Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog

It's Starting ... Spring??

2012-01-23T21:42:00.000-06:00

'Grand Primo' Narcissus tazetta (I think)

Is this the start of spring? It's been unseasonably mild here, a far cry from last winter, and some of the bulbs are blooming much earlier this year. I dug up these narcissus, which I think are 'Grand Primo', the first week in March last year while they were in bloom. It was part of my daffodil rescue. But they're blooming already. I really like these bulbs - very robust leaves and stems and extremely fragrant (maybe too fragrant!). Plus they're just plain pretty.

Southern grape hyacinth, Muscari neglectum

Last year the grape hyacinth were just starting to open about a week later. So they seem on track. If I were to buy more grape hyacinth bulbs, I think I'd buy some larger cultivars. These are very teeny.

'Gravetye Giant' summer snowflake, Leucojum aestivum

These 'Gravetye Giant' snowflakes are new for me this year. Last year I had the smaller summer snowflakes blooming about a month later. The smaller ones have yet to bloom so I don't know if it's a cultivar difference or not. I do like the bigger blooms on these!

Flowering quince

The flowering quince is starting to open, probably a week or so earlier than last year. I'd say it's got a good month of blooming left though.

'Peggy Clarke' flowering apricot, Prunus mume

My new baby is blooming! I planted my 'Peggy Clarke' flowering apricot last January and it's covered in blooms and bees now! I'm so glad there are some bloomers for my pollinator friends.

Are you starting to see signs of spring earlier than last year? What's blooming for you?

This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2012. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day for the New Year

2012-01-15T17:00:00.002-06:00

Improved Meyer lemon blooming indoors

What is blooming in your yard or house this Garden Bloggers Bloom Day? I have a few plants, mostly indoors, and a couple in bud outdoors. To start off, here's a couple of shots of my Meyer lemon tree. It's happily blooming away in the guest room. But I think I need to bring it outdoors for some pollinators if I want some lemons!

Improved Meyer lemon

Lemon trees need pollinators to set fruit, right?

Duba

This is my cat Duba, who was getting in my way as I tried to take the next photo (yes, he has one eye that's mostly brown and the other very light blue).

African violet

I wish I knew the name of this African violet. It never fails to bloom in winter and it continues to bloom for a long time.

'Patrick's' abutilon

I can tell our "hard" freezes haven't lasted too long because the abutilon is still blooming. The blooms are pretty small but it's still got them!

Flowering quince

The flowering quince is not quite in bloom yet. In fact, though there are many buds, it's coming out a little later than it has in the past.

'Peggy Clarke' flowering apricot (Prunus mume 'Peggy Clarke')

And last but certainly not least, one of my newer trees is getting ready to burst into bloom - 'Peggy Clarke' flowering apricot. It's loaded with buds now, and if we don't get a hard freeze, I expect to see a sensation.

Be sure to visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens to see what she has in bloom along with many other folks around the world!

Davis Mountains and Indian Lodge

2012-01-08T16:30:00.000-06:00

Davis Mountains, far west Texas

Happy New Year! Though it feels like spring here right now, I thought I'd reminisce about the winter we experienced over the holidays. We went to one of our favorite places - the Davis Mountains. They're in far west Texas, north of the towns of Marfa and Alpine, and northwest of Big Bend National Park.

Hiking trail in the Davis Mountains State Park

When we arrived, snow and "ice fog" had just started roll in, and it made for a less-than-ideal mini-hike, which we took immediately. Who knew that those conditions would hang around for most of our trip?

Indian Lodge lobby

We stayed at Indian Lodge, which is located in Davis Mountains State Park. The original part of the lodge (which we always stay in) was built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps. The CCC was established by FDR to put many young men to work, and I learned that at that time many of Texas' state parks had just been established but there was no money to build structures. So the CCC built many of the beautiful cabins found within those state parks.

Post and beam detail in lobby of Indian Lodge

For Indian Lodge, the CCC made their own adobe bricks, cut posts from the area, and built much of the furniture that is still in use today.

Ceiling in our room

The cane used on the ceilings came from Boquillos Canyon, down Big Bend way.

Indian Lodge courtyard and snow as seen through our window (and screen!)

We were there to do some hiking, see some wildlife and for me to check out the plant life. The wildlife was a bit sparse. I guess they preferred to stay warm as I did. We didn't see the usual javelinas but did see some mule deer and a few birds (canyon wren, red-naped sapsucker, mountain chickadee, towhees and phainopepla were some of the "good" ones for you birders). And we saw many plants endemic to the area.

Cholla, Cylindropuntia sp.

The cholla is a very common cactus of the area.

Berries of the madrone tree, Arbutus sp.

There was a beautiful madrone tree in the courtyard of the Lodge. Though you can't really see it here, the berries are bumpy, and if you stretch your imagination, they can be said to resemble strawberries from whence they get a common name of "strawberry tree."

Madrone bark

Madrone trees are probably more famous for their peeling bark.

Ice/snow on Emory oak

I learned from a park ranger that most of the oak trees within the park are hybrids between the Emory oak and the gray oak. Interesting (in a geeky way).

Havard agave

Havard agave (Agave havardiana) is the common agave in the area. I saw them mostly near the bottoms of hills.

Chihuahuan Desert and Davis Mountains in the background

Why do we love this area so much? Many reasons - the wide-open skies, interesting high desert flora and fauna, friendly people. It seems the Wild West past is always simmering just beneath the present there. I have much respect for those who have been able to make a living out there.

Wildfire damage

It can be a hard place to live, and there was much evidence of that from the wildfires that terrified the people and ravaged the area this past spring. That's not fall colors in the photo, it's burnt trees.

Snow near McDonald Observatory

But we'll be back. And if I can get a little time, maybe I'll do a post about Marfa, an interesting place!

Meanwhile in the garden, though the weather is balmy I know winter is here from the winter birds: dark-eyed junco, white-throated sparrow, cedar waxwing, tons of robins, and soon to arrive ... the American goldfinches!

This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2012. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

Tidying Up for Fall

2011-11-13T19:34:00.001-06:00

Gulf fritillary butterfly on Mexican mint marigold (Tagetes lucida)

It's that time of year again. Time to tidy up the garden before it goes to sleep (not that the garden really goes that dormant in the South). I love the colors this time of year, and the last of the butterflies. The butterflies seem slower, on their last wings, so to speak. And so it's time for me to start moving the potted plants to a safer area. The last few years I've moved the succulents to my storeroom and the rest of the plants to a portable pop-up greenhouse. Uh, but as you can see ...

this old greenhouse isn't exactly in shape for anything. This is how it looked after a stormy night in October. I've found these types of greenhouses really don't hold up more than a year for me (I've had two of them). I think the intensity of the sun and heat here is too much for it. And yes, you're supposed to be able to roll it back up at the end of the season and put it in a case, but we tried that one time and it was a real comedy of errors. It never would go back in the case. So this year I never got around to replacing it, which meant the plants would have to go indoors.

Readying plants for lower light levels on the patio

They say you should gradually introduce your potted plants to less light before sticking them indoors. I have rarely done that but decided to make the effort this year. The large plants - olive tree, lemon tree, bay tree and bouganvillea - are the ones I'm most concerned about (I leave these foxtail ferns out during winter, though I'll move them closer to the house and cover them when there are heavy freezes). So here I've got them under the patio roof to ready them for the house. I left them here for at least two weeks.

Olive tree in the dining room

A week after moving the olive tree indoors it started to shed leaves. I'm expecting that to happen on most of the big ones (except maybe the lemon tree). Hang in there baby - it's only a few months.

Lemon tree, geranium and miscellaneous other plants

Fortunately, we have some good south-facing windows for these plants.

A few succulents upstairs in my office (with Chobe)

Still facing south, a few of the succulents that didn't fit in my storeroom are joining me in my office for the first time.

Succulents in the storeroom

In my storeroom I put as many succulents as will fit on a shelving system in front of the window. Unfortunately the window is an old polarized one, which means it doesn't get much sunlight. So I supplement with a few grow lights from the other side. I also clean up the plants by removing the fallen leaves and detritus from them. That can be hard to do when the plant is quite thorny, like my agaves. Since I don't own a leaf blower, here's a little trick I use - I use chopsticks to remove the leaves. Or just two thin bamboo sticks. If you don't have the hang of using chopsticks, just one stick can still knock out any fallen leaves and leave you relatively scar-free.

Front side garden

Just today I realized how much I liked the fall look of my front side garden. The pink muhlys aren't so pink anymore, but the 'White Cloud' muhly is really looking good. I realized this area is mostly a summer and fall garden, but it'll still look good in the winter with the grasses, cactus and agave giving it some structure. Maybe I need to think about adding some good spring color.

'White Cloud' muhly grass and Ipomoea lobata vine above it

Here's the 'White Cloud' grass with a lovely fall-blooming (at least for me) vine. This vine, Ipomoea lobata, has lots of common names but probably my favorite is exotic love vine.

A close-up of Ipomoea lobata

Such lovely fall colors on this vine. It's an easy one to grow from seed. I'm not that competent at growing plants from seed but I can grow this one!

Mexican mint marigold and unknown wasp(?)

So it looks like the season is winding down. I will miss my connection to the various pollinators in my backyard. But other than me needing to plant a few lettuce and kale seeds and a shrub and a tree, I think at least the garden is ready.

This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2011. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

Fill the Frame

2011-10-25T21:55:00.000-05:00

My entry in the October Gardening Gone Wild Picture This contest. This is my interpretation of the theme: fill the frame. I've shown this photo before - it's of Bloedel Reserve, one of my all-time favorite places. Maybe I'm entering this photo because the place filled my heart.

This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2011. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

I'm Back! And Where Did Summer Go?

2011-10-20T21:40:00.000-05:00

Snow Sonata cosmos (and spider friend)

I simply can't believe it's been two months since I last blogged - that's ridiculous! All I can say is that I have been super busy, way more than usual. In the meantime, the hellish weather has passed (although we're still in a severe drought) and a new leaf has turned over, so to speak, in the garden. Take for instance, this one little cosmos plant. I had no luck this year getting cosmos from seed to grow. True, we had no rain but I do have a sprinkler! I planted three packages of various types of cosmos seed and got very few plants. This white one was the only survivor of its package and it never bloomed until this month. If I had been lucky with this plant, a whole bed of them would have looked sublime. And speaking of sprinklers ...

Near the white cosmos I planted some iris transplants and then set up a sprinkler to settle them in. The next day I had an explosion of different types of mushrooms. It's amazing what a little water will do!

A mushroom eruption

The squirrels are driving me crazy with their digging. The photo below shows why I can't plant bulbs right now.

pesky squirrels' damage

I have a lot of open areas in the bed I put in last fall since the plants haven't filled in yet, and the squirrels really like that. So last weekend I started making rodent proof guards for the bulbs I'm going to plant. I cut chicken coop wire into sections and fasten them on top of the soil with landscape pins. Then I cover them with mulch. It's some trouble but worth it.

Agave desmettiana bloom stalk

And here's a fall surprise - a bloom stalk on my agave. Since this photo was taken, the stalk has doubled in height. I do hope the blooms open before a hard freeze. But I guess the plant will die after blooming, and I'm OK with that since this agave has been too tender for me, and thus a hassle to protect.

Mariachi, jalapeno, and maybe some small Gypsy peppers

Fall has brought a bumper crop of peppers. Last spring I got carried away with all the pepper varieties The Natural Gardener had, and I came home with five pepper plants and not really enough space to plant them. So I crammed them all into one area and now have a strange mix of slightly hot sweet peppers and truly hot, hot peppers. The Mariachi pepper, which is supposed to be only mildly hot, causes my husband's eyes to water. If you know him, that's saying a whole lot (the man can finish a jar of ghost pepper salsa in two days all by himself).

'Tiburon' poblanos

Last weekend I picked a bunch of poblanos, roasted the whole lot and froze half of them. I find the easiest way to roast them is to throw them on the grill.

'Helvola' miniature water lilies

I'm glad I took this photo of my little pond a couple weeks ago because the water lilies are now slowly putting themselves into winter hibernation. In the stock tank pond I have a blue rush, miniature 'Helvola' water lilies that Pam of Digging gave me, and my sweet little glass floatie ball I brought back from my Seattle trip.

Lindheimer's muhly grass, Muhlenbergia lindheimeri

And at last, one of my favorite things about fall is when the grasses start to bloom. I have quite a few blooming now: 'Northwind' switchgrass, pennisetum, 'White Cloud' muhly (which I must get a photo of to show you), pink muhly, and this muhly grass commonly called Lindheimer's muhly. Here it's not quite in full bloom. It's fairly big - about 4 by 4 feet. I love it.

pink muhly

And how could I not show a photo of the pink muhly? It looks so luscious, like a frothy ice cream treat.

I hope never to be so tardy with my blog posts. See how an entire season faded away and another appeared in just these past two months?

This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2011. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

A Few of my Favorite Fling Things

2011-08-18T22:19:00.000-05:00

Cherries from the West Seattle Farmers' Market

You know, it's hard to feel like blogging about the garden when it's so hot and dry that most of your outdoor time is merely running from air-conditioned house to air-conditioned car to air-conditioned office and back again. My plants are struggling to survive and some are dying, but ever the gardening optimist I continue to think about what I'll do in the garden come fall. But in August, the here and now, how about a little trip to cool Seattle for a few of my favorite things I saw or experienced at the Seattle Garden Bloggers Fling 2011?

Some type of veronica at Bellevue Botanical Garden

Originally I had planned to write a separate post for each day and/or garden, but I just don't think the time for that is in the cards. So I've picked out one or two things from each place to highlight. We visited both private and public gardens. At Bellevue Botanical Garden on the east side of Seattle, they have a fantastic perennial garden chocked with full-sun plants, most of which were attracting bees, butterflies and other pollinators. If the sun hadn't been so intense and my fair skin starting to sunburn, I probably would have rolled around in all those flowers!

Rosa glauca

In Shelagh Tucker's marvelous garden I first spied Rosa glauca, a rose that's grown not so much for the little flowers but for the blue-gray leaves. I believe I remember Shelagh saying it can take shade. Andrea at grow where you're planted eventually got a cutting of it at Dragonfly Farms Nursery and I hope she gets it going so we can all have cuttings!

Shelagh Tucker's front yard

I loved seeing this open yet somewhat concealed-from-the-street sitting area in Shelagh's front yard. This area was modeled after Beth Chatto's dry garden (Ms. Chatto is a famous nursery owner and author from England). Several of the plants here were familiar from my days of gardening in Austin where drought-tolerant plants are the norm.

A shady spot in Shelagh Tucker's garden

Her side yard and part of her backyard were more shady. I liked this little vignette and combination of plants (hosta, oakleaf hydrangea, the odd poppy or two, Mexican feather grass). The Mexican feather grass grew so tall and with such dark seed heads that those of us from down South (mainly all the Texans and me) almost didn't recognize it.

Some type of helenium and ?? behind it

Shelagh is a master at plant combinations. This was the first helenium I saw in Seattle but certainly not the last. I may try to grow this next year.

Entrance to the vegetable garden at the Birrell residence

Right next door to Shelagh's house live the Birrells. Wouldn't you love to live next door to some incredibly good gardeners? I loved their ultra-comfortable backyard and their gorgeous fruit and veggie plants. Have you ever seen a more beautiful entrance to a vegetable garden? Actually, they had veggies here and there but this was the working part of the veg garden. And how about that knockout color on their workshop? It must brighten up a dreary, rainy day (I have to keep reminding myself that it rains there, although I think maybe that's a myth :-) ).

Clever lights in the Birrell workshop

One of the things I want to do with this post is show you some things that you can apply in your own garden. I.e., it doesn't always take much money to do some clever things. How about these bucket lights?

Agaves in a rock wall at The Dunn Gardens

We visited The Dunn Gardens, a historic suburban garden planned by the Olmsted Brothers in the 1910s. I highly recommend checking it out if you're in the area. Although this photo of the rock wall is not that great, I took it because I have a rock wall and I have the same kind of agaves growing in a pot. So why not move some to my wall? I thought this planted wall was just beautiful.

Find the drain here

How's this for an unusual way to hide a drain system? At least that's what I'm assuming is down there. There's a rain chain to the right and these perfectly placed stones were all around the building. Nice contrasting plant colors too.

Japanese forest grass with lilies and monarda

The Epping garden in east Seattle had the most monstrous hakonechloa (Japanese forest grass) I've ever seen. This is one plant I lust after yet can't have. The Eppings also had a stunning view from their hilltop home. It must be a challenge to grow on such a site though.

Water feature at the Epping garden

Seattle has a thing for glass and I saw lots of these blown glass balls in water features and accompanying plants in containers. And yes, I bought a few to take back with me. :-)

Kate Farley's garden

I was in awe over these tuteurs in Kate Farley's backyard. Well not just the tuteurs but the skillful way she combined their colors with alstromeria, roses, sweet peas and clematis. Oh my, you just had to be there to really experience it.

Succulent trough at Lorene Edward-Forkner's house

Lorene, one of the hosts of our Fling, had a darling home and garden in West Seattle, and she's the author of the forthcoming Timber Press book Handmade Garden Style. Her garden is chock full of interesting items she made herself, including this "trough" for succulents made out of a rain gutter. I think it's a brilliant idea!

Lorene Edwards-Forkner's outdoor terrarium

This outdoor terrarium made from a very large industrial light fixture blew me away. Isn't it cool? Of course, if I tried that at home it would roast the plants in no time. But even here it was in a little shaded nook, and I'm sure Lorene occasionally pops the top when it gets too hot.

I hope you enjoyed seeing some of the neat little things, plants or objects, that I found on my garden trip. My very favorite place I toured was Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island, which I posted about here. I'd like to give a big thanks to all the folks that worked so hard to make the 2011 Garden Bloggers Fling such a great success. It was fabulous; what more can I say?

Peaceful Bloedel Reserve

2011-08-01T21:04:00.000-05:00

Japanese maple

How do I tell the story of Bloedel Reserve? I can only tell you of the impressions this beautiful garden on Bainbridge Island made on me, and hopefully show you through some of the few photos I took how I felt. Bloedel Reserve was our last big outing of the Seattle Fling for garden bloggers. To say that the whole experience exceeded my expectations is no exaggeration. But I'll save the telling of the Fling experiences for later. Meanwhile, join me on this rainy day in Bloedel.

The silent mower

The photo of the lawnmower is a bit of joke. I was in the first group who attended the three photography workshops given by David Perry (the fabulous garden photographer and funny man to boot), and we were constantly assaulted by the sounds of mowers going as he spoke (it was the one day per week the Reserve is closed, so naturally it's when some of the heavy work gets done). The finally silent lawnmower was the first thing I encountered when I left the visitor center to shoot photos.

Garden gate near the Japanese guest house

I spent most of my time near the Japanese garden. The sense of peace there was palpable to me. Wherever I turned I saw majestic trees and the slight hand of man.

Gunnera

Rain and lack of a Death Star means gunnera grows quite large there.

Ever present moss

But many small things grow in Bloedel as well.

Near the visitor center is a Japanese guest house (the Reserve was only established in 1988, two years after the Bloedels lived there). One of the powerful aspects to Bloedel is the way in which each scene invites one to further exploration. Leaving the visitor center I saw this large pond and little glimpses of other interesting things to come beyond the pond.

Japanese guest house

Sure enough, the guest house appears.

The Dry Garden

Just outside the guest house is a traditional Japanese dry garden, very serene and meditative. I spent some time around the guest house, just imagining what it might be like to stay a long time there.

Stream outside guest house

Each step took me farther into tranquility as the light rain muffled sounds and deepened the green.

Rain on pine tree

While I was sitting and contemplating the beauty, I realized I had only one shot left on my camera (long story but my digital SLR died that day and my compact camera only had room for a few photos). So what would be my last photo of the Fling experience? Because I was in such a peaceful frame of mind, and because I wanted to shoot into the light (inside joke), I thought the raindrops on the pine tree I was near would be perfect. And so I hope my last photo brings you peace as well.

But one more thing - I want to leave you with some interesting facts about Bloedel Reserve. Prentice Bloedel took over the helm of his family's timber business but retired early to work on his property. This is from their website:
"Prentice Bloedel was a pioneer in renewable resources and sustainability. He was the first to use sawdust as a fuel to power his company’s mills. He replanted clear cut areas, and started a company that marketed fireplace logs made from sawdust. He also was deeply interested in the relationship between people and the natural world, and the power of landscape to evoke emotions ranging from tranquility to exhilaration. Indeed, some believe that due to his early school experiences and his bout with polio as a young man, Prentice Bloedel may have been ahead of his time in his understanding of the therapeutic power of gardens and landscape."

Amen.
This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2011. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

Ailing Oak Tree Update

2011-07-28T22:29:00.000-05:00

Notice top of oak tree?

Last month I posted some photos of the awful state of my relatively new oak tree. See my June 5 post for some gory pictures. The diagnosis from the Extension agent was bacterial wet wood, for which there is no cure. He thinks the squirrels may have made things worse and suggested I spray it down with water to remove the "slime." Doing some research on it, I discovered that if the damage is not too extensive, the tree may recover. The oozing stopped and I was hoping for the best. But as you can now see, the top is dead. I'm unsure of what to do. Should I cut that down and hope a new leader grows? Or is it just a matter of time before the rest goes?

As depressing as all that is, I'm still on cloud nine from my trip to the Seattle Bloggers Fling. I've got tons of photos to share and so it'll probably take several posts. Stay tuned!

This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2011. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

July Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

2011-07-16T16:28:00.000-05:00

'Goldsturm' rudbeckia (black-eyed Susan)

I'm a little late for this Bloom Day (seems I only have time to blog on weekends these days). I could complain about the weather here, but I'll try to spare you. Many plants are doing their customary peak of summer shutdown a bit early. Guess the heat and lack of rain started too early for them. But my stalwart black-eyed Susans are still managing a cheerful show.

Black-eyed Susan and Eupatorium dubium 'Little Joe' (Joy-Pye weed)

Next to one of my stands of Susans (I have plenty to spare if you want some!) is this 'Little Joe' Joe-Pye weed that I was most excited to find locally this spring. Considering that this plant likes it a bit moist, it's doing pretty well. It's supposed to be a short variety, reaching only 48 inches tall (versus the 6 feet or more the usual Joe-Pyes get), but this one probably hasn't grown over 12 inches, pretty much as short as it was when I bought it. It was fairly potbound, and coupled with lack of rain, it may just want to stay this short this year. But since it's so short, I can't see it from my patio! I bought it for the butterflies so I'll just have to trust they're finding it.

'Coral Nymph' salvia and bumble

This is kind of an odd view of this plant but these plants are pretty short as well. Besides, I was going after the bumblebee shot, not the plant. 'Coral Nymph' salvia is a self-seeder in my garden and pretty much comes up whereever I let it. They've gotten shorter as the years go by, now about 10-12 inches. They're a nice filler plant though.

Heirloom 'Yellowstone' daylily and Wave spreading petunia in background

I'm loving this little daylily. It's an heirloom I bought from Old House Gardens, fragrant, from 'Hyperion' parentage, and its blooms last well into the night. OHG warned it may not bloom its first year but no problem here (maybe they say that for more northerly gardeners??). Though I'm not much of a petunia fan, these purple Wave spreaders are still looking pretty decent and are a nice contrast to the daylilies.

Poblanos with dead 'Sky Pencil' holly in background

OK, I had to show at least one casualty of the drought. Not these lovely poblano peppers but the brown and very dead 'Sky Pencil' holly behind them. I have had a tough time with some of the shrubs I planted in the fall. Probably the larger the plant, the tougher time it's had. Ah well. My husband said "Remember how in Austin you had to just let go of some plants when the drought would get bad?" That was supposed to remind me that sometimes there's not much I can do and like it or not, I got through the summer and just started over again. Guess I have no choice! It can be a bit expensive though. :-/

I hope you hop on over to Carol's blog to see what's happening around the world on Bloom Day. Stay cool (Seattle weather - here I come!!).

This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2011. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

The Best-Tasting Tomato Ever

2011-07-03T10:44:00.000-05:00

Kellog's Breakfast, an orange heirloom tomato

Now I've done it. I've thrown down the gauntlet by declaring this tomato, Kellog's Breakfast, as the best-tasting tomato ever. Maybe I should quantify that statement a bit - it's the best-tasting tomato I've ever grown (and I've even grown Cherokee Purple, another fave), and it is quite possibly the best tomato I've ever tasted.

Showing off the beautiful interior

What I like about this tomato is its sweet taste and perfect balance of pulp and meat. You can see a bit of that balance in the above photo. The juice it makes is very pretty - a lovely light orange. It's got a strange name, and I've no idea where that name came from. I bought this seedling on a whim at The Natural Gardener in Austin. It's been a very healthy plant although temps in the 100s in late May/early June caused it to stop producing (and we've had the hottest June on record so the few tomatoes I've gotten off of all my plants have been quite dear). Look for it next year. And keep your fingers crossed that I can get a second crop in the fall by taking some cuttings now. It'll be a fun challenge to keep those seedlings going in this heat! :-)

This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2011. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

Our Nation's Garden

2011-06-28T21:48:00.000-05:00

One of 200 orchids on display at the U.S. Botanic Garden

I recently went on a quick trip to Washington D.C. to visit my husband who's doing some research there. We did the usual touristy things, taking advantage of the plethora of free and interesting exhibits. Of course, I had to take a quick trip to the U.S. Botanic Garden. The Botanic Garden was established by Congress in 1820, although the building at its current location was built in 1933.

Plant tower

Outside the conservatory are some interesting garden vignettes. Every time I go there I think of how quickly the staff must have planted all those gardens, trying to get them going in time for the summer tourist season. This year the vignettes were not as fun for me as last time when they showed typical plants for each part of the U.S. I couldn't quite figure out what the theme was this year. Still, it was all interesting.

Planted arch

How's this for an archway into the garden? Looks like fun but too much work for me!

Vertical plantings of oxalis and beans

I wish I had a better long range photo of this yellow archway. It was planted with oxalis and bean vines. Very fun.

Water feature near entrance

Once inside the conservatory, a beautiful, old, gigantic 1933 greenhouse, there are a couple of water features with loads of potted plants.

giant hydrangea bloom!

Look at the size of these hydrangea blooms (hand provided for contrast). Unfortunately I couldn't find the name of this one (most of the potted plants in this section weren't labeled) but I'm wondering if it is Invincibelle or one of those other giant hydrangeas. I swear the blooms were bigger than my head (that's big)!

Begonia in a bottle

There are plants from all over the world in the conservatory. There was an interesting collection of begonias, some of which were in little bottles.

They have over 5,000 orchid specimens of which they display about 200 at any one time. I could have spent hours in there photographing them - they're all so strange looking!

The First Ladies' Water Garden

Outside the conservatory is the relatively new National Garden. It's big and a great place to stroll with a rose garden, a butterfly garden, an amphitheater, a trickling stream and pond, places to sit, and this First Ladies' Water Garden, designed to showcase the important role water plays in plants, animals and humankind. It was pretty steamy by the time we got here, and I wanted to kick off my shoes and wade around a bit (but didn't since I was trying to be a bit dignified around are nation's grounds). I do wish I'd gotten to this part early in the morning. By the time we got here it was way too sunny for many photos, especially since I was carrying a new little compact camera that I wasn't real familiar with.

Rowhouse garden

We stayed right near the Capitol and I loved seeing all the tiny gardens in front of the rowhouses. Coming from the land of suburban yards, it's nice to see little postcard gardens for a change. I do encourage you to check out the Botanic Garden next time you're in DC. And check out all the other places along the Mall. It's a real national treasure.

Is this anyway to treat a tree?

And now for something completely different ... I had to whip out my camera in the parking lot of the airport when I got home to document this mess of a planting job. They're building a new terminal and have partially built a new parking lot, planting many new oak trees and crapemyrtles. Unfortunately, they were ALL DEAD!! I wonder why? Leaving the tree wrapped in its burlap casket with no dirt or mulch on top in the middle of an extreme drought ... Well, what more can I say?

This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2011. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

More Hits and One Big Miss

2011-06-05T15:44:00.000-05:00

'Grand Marshall' bee balm behind rosemary

Continuing from my last post about some of my hits and misses in the garden, here's a hit in my opinion. This is Monarda 'Grand Marshall', a fuschia-pink bee balm I planted last fall. The color becomes more intense when sunlight hits it. Very dark fuschia.

'Grand Marshall' bee balm

Of course, this may no longer be a hit after the plant behind this bee balm starts blooming. Behind it is flame acanthus (Anisicanthus quadrifidis wrightii), which blooms orange. I'm afraid a clash is going to occur, and I've been meaning to move the flame acanthus somewhere else for the last two years! Maybe this will spur me to it after all. Now, prepare yourself for this big miss ...

Possible canker on the oak tree

I'm in complete shock about what's happening to one of my newer oak trees - it's possible that canker has infected the whole tree. I'm still awaiting the final diagnosis from the extension agent, but it doesn't look good. This tree has been growing really well since we had it planted about four years ago. It grew very, very quickly and was planted as a future replacement tree for an old pecan that is on its last legs. We think it's a red oak (that's what I asked for but the guy who brought it and planted it couldn't remember the exact species).

ooze (sap?) running

I'm very curious what may have caused this. It shouldn't be drought stress since it's located where it gets water from the sprinkler system (and I try to water deeply). I sure hate to lose a tree, especially this one which had so much promise. Maybe the fact that it grew so quickly, from about 8 feet to almost 30 feet in four years, should tell me something. Most oak trees don't normally grow that fast.

'Windmill Yellow' daylily

On to something a little less anxiety producing. I bought a couple of 'Windmill Yellow' daylilies last weekend at Joy Walk Daylily farm outside of Ruston. Joy Walk is now getting famous for winning best in show (or something like that) at the national daylily shows with this particular bloomer. So maybe I have a famous daylily now?? The bloom is huge, much bigger than my hand. I hope it does well. And one last June "hit" in my garden, the purple coneflowers are starting to bloom.

purple coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea)

Some Hits and Misses

2011-05-31T22:43:00.000-05:00

Regal lily close up

How can I call myself a garden blogger and go to the Seattle Garden Bloggers Fling in July if I don't blog?! Time to get at least one more blog post out in May anyway.

I thought I'd show you a few of my hits and misses so far this season. It's been a tough spring - above normal temperatures at times (10 degrees above this week), cooler temps that held some plants back, way below average rainfall, etc., etc. But despite all that, I have some fun things to show. Like my first lily ever, the Regal lily.

Regal lily

I planted this Southern heirloom lily near my door last fall for its fragrance. Though still a relative baby in the garden, it's done well. The fragrance is very, very similar to 'Stargazer' lilies, which I just love.

'Crimson Pirate' daylily

As I mentioned in my last post, the daylilies are blooming now. This 'Crimson Pirate' daylily is one of my favorites for its long blooming season. This is a variety that debuted in 1957. I have four of them along my rock wall and they look great. Right next to them, not looking so great, is 'Whirling Butterflies' gaura just covered with aphids.

'Whirling Butterflies' gaura and LOTS of aphids!

This happened last season as well. After the first flush of blooms they (I have two) get covered in aphids. It's virtually impossible to spray off the aphids with water since the flower stems are thin little wands and just bounce away. Soap spray didn't help either, and there are too many aphids for the few ladybugs I saw. So after I took this photo I chopped them both down, removing every bloom stem. I think they'll thank me for that.

a sickly iris

I ordered an iris this spring from Old House Gardens. It came packed in hydrogel, very fresh looking and full of promise. However, in less than a week it was dead. They promptly sent me a new one without the hydrogel. Although it's lasted much longer than the other, it's still struggling as you can see. They said the hydrogel was an experiment that hasn't worked for all of the iris they sent out. Maybe it has to do with where I live ... too far south?? Anyway, I do appreciate their great customer service.

Nero Toscana kale still growing

In the middle of this bed you can see my kale is still hanging in there. I love the color of it. This kale goes by many names - Nero Toscana, Italian lacinato, dinosaur kale, etc. I think I need more of this but I believe it's too hot to try seeds now. I'm hoping for more in the fall.

pepper patch

Since I'm on the subject of veggies (although the kale is more ornamental at this point), here's my little pepper patch. I know you're not supposed to mix hot and sweet peppers in the same area (that's supposed to cause hot peppers to lose their spice and sweet peppers to get spicy), but I forgot that at the time I planted them. And I really didn't have anywhere else to put them. My desire for so many interesting kinds of peppers made me forget about where I was going to put them. I planted 'Giant Marconi' Italian grilling, 'Gypsy' sweet bell, 'Mucho Nacho' jalapeno, 'Tiburon' poblano and 'Mariachi', a mildly hot pepper.

'Mucho Nacho' jalapeno

The 'Mucho Nacho' has mucho peppers but so far is not too hot. I could use it spicier. :-)

'Gypsy' sweet bell pepper

My bell peppers are going to start touching the ground if they don't stop growing soon!

Sweet pea climbing rue, Ruta graveolens

After complaining that I'm a poor seed starter and will never be able to grow sweet peas, my sweet peas finally started growing! I'm not sure what the trick was other than the sun finally starting to hit them. Of course, their lovely pastel shades don't seem to go with this abyssmal heat.

'Coral Nymph' salvia

I seem to have no problem, however, with self seeding in my gravel pathways and raised beds. It's been a few years since I actually planted a 'Coral Nymph' salvia. They spring up everywhere. Sometimes I let them stay and sometimes not. Here's an example of an almost-out-of-control self seeding area:

"weeds"

A month ago I totally cleaned this path out; not a plant was here. But once again I've got the usual self-seeders starting to grow - wild Italian arugula, some chives, 'Coral Nymph' salvia and Verbena bonariensis. This year I'm trying my best to pluck off the arugula blooms, even though they're favorites of the pollinators. But those pollinators just give me too much work!

'Helvola' water lily buds

Amazing what a little fertilizer will do. I finally got some water lily fertilizer just three short weeks ago and now the water lilies (from Pam, thank you!) are blooming. Unfortunately they only open when the sun hits them, and this weekend was just too hot for me to be out there then!

drumstick allium

Another new bulb for me this year is the drumstick allium, A. sphaerocephalum. Maybe I just don't have them in the right places to get the full effect, I don't know. But they just remind me of taller, slightly darker chive blooms. I do hope they don't seed out like my chives though! Anyone have any good ideas where to place these so they'll look their best?

A few succulents and some fig ivy that needs trimming!

The succulents are in a new place this year (except for the ones on my "succulent shelf"). I wanted them away from the sprinklers so they're keeping my potted tomatoes company. I think they're happier here.

Be glad I didn't show you the rest of my "misses" - some almost non-existent cucumber plants, the lack of moon vines despite several seedings, the 'Ava' agastache which insists on growing tall and then slowly expiring ... But we all have our misses, don't we?

This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2010. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day for May

2011-05-16T20:02:00.001-05:00

The daylilies are here!

It's that time again - Garden Bloggers Bloom Day hosted by Carol, and daylily season in my backyard! When I went out early in the morning to snap photos for this Bloom Day, I discovered the daylilies were a little shy about opening. Apparently the 46 F morning temperature was not to their liking (though it was to mine). So I had to wait a couple hours for the sun to warm them up, risking blowing out the photos because of the more intense light. No matter; it's nice to see the daylilies at all after this up and down weather!

Don't ask me the names of any of my daylilies. Some I inherited and some were passalongs. I've only got one with a "real" name.

You can tell that all of these blooms were not quite open.

I have a couple of favorites daylilies in my yard, and this is one of them. It's very floriferous and always the first to bloom.

Little Women rose in a pot

This Little Women rose is the one that bloomed for me indoors this winter. Not bad, eh?

Regal lily buds

Probably in a couple of weeks these lilies will be open. I'm really looking forward to the fragrance. At last year's garden bloggers fling in Buffalo, I got lily envy. In general, the ones they grow in Buffalo won't do well here. But the Regal lily is supposed to be a good Southern heirloom lily. I hope these guys stick around and are not just a one-year triumph for me.

Allium sphaerocephalum, drumstick allium

Speaking of envy, two years ago at the garden bloggers fling in Chicago I got a good case of allium envy. Growing those great, big-headed alliums down here is also supposed to be difficult. But I really wanted to try at least one, so I went for a much smaller allium, the drumstick allium (aka purple-headed garlic). Soon they'll all be blooming.

Camelot series foxglove

My foxglove are almost over for the spring season as you can tell by the last remaining blooms on this stalk. This is a Camelot foxglove, a Louisiana Super Plant. They did just OK in my garden but I'm not averse to trying them again in another location.

'Belinda's Dream' rose

The 'Belinda's Dream' rose continues to bloom away. It went through a rough patch from thrips, I think. You can still see some of the brown petals. In fact, I read that there has been a big outbreak of thrips in our state. Instead of spraying for it, I just waited it out. Sure enough, after having one bloom period of balling and brown petals, it seems to be over.

Verbena bonariensis

Now let's get to some of my blooming pollinator plants. The pollinators are getting active and so are their plants. Verbena bonariensis always starts the ball rolling. I'm sure next year I'll be regretting that I let this one get so big. They really seed out a lot!

Gaillardia x grandiflora ‘Goblin’

Notice the stippling on the leaves of this gaillardia? Lace bugs I think. They're becoming quite a nuisance in my garden.

'Zagreb' coreopsis

mystery poppy

I'm not sure if poppies do much in the way of helping pollinators but the biggest mystery to me is how this poppy got there. I scattered some passalong seed in my border bed, quite a ways from the raised bed where this is, but then I promptly dug up the border bed area for a tree. Somehow this one lone poppy ended up in my raised bed, along with three larkspur I also didn't plant there. Weird.

'Victoria Blue' salvia

'Blue Charm' veronica

This is my first year for veronica. It's very attractive to the bumble bees.

Salvia guaranitica 'Black and Blue'

The 'Black and Blue' salvia has already got hummingbirds flocking. Love, love, love this plant.

I have many more plants blooming this GBBD - other roses, tomatoes, peppers, a few little straggler sweet peas, petunias, daisies, Stokes' asters, 'Caradonna' salvia, 'Goldsturm' rudbeckia (just starting and only a few) and still a few blooms on the blue-eyed grass. Hop on over to May Dreams Gardens and see what's blooming in the rest of the world. And if I get to it, I plan to post on more of the daylilies and maybe even show you the veggies while they're still looking good and not beat down by the summer!

This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2010. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

New Life in the Old Garden

2011-04-21T22:48:00.001-05:00

Monsieur Jules Elie peony

I completely missed Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - by an entire week! Just too many things going on, including trips out of town. So instead of showing the usual bloomin' things here, I thought I'd show you some of the new-for-this-year things. First up, my very first peony. Granted, it only had two blooms but I'm righteously proud of them. You just don't see many (any?) peonies in my neck of the woods.

Darcy Bussell, a David Austin rose

I've been fortunate to receive many plants this spring that I actually didn't order (a perk of the job I guess). This Darcy Bussell rose came bare root and just a tad later than I would have liked. But it immediately set about growing and blooming. Lots of nice blooms for such a young plant.

unknown hellebore

A tad blurry, I know. Found this hellebore at a local nursery, another first for our area (my other hellebores traveled long distances to get to my yard, including some from a blogger friend, Lynn).

Salvia nemerosa 'Caradonna'

I actually had this salvia last year but it struggled a bit (I even lost one plant). It's now blooming quite nicely. This is a small salvia, and very attractive to bees.

New stock tank with 'Fireworks' clematis in background

My new mini-stock tank now has plants, a small water lily from Pam, and a blue rush. The 'Fireworks' clematis in the back has already lost its blooms. That's how long it's been since I've blogged, I guess.

Belinda's Dream rose

The majority of my roses are new this year. I ordered this from Antique Rose Emporium and was pleased with the shape it was in when it arrived. This has a lovely scent and many buds and I hope it gets nice and big.

Amsonia tabernaemontana 'Montana' or dwarf willow bluestar

This plant does not look real impressive here. And it's not even new. It's going on its third year here but in a new place. But if finally bloomed. Rather sparsely, but it did bloom. Maybe it'll be happier in its new location and bloom even more next year.

Gryphon begonia

This 'Gryphon' begonia is neat looking, isn't it? I may have jammed too many in this pot (there's three), so I'll be watching it carefully. So far I really like it.

Suncatcher Pink Lemonade petunia

I can't even remember the last time I bought a petunia but this year I have several. I'm really liking this Pink Lemonade Suncatcher petunia. Unusual colors, and though you can't see it in this photo, the colors go well with its terra-cotta pot.

unknown variety but finally blooming camellia

I've had this little camellia for many years now, and for the first time it's decided to bloom. Another new but old happening in my garden.

Dragon Wing begonia

This Dragon Wing begonia is still a small plant but it's putting on some big blooms. I can't wait to see how it holds up in the summer heat. This may have to move to a shadier spot then!

2011 succulent shelf with Pink Lemonade petunia

Yes, I've had this succulent shelf before but every year it's usually got some new things going. This year some new plants include the old-fashioned jade plant (far left) and spear head (Senecio kleiniiformis), second on the left. Oh, and I have another family of chickadees in the bird house!

Early Multiflora Blend sweet pea

I'm about to admit defeat when it comes to sweet peas. I just can't seem to get them going well. At least I got ONE bloom this year!

Forest Pansy redbud in foreground, 'Red Cascade' climbing rose in background

Here's something I'm really excited about. Not the redbud or rose, although they are wonderful, but the continuing work on my front "hardscape." Some of you have already seen the trellis the rose is on when I featured it late last year. Now I have a gate into the backyard. And the trellises on the left are for a utility area. The tops of it and its gate are not on yet. After they're put in place I'll put some gravel down inside, install a wooden compost bin, and plant some vines at the base of the trellises. Eventually the tree on the left will be removed (it's a "weed" tree). Once all is completed, I plan to do a post about it, why it was designed this way, and showcase my friend who designed it.

I hope you enjoyed the tour through the new in my garden. Be glad I didn't show you every tomato and pepper I've planted!

This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2010. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

An English Garden with a Texas Twist

2011-04-06T22:01:00.000-05:00

Bluebonnets and whale tongue agave in the entry courtyard

Ah Austin, how I miss you so. Last weekend I finally made it back to Austin for a too-short visit. It had been a whole year since my last trip, I confess. Austin didn't seem to be experiencing any financial meltdown - the energy there is palpable. But I digress. Besides seeing my friends (not all of them unfortunately!), I had a blast doing "gardeny" things around town. And one of those highlights was a visit with Jenny of Rock Rose blog. Wow, was I floored by her garden and all the work she and her husband have done! Jenny is from England but has mastered the Texas Hill Country completely. Faced with inhospitable to nonexistent soil in the west of Austin, she has designed a showcase garden full of self-seeding flowers and other plants, both native and non, that are thriving.

Another view of the entry courtyard

Her garden is within a number of courtyards. The entry courtyard bursts with low-growing wildflowers - Texas bluebonnets, Blackfoot daisy and four-nerve daisy, to name a few. There's also a giant Lady Banks' rose, assorted cacti and succulents, and a subtle little fountain (seen in the first photo). Each courtyard has at least one gathering area.

A peek over the far wall reveals the vegetable garden

Each courtyard showcases another jumble of flowers. Unfortunately, I didn't get any good photos of the English courtyard, again full of flowers.

The pool courtyard

Poppies and yellow (Hinckley's?) columbine were everywhere.

Pool courtyard

It would be difficult to pick a favorite courtyard for they all have very special attributes. I think what I liked most about the pool courtyard was the design. The different levels really added that extra something. Jenny was able to envision all this in her mind as she supervised the placement of all the rocks (dug from the lot, of course). And the pool was very inviting although not obvious at all. You can see part of it as water spills from the jar at top.

My friend Marcia talking with Jenny on a patio

A place to contemplate the beauty

What I like most about Jenny's garden is how well it captures that sense of place. You know this garden belongs in the Hill Country. Also, believe it or not, Jenny designed the entire garden and did almost all of the work on it herself. Her husband apparently became very proficient at pouring concrete (there are many beautiful concrete steps), and he built steps with native limestone in many places. What that says to me is that this garden is not a "trophy garden." It is well loved and a piece of Jenny's heart.

Jenny - the Lancashire Rose

You really should visit Jenny's blog as she's much more talented than me at photography. Jenny - thank you so much for the tour and I'll see you in Seattle at the Bloggers Fling!
This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2010. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

March GBBD plus Daffodil Rescue

2011-03-15T15:06:00.000-05:00

Tulipa clusiana with cactus

Where does the time go? Where did winter fly to? It seems like one day it was snowy and freezing, and the next it was spring and the daffodils were popping up everywhere! And with that, my gardening life kicked into high gear. And my blogging life slowed to nothing. I've been meaning to blog about all the wonderous things that started happening around here when spring started but I just got too busy. But no excuses, Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day is here, courtesy of Carol at May Dreams Gardens. So it's time to take stock of my blooming pretties, check out some other blooming pretties at Carol's blog, and share with you a daffodil "rescue" I did recently. Hopefully you won't mind a few blooms from a couple of weeks ago that I really meant to share with you.

Tulipa clusiana

This year I bought several (okay, quite a few) bulbs from Old House Gardens and I splurged on this little baby, a species tulip, Tulipa clusiana. Because these are so dear, I put a few in my stock tank and a few on my hard-to-please hillside, for insurance purposes in case they didn't like one or the other spots. These are the first to bloom and they're in the stock tank. They seem very happy here but the ones on the hillside are coming along too.

Peony sprouts!

Oh yes, Virginia, I do plan to try my hand at growing peonies in the South. One baby step at a time though. Not technically a bloom, but thrilling to me nonetheless.

'Wisley Blue' starflowers

Staying with the bulb theme, these starflowers are real keepers as they seem very hardy.

A few daffodils from my yard

I don't know the variety of most these daffs but the top left is 'Jetfire' and the bottom right is 'Ice Follies'. And speaking of 'Ice Follies' ...

'Ice Follies' (mostly) in front yard

Last spring at the Jonquil Jubilee in Gibsland, I plunked down a dollar for a raffle ticket. The prize? 1,000 'Ice Follies' daffodils planted whereever you liked. Lo and behold, I won! Of course, I wondered what on earth I was going to do with all of them and then I realized - I live on a corner lot and I really should share these with the neighborhood. So last fall, Will Baker came out and planted them (something I never could have done myself!). I can't really tell if there's a thousand there, and I don't really care! This variety is supposed to be really good for naturalizing in this area, and I've found out they last a long time in a vase. I hope they spread out and more people in my neighborhood will plant some!

Yes, my ice-encased flowering quince survived and bloomed!

Leveling for a tiny stock tank pond

Here's some of the work we've been doing. Husband moved my bird bath to put a little stock tank pond in (tank is awaiting leveling). Leveling is hard to do! Pam has generously offered me a division of one of her miniature water lilies, so Pam, the pond is ready! And in exchange, I'm giving Pam some of the daffodils I rescued from an old house.

Back of old house; note the massive crapemyrtle on the left

A co-worker lives near this old house and told me about the many varieties of daffodils blooming there. When I showed interest in them, he kindly found the owner and asked if we could dig a few daffs up. The owner's son agreed (the owner is 100 years old!) and we had a really interesting time looking and digging. I think it was a grand old house at one time.

Front door (minus the porch)

Old tree - is it dead?

Pine trees, privet and other "weeds" had invaded the property, but the daffs were still along a drive, near the house, and in the culvert.

Old driveway with just-bloomed "Lent lilies," some 'Butter and Eggs', and currently blooming redbud tree in background

I'm just learning my daffodils but I think we saw Lent lilies (Narcissus pseudonarcissus), 'Butter and Eggs', 'Grand Primo' (or else 'Early Girl'), campernelles and 'Sweeties' (sometimes called 'Louisiana Sweeties' or 'Sweetness'). Pam - I dug some Lent lilies for you.

'Grand Primo' or 'Early Girl'?? You tell me.

Field of 'Sweeties', campernelles and other daffodils

As Texans go wildflower peeping and Northeasterners go leaf peeping, I go daffodil peeping in early spring.

Duba enjoying the spring morning sun and his mixed cat greens from Renee's Garden

OK, Duba doesn't have anything to do with blooms but I thought he was cute.

Please visit Carol's blog to see what other new spring beauties abound (in the northern hemisphere at least)!

This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2010. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

February Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

2011-02-16T21:05:00.000-06:00

Lenten roses, Helleborus orientalis

Well, Carol's Garden Bloggers Bloom Day was yesterday and Pam's Foliage Follow-up is today, and I'm barely getting anything together for either. I had planned to post some photos of my lettuce and kale for Foliage Follow-up but the previous two weeks of extended below freezing weather has killed them! But I'm happy to say I can show two different blooms for GBBD, even if I'm a day late. My little Lenten rose is still thrilling me with its blooms. Funny how something so little yet so new to my garden is such a thrill. When I purchased this online, it said "multi-colored," meaning they probably didn't know what I'd end up with. Well, I'm happy with this color. The other one is not blooming so that'll probably be a surprise for next winter.

Meyer lemon tree

My little ol' Meyer lemon is blooming up a storm inside. Now that all the blooms are opening, I can smell it when I walk in the door. I may have to take it outside this weekend (we've had temps in the upper 60s here!), just so some stray bee can pollinate it for me. I want some lemons!

Meyer lemon blossoms

I hope you all can visit both Carol and Pam's blogs to see what other gardeners have going in their gardening worlds.

And don't forget the Great Backyard Bird Count starts this Friday, going through Monday. It only takes a little of your time to become a citizen scientist!

This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2010. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

Spring WILL Come (eventually)

2011-02-06T16:39:00.000-06:00

Pink muhly grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris) in ice

Yes, I have no doubt spring will get here eventually. Just not eventually enough for me. Last weekend when I was enjoying the balmy spring-like weather, I took some photos of my emerging bulbs. It gave me hope that spring would arrive soon. Then this past week we had another shot of ridiculous-for-us-southerners winter weather. While the nearest big city to us got several inches of snow, we got a heck of a lot of ice. That wouldn't have been so bad except that it stayed below freezing for three days. Our plants don't like that. :-)

Flowering quince buds caught in ice

Fortunately, yesterday the sun reappeared, which caused me to rush outside to capture the stunning juxtaposition of sun and ice.

Ice reflections on trees

Amazingly, we lost only minor limbs on some of the trees. I was very thankful for that.

Goldfinches (mostly) at feeders (from office window)

What is it about cold weather that has the birds going crazy for food? I couldn't keep the feeders stocked fast enough for them.

Flame acanthus in ice

I'm used to most of my herbaceous perennials dying to the ground every winter. But not to plants like parsley, chives and kale withering to nothing. Plant then replant I guess.

Suffering cactus pad (it's not supposed to be horizontal!)

More ice reflections in trees

But enough of all that misery. On to some excitement (at least for me!).

Hellebore bud

This fall I planted two Lenten roses (Helleborus orientalis). This may not be that exciting for some of you but I've never seen them growing around here. So I'm very excited that one of them is actually blooming. I took this photo before the big freeze but now there's two more buds and this one is almost open. I'll have to get another photo when they're all open. The cold didn't phase them a bit!

Narcissus

I found this little flower last weekend. I don't remember planting it but I'm happy it's there (although today it looks a bit bedraggled).

Muscari neglectum

All of the bulbs that were coming up last weekend seem pretty unphased by the cold. For the first time, I planted some Spanish bluebells and Southern grape hyacinths. Here's the grape hyacinth, which is supposed to be the true Southern one that grows wild in old homesteads. It's extremely tiny so I guess I'll have to wait a few years for a stunning display.

This weather has got me wondering if I need to start planting for Northern-type winters and Southern-type summers. Oy! I'm sitting tight, waiting for another winter chill later this week (more snow and wintry mix with lows in the teens again). But I know just around the corner is my spring.

This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2010. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

Hurrah, January Blooms!

2011-01-15T16:54:00.001-06:00

African Violet

YES!! I have blooms for this Garden Bloggers Bloom Day! I was anticipating not a bloom in sight until I remembered my African violet. I got this freebie a few months ago at the Garden Writers Symposium. The Optimara folks had a huge display of all colors, some a bit gaudy for my taste. I gravitated to this one because it reminded me of the first African violet I tried to grow. I think I got it from my then-next door neighbor and friend Brenda, who had a whole lot of them at one time (back in the 70's when houseplants ruled, ha!). This has been a nice steady bloomer since I brought it home. And I haven't even fertilized it yet.

Little Women

And here's another surprise. I got this Little Women rose at the same symposium from the Storybook folks. It was pretty teeny at the time so I put it in a pot instead of the ground. Plus, I wanted to keep it near me on the deck so I could enjoy its perfume. When the cold weather arrived I decided to try it indoors in the hope that it would bloom. Well, here you go. The guest bedroom smells lovely. I believe I will keep it in a pot since it's not supposed to get that big - only 24-30 inches high by 12-24 inches wide.

And can I be allowed just one aside? Remember all the baby greens I harvested last week? (See my last post.) Well, I just saw the goldfinches eating my chard and lettuce!! Is that the thanks I get for giving them nyjer and sunflower seed?! Geez. :-)

OK, one more aside - there is still snow and ice on our roof from our winter storm of last Sunday. This is the longest I've ever seen it hang around in the South!

Now, stay snug and warm and be sure to visit Carol's blog to see what else is in bloom around the world today.

This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2010. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

Goin' Local

2011-01-09T13:20:00.000-06:00

My washed baby greens: Cherry Belle radish, Scarlet Charlotte ruby chard and Nero Toscana kale

This time of year you'd think there wouldn't be much happening in the garden. Ah, but in my little patch of earth I've got some fun food percolating. Yesterday, in advance of a winter storm, I decided to thin out my greens and enjoy them myself. I picked radish, chard and kale greens. Some of the radish greens had true little radishes (why have I never grown these before??). The radish greens and kale went into a saute with some purchased Swiss chard, onions, garlic and red pepper flakes for a pizza topping (with goat cheese, yum). The baby chard was saved for a later salad.

My washed baby lettuces

I also thinned out my lettuces, which became my lunch along with the baby radishes, some lemon juice from Louisiana lemons and some of my brother's California olive oil. It's sometimes difficult for people to eat as local as they'd like but I've found that if you try to go with what's in season, it's a little easier. And of course, a local farmers' market allows for more options (what would I do without my favorite farmers' market, the Ruston Farmers' Market?).

Fresh, local eggs

My friend Kathy gave me a dozen beautiful eggs from her chickens on Friday. Am I lucky or what? I see some greens and eggs in my future. This fall Kathy also passed on to me her copy of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. This book is imminently more readable than some of Michael Pollan's books on the same subject - how and why to eat local. Barbara Kingsolver makes it real and I loved her sense of humor. Give it a whirl if this subject is something you're interested in.

Ice on baby lettuce

And this is why I wanted to get some greens yesterday! Fingers crossed for the lettuce but I hear kale gets sweeter with a little snow and ice.

Baby Nero Toscana kale

Stay warm everyone!

This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2010. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

Waiting and Watching

2011-01-01T18:29:00.001-06:00

Bountiful Blue blueberry

Happy New Year everyone! Do you make any resolutions for the coming year of what you want to do in your garden? I rarely make resolutions and I certainly don't make any for my garden. I figure I don't need the added stress of not keeping a resolution! What do you do this time of year in your garden? Are you in it or just thinking about it? This time of year I'm usually just waiting and watching, wondering what will be starting to come up next and wondering how the garden will change.

How do you like this blueberry? Such beautiful leaves. This is my first try at blueberries and judging by these leaves, I don't really care if I don't get any fruit. The leaves on this Bountiful Blue are gorgeous.

Time to rake!

Just before the holiday festivities I meant to do a post on all the lovely fall colors. I had forgotten how the oak leaves wait until December to really glow. But time slipped away from me and I never blogged about it. The day we got home from holiday travels ALL the leaves had dropped at once and now we've got some serious raking to do!

Drumstick allium leaves

Today, this first day of the new year, I decided to look for the new. There are a few new leaves pushing up, including these drumstick alliums. When I ordered them this fall, the good folks at Old House Gardens emailed to make sure I wanted drumstick alliums. They're really not supposed to do well south of Zone 7 and I'm in Zone 8a. So I'm sure they were wondering if I knew what I was doing. Well, maybe I don't, but these guys do want to grow!

Dandelion blooms

Looks like the weeds want to grow too (my Greek grandmother-in-law probably wouldn't consider this a weed!).

Baby kale - Nero Toscano variety

I have some young greens coming up as well. Can't wait for the kale to grow up.

Lettuce

Last winter and this, I've used a seed tape of mixed lettuces to get a crop. I really like it as there's less waste. And lots of beautiful lettuces as well.

Flowering quince

Surprise, surprise, the quince has opened its first bud on this New Year's day.

Red Cascade miniature climbing rose on trellis

The Red Cascade climber has also surprised me with a few blooms.

Sweet pea

Finally, my sweet peas are coming up! This year I'm trying bird netting tacked to the ground and the fence. I hope this works.

Savannah holly

The Savannah hollies look pretty good this year and are full of berries. The mockingbirds won't eat them until later on in winter, giving me more time to enjoy them myself.

Titmouse

Of course, one of my favorite "watching" activities this time of year is bird watching. The white-throated sparrows and juncos have returned. And the goldfinches are here early (only they didn't want to appear on cue for me). Could the indigo buntings and rose-breasted grosbeaks be far behind? Guess I'll just have to wait and watch.

This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2010. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

One December Bloom for Bloom Day

2010-12-15T20:57:00.000-06:00

Viburnum mistflower, aka Joe-Pye shrub

If it's slim pickings in the bloom department now for my garden, I can't imagine how bad it'll be for next month's Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. This month I get to feature my oddball shrub, the viburnum mistflower or Joe-Pye shrub, Eupatorium viburnoides. This is NOT a Joe-Pye weed and it's NOT a viburnum. In fact, I have never been able to find out much about it other than it's native to Mexico. Regardless, I've had this for two winters now and it's always bloomed in late November through December. It has a very light fragrance and the leaves are evergreen. Sounds pretty good, yes? Well, it has one habit I'm not that fond of.

It's very lax and floppy. Not really like a shrub at all. But maybe that's because I don't know how to train it properly. Or maybe it needs more sunlight (it gets blasted by the sun in the late afternoon but has light shade before that). I plan to give it a very good pruning after it finishes blooming and hope for the best next winter.

Now, I'm hoping to see more blooms than this at Carol's website, where she hosts Garden Bloggers Bloom Day!

This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2010. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

As the Cold Wind Blows

2010-12-12T16:34:00.000-06:00

Willow teepee met its match with the cold winds

A cold Siberian wind has been blowing since last night. We left for some Holiday parties while the temperatures were in the 60s. Fortunately we had watched the weather forecast and brought our coats! It's quite nippy today and that wind is still blowing. It's going to be fun trying to put some sheets down on tender plants this evening! They're predicting a low of 19 F tonight but if this wind doesn't stop, it won't get that cold.

Agave desmettiana variegata

I spent some time this afternoon ensuring my plants had a warm place to stay. This agave is not the cold-hardiest of plants, so it moved to the greenhouse with my husband's help.

Succulents in their winter hangout

My succulents have been in the storeroom/potting shed for quite a few weeks now. They seem to be doing fairly well although they're a bit crowded. Since I don't think the window provides enough light, I have two little growlights on this side of the shelves, just for a little something extra.

Camelot foxgloves

While my northern gardening friends have put all their gardening to bed for the winter, I'm still gardening on. Last week I planted these foxgloves, my first try at foxgloves ever. These are the Camelot series, designated a 2010 Louisiana Super Plant. I do hope they will look as gorgeous in spring as they do in my mind right now!

'Bloodgood' Japanese maple

This isn't the best photo I've ever taken of this tree but hopefully you can see the lovely red color my 'Bloodgood' maple finally has. It's been a great tree and it looks like it survived the early spring gnawing the squirrels gave it this year.

Frozen bhut jolokia peppers (aka ghost peppers)

I waited and waited for my ghost pepper plants to put on some peppers. I planted these guys in late March from seeds I collected from my brother's plants, they flowered several times throughout the growing season, but they didn't put on any peppers until mid-November! I'm surmising they weren't really meant for growing in Zone 8a! These peppers, also known as bhut jolokia, come from India. My brother sells an award-winning salsa made from ghost peppers, thought to be the hottest peppers in the world at over one million Scoville units! That's one way to stay warm!

This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2010. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

Housing Plants Indoors - Envy

2010-12-05T11:12:00.001-06:00

Bellamy plant collection

Now that we're fully in the season where some of our outdoor plants have settled indoors for a while, I've been thinking about how to show them off to their best. Right now my indoor plants are kind of plunked here and there. There's a few lined up at a window on an old family bench and the bigger plants (my lemon tree and bay tree) are basically hogging as much window space as they can. But nothing looks finished, as though they were meant for those areas.

Not so for these plants in this post. I took these photos at the GWA Symposium in Dallas back in September. It's obvious that these plants were meant for these spaces and these spaces were meant for enjoyment. I'm envious. Check out the beautiful square pots juxtaposed with the circular window in the Robert Bellamy home in the first photo.

Riser-Armstrong garden pavilion

The East Dallas private garden tour we went on was my favorite. One of the gardens we visited, the Rister-Armstrong garden, had a series of garden rooms, both indoors and out. Their garden pavilion, modeled on early 20th century English and American traditions, fit their home perfectly. These windows are stunning! Following are some more details of their garden pavilion.

Rister-Armstrong shelf detail

Rister-Armstrong ceiling detail - it's a high one!

Rister-Armstrong wallpaper detail

I found the Rister-Armstrong garden pavilion to be breathtaking although not really my style, but I can appreciate it nonetheless. However, here's the type of plant room that makes me envious:

Bellamy orchid window

There's something about these old windows and its casual arrangement of plants that I just love.

This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2010. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

November Color for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day

2010-11-15T17:16:00.003-06:00

Little Women, a StoryBook rose

There's all kinds of color in my garden this November Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day. A couple of gray days had me questioning what color I might find for this month's Bloom Day. But Sunday dawned beautiful and sunny and the blooms and colors I found perked me right up. Above is a sweet little rose I got at the GWA Symposium in September, Little Women. It was quite small when I got it so I put it in a pot to let it grow up a bit. It's been happily blooming ever since. Though the blooms are tiny, it has a nice fragrance.

Pineapple sage, Salvia elegans

You'll probably see a lot of pineapple sage photos in garden bloggers' posts today. Though the plants are getting leggy by now, losing many of its lower leaves, it's still blooming away. Too bad the hummers have moved on from this feast!

Sedum 'Autumn Joy'

'Autumn Joy' in its very seasonal color is another common plant. But what a trooper plant it is, never asking much from the gardener except well-drained soil and sun.

Mexican mint marigold, Tagetes lucida

My Mexican mint marigold (also sometimes referred to as "Texas tarragon") is finally showing a few blooms after a very rocky year. I'm not sure what was causing it to suffer, other than less water than I used to give it. Maybe that was it. It kept putting out branches that then died. Strange.

Melampodium paludosum

My melampodium, an annual of unknown variety, is rarely, if ever, featured in any of my posts. I don't know why, because it's a non-stop bloomer from summer through fall. They say it will self-sow but I've yet to experience that.

Black-eyed Susan vine (with moon vine in the background)

Well, let's just continue with the golden yellows and oranges, shall we? My black-eyed Susan vine has been another less-than-stellar performer this year. The vines grew quickly after seed planting but then they never flowered. Until last month. Oh well, at this time of year, who can be choosy?

'Patrick's' abutilon

Isn't this lovely? 'Patrick's' abutilon is making a remarkable recovery from the heat and drought of this summer.

Flame anisacanthus, Anisacanthus wrightii

The flame anisacanthus is still blooming, hoping for any late-arriving hummingbirds. This is one plant that likes its ROOM. Even though it was cut back twice this year, it's still 3 feet tall and 4 feet wide.

'Lanai Bright Pink' verbena amongst creeping rosemary

The creeping rosemary is starting to bloom and the Lanai verbena is muscling its way in. I really need to get the verbena under control! Here's a few more blooms.

'Whirling Butterflies' gaura

'Hip Hop' euphorbia and 'Little Grape' gomphrena

Smooshing down the new soil

We're getting some work done on the outside of our house and I know all you gardeners can relate to this - contractors smooshing either plants or, in my case, new and once fluffy soil. Ugh.

New trellis for 'Red Cascade' miniature climbing rose

But here's some work I'm most definitely happy about. A different person, a craftsman, is making a gate for us and part of it includes this lovely trellis. Poor guy - he took the rose off of its temporary wires in order to put the trellis up. Then he tried to put the rose back, all the while getting stuck by both the rose and the agave below it! I've since rearranged the rose on the trellis, making sure there's plenty of canes going horizontal (for those new to climbing roses, the more canes you tie up horizontally, the more blooms you'll get).

The fall colors are starting here (finally). I really should have taken a photo of some of the crapemyrtles around town instead of this weedy Chinese tallow tree. The crapemyrtles really look like they're on fire!

Oakleaf hydrangea finally starting to turn

Last year at this time, the oakleaf hydrangea was almost completely red. Look at it just turning now. Ah well, for us Southerners, any fall color, no matter how late, is welcome!

Be sure to visit Carol's blog, May Dreams Gardens, to see other GBBD posts from around the world.

This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2010. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

Hurry Up and Garden

2010-10-26T12:10:00.005-05:00

New Border

I guess I'll be calling this my new border for a while since I still have lots of ideas for it. I said in my last blog that I would be designing it this winter. But heck, seasoned gardeners will recognize themselves in me. I started thinking about all the things that would look so much better next year if only they had a good winter's season of growing roots. So I ordered a few plants (mums and pansies are all I can get here now), and transplanted a few plants. In fact, since my bulb order came in it's been a non-stop gardening fest. And just because I have a new bed to plant in, it doesn't mean I don't have to move things around. So the arrival of a peony and some lilies from Old House Gardens meant that I had to hassle with transplanting a very thorny rose and some daylilies.

'Whirling Butterflies' gaura

There are a few plants that are still holding out this warmish fall season. The gaura 'Whirling Butterflies' is on its second big splash. It has a great one in spring and early summer, kind of peters out in midsummer, and then rejuvenates in fall. I have to cut it back for best flower show.

Purple basil and self-seeded Coral Nymph salvia

Most of my basil is pretty shot by now. A few nights of pretty cool weather a few weeks ago brought the Genovese basil to its knees. But the purple basil is still going strong, although it's quite floppy.

'White Cloud' muhly grass

I bought the 'White Cloud' muhly grass last fall at a plant show. It didn't do much that year but is now flowering quite well. It's much more upright than the pink muhly and it has incredibly soft plumes.

Daffodil leaves on the right, newly transplanted daylily on the left

How weird is this? In a number of places I've got some daffodils starting to come up. No sign of buds just yet, thankfully.

Leaves of the spring starflower Ipheion

And starflower is starting to grow as well. Weird.

Lenten rose (Helleborus orientalis)

Here's a big risk - the Lenten rose. I've been enchanted by all the photos I see on blogs during the dead of winter of Lenten roses, hybrid hellebores, Christmas roses, etc. You don't see them down here very often, which is why it may be a risk to try to grow them. But all of gardening's a risk, right? Anyway, the ones I received were lovely and healthy (from Gardens Oy Vey), so I'm hoping for the best.

As you can tell, I've been in quite a hurry to get plants and bulbs in the garden. I just hope La Nina is kind to us this year and gives us at least a little rain (predictions of a warm and dry winter for the South, ugh!).

This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2010. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

You Can Tell It's Fall ... Changes

2010-10-10T17:09:00.002-05:00

Spider lilies (Lycoris radiata) and cloudless sulphur butterflies

When the spider lilies make their surprise appearance in September, you know cooler weather is around the corner. Yes, indeed, the cooler weather finally made an appearance down here. It's been a blessed relief. However, there's been no relief from the drought. With a burn ban now covering the entire state, we're all very anxious for some fall rains. It's too bad we've entered October, typically a very dry month here. Not to be dissuaded though, I've plunged ahead with fall planting.

My new babies from High Country Gardens, waiting for their new homes

Before I could start planting my stash (veronica, candytuft, monarda and a reblooming iris), I had to make room in the raised beds. That meant ripping out many overly enthusiastic plants or ones not doing so well, as well as just making room to try some new things. One of the biggies we tackled was the rosemary. It had completely outgrown its space and then some. With my hubby's help, we pulled it out. Below is the "dramatic" removal.

Starting the dig

Surprisingly shallow root system

Finally out

More exciting changes happening in the backyard - new borders going in.

From my upstairs office window, the proposed border lines

I've been slowly trying to add this new border on my own. You can see from the above photo the start of them. I put corrugated cardboard or newspaper down over the grass, wet it thoroughly, add composted cow manure on top, and then mulch. But it's taking WAY too long to get done, especially considering how much I want to cover. So I laid out the entire line I wanted with markers paint and hired a crew to complete it. The new border goes from towards the back of the yard, all along the side fence. The squarish place in the photo above, is where a small deck and pergola will go in the future.

The view from the future front gate, towards the back

Part of the newly installed border; the future deck and pergola will go in front of the lattice

More of the new border going towards the side and front (don't you love the size of that pine tree trunk?)

Updated view from the front future gate

I don't have a definite design for it yet. I've placed a few freebie plants I got at the GWA Symposium last month in the border but they may be there just temporarily. I know for sure that I'll place some bulbs along part of the edge, add some roses, add some evergreens to give it year-round structure, and have more drought-tolerant plants towards the front gate because there is no irrigation system there. Although I'll plant a few things in it this fall, I'm giving myself the pleasure of designing it this winter.

Now for a few more little things happening around the yard.

Bug-ridden 'Purple Dome' New England Aster

Unfortunately this has been a disaster of an aster. The reason? Aster lace bugs. They have been chomping on these plants since I put them in. I've tried all the usual organic methods to get rid of them. I finally started using neem but I may be too late. I try to avoid neem because it's toxic to bees but they say if you spray it when the bees are not around, it's okay. I hope so. There are so few blooms on them that very few bees are attracted anyway!

The blooms on the pink muhlys are starting to show off

A real "late bloomer" - 'Goldsturm' rudbeckia about two months after the initial bloom period

The dainty (and tasty) blooms of wild (sometimes called Italian) arugula

Pineapple sage (Salvia elegans) blossoms

My pineapple sage has finally started blooming. I knew it would be a fall bloomer, I just didn't know it would take so long. This is the first time I've tried growing it and although I love the fact that it provides late-season color in the garden and fall nectar for the hummers, I'm just not that enthralled with the overall look of the plant itself. Maybe I'll move one of them to my new border where I won't see it as often. :-)

I hope you all are enjoying the cool weather as much as I am!

I'm Still Around!

2010-09-28T20:25:00.000-05:00

Simple bird bath

Yes, I'm still around. Yet, despite my pledge to blog more and visit more blogs, I'm still way behind. Busy? Yes. Gardening? Well, no. But that's another story.

Giant okra at Stonewall Jackson Elementary School garden

Two weeks ago I attended the Garden Writers Association (GWA) Symposium in Dallas. It was quite a whirlwind and I enjoyed every second of it. It was fun to see old friends (a shout out to Susan, Cindy, Andrea, Lisa, Carol, Dee, and all my old blogger buds) and to meet new ones. Gardeners are the friendliest people.

Of course, we went on a few garden tours and saw quite a diversity of gardens. From Highland Park to a school garden, we saw the gamut. I hope some day soon to post more pics of the tours, but in the meantime, here's a taste of that diversity.

Pump House detail, Turtle Creek

Looks like Blogger has improved the way one uploads photos, so maybe I won't consider blogging such a long process anymore. Now if I could just get my mouse fixed, my photo software upgraded, some rain in the garden, and my broken toe healed, all would be right with my world! Back soon, I promise. :-)
This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2010. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

A Wildlife Weekend

2010-09-06T21:40:00.001-05:00

Pipevine swallowtail butterfly on Lanai Bright Pink verbena

I hope you all had as lovely of a weekend as I did. The weather here was great - dry air (can't say enough good things when it comes to lack of humidity around here!), moderate temperatures during the day, and cool evenings. Wow, an early taste of fall for us. So naturally, it brought me outside and into the garden. I was amazed at all the critter activity - birds, bees, other pollinators, one or two nasty insects, lizards - they were dazzling me with their comings and goings. So I thought I'd share a slice of my backyard life with you.

Male pipevine swallowtail

The butterflies are starting to make their appearance. Lucky for me I purchased a detailed butterfly guide recently. I learned to tell the difference between the male and female pipevine swallowtails and I definitely had a male one hanging around. They're difficult to photograph because they flutter their wings constantly.

Gray hairstreak on 'Autumn Joy' sedum

My first ID of a gray hairstreak. I planted amsonia for these little guys; it's one of their larval foods. But they didn't eat any this year (and the amsonia didn't bloom again this year, but that's another story).

Sulphur butterfly on flame acanthus

I'm pretty sure this is a cloudless sulphur. The cloudless and clouded are a little difficult to tell apart. I also saw two common buckeye butterflies but didn't have camera in hand at the time. It's the first time I've seen them in my garden.

Various pollinators on 'Autumn Joy' sedum

The 'Autumn Joy' sedum was covered in all sizes of bumblebees, thread-waisted wasps, butterflies and other little pollinating insects. I couldn't believe all the activity on it plus the diversity.

Giant bumblebee?

These bees, with their darker wings, look a lot bigger than other bumblebees. So are they really bumblebees? I have no idea.

Honeybee on basil flowers

Though I always see many bumblebees in my garden, I rarely see honeybees lately. Mostly I see them hanging around the bird bath when it's desperately hot and dry. So it's always a good thing to see them doing their pollination thing.

Anole on garlic chives

The garlic chives, just now coming into bloom, are also a hot spot for pollinators. And this anole! Perhaps he wanted to make a meal of one of them.

Duba and a bumble on garlic chives

Our cats are indoor cats but when the weather's nice, we sometimes take them for a little walk in our arms around the garden. Duba, especially, loves it. I think he'd be a very happy outdoor cat if we'd let him.

Ugh, mating Eastern lubber grasshoppers

The bane of my existence this year. My Buddhist friends probably think I'm barbaric for all the killing of them that I do. If I get to it, I'm going to post about which hostas survived these grasshoppers and which were not so lucky.

White breasted nuthatch

I love my little nuthatches. I know I have two of them for sure. I've come to recognize their funny little calls. This one is climbing down for a snack at the birdfeeder.

Downy woodpecker, ringed turtle-dove, cardinal, Carolina wren

The ringed turtle-dove is the big pig at the bird feeders these days. I wish I could have a separate feeder for them just so they wouldn't bogart the food from the rest of the birds. But if I tried that, I'm afraid it would just bring more of them.

The squirrels benefit from all the seed the turtle-doves spill!

Hummingbird on flame acanthus

The hummers, most likely all ruby-throated hummers, are starting to fight like crazy over the feeder. Fortunately there are other flowers available to them. I'm so glad I captured this particular bird because I kept thinking I saw a little white cap on its head. Sure enough, you can see it in this photo. I wish I knew why it had it!

Moonflower vine just opening

And now to break from all the garden critters, I thought I'd close with a few shots of a moonflower opening.

Fully opened. Don't you love the still-crinkled petals?

Moonflower the next morning

I hope everyone has a great September and if you're going to the Garden Writers Association Symposium in Dallas this coming weekend, I hope I get a chance to see or meet you. I'll be at the tweet-up on Friday so look for me there!

This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2010. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

Back to the Garden and the Blog

2010-08-31T20:38:00.000-05:00

'Alabama' coleus

Yes, I'm still a garden blogger. Regular readers have probably given up on me ever blogging again though. August is typically my slowest month of blogging, but this year it's the slowest ever. Every once in a while you need a break, you know?

Allow me one little non-gardening digression - I first discovered blogging after getting laid off. I had a wonderful two years of blogging about my garden, meeting new friends, some virtually, some in person, and learning an incredible amount about gardening all over the world. (Being unemployed for two years was not so nice in other ways though!) Three months ago I got a job in a completely new field for me but luckily, it's in the town I live in and in a field I love - gardening. Sort of. I edit articles about gardening. So I sit all day in fairly intense concentration in front of a computer. Which means that when I get home, the thought of getting on my computer to read blogs, much less write one, is a little much. Those of you who knew me during my other career, software, will wonder why I didn't have this problem before. Well, I really didn't spend that much time on the computer after work! And with all of the management meetings I used to have, it wasn't as intense in front of a screen. All this to say that although I miss reading everyone's blogs and wish I could read them as often as I used to, I probably won't be able to. But please hang in there with me. Maybe I'll figure out how to make this work.

'Alabama' coleus on left, Cordyline australis ‘Red Star’ on right

Now back to the garden. There's not really that much happening in the garden so I thought I'd talk about one of my more underappreciated plants, the 'Alabama' coleus. I planted it in a potted arrangement when it was in a little 4 inch pot. Later I moved the plants that were in the arrangement around and left the coleus by itself. Other than madly pinching it when I first got it, I haven't done anything else. It's developed this nice mounded shape and absolutely no pests have bothered it. Not even the lubber grasshoppers! So, there's a nice satisfactory plant for August.

Ruby throated hummingbird

There are a lot more hummingbirds around the backyard these days. I think the migration is starting. It's hard to capture more than one hummer at a time at the feeder because they're so busy chasing each other around. I find it funny that they also chase the butterflies away from their nectar plants. Speaking of butterflies, I saw my first Gulf frittilary of the season yesterday!

Spooky balloon

A couple of weeks ago this ballon got caught on a vent pipe of my neighbor's house. It's been looming over my backyard ever since, kind of spooking me when I forget it's there. Does anyone else find this unsettling? I think you would if you saw it in person.

Wavy leaf cacus and agave (neomexicana maybe??)

My wavy leaf cactus pad has definitely rooted and even sprouted another pad. So I'm thinking of ripping most plants out of my stock tank, planting this cactus, and leaving the now thriving bamboo muhly with it. We'll see.

'Autumn Joy' sedum

I'm now seeing the "pinking up" of my AJ sedum. And pollinators are now getting attracted to it. Surely this means that fall is around the corner?? :-) Yep, I can't wait for it! Well, a couple of more computer tasks await me, including ordering some bulbs, so I think I'll call it a blogging night. I hope to get to your blog soon!

This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2010. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

Miracle on Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day

2010-08-15T17:29:00.000-05:00

Lanai 'Bright Pink' verbena

This morning, before my coffee and my usual watering and Sunday garden clean-up, I half-heartedly brought my camera outside in the hopes that there would be at least one nice looking bloom for this Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day. This long-lasting heat, humidity and droughty weather has tired out both the garden and the gardener. So imagine how surprised I was to find many blooms; it wasn't like late spring or early summer mind you, but still, a very pleasant surprise. Almost a miracle, actually.

'Autumn Joy' sedum

Because I have more photos than normal, I'll spare you much narrative.

Knock Out rose, not a pink one, just lighter than normal for some reason

Verbena bonariensis

Painted Lady butterfly on buddleia (the blooms are smaller this time of year)

Blooms from some type of purple basil (lost the tag); I let this bloom for the bees

'Calliope' eggplant with the ubiquitous flea beetle in front of the bloom!

'Sun Gold' tomato blooms, revived by some rain; this should bloom & produce through fall

Flame acanthus, Anisicanthus quadrifidus var. wrightii

Flame acanthus plant

I put this second photo of flame acanthus in this post so you can see that the plant isn't really totally covered in blooms. At least mine has never been that way. Maybe that's because it gets a little more shade than I know it could take. Although it sprawls quite a bit in this area, I keep it because the hummingbirds are so fond of it. And speaking of hummers...

Hummingbird at 'Black and Blue' salvia

My 'Black and Blue' salvia, Salvia guaranitica, is looking pretty bedraggled right now, but then it always does by this time of year. I've had this plant for four years now and am thinking I'll replace it with a fresh one when I find another. The hummingbirds really love this plant as well. Yesterday I saw a hummer chase off a swallowtail butterfly from it!

Unknown variety of crapemyrtle

'Zagreb' coreopsis; are you tired of seeing this nonstop bloomer yet? I'm not!

'Patrick's' abutilon

I've done a little research on this particular abutilon on the Internet and just had to laugh at what I saw. The only references I could find for it came from Austin garden bloggers. And Austin is where I bought this one. I think it really needs to move beyond there as it's so dependable. So I'm doing my part to get it beyond central Texas!

Cicada shell on 'Patrick's' abutilon

Last of the black-eyed Susans ('Goldsturm' variety)

'Lemon Spreader' lantana in front of 'Rainbow Bush', Portulacaria afra ‘Variegata’

Closeup of 'Lemon Spreader'

Well, I was going to try to show you a blow-by-blow of this little hummer coming in and out for food, but Blogger is not behaving as it's supposed to (what else is new?). So you only get two little photos, but you can click on them to see a larger view.

Other blooms in the garden include 'Red Cascade' climbing rose, melampodium, 'Hip Hop' euphorbia, purple coneflower, some peppers, 'Lizard Lips' aloe, and 'Victoria Blue' salvia. Be sure to check out Carol's GBBD post to see what's blooming all over the world on this day!

Surviving the Dog Days

2010-08-08T15:46:00.001-05:00

Wavy Leaf cactus (anyone know the "real" name of this?; it's almost spineless & the pads curve & bend)

This is the third summer I've blogged about my garden and now I notice that around this time every year, I start pooping out on blogging. And even reading blogs. It's just too darn hot and I don't even want to think of gardens (hard to do when I have to edit so many gardening articles!). The temperatures we had to endure at the beginning of this past week were horrible and record breaking - was it 105 F or higher? After the heat indices started going over 115 F, I stopped listening to the weather. I started thinking I was back living in Austin ( :-) the smile is for all of my Austin friends). But then the miraculous occurred - it started to rain. Buckets. Toad stranglers. Too much rain to sink in properly. Lightning everywhere. I guess it was bound to happen.

'Crimson Pirate' daylily

So to celebrate the return of rain, I've decided to focus on the good things in my garden and world, and ignore the negatives. Take this 'Crimson Pirate' daylily. This variety has been blooming since late May. That's more than two months of blooms! Research on this variety tells me that it first came out in the 1950s. I guess you could say it's not a fat and lazy daylily, like so many of my other ones! I have four of these plants, bought last year from a big box, and this year they've been spectacular. Especially when they all bloom at once.

Foxtail fern (Asparagus myers)

How's this for a juicy, fluffy fern? This is the younger of the two foxtail ferns I have, and looks the best. Of course, it should be as I water it every day!

'Red Cascade' miniature climbing rose

You have to be a tough rose to survive this summer (see my last post about one rose that didn't make it). 'Red Cascade' has had no trouble.

Unknown nasturtium variety in front of flapjack succulent

I have to smile every time I see the few remaining blooms on my nasturtiums. Normally they're kaput by this time of year but just to see what would happen, this year I cut them back after their spring bloom period. A few of them have made a heroic effort to survive the summer. This is probably the last bloom I'll get this year though!

A few assorted blooms and Nasella tenuissima, Mexican feather grass

Be glad I didn't include a close up of the asters behind the Mexican feather grasses. All that brown on the asters is damage from the aster lace bug. Did you know that such a bug existed? I didn't but I sure do now. I think they're past the worst of the damage now and am hoping the fall blooms hide the rest of the brownness. (btw, I don't have an 'X' painted on my cactus behind the asters. It's just a shadow from my fence.)

'Zagreb' coreopsis and Mexican feather grass

The 'Zagreb' coreopsis is a big winner in my book this year. New to the baby garden, it's never stopped blooming since I planted it!

47 Daisies farm produce

More goodness in my world - our farmers' market. As National Farmers' Market Week winds down, let's celebrate local farms and farmers and everything they do for us, shall we? We (those of us who "work" at the farmers' market) laugh every time this national week of celebration comes around. Someone up north obviously picked the date for it because down south, the farmers and their produce are struggling to get past the dog days of summer! But we still have some intrepid souls at the market and in fact, for the first time since we opened almost three years ago, we're still open in August (not sure how long that'll last though). But let's celebrate it while we can with a few photos.

The last(?) of the tomatoes for the summer from Mack's Tomatoes and Produce

'Silver Queen' okra from Wayne's Specialty Produce

Terrell Farms' fig preserves

Talar's Mediterranean Specialty (hummus, taboulleh, etc., ... I'm in heaven!!)

Matlock Farms' peaches (very yumm-o)

47 Daisies' sunflowers

With all the lovely produce and foods from our farmers' market, the recent drenching rains, yes, I guess you could say I'm surviving the dog days of summer. And I'm thinking and hoping we only have six more weeks til our first little cool front. :-)

This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2010. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

You Can Take my Drought and ...

2010-07-21T21:34:00.001-05:00

Cindy, of From My Corner of Katy, handed out these cute little tags at Buffa10; each one had a little saying and I grabbed the one that most applied to my situation. Little did I know at the time that the rain situation would get worse in my area (although thankfully, last weekend we had a good rain). Here's what the situation looks like by the folks who monitor droughts in the U.S.:

I live in the middle of that red - and it's labeled "extreme" drought. The only other state in the U.S. that is experiencing that level of drought right now is Hawaii. So maybe indeed, that has something to do with the next photo. Warning, it's not a pretty picture.

Dead Madame Alfred Carriere climbing rose

This has really been a complete surprise to me. All during our dry spring and summer I've made sure this bed gets a good soaking, at least once a week. As you can see, other plants in the bed have survived, including my clematis, which is climbing up the trunk of the rose. I'm so sad about it. It was such a steady bloomer, being the first to bloom in the spring and continuing to bloom intermittently through summer and fall. This type of rose was the first one that Vita Sackville-West planted in her famous garden in Sissinghurst. The plant you see here is smaller than it normally was because I cut back so many dying branches just before I left for my Buffalo trip. Now I've got another big clean-up task but I'm hoping when I dig it up, it will reveal any secrets of its death. Do you know how embarrassing it is for a garden coach to have a big ol' dead thing in her front yard? ;-)

'Appalachian Spring' dogwood

This dogwood was planted just this spring. It's a baby and looks a little stressed out, most likely due to high temperatures and lack of rain. I've been hand watering it but it's probably not enough. I will be getting out my books to determine if these blotches are signs of drought stress (or, god forbid, something worse). But enough of my sad tales, there's one bright thing in my garden this July.

The Susans are here!

My black-eyed Susans ('Goldsturm' variety) have made their faithful July appearance, along with some purple coneflowers. The coneflowers are in front of two blobs of green, for now. Those two blobs are pineapple sage, Salvia elegans. Too bad they're not blooming at the same time as the Susans! But they'll be in bloom this fall, so I have something to look forward to. And don't ask me why the grass looks so green when we're in such a drought. I'm sure it's because that part is on a sprinkler system and the grass blades are very long!

'Red Cascade' mini climbing rose, pink muhly grass, Agave filifera,Wavy Leaf cactus, Susans and assorted other blooms

At least I made the right choices when it comes to this area. I'll attribute that to my central Texas roots, where you can't be too frivolous with water. This area only has access to a soaker hose and seems to be doing fine. Whew!

This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2010. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

A Buffalo Lancaster Ave. Garden

2010-07-18T17:21:00.000-05:00

Many of the gardens we saw at Buffa10 had a similar focus to what you see above - loads of flowers and frequently an emphasis on fragrant ones. I loved those experiences and how happy I felt in those gardens. But there was one garden on our Sunday tour of Lancaster Avenue that was a bit different from the others. It starts out similar to the others. The scene above is from the front yard.

From the same front yard, the colors of the plantings echo the colors of the porch.

Entrance to side garden

The main garden is actually a small yard on the side of the house (the house was on a corner). I loved the gate and arbor and all the plantings around it.

A view from the gate into the side yard

Standing in front of the gate you glimpse the the formality to come.

Side garden view towards back

The side garden is formal and in pastel shades with an undertone of green. It felt very serene and calm. I like the back gate, large enough for larger gardening equipment perhaps?

Pond with small waterfall

Somehow, in that little space, there was room for a small pond and waterfall. Again, very soothing.

View towards front gate

The pond is tucked up towards the front gate on the left, and it surprises you if you come at it from this direction. I hope you agree how lovely this tiny little yard is. It may not appeal to everyone, but I think the fact that it was different enough from many of the other gardens put it up at the top of my list for favorites. You can see many more posts from Buffa10 here.

This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2010. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

The Lilies of Buffalo

2010-07-14T21:21:00.000-05:00

Last year when I attended the garden bloggers Spring Fling in Chicago, I had a severe case of allium envy by the end of the weekend. This year's garden bloggers meet-up in Buffalo gave me a bad case of lily lust.

These little bitty gardens were mighty big on fragrance. This backyard on North Pearl Street bowled me over as the fragrance was so intense.

Here's more lilies from the same garden. The monarda on the right, clearly the biggest and healthiest I've ever seen, were like this in EVERY yard. What's the secret?

I think I could eat this one.

I really loved these lilies from the gardens of Kathy Guest Shadrack and Mike Shadrack. The blazing sun doesn't do them justice. Maybe they're common to folks in the north, but not to me.

I hope you can see the little feather hanging on this lily. This lily was as tall as I am. Can you imagine being surrounded by such beauty and fragrance? One of my dreams is to have a cottage garden in front of my house and grow a few lilies. Is that a pipe dream? I'm sure there's a few good southern lilies out there, preferably heirloom ones. I plan to do some research when I get closer to that dream. More Buffa10 posts to come!

This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2010. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

Friendly Buffalo and Buffa10

2010-07-13T21:30:00.000-05:00

Buffalo Cottage District

I'm finally back from my wonderful trip to Buffalo, NY, where I attended Buffa10, a garden bloggers meet-up and garden tour. One of the hopes of the organizers was that we would come away from Buffalo with a new appreciation for all the city has to offer. I know I certainly have that now. Buffalo is one mighty big garden destination and we saw a good-sized chunk of its floriferousness!

I plan to do several posts about this trip. I have to as there was so much! But when thinking about the highlights of the trip, I decided that my first post would be about the wonderful people there - the ones who organized it, all the new friends I made, and all the old friends I caught up with. First, enough good things cannot be said about Elizabeth Licata and Jim Charlier. They provided us a first-rate experience. I especially enjoyed learning more from them about their city, beyond just the wonderful gardens.

Elizabeth from Buffalo, Bonnie from CA, Pat from MA, Michele from NY and Layanee from RI in Elizabeth's garden

Here's a few other photos of the many wonderful bloggers I came to know. Some I met last year at our meet-up, some I felt I had met already through their blogs, and some I was delighted to meet and hear about their neck of the woods for the first time.

In the Japanese garden at Delaware Park

Layanee demonstrating proper "little finger technique" at our cream tea at the Shadrack's

Susan from NJ, sisters Helen and Sarah from Toronto, and Ani from MI in Jim's garden

Joseph from MI and other unknown umbrella holders at the Gordon and Brian's happy hour

Barbara from IL, Susan from TX, Lisa from SC and one mighty big hosta

How do you get 70 garden bloggers to pose for a picture? With a lot of patience I think! I'm still glowing when I think about all the great people there and the fun time I had. Thank you Elizabeth, Jim, and the city of Buffalo, for hosting us and making us all feel special. Stay tuned for a more in-depth look at the interesting gardens of Buffalo.

This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2010. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

My Baby Garden and Other New Things

2010-07-05T16:49:00.000-05:00

Side view of my new front garden

Whew, I didn't think I was going to be able to post another photo again, after what I just went through - software support for my Norton security software left my system in such a state that I couldn't easily download photos and nor could I even launch my photo software! But I persevered on my own and fixed the problem. Working with any support organization can be such a nightmare these days.

Front view of my baby garden

But enough of that. I'd like to introduce you to my new baby garden. I've probably given you glimpses of it before, like when I showed you back in late winter the lovely black soil I put in. I purchased about half of the plants online from High Country Gardens and the rest (mostly 'Goldsturm' rudbeckia and some grasses) came from my back gardens. I wish you could see the rudbeckia today as it's really blooming like crazy (I took these photos very early Friday morning). The garden still has a ways to go to fully fill out but I'm liking it more. The plants I purchased online took their sweet time filling in though. In fact, one of the grasses I purchased is still kind of mopey. But others are doing well, like this coreopsis below.

Coreopsis verticillata ‘Zagreb’

These coreopsis have been blooming since spring and they continue to fill out. Definitely keeper plants.

Agastache 'Ava'

This agastache, 'Ava', was also purchased online. The color and floriferousness of the blooms is nothing like the catalog, surprise, surprise! :-) But the catalog also said that it could take two to three seasons to reach mature size, so I'm hoping for the best. I've been pleased with the fact that it grew quickly, and really happy that a plant that does so well in New Mexico is actually thriving in Louisiana (of course, we're experiencing a severe-level drought now!).

Awaiting a gate (and less lawn!)

Today my friend Alexis, a landscape architect, and Peter, the best carpenter around, came by to discuss finally finishing up this part of the yard. It's been lacking a gate since the fence went in a couple of years ago. So we figured out what would look best and I'm really excited about it. I'll finally get the ugly AC units behind some fencing and also get an arbor to put my little 'Red Cascades' climbing rose on. And a cool looking gate as well. It'll take a while as Peter has a full time job but I know it's worth it. Maybe someday I'll get around to building more front gardens and thus, less lawn, as well. :-/

Pennisetum setaceum rubrum 'Fireworks' in blue pot

The grass in the photo above, 'Fireworks' pennisetum, has gone through a lot since I bought it last year. Last year, one of the neighborhood cats kept munching on it, so it never got very big and didn't bloom. This year it went through grasshopper hell but survived. The nice thing about this particular grass is how it looks in the spring time when it's first coming up - bright pink leaves. But now it looks like any other purple fountain grass to me. I'm hoping in the fall it colors up better.

Purple coneflowers, just for the heck of it

I'm getting very excited about my upcoming trip to Buffalo, NY, and all the great gardens I'll see at Buffa10, a garden bloggers meet-up. But most of all, I'm really looking forward to seeing friends I made from last year's meet-up in Chicago and making new friends. Nothing like garden geeks to help you get the creative juices flowing! See you all soon I hope!

This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2010. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

Madame is Ailing

2010-06-30T21:52:00.000-05:00

Madame Alfred Carriere

Something is ailing my Madame Alfred Carriere climbing rose bush. Can you see all those dead branches? I've never seen it act like this before. Sure, it's lost the occasional cane before, but never so notably. Perhaps it has a severe case of spider mites, but it's too high up for me to tell.

Our weather has been horrible - no rain (even when rain is all around us) for many weeks and extremely hot temperatures. I've been watering the madame at least once a week with a good drenching. I've had her in the ground for about three years now and she's been quite a trooper, growing fast and blooming prolifically. So I would certainly hate to lose her. If anyone has any ideas of what could be wrong, and how to fix it, I'd sure like some help!

This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2009. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

My Underappreciated Crapemyrtle

2010-06-22T21:34:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, the first official day of summer, I was driving home from work in my extremely hot car (must have been 150 F in there!), thinking about the heat (it was the third day in a row that it hit 100 F), and noticing the lawns and other plants that were crisping up (no rain for a long time). Then all of a sudden, I pulled into my drive and saw this lovely tree. This crapemyrtle, asking for nothing in return except a little appreciation. How can you not appreciate a plant that blooms like this when the rest of us are frying?!

I must admit that I seldom give crapemyrtles any thought as they're so common here (unless it's winter and I see people lopping their pretty heads off). But of course, the fact that they're common should clue me in to the fact that they can survive and even thrive despite our heat, lack of rain and other beastly acts of nature.

This lighter pink crapemyrtle is on the side of our house and definitely too close to it. But I enjoy it so much in the winter when the birds start eating the seeds out of the seedpods. My office window looks on to its tops. Many people don't realize how much food crapemyrtles provide, if only you'll leave the tops alone. For a rant about what some people do to crapes in the winter, here's one of my old posts.

And now for something completely different, a quick look at some of my 'maters. The larger ones are Caro Rich and the little ones are the sublime Sun Golds.

Caro Rich and Sun Gold tomatoes

Happy Bloomsday and GBBD

2010-06-16T21:07:00.000-05:00

'Mother of Thyme' thyme

Well, I'm a little late (again) for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day so again on this June day I'll be posting a GBBD post on Bloomsday. I don't do it on purpose but I'm also okay with giving a tip o' the hat to Molly and Leopold.

A little bit about my thyme plant above, now in bloom (there's that Bloom again!). Several years ago I planted three 4" plants of the 'Mother of Thyme' variety in a corner of one of my 8' x 8' beds. In no time at all they took off and at times have filled a full quarter of that bed. I've been digging up and giving away parts of this plant for a couple of years now. My point? If you have trouble growing thyme, you should have no trouble at all with this one. Good drainage and sun is all it needs.

Purple coneflower and Verbena bonariensis

I have three different varieties of purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) in my beds but I can't remember which ones I planted where. So I have to wait until they all bloom before I can figure it out (hopefully). Seems like this year they all took a long time to start blooming.

I find the close up photos of coneflowers so interesting. Sometimes I find neat looking bugs hanging out on them, besides the usual bumblebees and butterflies.

Lanai series verbena, 'Bright Pink'

I can't say enough good things about this particular verbena. It's practically a non-stop bloomer and grower, as you can see by its attempt to take over the irises.

Nicotiana and rosemary

Some of the nicotiana, which seeded itself into the gravel paths, has decided to hang out with the rosemary, which has decided to start blocking the gravel paths!

No-name daylilies

These are daylilies that are not what the package named and described. When it comes to daylilies, I learned my lesson about buying them when not in bloom. If any of you daylily geeks know what this one is called, I'd appreciate knowing.

Since it's June, I naturally have a few more things blooming than just these plants. But I've had little time to take photos or blog. Still blooming for me are other daylilies plus Marie Pavie rose, pelargoniums, 'Patrick's' abutilon, dianthus, peppers and eggplant, agastache, butterfly bush, crapemyrtles and some salvias. Not blooming for me are the tomatoes - it's too dang HOT. About to bloom for me is the 'Goldsturm' rudbeckia, yippeee!

Be sure to check out Carol's blog, May Dreams Gardens, for a complete list and links to everyone who's posting about what's blooming in their yard!

This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2009. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

Daylily Daze

2010-06-01T21:01:00.000-05:00

This is one prolific bloomer

The month of May starts off the daylily craze in my neck of the woods. About mid-May they start their show and it will continue for another few weeks, depending on the type of daylily you may have. Until I moved to Louisiana, I never grew daylilies. Well, maybe I had a few of the wild daylilies (which I've heard called 'tawny', 'common' and 'ditch' daylilies). But they were never very showy and I felt they didn't really go with the garden I had at the time. Our current house came with an assortment of daylilies, although I have no idea what their cultivar names are, if they even had one. Since that first year when they bloomed, I've become smitten by them and I'm afraid I'm going to fall into the obsessed category soon. Someone save me! Without further ado, here are the ones that are currently blooming in my yard. There are a few more that haven't opened yet, but I think I better just stop here for now.

'Crimson Pirate' daylilies in mid-March

'Crimson Pirate' daylilies today; this is an old-fashioned variety from the 1950s that I bought at a big box store in a bag

Daylilies for sale at our farmers' market

These more flat, open ones are not really my favorite (but to each his own of course)

Very open with curved petals; again, not my favorite

I have a number of daylilies like this one scattered here and there

My latest purchase, 'Betty Warren Woods'; I like how the yellow ones brighten the landscape

How's this for a wild color? One of my Master Gardener classmates bred this.

A peachy one

This is my all-time favorite; I call it 'dreamsicle' although the folks I bought it from said it didn't have a cultivar name

I'll know if I've tipped over into the daylily obsession bucket when I start learning more about all the different varieties. I'm scared to go there though. :-)

This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2009. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

Stock Tanks, Flora, Fauna, and Chimps!

2010-05-26T22:10:00.001-05:00

It's been a busy couple of weeks and I miss my opportunities to visit other blogs. I'm still working on this concept of working full time. Have to figure out how to fit it into the rest of my life and I'm wondering how I ever did it before? :-)

I thought I'd show a mish-mash of a couple of things happening here. Above is photo of a stock tank that I planted for a garden coach client of mine outside her art studio. I planted two of them (second one is below) in a concrete parking area (of sorts). This area is all concrete and rather sloping. It's surrounded by concrete walls on three sides and therefore, gets very hot. The tanks were planted a month ago and are now doing very well. They have an assortment of perennials and annuals, including some herbs (although some of the annuals are overrunning those a bit). If you click on the photo, you should be able to see a little more detail of what plants are in it. If you want more details about them, just leave me a comment and I'll let you know and/or update this post.

This stock tank is against a larger wall and gets blasted by the western sun. But so far, it's doing quite alright.

Rudbeckia maxima

One of the plants I put in the tanks was Rudbeckia maxima, the giant or great coneflower. I've seen this plant growing in both the wild and in a garden setting and it's so cool. I've seen it 6 feet tall but I wouldn't doubt if it gets even taller than that!

'Nanho Purple' Butterfly Bush (and bumblebee)

Meanwhile, in my own garden, my butterfly bush has started blooming like crazy. So far, the butterflies seem more attracted to my Verbena bonariensis but I don't have that many butterflies yet. This bush was trained into a standard form but I'm constantly cutting off suckers at the base. Regardless, I'm liking the shape and how large it's gotten.

Nicotiana

Back for an encore performance is Nicotiana. This is growing in the gravel path from last year's plants which seeded out. I hadn't planned to grow this this year but it seems to want to hang out here anyway.

'Caro Rich' Tomatoes

Tomatoes are starting to fatten up. I think I'll be picking my first tomato tomorrow - a Sungold cherry. Yum!

Wren building nest

The fauna of the area have been busy. A month or so ago some chickadees fledged from this birdhouse and now some wrens are interested in the same abode. But this weekend we did some grilling and I'm afraid we may have scared them off. Makes me feel bad.

Chimp Haven residents at "termite" mound

And now for something completely different! I volunteer out a Chimp Haven, a retirement community for chimps that have served us well in medical research. It's an absolutely wonderful place, with dedicated staff caring for those animals who have given so much for our health (they also have one chimp, Henry, who was rescued from a bad situation at a person's home). Once a month for several months out of the year, Chimp Haven is open to the public. There are several social groups that have access to a number of acres of wilderness. There's a moat that separates the visitors from the chimps, and they bait the area near the moat with favorite foods so we'll all be sure to see them.

They also have pretend "termite" mounds, which are baited with favorite foods that will adhere to the sticks - foods such as applesauce, sugar-free jellies, etc. The chimps have learned from each other how to fish for the treats in the mound. They use bamboo sticks as well as other sticks they find. This fishing behavior is a learned one (not instinctual), and was taught by some of the elders who were actually born in Africa. There's one chimp who's not so elderly, Tracy, seen hanging off the top of the mound. She was an "accident", born three years ago to Teresa, who I believe is the one on the left looking at the camera (btw, Teresa is in her late 40's and was born in Africa). Chimp Haven is located outside Shreveport, Louisiana, so if you're ever in the area, be sure to find out if they'll be open. It's well worth it. You'll learn a lot and if you leave a little donation while you're there, you and the chimps will be glad you did.

This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2009. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

Bloom Day and Foliage Follow Up

2010-05-16T15:56:00.003-05:00

Daylilies

I'm a little late with my Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day post so I thought I'd combine it with my Foliage Follow-Up post. I'll start with the blooms. Above, just in time for my Bloom Day post, is my favorite yellow daylily (variety unknown). I like it because it's always the first daylily to bloom in my yard and because of the clear yellow color.

'Bush Champion' cucumber

Peaking out from the cucumber leaves is a shy flower, my latest veggie acquisition.

'Whirling Butterflies' gaura and bumblebee

Nasturtiums

Hydrangea macrophylla 'Lady in Red'

Finally my 'Lady in Red' is starting to show a little pink. It'll get a bit darker than this but not pink-pink like other hydrangeas do.

Coreopsis verticillata ‘Zagreb’, Zagreb Tickseed

In my newest garden along the fence the still-baby plants are coming along (although a bit slowly for me). The 'Zagreb' coreopsis was planted because I wanted a fine textured plant through which you could see other plants like my agave and cactus.

Aster novae-angliae ‘Purple Dome’, Purple Dome New England Aster

Also in that same bed is this aster, 'Purple Dome', planted for its fall blooms. So why's it blooming now??

Thai (Siam Queen) basil blooms

I just love the blooms on this basil, even though I know I'm supposed to cut them off. I'll do it soon, I promise.

Also blooming in the garden right now are all the roses, various verbenas, 'Amazon Neon Duo' dianthus, ox-eye daisies, Dame's Rocket, other coreopsis, wild arugula, salvias, Confederate jasmine, and various peppers and tomatoes. Now on to some of the foliage.

'Alabama' coleus

Crassula lycopoidioides, “Watch Chain”, a plant native to Africa (and not cold hardy)

Echeveria ‘Topsy Turvy’

Gazania

I originally bought this gazania for its pretty yellow daisy-like flowers but the foliage intrigues me more (besides, it doesn't put on that many blooms at any one time).

Nasella tenuissima, Mexican Feather Grass or Ponytail Grass

I absolutely LOVE this grass, even though it has a tendency to seed here and there (wherever there's very good drainage and not very rich soil). Right now this plant is blooming, as you can tell by the blonde feathery tips.

My lettuce is getting ready to bolt. I knew this time would come and I'm somewhat sad to see the lettuce go. But I will definitely plant some more this fall.

Cryptomeria japonica 'Globosa Nana'

I bought this little shrub (it gets around 3 x 3 feet) last fall because the new growth was somewhat light yellow and I thought it looked very cool. So far the light yellow color hasn't shown up but I still think it's pretty. I haven't figured out where to put it yet so I planted it in a pot until the right place shows up in my mind.

Be sure to visit Carol's blog for more Bloom Day posts and Pam's blog for more Foliage Follow-Up posts. Thanks for hosting gals!

This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2009. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.