsend.
 
Sylvia Shepherd (January 15, 2011)
I also discovered your website whilst searching for an image of Sellinium Wallichianum, You have a lot of plants that I also have, or aspire to have. I garden on the East coast of Scotland, so sometimes it is a challange to establish some plants. It's a great site, your photos are stunning, and I look forward to another visit
 
PAULINE PONDER (January 13, 2011)
Hi Rob, I live in Tasmania, Australia. The climate in Tasmania is absolutely not that of the mainland- It snows here! I was delighted to see a marvelous succulent specimen 'pop up' in my garden and then flower beautifully last week. I have been trying to identify it ever since and with the assistance of the Tasmania Royal Botanic Gardens, narrowed it down to a Yucca. With the wonderful images you have on your site, I can now say it is a Yucca filamentosa! Thank you! I am told it is quite a feat to have a flowering Yucca here in Tasmania. I look forward to seeing it each year.

Hey, this time of year it's our turn for snow! Thanks for writing, Pauline :-)

 
Christine Dudley-Marling (January 05, 2011)
What an amazing website. I was searching for anemone tormentosa and stumbled across your site. You have more information than almost all other gardening sites. Thanks.
 

home garden plants wildlife seed plant sale topics guestbook journal plantlinks

Last modified: January 24, 2015
Contact me