Planty Jen’s Tiny Landscapes

Front Garden Check-In, June 12, 2026

Here’s the weekly front garden check in! All the plants have been handling the heat nicely, they do get a bit of shade through the day. The fuchsias and lobelias are still blooming like crazy, and the calibrachoa too, despite the small squirrel invasion. SQUIRRELS!! 😤 But the most exciting thing is I’ve got monardas blooming! Hooray! Have a great weekend, and stay cool!

Your fave banana is a genetic chaos gremlin and I’m obsessed 🍌🌿 Polyploidy explained!

Garden chaos, attempted rosemary pruning, and ailanthus sprouts as far as the eye can see 🌿✂️ Full timelapse on YouTube — link in bio!

Queens Forest Park drama, part 2 🌲 The white pines that replaced the chestnuts? Also had blight. The US banned gooseberries for 50 years because of it.

Weekly Front Garden Check-In: June 5,2026

Happy Friday! Here’s your weekly garden check-in, everything is looking great! I said the annuals have been out for a week and a half, and I meant a month and a half! 🤦🏻‍♀️ Didn’t I tell you I’m not a morning person? I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and I’ll see you again soon!

Water your garden in the morning! ☀️ Plants absorb the most during the day, evening watering invites mildew, and midday droplets can actually burn leaves. 🌿 Follow me for more tips!

I didn’t know asparagus fern bonsai was a thing… until I had to divide my retrofractus 😅🪴 Full video at the link in bio!

Your plants are begging to go outside this summer — but slow your roll, because you can’t just toss them into full sun and call it a day. ☀️😬

Here’s the part that surprises most people: deep shade outdoors is actually brighter than direct sun coming through a window. Glass filters out light rays, so your plants have essentially been living in lower-light conditions even if they sit in your sunniest spot. 🪟✨

The move: start by giving them more sun indoors first, then take them outside into deep shade, and work up gradually — dappled light for tropicals, direct sun for your desert plants. Give them a couple days at each stage and they’ll thank you by actually thriving out there. 🌵🌿

Did you know about the glass-filtering thing, or did that just break your brain a little? 👇

Your Planty Auntie put on a jacket and tie, grabbed her Elvis Costello glasses, and made a music parody. 🕶️🎸🪴

“Planty Jen DOES Want To Go To Chelsea” is a full parody of one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite artists, and I rewrote every word to be about the pure, unhinged joy of plant shopping.

Featuring: Perennials, Natty Garden, Ed’s Plant Shop, Nelly’s Flower Shop, Geometry Garden, and Rosehip Social — and of course, Chelsea Garden Center — because the plant shops deserve their flowers. 🌸

My honest belief: you can only do a good parody if you love the original. And I love this song. Deeply. Possibly more than is reasonable. 🎶

Many thanks to my friend Rachel, who rang us up! Those are her hands you’ll see in the video.

Watch it, tell me what you think, and drop your favorite plant shop in the comments so I can add it to my list. 🌿