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You are here: Home / Archives for Gardening Tips / Landscaping

15 Fast-Growing Trees to Transform Your Yard Quickly

Updated : March 23, 2025

2 Comments

Young trees planted in organized rows, sunny landscape.

If you’re the kind of person who wants to see results fast, then fast-growing trees might be exactly what your yard needs. Whether you’re looking to add privacy, shade, or just boost your property’s curb appeal without waiting a decade — this guide is for you. We’ll walk through everything you need to know: why… Click here to read more…

Mike’s Big Perennial Bed by the Month.

Updated : April 27, 2023

16 Comments

A few months back I did a really extensive post about My Big Perennial Bed with a listing and description of pretty much every plant in the bed. Now I’d like to show off the plants in the bed month by month as they bloom or just look really nice.

Mike’s Big Perennial Garden

Updated : January 8, 2023

40 Comments

Mike's Big Perennial Bed.

At The Nursery I have this big bed that is really just a big pile of sand and gravel that I dug out to make a container area. Rather than haul the material away I just gave it some contour and landscaped it. Over the years I’ve had all kinds of really interesting plants in… Click here to read more…

The Right Way to Treat Your Flower Bulbs after they Bloom.

Updated : June 10, 2022

32 Comments

Flower bulb care after they bloom.

Me and the donkeys made a movie for you about caring for your flower bulbs after they bloom. It seems to be that the standard practice is to roll the tops into a ball, put a rubber band around them and wait for them to turn brown before you cut them off. But in my… Click here to read more…

Photos, Landscaping Ideas from My Butt Ugly Landscape. Worst Landscape Design Ever!

Updated : June 9, 2022

47 Comments

Ice Plant, Delosperma

A couple of years ago I posted a video and some photos of the landscaping around our house and one guy said something like, “It’s a good thing you know how to grow plants because your landscape design skills are terrible. So when I did an update I titled the post, “My Landscape Design Skills… Click here to read more…

Busting Gardening Myths!

Updated : May 1, 2022

18 Comments

One of Our Members, http://backyardgrowers.com/join, shared this article with the other members. It’s a great article about long held gardening beliefs that just flat out are not true. I’d love to display the article here but I just don’t have permission to do so so I am simply going to provide you with a link… Click here to read more…

My Landscape Design Skills Suck!

Updated : May 10, 2021

278 Comments

Mike McGroarty sucks at landscape design.

That’s what he told me. He said my landscape design skills totally suck. Or something to that effect. Last summer when I did a post about landscape lighting some helpful visitor to my website suggested that I stick to growing plants because I was a terrible landscape designer. So yesterday as I was walking into… Click here to read more…

How to Stop Mulch from Washing Out of Your Beds

Updated : October 16, 2020

7 Comments

Decorative stone keeps the mulch was washing out of the landscape beds.

We were having a problem with our landscape that many people have. During a really heavy rain, a downpour, the rain water was coming rushing off the roof so fast that it was shooting right over the gutters and onto the landscape and washing the mulch right out of the bed on to the sidewalk… Click here to read more…

A Different, Simple Landscape Design Idea.

Updated : June 23, 2020

42 Comments

Landscape Design

In 2018 we built a ranch home with a very simple, easy to care for landscape around the house. I added some Landscape Lighting to the Landscape so before I did the video about that, I did this video on the landscape design. I don’t mention it in the video but you can see a… Click here to read more…

How to Design Effective Landscape Lighting.

Updated : June 23, 2020

31 Comments

Landscape lighting, properly designed and installed can really enhance the appearance of your home at night and provide a level of security. On this page you’ll find a couple of videos and some still photos of the landscape around my house and and the lighting that I plan to install as well as some night… Click here to read more…

Edging a bed with a Nursery spade. Not a Shovel!

Updated : March 9, 2025

35 Comments

This is the nursery spade I recommend. [Amazon] Questions, comments, mean things to say? Post them below and I’ll respond.

Gardening Things You Should Know for Spring.

Updated : April 9, 2025

43 Comments

Black-eyed Susan

Beautiful spring weather means a lot of things, but for gardeners it means that we finally get to get out and get our hands in the dirt. We all have projects on the clipboard, things we’d like to do in the yard this spring. In this post I am going to compile a list of… Click here to read more…

Simple Landscape Design Ideas.

Updated : May 31, 2018

36 Comments

Simple Landscape Design Ideas.

People are always perplexed at what to put in their landscape.  How many?  How should I arrange them etc. Pam and I decided to dress up the front of this place, but we wanted to keep it really, really simple.  This is what we did . . .  The design on both sides of the… Click here to read more…

A Very Simple Landscape Design Idea.

Updated : June 17, 2024

6 Comments

Landscape design idea.

Over the years I’ve landscape somewhere between 500 and 1,000 homes.  I’ve done everything from simple, basic landscapes to extravagant landscapes for very expensive homes.  Over the years I adopted a basic landscape design that I could apply to just about any house and actually repeat that scheme on different sides of the same house… Click here to read more…

Re-Landscaping Older Homes, Gardening for Extra Money.

Updated : October 29, 2016

4 Comments

This came up in A Discussion in Our Members Area and I thought I’d share it here because it’s valuable information. What most people don’t realize is that there are thousands of people that will happily pay you to do yard work for them.  Those customers come in all sizes and shapes and have different… Click here to read more…

Moving a Large Laceleaf, Weeping Japanese Maple Tree.

Updated : March 9, 2025

19 Comments

Digging a Balled Tree.

I’ve had this beautiful Laceleaf Weeping Japanese Maple in my landscape for years.  The variety is ‘Waterfall’.  But eventually it out grew the bed that it was in.  It was encroaching the sidewalk on two sides.  Pruning it to keep it from blocking the walkway would have ruined the shape of the tree. Then I… Click here to read more…

Add a Personal Touch to Your Landscape

Updated : June 17, 2024

2 Comments

Mike McGroarty began his career working in nurseries and starting his own landscaping business and has developed his own personal style of landscaping. You can hire a landscaper to design a beautiful yard for you but it doesn’t have to end there. You can add your own personal touch to your yard and even re-use… Click here to read more…

My Landscaping and Remodel of the Old House

Updated : June 17, 2024

27 Comments

Today Duston and I made a little video to show you the progress I’ve made on the rental house that sits at the front of my nursery. The plants I’ve chosen really serve a dual purpose, one, they make the yard look really nice, and two, I plant things that I will be taking cuttings… Click here to read more…

Edge a Bed Like a Pro

Updated : March 9, 2025

53 Comments

One of the most important components of creating a landscape project is digging out the bed. People often ask me what they should do to separate the bed from the grass and weeds and to keep the soil from the bed from washing away. You can go and ask any employee at a big box… Click here to read more…

Easy Tree Stump Removal

Updated : March 9, 2025

6 Comments

I’ve seen many people struggle trying to remove dead tree stumps in their yard. In order to successfully and safely remove tree stumps, you have to have the right tools. If you are removing an entire tree, make sure don’t cut it so far down that you don’t have any trunk to use as leverage…. Click here to read more…

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Young trees planted in organized rows, sunny landscape.

15 Fast-Growing Trees to Transform Your Yard Quickly

Posted On March 23, 2025 By Duston

The Donkey Bucket Challenge (Watch Video)

Posted On December 6, 2024 By Duston

How to Make Money Growing and Selling Mums (Chrysanthemums)

Posted On September 28, 2024 By Duston

Hydrangea cuttings stuck close together.

My Month-By-Month Plant Propagation Guide

Posted On August 24, 2024 By Duston

Mike’s Plant Farm Spring Ad

Posted On May 15, 2024 By Mike

Mike’s Big Perennial Bed by the Month.

Posted On April 27, 2023 By Mike

$180.00 per Square Foot? Is it really possible?

Posted On March 28, 2023 By Mike

Rooted cuttings of variegated weigela in bunches to harden off.

Over Wintering Rooted Cuttings.

Posted On January 8, 2023 By Mike

Mike's Big Perennial Bed.

Mike’s Big Perennial Garden

Posted On January 8, 2023 By Mike

A Profound Thank You from Mike.

Posted On September 1, 2022 By Mike

Recent Posts

Finnegan keeping the sun off his head.

An Old Guy, Two Donkeys, a Puppy and a Hammock. What could possibly go wrong?

… Read Full Article

This upside down donkey is a hoot!

An Upside Down Donkey and Cute Puppy.

You can see more of the donkeys here. And more silly donkey stuff here. Questions, comments, mean things to say? Post them below and I will respond. Until then, by any and all means stay inspired! … Read Full Article

'Rockin Raspberry' Bee Balm.

‘Rockin Raspberry’ Bee Balm.

Wow! I planted four of these 'Rockin Raspberry' Bee Balm in the perennial garden at the nursery last summer and look at them now. They are in bloom right now, end of June here in northern, Ohio and every person that sees them asks about them. This beauty … Read Full Article

'Bubblegum Blast' Bee Balm.

‘Bubblegum Blast’ Bee Balm

This beautiful Bee Balm is part of the 'Sugar Buzz' series. I planted these in my perennial bed last summer and this year they are beautiful and blooming like crazy! They grow from 16" to 24" tall, are hardy from zone 4 through zone 8. They love full sun … Read Full Article

Blue Angel Hosta.

‘Blue Angel’ Hosta.

'Blue Angel'hosta is by far one of my favorite blue hostas. A big hosta like this in a perennial bed covers a lot of area and that keeps a ton of weeds at bay! These giant heart shaped leaves are very slug resistant. We have this plant in full sun. With … Read Full Article

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