Hello GPOD-ians! My name is Joseph Tychonievich, and Fine Gardening just asked me to take over managing the Garden Photo of the Day! I’m excited to see all the amazing garden photos you submit and put together my favorites to share with you all.
I’ve been an avid gardener since I was a teenager, and have written a couple of gardening books (Plant Breeding for the Home Gardener and Rock Gardening: Reimagining a Classic Style for Today’s Gardens). Though I’ve lived and gardened in Ohio and Michigan most of my life, I moved just this past summer to Williamsburg, Virginia, where I’m learning about gardening in a much warmer climate, exploring a lot of new plants, and missing snow just a little bit. Today’s photos are all from my gardens, some past and some present.
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Comments
Hello Joseph - Welcome aboard! Thank you for introducing yourself and for your photos, and thanks for wanting to have a bit of fun. In recent times there have only been 5 or 6 photos uploaded by GPOD admin. for each daily post, and yet up to 10 photos. are sought and submitted for GPOD. Just wondering what your policy is in terms of number of pics. to be submitted and if you intend to publish them all or will select ones to be uploaded? My experience suggests that GPOD'ers find different things to appreciate in photos, and it is very difficult to predict what all GPOD'ers will appreciate. Thanks. Cheers from Oz
I echo Franks statement about posting 8-10 photos, if submitted. I love seeing many pictures of each garden, as each tells us more of the gardeners story, which I find fascinating.
I too want to see more than five if possible!
Frank,
Since I'm new here, for now I'll be following the practices that have gone before -- I'll be posting up to 5 photos, but appreciate people submitting extra if they can. Thanks for your feedback, and I'll keep it in mind going forward.
I agree, Frank, that it often adds a little extra fun in reading the comments to see which picture/pictures strike a special chord with a reader. We all have our different tastes and preferences so it's nice when there is more, rather than less, to react to.
I echo with others that I would like to see more photos if possible. Thanks Frank for the suggestion.
I agree that more is better. I'm not sure why it suddenly went from an average of 10 down to about 4 but it certainly makes the posts less interesting. Perhaps it was the editorial instinct kicking in, picking the best quality photos. But we all know that the people who post here are not professional photographers. We want to see each other's gardens and little flaws like the garden hose laying out or the back half of the dog is in the photo or there's a bit of flare, just add to the charm.
Must chime in here with the rest that more is better. It’s hard to visualize a garden with just 5 photos.
Good Morning, Joseph! Welcome to GPOD! Thank you for sharing some of your own photos... and your "living room" garden creation is great! Best Wishes in your new position! Happy New Year, everyone!
Thanks Margaret! Happy New Year!
I saw your pic and thought hum, this guy looks familiar. Just a little googling & yes, I remember you. You were the nursery manager at Arrowhead Alpines, right? Good to have you here at FG.
Yes, I worked for Arrowhead for a couple years! Good to see you here!
Hi Joseph. Nice to see you here. I'm sure you'll do a great job. It's always a pleasure to see these posts first thing in the morning. Happy New Year!
Happy New Year Jay!
Welcome to GPOD, Joseph. Please take care of this blog. I look forward to it each day, and frequent the postings a few times a day. We have an awesome group of regulars, who I feel are my friends.
Love your photo of the living room garden. Quite fun. Please send your VA warmth northward, as I am very cold in Harrisburg.
Thanks Kevin! I think it is going to be a lot of fun!
Hi Kevin...I wish we Virginians had some warmth we could send your way to share. Unfortunately, it's only 10 degrees on my porch this morning. Brrrr.....
Nice to 'meet' you too, Diane! Yes, I think I choose the right year to move south!
Welcome Joseph! I loved seeing what you love. I love glads also, but don’t grow them because it’s so much easier to just get them at the grocery store down the road. I grow other things which I cannot buy so cheaply! I really liked your living room arrangement and your originality. Keep it coming! And again, welcome.
Thanks Lily!
A happy hello to you, Joseph. Thanks to treasuresmom for tickling my memory about your previous association with Arrowhead Alpines. I remember when I received their newsletters written by you and you had the gift of communicating information with humor...plus, weren't there sometimes adorable doodles included?
Love the photos you shared and I was genuinely surprised at the variety in both the blackberry lily and dandelion world ...pink edged dandelions...who knew? The "living room" garden is fabulous and had to put a smile on many a face.
Oh, and PS, my name is Michaele Anderson which many here in GPOD-land know.
Hello to you! Nice to (virtually) meet you!
I don't believe that anyone who dislikes glads is a "hater". I have preferences in my garden but certainly do not hate the flowers I choose not to display. Please try to use grown up language without the labelling.
Silly, uncalled for comment!
Welcome Joseph. Your pictures are great. You definately have a talent. Looking forward to more pictures as others have requested.
Hi, Joseph, and welcome to this caring, creative, and supportive group of gardeners! The history of this group goes back quite a ways over years of changes - some bumpy- many not as well announced as your beginnings this morning. Thanks for sharing about yourself and your own creativity - I look forward to learning more about you, and to our continuation as a group sharing with each other.
Cheryl,
I'm thrilled to be here! Looking forward to being part of this group!
Welcome, Joseph. Nice to see you here. Happy New Year. I don't recall seeing your 'living room' garden, but my office is a stone's throw from that spot. (Ok, it'd be a world-record-breaking throw, but it's close....) Please create a hardy glad, crossing G. alata and G. x gandaviensis "Boone" and send it my way. Thanks.
Happy New Year to you!
The living room garden was only there for one summer... I think in 2007? So it has been a while.
Where would one find those particular Candy Lilies, Dandelions?
I got this group of candy lilies by growing lots and lots of them from seed. There are various seed mixes out there, I grew several hundred plants (I know... I know... I take things to the extreme sometimes) and picked out my favorites.
Thanx so much. Helpful!
As far as dandelions... I think I originally got the pink one from Chiltern seed, and the white from Arrowhead Alpines. But that was a quite a few years ago, and I'm not sure now.
Hello, Joseph, and welcome! We GPODers so look forward to the photos of beautiful gardens and plants—especially now with the frigid weather making gardening a distant memory (although I must admit I love cold weather—during winter, i.e.).
I’ve had little success growing hollyhocks, but tremendous luck growing rust. I’ve never seen blackberry lilies in colors other than the orange/yellow variations. Where can I find some for my own (humble) garden?
Again, welcome, from a “neighbor” slightly north of you!
Cynthia,
Your best bet for interestingly colored flowers is to look for a seed strain like 'Dazzler' In my experience, most of the seedlings will be shades of orange, but if you grow a lot of them you can pick out an interestingly varied assortment like I show here.
Thank you! I’ll give that a try.
Welcome Joseph! I like your style. Though I tried to resist it, gladiolus has always been a favorite of mine, though I'm definitely not as bold as you to breed my own. Your living room scene is as current as anything we see these days. Looking forward to more great photos from everyone!
Thanks! I'm thrilled to be here!
A very warm welcome to our GPOD family, Joseph! I have a feeling It's going to be great fun getting to know you over time. Passion for gardening with a hefty dose of humor will carry you far and I'm guessing you posess both!
Thank you for taking a chance with us... one thing for sure, you won't be bored!!!
Thank you! I think this is going to be fun!
We'll do our best to keep it as pain free as possible! Haha!!!
Welcome to GPOD, Joseph. Fun photos! I was just reading your rock gardening book (again) last night. You seem to be getting around these days. Editor of the NARGS (North American Rock Garden Society) Bulletin, Garden Professor, and now Fine Gardening. Please try to remember, of all your responsibilities, GPOD comes first. ;-)
I try and keep busy! :)
Wow so colorful Joseph! Love your style-color and bloom first. Love that patch of hollyhocks and your collections of different species of dandelions and “living room” garden! So innovative. I am going to make a “living room” garden in 2018. will read your book Plant Breeding for the Home Gardener and especially Rock Gardening: Reimagining a Classic Style for Today’s Gardens because incidentally, I cut down an old cedar hedge and is thinking to make a rock garden in 2018! Thanks for sharing and happy new year! All the best to Kim.
Thanks Lilian! I hope you enjoy the books!
Rock Gardening is an excellent book. I was lucky enough to get mine autographed this spring when Joseph was at the NARGS Spring Garden Gala held in Madison this year. If you get a chance to hear him give a talk, I strongly encourage you go. He is an enjoyable and informative speaker.
Welcome Joseph to GOPD land! And, welcome to Virginia...I'm about 100 miles NW of you in the Piedmont, right off the Blue Ridge Parkway. I hope you'll share pictures of your garden down near the Tidewater area. Same state, different microclimates for sure. Your glads are beautiful as are your blackberry lillies. What a beautiful color wheel your picture of them makes.
Priscilla,
I'll be sharing pictures once the new Virginia garden comes into being... my husband and I moved in August, so right now everything is a bit of a mess!
Welcome, Joseph! So wonderful to see your beautiful flower photos on such a cold and snowy day in central New York. I have enjoyed your wonderful cartoons and your writing for awhile. I especially enjoyed the rock gardening book. I appreciated hearing the history of the rock gardens you wrote about and the how-to information was so helpful. Looking forward to more great GPOD photos as the season progresses.
Thanks Marge!
Welcome!! I agree with you about glads, and the hollyhocks are stunning. Looking forward to more of your fun posts!
Thanks!
welcome! I really enjoyed the photos (the TV confused me, until I read the copy! lol! adorable!!) - VA (Portsmouth area) is one of the top two places I'm considering moving to (from IL) - how are the Japanese Beetles over by you? (our hollyhocks are destroyed by them, alas).
Wishing you continued gardening success!!!
Anita,
The hollyhock picture is from my old garden in Michigan, where the Japanese beetles weren't too bad. I put in a bunch in my new Virginia garden this fall, so we'll see how the hold up next year.
Hi Joseph, and welcome! I'm excited to have someone with your passion and knowledge head up GPOD! Love that living room scene!
Thanks Brenda!
Wow! Your pics are a welcome sight on this frozen over morning. Here's a toast to more to come!
I thought I was the only person in the world who considered glads as "funeral flowers". Guess I was wrong yet again-----and it's only the 2nd of January there are certainly more wrongs to come. Your gladiolus are absolutely gorgeous as are the hollyhocks. And who would have ever thought of growing dandelions? How innovative and it surely must be an easy task seeing as how effortlessly they grow in my lawn.
It sounds as though you have a lot of useful experience and it will be a pleasure to see how this coming year of GPOD develops.
Thanks for the warm welcome!
Welcome, Joseph! I love it that you even appreciate dandelions. The white & green variety is pretty enough to use in a border.
Lovely photos Joseph and I love the Hollyhocks, which my grandmother always had in her gardens.
Sounds like you have had a lot of gardening adventures and thank you for sharing a bit of your history.
I think this is going to be a great gardening year for all GPODers so welcome aboard. :)
Welcome Joseph! I enjoyed seeing your “Living Room” garden. Will you please share instructions on turning furniture into gardens sometime? I’ve always wanted to create a living “Living Room” in my PNW garden.
Hi Joseph, nice to meet you and welcome! I enjoyed seeing your photos, especially the hollyhocks.
Welcome, Joseph, to GPOD. This is a great forum and looking at your garden photos, I think that you will fit right in. Your living room garden is just plain fun.
Ooooo, new sheriff in town with a wonderful garden! Welcome to GPOD Joseph. Love your living room garden and that you've authored 2 books. Your background is quite diverse and interesting and we'll be looking forward to you sharing your pearls and photos on rock gardening, Japanese gardening as well as plant breeding and genetics. Might you be "The Alton Brown" of Fine Gardening?
Lovely to meet you and some of the flowers you love, Joseph! Your living room garden photo and your comments show you have a sense of fun and passion for plants, so I'm looking forward to your participation in GPOD. I also love old-fashioned flowers like hollyhocks though the only Gladiolus I grow is G. murielae; the flowers are elegant but the scent is glorious! I have to lift the bulbs each winter here in N. Vancouver, BC, but they are worth it. I echo the request of Frank and several others for more than 5 photos when you have them. I often learn something from the comments section about a photo that might not have caught my eye initially. Happy New Year to you and the whole GPOD community!
I too have a new appreciation for gladiolus. Those in your photo are beautiful! I can only grow a few because my garden is mostly shade. I may try to squeeze in some more along with some hollyhocks. Thanks for your inspiration and welcome Joseph!
You so right, glads are drop dead gorgeous. I called dandelions God's flowers. They are there & need no special care. All we have to do is enjoy their happy color.
Hi Joseph, loved your pic of hollyhocks. I just wish the Japanese beetles didn't love mine so much! Ugh..Anyway, I look forward to seeing more of your pics. Fine Gardening is my favorite gardening ever. I have some back issues from over 10 years, I'm sure! Happy Gardening, Evelyn C. Lake.
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