Archive for the ‘Gardens (not mine)’ Category

It doesn’t matter where the bouquet comes from


2013
05.11
the neighbors hydrangea. My May day gift from the LBND,

The neighbor’s hydrangea. It was my May Day gift from the LBND.

So many neighbors unknowingly donate flowers to teachers. Walking to school creates all manner of good character and thoughtfulness. For example during the peak of bloom season, Mrs Adams recieved bouquests from me all the time.

It didn’t improve my grades, although I had high hopes. Mrs Adams was well prepared to receive fistfulls of roses. And she had a variety of coffee mugs in her desk drawer. Each mug could hold a number of roses at various heights.

Lilacs came and went to quickly, I barely got a sniff. But now, the roses are about to explode into bloom. For a little while, they will be lovely. Then the Japanese Beetles will move in.

I have a trap to try this year. A trap laced with beetle pheremones. You will get the report as so as I know if it is worth it.

BE PREPARED

When cutting Hydrangeas. Follow a few simple guides.

Spontaneous gift: When you are presented with a bouquet, from the LBND (the Little Boy Next Door) Recut the stem under running water and trim at a 45 degee angle. Remove all greenery that would be under water,

Cutting your own bouguet.

Take sharp scissors or pruners out to the garden when you plan to cut Hydrangeas. Also bring a bucket of cool water to plunge your flowers in as soon as they have been cut. Cut stems at a 45 degree angle.

Remove any greenery that will be underwater. Change to water every few days. Your Hydrangeas will last up to 2 weeks.

And remember Never waste a day of May.

 

 

Wordless Wednesday August 29, 2012


2012
08.29

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More Wordless Wednesday

 

Missouri Coneflower


2012
08.26
A roadside wildflower in Missouri

A summer roadside wildflower in Missouri

Missouri Coneflower, Rudbeckia missouriensis
Aster family (Asteraceae)

coneflower

This yellow coneflower is a Missouri native.

Missouri coneflower is a Missouri native perennial. You can find these yellow flowers in limestone glades in the Ozarks. I noticed them along roadsides in late June and early July.

Rudbeckia missouriensis can spread to form wild colonies of yellow flowers growing between 2 and 3 feet tall. Daisy-like flowers have  yellow rays and black center cones.

Narrow green leaves and the multiple stems are hairy. Long summer to early fall bloom period.

You may have seen yellow coneflowers outside of Missouri. Their growing region stretches into AR, IL, LA, MO, OK, TX.

Yellow Coneflower

the leaves and multi branched stems are hairy.

I saw these yellow conflowers on the road to Laura Ingles Wilder’s home and museum.

Salad Bowl


2012
07.04

Second season container plants

Patio planters are filled with salad greens and pansies. Expand your ideas about container gardens and planters. Grow leafy salad greens in full sun in spring and partial shade or shaded location in summer.

A living salad bowl at Southmoreland Urban Inn photo by PBH

I love the idea. Everything in this planter is edible. The mix of pansies and lettuce are a great idea. These flowers belong to the Inn Keepers at Southmoreland on the Plaza – an Urban Inn in Kansas City MO. 

frillly loose leaf lettuce can fill a container with color and texture.

It gave me the idea to add the beautiful textures and shapes of lettuce into my planter and hanging baskets. I know you’ve seen lush baskets of ornamental sweet potatoes.

Sometimes by the end of summer, most containers have a few blank spaces. Toss a little red lettuce or beautifully textured arugula in the container.

Grow late season crops tucked in anywhere. Put a few seeds in an empty garden row or an unused container. Fall is a good time for second season or cool season crops.

Once an ashtray, this patio furniture is now a mini container garden.

The bonus is you get a home grown salad. Some lettuces and radishes can take a light frost. The soil is already warmed by the summer sun and crops will germinate quickly. Keep soil moist to encourage germination. Share your combination planters with us. Leave a comment below.

Rethinking Coleas


2012
06.19

Alabama Sunset' is a popular and durable sun-tolerant coleus.

This coleus is on my friends back deck. She knows – because I just had to tell her — that coleus should be pinched back. I admit this trailing plant is very pretty and continuously blooming. Most long time gardeners would have rushed to this plant and made 2 dozen cuttings imediately.

Pinch Plants for Better Growth

It just occurred to me when I saw this plant, that we don’t have to follow the rules or even an experienced gardeners advice.

Relax. Be happy. It is OK to NOT follow the rules all the time. You don’t Have To pinch plants. If you don’t, this is what will happen.↑ (see above photo) That’s OK too.

 

Cat Control


2012
05.18

Are the kitties using your garden as a litter box? Here is a solution that Betty Ward uses.

forked

Plastic picnic forks deter the cats from digging in the mulch. Photo by Betty Ward.

Momma Cat scaled a privacy fence to get in the back yard with a tiny kitten in her mouth. The fenced back yard seemed like a safe place for the momma cat to raise the little baby. Those two cats who sought shelter in Betty and Louie’s well manicured back yard decided to stay.

No telling what unfortunate circumstance brought  the cats to the back back door.

But the Momma Cat was weak and exhausted though she continued to nurture her kitten. She needed to eat, and there was no cat food in sight. That’s because  the residents didn’t want a cat, weren’t interested in ever having more pets.

Still, the cats stayed. But the poor momma cat needed to eat. So cat food found it’s way into the couple’s grocery bag.  The cats were finally safe and well fed. Slowly, the couple allowed then into their hearts.

And since the cats were now residents, they needed names. Momma Cat and Babe now officially live in the well manicured back yard. They go to the veteranarian. They have their own cat beds.

Just one problem. Instead of the littler box, the cats use the beautifully landscaped  gardens. So, that is why there are little plastic forks in the mulch. The forks are meant to be a cat deterrent.

It may work. If you have had success with this deterrent, or if you have a better idea leave a comment.

The kitten is grown and both cats are well cared for. They have no intention of leaving. And the couple have no intention of having more kittens in their back yard cat sanctuary.

The cats have  been been spayed and neutered.

What’s that? Spaying is a general term used to describe the ovariohysterectomy of a female animal. Neutering is a general term used to describe the castration of a male animal. However, neutering is often used in reference to both genders. The surgical procedure, performed by a veterinarian, renders the animal incapable of reproducing.  -  American Humane Association

Babe and Mama cat

Babe is the black cat. The tabby cat on the right is Mama Cat. photo by Betty Ward

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bleeding Hearts


2011
04.20

I’m sharing this beautiful flower with you because I learned something new about this spring time treasure. It is Lamprocapnos spectabilis (formerly known as Dicentra spectabilis), an old-fashioned bleeding-heart. I was calling it by the old name. Who knew?

Lamprocapnos spectabilis

It is a rhizomatous perennial that prefers shade. I’ve never had a good place to grow them, but they are a springtime standout. My most recent sightings, in the springs gardens at Eureka Springs AR, in Branson at the Showboat Branson Belle and, Most recently, at the Vaile Mansion in Independence MO.

The Vaile Mansion has this David McCullough, quote from his book TRUMAN. On page 51, McCullough describes the Vaile:

Bleeding Heart thrives in the shade of Vaile Mansion

“The Vaile house on North Liberty, the showiest house in Independence, was a towering stone-trimmed, red brick Victorian wedding cake, with thirty-one rooms and Carrara marble fireplaces. The Vaile stable had mahogany paneled stalls. There was a greenhouse and four full time gardeners. If Harvey Vaile, who made his money in “pure water” and contract mail delivery, was not the richest man in town, he certainly lived as though he were.”

I think Bleeding Hearts look fussy and well suited to Victorian decor, as is the Vaile Mansion, the Branson Belle, and the whole of Eureka Springs.

If you have a shady spot, give it a try. They are not as delicate as you might think. If yours goes dormant and dissappears in the summer, plant hosta near by to fill the gap in your shade garden.

A rhizomatous perennial that prefers light shade

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day April 2011


2011
04.17

Confederate Memorial State Historic

I’ve been traveling this month, enjoying other peoples flowers. The neighbors are enjoying mine.

forsythia at Arkansas Welcome Center

 

 

Visit  Carol at May Dreams Gardens to meet more flower lovers participating in Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day.

 

MO Botanical Gardens is just beginning to bloom with redbuds

 

 

 

 

 

thousands of tulips at MBG

 

 

So many color combos and tulip flower sizes at MBG

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

Beautiful primrose is in full bloom when some herbs are just surfacing in April.

primrose in the herb garden behind Shaw's home at Missouri Botanical Gardens.

Our travels took us to Independence where we saw these softly fragrant  pink lilacs.

Pink Lilacs with the same heavenly fragrance as the lavender lilacs.

Traditionally, GBBD is April 15. And, garden bloggers share what id blooming in their own gardens. Carol’s idea has grown so we can see the changing of the seasons, and the wave of flowers blooming through all zones both urban and suburban.

Since April is Poetry Month:

“And Spring arose on the garden fair,
Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;
And each flower and herb on Earth’s dark breast
rose from the dreams of its wintry rest.”
-  Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Sensitive Plant

Garden Magazines


2011
03.31

Missouri Gardener 2011 March/April

I have a story in this months March/April 2011 edition of Missouri Gardener. That makes me proud and happy.

I think what makes me love this magazine even more, is the fact that this is the second edition, the second month that this magazine has published. When magazines and news papers a disappearing daily, State By State is rolling out monthly magazines about gardening to an ever increasing number of  states.

Today I was in Springfield, where Barbara St Clair lives.

Barbara's Dahlia

I bought a copy of the magazine to take to her and say thank you for allowing me to share her garden with the public. Barnes and Noble bookstore in Springfield has copies of the Missouri Gardener.

She too is a Master Gardener and has donated many (hundreds of) hours to the new Springfield-Greene County Botanical Center in Springfield, Missouri’s Nathanael Greene/Close Memorial Park and the Xeriscape Garden.

She told me that because the article mentioned her and the Master Gardeners, The Botanical Center had decided to start carrying Missouri Gardener magazine. I was happy to hear that news. I hope theword gets out about Missouri Gardener.

If you have never been to the xeriscape garden sponsored by Springfield Master Gardeners or the Botanical Center.

Make time to see them this gardening season. Become a member or donate online.

I think the Botanical Gardens are a destination site, worthy of a day trip or weekend get away. When you go, tell me what you think.

You can subscribe to your state by state gardening magazine on line.

Build A Butterfly Garden


2011
02.18

Invite butterflies to live their full lifecycle in your garden. Provide host plants for laying eggs and for caterpillar food.

Butterflies lay eggs that hatch in 3-6 days. A caterpillar pupates in 3-4 weeks then in 9-14 days, a new butterfly emerges.

1. Locate your butterfly garden in full sun. Butterflies need sun to warm their bodies to fly.
2. Plant butterfly-attracting flowers that have strong scents and bright colors.
3. Include plants in your garden for butterflies lay their eggs and for emerging caterpillars to eat.

Bright colors and fragrance attract butterflies.

Select native plants and they will attract local butterflies. Watching a butterfly emerge from a chrysalis is reward enough for all the chewed leaves missing in the garden.

Puddling -

By sipping moisture from mud puddles, butterflies take in salts and minerals from the soil. This behavior is called puddling, and is mostly seen in male butterflies. Placing stones in the garden, or shallow bowls filled with sand and water are perfect for puddling.

Herbs attract butterflies and caterpillars.

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