Gardening by the Book

[BarbStAubrey]

Looks like I too have to change ideas about where and how to garden - in such pain and only by elimination was I able to realize it was sciatica rearing its head and I must have done too much with the only real relief other than Advil is rest. Remembered I moved two boxes of books still in the garage and where I could do it last year with no after effect I noticed this winter I was in pain but not enough to stop me in my tracks and so with that I am realizing yes, I want strawberries and tomato plants and would like lettuce that grows here in winter and not in summer when the tomatoes would peak but need to take into consideration planting any veggie and flower has to be easy to weed and water.

Since I have a wider front porch than I had in Austin with a rail fence across the edge of the porch I already have some hanging baskets between some of the uprights but what is preventing me from attaching window boxes to the rails - and so I will have a line of window boxes with strawberries and lettuce and the vine type thyme - the tomato plants I have some really large pots that I will group with tomato plants, some with herbs and a couple with flowers -

The people who owned the house before me had a good size plot behind a tool shed - probably 12 or 15 ft wide and as long but it is me getting down to the earth that would be the problem - do not like the look of those raised boxes - I may put miniature fruit trees in that spot - they need to be spaced 6 feet apart so that is a minimum of 4 but probably 6 and between them I can put matching pots of some flower that keeps bugs away. 

[ginny]

That sounds like a lovely plan for your porch, Barbara. I can almost see it.

It's just amazing how dumb I've been all these years, stubborn might be a better word. My DIL who is a horticulturalist would say (but only once) if you'd dead head those XXX, they will bloom again. THIS  year I am taking off the old blossoms and am amazed, just amazed at the profusion of new blooms. So much for my thinking this type of rose or flower does not bloom again. Jeepers what  I've missed out on.

She was amazed at the snapdragons blooming in this heat and actually looking very super. I am, too.  Water is the key.

So sorry about the sciatica, I know that really hurts. My thing now is ease of as you say watering and weeding, but I have very few weeds in the brick (I guess you'd have to say it's a raised bed) bed because of the close planting, British border  style.  I've been watching your former DIGI channel gardening shows. This morning I was out watering the pots on the porch so they don't bake the roots in this awful heat.

To deadhead the shasta daisies, for example, in the long bed, is quite a strenuous task. You have to somehow step OVER a 12 inch high and about a 2 feet wide border of border grass,  and it's difficult in the steel toe knee high  wellies which I wear to keep off the chiggers and ticks. I nearly fall every single time, including yesterday, and even a rat backs off from constant shocks, so I find my enthusiasm for jumping into the bed somewhat diminished, so those are not as well trimmed as the ones in the brick raised bed, which takes 1/2 second to trim and no chiggers or ticks. I need to figure out something new to combat this situation.

I think plants are amazing. Am so enjoying this new venture and its challenges.

[BarbStAubrey]

Yes stepping over things much less squatting - for several years I notice the only way was to bend from the waist - where there is a will there is a way and having a lovely garden to look out on brings smiles - the older we get the more we are at home and the more we want to garden - with the baby boomer generation reaching that 'certain' age I would expect more and more easy garden helps knowing the body ages and can't do what was so simple - now every step needs a plan - dead head roses hmm thanks for that tip - the past owner had several rose bushes - I had not planted roses for at least 40 years and when I did, back in Austin, I had no luck - after 2 seasons they just died - my mom always had lots of roses in her garden and she also has a hillside full of Lily of the Valley - the scent coming home from school in the spring is still a memory. 

[BarbStAubrey]

I usually do not order things from web sites but a garden center in Oklahoma that I frequent their web site offered this booklet free and I went for it... do not know if it costs but if so it would only be a couple of dollars --- Worth It - no ads just idea after idea - this is their web page and as many photos they include on their web page there are others that are in the booklet that I found helpful - lots of container gardening and thank goodness only one using cattle troughs - ever since they became all the rage I thought in a home garden they were tacky - as bad as for awhile folks were using old bathtubs - enough - but they do show on their web page a good looking wooden container on wheels - anyhow lots of idea and again, the booklet is worth it...

https://beauty.provenwinners.com/

[ginny]

OH  you are SO right. And I do like it when everybody is right!! How often does that happen? 

 Those people are the SAME ones I have been talking about who supply Home Depot? And I've seen them at Lowe's too. And in following your link I see MANY booklets on color all year long and planning and I downloaded them all but the one on Gardening Simplified, which is a lovely magazine they send you when you order something from them, I have the 2023 one and it's wonderful. I don't know how they print them free, it's huge and full of glorious photos and information and showing how they fit, but I want the one you have so have sent off for it, The Gardener's Idea Book, and apparently that one comes annually.

 The pdf's are really great, too. Free, colorful, and a great resource!! Thank you for putting that in here, I had no idea they offered so many publications free.

[ginny]

Hotter than hot here, humid, best to stay inside.

I had wanted a plant called Little Lime Punch which starts out a white hydrangea but turns all shades of pink at the last, and  is about 3-4 feet tall and wide. It's a new thing. I have two other new dwarf white hydrangeas already in the long border and wanted something to be in the center as  a show stopper there.  I've got the Little Lime Hydrangea at the house and like it,  and this is a new variety  of it.

They have them here and in Greenville at astronomical prices, so I thought to look online. The cheapest price was Amazon, 1 gallon pots, shipping free with Prime, so I went with them.

They just came. The PO brought two very tall boxes to the porch.  The boxes were warm but were so thick and tall the contents were not affected in any way! I took them outside in the shade to unwrap. Golly moses. Huge plants, must be 18 inches tall, all filled out, not one leaf broken, nor one stalk, and the kicker in this blistering heat is they were actually coolish and moist, still wet. I don't think you could get a  prettier plant if  you stood in a garden center here, fainted from the heat, and put them in the car to come home.

AND they are PW plants and  guess what magazine they included with them?  The Gardener's Idea Book! hahaha

I can see in the book what you mean, Barbara, in that the "horse trough" "raised beds," (because that's what they are), are really not attractive although they are VERY popular.

The best  use I've seen of those metal horse troughs are as little chick brooders.  They work very well in that situation. I first saw them that way in a farm supply store: ingenious!

[BarbStAubrey]

Here they come in many many sizes - I think according to size they are called either cattle or horse or pig or whatever troughs - they are either round or oblong and the low round ones I could see as perfect for those baby chicks - the round ones are usually only a foot high but come in several diameters - some as wide as 16 feet, where as the oblong ones are up to two and a half feet tall and the lowest oblong is a foot high and also in several lengths. Many of the small shopping strips use them at the edge of the walking area spaced about 12 feet apart and full of mostly flowers but a few went ahead with things like holly or rosemary which here rosemary is an evergreen and one plant continues growing with thicker and thicker main stalk for years - the shops or retail management company then have a natural base for decorating during the holidays.

I don't mind them at all when they are used in public places like strip centers and I have seen a few attractive front yards with 3 large at least 12 foot circular ones planted and one usually planted as a water garden but the oblong ones in various heights in a home garden I just think is tacky - if they at least would paint them a dark green or grow something that would trail over the edge - they are especially, no other way to say it but down right ugly when the summer green and blooms are over and there is just a trough full of dried stems - most of the oblong ones are those 2 to 3  foot high 6 to 8 feet long - although  they probably last better than a wooden raised bed but regardless wood or metal that is an awful lot of hand turning the earth each Spring - just that size area with some sort of metal edging surround you could probably hire someone to turn the earth using a spade.

To my way of thinking if you are going for a raised bed I think fill it with flowerpots that are so much easier to tump and replenish the earth - Saw what I thought was attractive but definitely a farmhouse look - a long about 10 foot table made from mostly 2 by 4s so it was chunky and the table was probably 3 feet wide that she plopped in the middle of her lawn and just full of all sorts and sizes of flowerpots - some with veggies growing and some with flowers - it looked great but not if you are going for a traditional manicured look.

With our heat no planting till late in September - this is more like a winter dormant period - even watering daily will barely keep the flowering annuals - even the new perennials or bushes planted in the Spring will struggle through most of the next 2 months.   

[ginny]

I'm sitting here at 8:30 am  soaking wet, having turned on the sprinklers (the ones I bought which stand up on legs) till I get 1 1/2 inches on the handy little rain gauges I bought. Supposedly  1 inch a week is  what you aim for in in- ground plants. Potted plants need more.

For baby chicks I would want a steel tub about 3 feet high and maybe 4-6 feet long, depending on how many chicks you had, that would be perfect for 25.... You can easily cover it with screening to keep out the critters and have your heat lamp right over it. Perfect. I wish I had had that much intelligence 45 years ago. It would have been a LOT simpler than what we did.

I've got quite a few custom made brooders from wood in the barn when the...steel troughs  would have been perfect.  I about fell over when I saw them in the local feed and seed and all they had (this was indoors) was a heat lamp, not even a top. The ingenuity of the American farmer is sometimes amazing to see. Of course at one time we did have as many as 300 chicks  in 4-H and FFA.

[ginny]

One thing you can say for gardening in your old age: WHERE are the omnipresent Yard Men of Agatha Christie's day? Where they come to you on Mondays and do somebody else in the neighborhood  Tuesdays, or whatever you can afford? Where ARE they again?

One's "eyes are too big for one's stomach"  when it comes to buying plants. One is buying and buying to have a complete looking "instant garden,"  so, they are large, and the holes they require  need to be large,  too. Where are all these British gardeners for hire I see in the films? hahaha


What a learning curve a garden is!!! You really DO need to pay attention, apparently, to what actually grows IN  your area.   Who knew? And the mini greenhouse is also a learning curve...It's fun, though I can't help but notice the Instant Gardens on the programs I watch have a LOT of diggers to  help.

[BarbStAubrey]

Yep and older high school students no longer want to work... and with the government paying those in the low income bracket there is no incentive to do low paying gardening work. As to choosing plants that will grow in your area it is deeper than that - most plants today, unless a local grower with a private small sales location, the plants are shipped in from out of state especially the larger garden centers their plants come from mostly in California, Oklahoma and Tennessee - I was shocked to find that most of these growers are part of a huge corporation that many of the older brand names remain and are divisions within the corporation. 

For instance Michigan Bulb includes: Breck's, Breck's Gifts, Gurney's, K. van Bourgondien, Michigan Bulb Company, Spring Hill Nurseries, Bits & Pieces, Spilsbury, Weeks Roses, Iseli Nursery and, Gardens Alive!

And those sacks of soil - glory only knows where the soil comes from - my grass man cleans up the lawn for the local Home Depot and his conversation with an employee says that their sacks of soil comes from India.

My thinking is to put in the ground bushes that bloom - some vines for additional color with some sort of evergreen bushes to visibly hold it together and then use large flower pots that to me are more attractive than a raised flower bed and then smaller large pots that can be more easily picked up without a wheelie or wagon and have a large high table where they can be tended and then put back in their spot for a few months till that flower's growing season is over and then picked up and change out for other flowers - I also think we need to have a pile of dirt gathered from our yard or nearby area that we can enrich ourselves so that we create a potting area that as a work area potting area can be attractive - in fact I could even see a shed like structure with three sides or just a roof on poles with the north side a solid wall - for instance, I love to see a wash-line with especially sheets pegged and blowing in a breeze and so a potting area could be just as homey attractive.

Thinking back I never had the kind of formal afternoons or evening where the garden had to be manicured perfect for guests - mostly the yard was for family enjoyment - picnics we seem to go places rather than have meals in the backyard - used to like late afternoon and evening ice tea while reading or doing handwork - when my children were young they played in a large sandbox we built or were on the swings while we puttered in the veggie or flower garden - we did often eat breakfast in the back yard but too hot by the time lunch came around - when it was really hot there was late afternoon or evening running through the sprinklers and if it was real hot we hand cranked some ice cream for supper - each with our own soup spoon we ate right out of the tub - we could rinse off with the hose and back then even drink from the hose. All that to say I love seeing flowers growing but the idea of one of these beautifully landscaped yards is nice to admire and dream about but in my reality it never was and frankly, do not see it in my future.

There is a women in Norway whose blog I follow and she has a greenhouse made with heavy clear plastic - she uses it as another sitting room with her desk and comfortable chair and a small table and chair - the green house is full of plants in pots on old tables, hand built wooden shelves and just outside the door she has created a small flagstone patio that appears to be maybe 9 feet square surrounded with bushes and between the bushes, mostly evergreens are some pretty good size pots of growing flowers and some veggies - of course there is a very short summer in Norway and so all the pots must go into the green house by early September but from about mid October till mid April even the green house is too cold - however, the idea of using large flowerpots I think is what is doable for aging gardeners regardless the growing seasons. The big event for her is the spring blooms on various trees and later wild berries that grow on the hillside behind her house that she and her grands make into jams and various cakes.

She has it down so that all summer she keeps up with only one day a week of gardening and then a couple of full weeks in early spring and a week moving things for winter in early October - the majority of her time in the greenhouse she reads and writes and keeps her blog and she is an avid painter of flowers using water colors and then uses her paintings as her guide as she crochets in yarns the colors of the flowers she has painted - she usually travels to Italy for two to three weeks each year and with such little work her neighbor comes over and waters everything a couple of times while she and her husband are gone. She is only in her mid 60s however, I think her life is an example of how it can be done - most of us as we age our live becomes less community or building a social group and more about our own hobbies, family plus any close friends that have not passed. Garden vistas are great but do require more energy to keep up then we have and there no longer, as this started out with the bemoaning of no longer are there gardeners for hire. I notice even the vineyards have to put on daily a huge spread of almost gourmet like food to attract grape pickers.

[BarbStAubrey]

Tra la - talk about a raised garden bed - this I think is a nice idea - window sill height for a porch -
https://www.hometalk.com/posts/how-to-create-a-non-toxic-raised-garden-bed-44643205

[ginny]

 Yes, that is pretty. Lowe's has some like that, here's one with wheels.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/VEIKOUS-47-2-in-W-Raised-Garden-Bed-Planter-Box-with-Four-Wheels-and-Legs-for-Herbs-and-Vegetables/5013064141?cm_mmc=shp-_-c-_-prd-_-lwn-_-ggl-_-PLA_LWN_123_Live-Goods-_-5013064141-_-online-_-0-_-0&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIhav73ZzEgAMVjntMCh2BjQjQEAQYBCABEgLEYvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Very attractive.

I've been watching them make them all week on the British Gardening show and they all have that liner like this one does  instead of using all those chemicals which I personally would not use at all. I would think fir would be a great repellent for water but this one below is not fir.

The PW Ideas book came and it's nothing like the one they sent by the same name with the last plants, this one is a long rectangle about 5 inches tall and about a foot wide, and it IS full of very pretty ideas. And plants.

 Pulled my right knee again so the 6 new plants will have to wait a bit to get in the ground.   The Perils of the Ancient Gardener!

[BarbStAubrey]

I do like the wheels - I think I would like them even better if they were those larger wheels you sometimes see on prep tables in commercial Kitchens - I'm still caught though in how to turn the soil for the next year's garden therefore I still think it would be easier to have large flowerpots inside these raised boxes rather than filling them with pebbles and soil - Triple digit all week and forecast says next week as well - nothing to be alarmed over since it happens just about every year and unusual when we skip a summer but just trying to keep plants alive takes all resources much less try to plant anything.

Across the half of the front porch I've 6 hanging baskets of impatiens and on the step a large potted plant that I frankly have no idea what it is - the potted Lavender I had on the step dried up and died and so this replaced it just before the 4th - Keeping with the 4th it has clumps of tiny red florets that form one flower - and so whatever it is it is hanging in there and even blooming - then a few weeks ago I put my good size Christmas cactus on the porch  and over under the trees is a really large pot of Caladium - in this heat I must water all these potted plants at least daily and some days its morning and evening - I did add some Epsom Salts to the water once a week and that really helps - most days I water using a watering can and other days I use the wand on the hose which really douses them but such a hassle winding the hose back in place when I'm done. 

[ginny]

Your porch sounds lovely, Barbara!

Flower pots inside the box also sounds very clever, you avoid several issues that way.

And there are pots and then there are POTS. All shapes and sizes. Much easier to maintain, too.

Totally with you on the hose issue. MAJOR pain in the neck.

[BarbStAubrey]

now here is an idea worth a try -
https://www.hometalk.com/posts/outdoor/garden/no-dig-weed-suppressing-paper-bag-garden-44646841

[ginny]

Well, that's certainly innovative!

I notice how carefully they place the front of the bags  so it's not looking like Halloween leftovers which it kind of does. Note how the fronts of the bags is for the most part behind some kind of little barrier.

Give it a try! What have you got to lose? And report back?

Talking about innovation, here's a show I really have gotten sort of obsessed with: The Instant Gardener. This is YOUR fault as it's part of  that Digi channel you used to talk about.

These are on youtube and I think they are also on PBS as I've taped a lot of them, and there are two seasons of them to see:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nOcaNeTOY0&list=PLg2CQ-JgmXQlCqVUwAHGww8EVBmtX6u0C

[BarbStAubrey]

I've seen The Instant Gardener but timing was off for me since I was still mourning if you would the loss of the brothers - forgot her name but she with her long hair constantly in the way and not tied back annoyed me where as the Brothers I thought had more innovative designs and I liked their personalities even if the small one, do not know if he was older but to me he appeared to be older and he was constantly annoyed with whatever her name was - all in all I liked their gardens - how the entire area was planned - this Instant Gardener not as much - he is a good worker but something is missing and not that much garden design talked about.

I was also down with the entire network Digi disappeared - there is one called Dabl but not near as good - they have more decorating of homes and looking for a home in the country but the personalities don't have much personality compared to those who moderated shows on Digi

learning about weather patterns here in Magnolia which are far different then what I was used to in Austin - seems like Spring is one torrential rain storm after the other till you wonder if you need an ark and then summer is hot and dry so the clay like soil gets as hard as a rock - hoping for some rain when this summer heat is over but do not expect any typical cooler fall weather - we shall see - one thing lots more trees and the trees all grow very tall where as in Austin it was 90% live oak and they take forever to get large but even as large as they get they are as wide as they are tall where has here there are all sorts of trees, mostly pine that are so tall they blow severely in the wind - scary since the area has grown with more and more housing subdivision so that there are fewer supporting trees and the wind can get to what is left constantly blowing down another huge tree. I've already lost one big tree and lots of large branches - I think I need to fill in with more trees just to save what is here. Lots to learn watching the seasons for the first time in this area.

[ginny]

Yes, it's a different focus, this one, and it's old, too, I think it was in 2015 and 2016, but I like it because of the results.  This one is not a contest like the other, but it's so interesting to me how he can create (using a lot of volunteer labor) so much in one day. It gives me hope for what I've taken the entire summer (with two bad knees as a result) to try to do. One day. And you've got a framework for the future.

I like him in this series.  He grows on you.  He's very kind. More than once a tear appears, they are helping people in most of the projects.   I don't like all his designs, too bold, perhaps, for me, but some of them are fabulous, there's usually some plant knowledge you can use in your own efforts.  I really like the...helpful vibe.... and the people volunteering... At the end the person the work is being done for comes out for the big reveal, and normally she or he will stand with the person who arranged the surprise...while he or  she delights in the result.

On the last show, however, the husband enjoyed so much being part of the process that he stood with the workers in their line hahahaha...it's just a good hearted show.


 He's got a later one and I don't like it as well, though.

 And I've learned a lot, too. But one thing I have learned is exactly what you've said about the difference in Magnolia and Austin: you really have to know your location! It's amazing the difference that makes.

I mean HERE we have things that I didn't growing up in PA and NJ. We have annuals which act like perennials. Despite how cold it can get in the winter.

We have snapdragons coming back as giant bushes, despite the terrific heat.  We have dahlias which don't have to be lifted, multiplying all over the place. We have vinca, an annual, coming back, and they all are coming BACK in that raised brick bed because of the heat off the terrace. It's amazing.  Water I believe, has made the difference. Not one of those things did we have in old PA or NJ.

OH and...

You will be happy to hear they are making a new show WITH the two brothers, (the smaller one IS the eldest) and, if I'm not totally mistaken, the "woman with the hair," (too lazy to look up her name),   and hopefully we will get to see them sometime here in the US. (I also picked up that she annoyed the older brother). hahaha She has had several shows before and since.

I kind of like the Dabl shows about finding a house, and the  very end where they say whether or not the people actually bought the house or not. Vicarious fun...traipsing through homes in the UK, boy are they expensive and boy are they something else.

[BarbStAubrey]

Yes I picked up the smaller and from your knowing older brother was not a fan of whatever her name was - thinking on it seems to me it was a typical boys name like George or Charlie or something like that - a very traditional boys name - she to me was the definition of blousy and she brought all these crafty projects rather than substantial traditional garden eyecatchers that do not go out of style like walls - although she was good creating ponds which is here the hatching ground and nursery for tons of mosquitoes so, no way even with a pump that activates the water.

I'm in seventh heaven - talked to post office back some time ago and was told that I had to put in a request but because of my age I could put a mailbox on my side of the street - as of now they are all substantial brick stanchions with a large rural mailbox uncased in all the brickwork BUT all on the other side of the street. For various reasons I do not want to have surgery on my knees or hip and so walking has become a challenge and for sure cannot walk without my 'mountain' hiking stick - I have a walker but it is more trouble then it is worth getting it in and out of the garage - anyhow it ends up that the mail sits in the box for days and sometimes over a week - well the young mailman stopped by and chatting said why go through all the hoops and loops the P.O. requires - I have a circular drive just put a rural mailbox next to the drive by the house and he will drop the mail off in the box - Well Thursday when the grass man came he dug the hole and even set the entire mailbox up - he and his crew are always going the extra mile and now all I have to do is walk 10 steps off my porch and that I can do even on those bad days... tra la... 

[ginny]

That is WONDEFUL, Barbara!! What a lovely man and a nice thing to do!!!

Restores your faith in humanity.

Also  how kind of the  very handy yard man!

You seem to have moved to the right place!!!

[ginny]

 

Try Try Again Department:

I am learning a lot about growing things from seed and cuttings and how difficult it is in a mini greenhouse when it's so hot. It's very VERY hot, and the humidity is sky high. I think the poor things are baking. I have consulted every book and youtube video where they are having NO problems at all but perhaps they are not trying to do this in an oven?

No matter. I'm continuing on doggedly. I now have azalea cuttings. We have the most beautiful gigantic white azalea here,  each flower is bigger than your hand and I'm rooting it to put a row of them behind my long border. Also rooting an African violet which I got one Mother's Day when we went to lunch at Biltmore, they brought an African Violet for each  female diner.  (I remember them doing that when I took my own mother years ago).
 
It's been eons and I still have the mother plant. Am also rooting one of my old roses, no idea what the name of it is, which is putting on the show of the century out there. Determination, I think I'll  call it.  Also one of my new daylillies has a seed pod!! YAY.  Can't wait to see the resultant flower next year.

I'm pondering a new rose and I got the AARS rating for roses in the mail, so have been studying it carefully.

How is YOUR garden growing? OH I did manage to root three red geraniums which I had overwintered. Two of them are blooming. I'm going to pot them up nicely for the winter and let them bloom on the porch next year. So that IS one thing that has done well. 

 It's very hard to kill a geranium. I remember my mother putting them stalks roots and all dry  under the house in PA and they came right back to life in the spring.

[BarbStAubrey]

hmm I wonder Ginny - here there are many greenhouse 'farms' and I notice they all have these giant - goodness at least 12 feet in diameter fans on one end of each greenhouse - I've heard not so much to cool it but to keep the air circulating - and I wonder how much humidity you live in - have you one of these thermometers that measures humidity in addition to temperature - I'm thinking in the South we live with more humidity then north of someplace in Virginia - I noticed it was August of 2019 when I took that trip with Katha back east and I had to slather coconut cream oil especially on my face and mouth a couple of times a day I was so dried out and so I'd look and see where these folks are gardening who are having all this good luck and also consider putting an oscillating fan near the mini greenhouse so there is a slight breeze going through - heat factor won't change but the heat won't settle on moist soil that could be a welcome mat for mildew

What seeds are you trying - veggies?

[BarbStAubrey]

here you go Ginny... https://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/how-to-regulate-heat-in-your-backyard-greenhouse?utm_medium=Email&utm_source=ExactTarget&utm_campaign=

[ginny]

Thank you  Barbara, I'm sorry you had to go to that trouble. I appreciate it, though. That's more for a real greenhouse which we have and which is fitted with all that stuff. That said, i do use a shade cloth but I do like the idea of an automatically opening vent (though I at present have two open which I do manually) but if that could be done without electricity  like the big greenhouse has, I'd like to look into it, it would be fun and  useful. I like the idea it opens and closes itself due to the temperature.

You asked what I was growing? I have two trays of azalea cuttings which actually (cross fingers) look good, one tray of rootings of snapdragons, one of half African Violets and roses, one of seeds for Shasta Daisies (which are all sprouting) one of some Canterbury bells, and  Rudbeckia which doesn't look over good, but it's early days with them, and the afore mentioned geraniums.

 So no veggies or annual seeds. They would be the first to come up I think.  I just realized I just threw a tomato away on the porch I could have planted to get an early start on next spring!  I'll remember that when the next one gets too ripe before I can get to it. The roses and the African Violets in the house are now in the kitchen window along with two straggling baby plants from the porch greenhouse.

In the border I suddenly have two new vincas! They are from the year before last. My  DIL had told me sometimes they will root, and return and they just did! It's that new kind half for sun, I can't think of what it's called, kind of red, a pinkish red, but it sure is pretty.

I saw a program on some strange little mini greenhouses and bought 4 of them. They are for inside, and the concept is intriguing. They look about as big as an egg carton doubled? And not  much  taller. They are coming today and I can't wait to see what they will do. If I think they will work I'll put a photo in of them....there's lots of stuff on them, and there's one  woman on youtube is very persuasive, but that, I'm starting to learn, is not all it's cracked up to be.

I was somewhere the other day and thought of you, they had a huge array of those tin watering troughs that you didn't like, but they had all shapes and sizes. I think it was Home Depot. They make little small ones and all sorts of shapes which I didn't realize they came in, but they are all metal watering troughs. Perfect for a small flock of baby chicks.


 It's still hot here, but we had a good rain yesterday and possibly this week. It looks  like the hurricane will go below us. I hope it blows out to sea.

[BarbStAubrey]

No trouble Ginny - just came today in my email in that for years I've subscribed to Dave's Garden - good luck with the Azaleas - if I remember they are prolific in that area along with Rhododendron.

[BarbStAubrey]

The drought was severe - the lawn guys wanted to take down a tree that appears almost dead but I'm convinced with a lot of Epsom Salts and I just heard of fast acting lime that I purchased through Amazon together I'm betting on bringing that tree back - still green on the very top so we shall see - where the lawn receives shade during the day it is turning green but there is a whole swath in back that the sun cooks all day and it is still not showing any signs after 4 really hard rains - while the boys were here Ty broadcast for me my mixture of saved coffee grounds, Epsom Salts and Spectrum and then we had a big rain yesterday and the day before ---

What really concerns me is the vacant lot next door is loaded with dead pine trees the tallest maybe 12 feet but the majority about 8 to 10 feet - Paul is convinced they will come back but the lawn man is not - I'm considering sprinkling about 10 pounds of Epsom Salts to help along those close to my side  because as is they are looking dead and being pines they are such a fire hazard and right next door - I'm afraid if I find and call the owner they will have the trees removed along with everything making it a clean sweep and I will loose the wooded buffer between me and the next house over... the trees nearest the road all seem to be fine but starting even with my house is where the damage of dead pine trees starts. He has the lot listed and so with all trees in the building area gone he can ask more for the lot. Just a few years ago when I could walk more easily I would not hesitate to do what I could to help those trees survive.

I did have a few minutes of wonder this morning - hanging across about half of the front porch there are 6 flower pots - two between posts full of deep pink, light pink, red and even some white impatiens - I notice near the end one furthest from the front door something fluttering and drinking or getting nectar from the red and dark pink flowers - it would hover and then swoop out and back again to another - finally if slowed enough to see it was not humming birds that I suspected but a large Monarch yellow and black large wings and with a blink another joined it and then a third - I bet they have started their journey south into Mexico for the winder and stopped off seeing the bright blossoms that caught their attention - they were busy for nearly 10 minutes before moving on... what a treat.

Hadn't done much with outdoor anything till I finish unpacking that yes, is still going on... stomach doing a number again as I can't find one painting that was an etching of a butterfly I had in the bathroom in Austin and the box of Christmas books that some go back to the 1950s in that every year after they wrote and left their letter to Santa on Dec. 6 the feast of St. Nickolas the next morning would be small gifts like a couple of pencils or new comb and always the collection of Christmas books that one new one was added every year - I gave most of them to them when they started their Christmas's in their own home but still have many and for all these years continued adding one new Christmas book a year and now cannot locate that box - shared my concern with Paul and he was very reassuring that they would be found - they are here and all will be fine.

Maybe just as well it is taking so long to get my house in order because I'm seeing how the land falls and where the rain flows and settles so I can see better where to plant what trees and bushes - next Spring should be garden planting time that will help me have the bird sanctuary and privacy I prefer.

[ginny]

 You don't suppose the pine trees have borers, do you? Some of ours do.

Lovely on the butterflies, what a lovely picture you paint there!

I've just brought in  the majority of the plants I've rooted. I'm thinking of them as million dollar plants for the effort time and money I've spent on them and how easily I could have just bought some of them at the store. hahahaa

My seed growing has been something of a miserable failure, only one tomato plant, one shasta daisy and one daylilly, but my rootings are doing much better so far.  The worst lesson I learned is don't use peat pots, do NOT use peat pots, use anything but.

I've now got 3 feet of behind the kitchen sink space in front of  a window full of potted up rooted plants and a side set of rolling shelves with about 8 of the azaleas basking in the sun coming through the windows. My DIL tells me I've not rooted the flame bush but instead I have 3 gardenias, I guess I got them from the bush next to the flame bush. hahahaa But I love gardenias, too, or I would not have planted them in the first place so the novice here is growing stuff, just without labels. But it's fun, it's a harmless fun hobby. I'm going to bring in the last today, the geraniums which really rooted well, I've got 4 of them, but they are really hard to kill, too, and a tray of rooted snapdragons.

Now trying to think of what to do with all this Christmas amarylis. They are such healthy bulbs, and I think I'll try to plant them here, against the barn, and see if the heat can keep them alive through the winter . In your climate I bet they would easily grow through the years.

[BarbStAubrey]

The prediction is a colder than usual and wetter than usual winter - last winter we had another week of freezing weather than killed so many of the plants surrounding this house - it is taking forever to get this house put together and so, I did not do that much in the yard nor did I fill up any of the flowerpots I brought with me - some rather large decorative pots and the smaller are the real old clay pots that I was not giving away - the new pots are all mass produced with some other element that reminds me of plastic in the mixture.

I've all sorts of plans for next year and was going to start this fall by getting a few trees started but decided the better course of valor was to wait till the end of February - since walking is iffy on some days and kneeling is out, my plan is only plant in the ground things like bushes and a few trees and maybe some canna that take no care what so ever - anything that needs tending will go in pots - I also figured out that where those large wood plant boxes to me are ugly with those bare sides starring at you - what about picking up a couple of picnic benches that usually are made to hold 500 pounds and line a few of them up with flower pots and even paint metal chicken feed pans or better yet those sacks that you can even plant in them with a trap door to harvest  potatoes - I've got my raised garden without that large expanse of blank wood or those awful metal cattle tanks starring at me - just thinking - I've all winter to dwell on this. The disadvantage is in our heat the flower pots dry out quickly where as the larger expanse of raised boxes or cattle tanks are more forgiving.

Once I put my mind on it I feel I'll figure it out - for now I still have over a dozen boxes of books and all the linens to decide their home and also desk drawers and Elfa metal sliding drawers that were emptied with the Elfa drawers stored in closets when living in Austin. Here instead of normal size even walk-ins are these monster rooms that are closets - I'm talking 11 ft by 10 ft - the smaller one is 7 ft by 10 ft. and feels like a normal walk-in and so I'm trying to keep them looking attractive - they all had, not only the top shelf all around with clothes rods under but a bank of shelves like bookcases that are at least 5 feet wide - the one closet I had the bottom of the bookcase cut off and fit under the remaining shelves my chest of drawers - in the closet no less - this move has been one adventure after the other and forcing me to accept a different life plan for everyday living - still do not yet feel this is home - I'm feeling like I'm visiting - I'm sure once everything is in place and I can use my days to enjoy again my garden, cooking, music, needlework, knitting, reading I will settle in - also living here through the 4 seasons has been a real help -

I moved in the first of December and this time last year I was beside myself with a buyer who kept postponing closing so that I was a wreck - still have not found a few very important things to me like my entire box of Christmas books, many go back to the 1950s and 60s and an etching that was hanging in my bathroom in Austin - I already know there are a couple of things the movers overlooked like an antique iron sewing machine base that I had on the patio and several drawers of kitchen items that included my good kitchen shears - the cost of moving them was too much and so I grieved my losses - however, week before last my daughter and both her boys came for several days and that was wonderful - Ty teaches in a collage in Seattle and Cade just graduated from UPenn law and plans on staying in Philly and so, it was a great meetup for all of us... Haha got away from gardening didn't I - ah so and that is why next year

[ginny]

I don't know how you moved at all, it sounds totally overwhelming. So much to attend to, and I'm so glad to hear about  your lovely reunion there with your grandsons.

It's in the 40's here at night, and I've got all but 3 plants planted, and we're in a drought so it's kind...oh wait...I forgot, I was going to get those daylilies out of that weed infested border too.

Hmmm. So I need planting help I think for the last batch. Very large hole for a gorgeous dwarf rhododendron.  And a good place to put them all. I am not wishing to encounter the yellow jackets however, and thought maybe a frost might slow them down.

I am thrilled to see that the wild dogwood which grew from the seeds I guess dropped by the birds here of the dogwood next to the terrace, has stayed alive even though I thought it was a weed and cut the top out of it last year. I hope to transplant it and hope it's really 2 trees and not a huge Y, because if it's a huge Y one part will have to go. Can't be good for the little guy.

I do like a dogwood in the spring and fall which seem to be coming faster together than I used to remember. hahaha

Good time to PLAN!!

[BarbStAubrey]

Wow did I fall onto something that gave me a wonderful evening of TV watching - The Secret History of the British Garden - fabulous - I don't subscribe to Roku but that is what it was on... how it came up I'll never figure out - the person guiding and showing etc is a Monty Don.  Nice, not overly anything - there are 4 segments that run probably about 40 to 45 minutes each - the segments cover the history of gardening and those who influenced gardening for each of the last 4 centuries and so we start with the 17th century forward - although the show was produced in 2015 it stops at the end of the 20th century. The garden goes from vistas of acerage to the backyard and then flowering plants grown in a factory lide setup so that thousands can be shipped each day...

[ginny]

 I've seen Monty Don's name before but I had no idea of his work. This profusely and somewhat startlingly illustrated article shows he does know exactly what he's talking about. I like his style:

https://www.montydon.com/thegarden

[BarbStAubrey]

Great link - thanks...

[ginny]

Wasn't it?

But I'm here with news. I'm almost afraid to say this lest it go belly up but I had seen on youtube two people growing plants out of very unlikely  venues.

One (actually quite a few different ones, but the one I followed cut up a tomato put it in a pot of soil and then cut rose shoots and showed how to trim them, stick them right in the buried tomato quarters,  and voila! In a month or so here was another rose plant.

I didn't believe him but I tried and to date I have ONE rose (one of the old fashioned ones here I don't know the name of) putting out leaves like crazy, I have FINALLY rooted a rose! I hardly know what to do and it has NOT been a month, the others are still green. I absolutely do NOT know what I am doing. I had a tomato to come up, too, but he's not doing too well, it's too cold and the light is not strong  enough but they do love a Southern window.

THEN I saw this thing on lettuce? You take the spent core of lettuce (I used Romaine) put it in a little pot of soil, cut off the bottom of a liter bottle of water, upend that on it and VOILA!! I did that about 3 days ago, and I already have a huge shoot of new lettuce leaves out the top. One could cut that and eat it. Absolutely can't believe that and still don't know if I  was supposed to put the cap on? Or leave it off? I'm misting it down in the bottle, I guess that's enough what with the every other day watering.

 I've got 2 gardenias  REALLY growing well but only one azalea to make it so far, but it's very healthy. Another OLD plant I hope to reproduce. Maybe I should have rooted them in tomatoes, they were fine when in the little mini greenhouse outdoors.

A kitchen garden IN the kitchen. They are all over youtube and they do seem to be working!

[ginny]

Spoke too soon!!! It's dying! All those pretty leaves are dying! Am I over watering it? The lettuce looks great, however. Maybe I need to only raise lettuce?

[BarbStAubrey]

What a treat - I have no memory of who game me my Christmas Cactus - brought it from Austin even though it had not bloomed in years - it did keep growing and spreading - had it on the windowsill in my laundry room and it was tumbling over in what at one time was a hanging pot - hangers missing but the white plastic pot that is at least 10 inches in diameter contained the ever growing plant -

Well here I put it on a wrought iron tall plant stand I had picked up years ago in Mexico and kept it on the front porch - in the fall noticed some buds and after thanksgiving pulled it back so no night light could hit it and sure enough just before Christmas buds were showing red  - well last week preparing for this cold I took the plant into my kitchen and put it on a small wrought iron stand used with a Sterno to keep food warm - well in this past week everyone of the buds opened and the plant is full of these bright red shrimp like shaped flowers - fabulous show - can't believe it - and now racking my brains trying to remember who gave me the plant so I can have their image in my minds eye

I have always preferred live plants and flowers for Christmas decoration and so now debating if I should get a few more - small ones that would of course grow over time - but what a show they would make massed on my glass top dining table.

[ginny]

 Yes they certainly would, if you get the right kind. My DIL remarked to me this Christmas that I didn't need to get a poinsettia for the table in the living room, the Christmas Cactus, given to me a few years ago by a class, is literally taking over a glass table and it was absolutely spectacular.  They are actually pretty all year long, but mine bloomed before Christmas. I don't think ...there appear to be two kinds, Christmas and Thanksgiving. mine  does its own thing.

They love fertilizer, too.

Having sprained my left knee again I was in some despair about my little brick raised garden but when I saw beautiful iris blooming from my bedroom window in the long border, I determined to limp out and see the terrace garden too,  and everything close up.

 I need not have worried. We've had temps here suddenly in the 80's close to 90 this week (what strange and frightening weather we're all having) and I finally  limped out yesterday to both, half afraid to even look at my little raised brick garden and to  my amazement with no help from me at ALL, it's blooming up a storm.  Such bloom. I have not done ONE thing except prune it back in January.  The snapdragons which were last year's plants are simply breathtaking, the roses.....amazing, just amazing.

Unfortunately my rooting of plants has not gone well. I have tomato bushes talking over the kitchen sink window but all of the cuttings of outside plants have suddenly died. I had tremendous BUSHES from the gardenias, which everybody remarked on: dead. When able I am going to look at the roots because I know I CAN root them. Just need to adjust something between the flourish of people saying, wow, they are going great guns, and the sudden death. It's got to be the pots or the watering or both.

So many learning curves. But boy the pre planning really paid off.

[BarbStAubrey]

gardenias in the front of the house died off to the ground two winters in a row now - both winters had a couple of 4 day bitter cold spells that killed them off and like last year they are putting up new green leaves at the ground level and so I'll do as I did last year and keep sprinkling on the Epsom Salts which seems to bring back everything. 

Saw something at the new doctor's office that I want to find to fill in between the gardenias - the leaves are sort of a maroon to purplish color and the bushes get small pink flowers - they do seem hardy and showed no sign of being affected but this past winter's cold fronts where as where ever you go the affect of the freeze on foundations plants is showing - keeping the yard guys busy this year.

So many have oh I forgot the name now but it is a palm - begins with an S - large fronds that almost look like the photos showing ancient Egyptians fanning their masters - anyhow I just do not like them at all and last year after the freeze I had the yard guys take out the one that was in front of this house - if they freeze most of the stems die off and turn an ugly tan but the bush/tree is not what I call pretty - was going to have them plant a flowering cherry but never got to it - been putting all my time into unpacking and still some unpacking -

Here it is a year and a half later - never imagined it would take this long however part of it was what the movers did - many boxes I packed with certain things that in my mind went together were emptied and other things put in the boxes and then trying to find where the contents of the box as I had packed it is an ordeal - plus several things arrived broken and some missing and my gold watch appears to have been taken out of its box and not found plus not finding the family photos has me trying to hold it together - people not as friendly here as I was used to and cannot figure out if that was because I lived so long in that house in Austin or is there really a difference and so with all this going on the yard took short shrift.  Being alone with all this and not trying to moan and groan to my son and daughter-in-law ends up slowing me down to the point I feel cranky and not doing as much... but need to get my act together because I really can't let another year go by and not get some trees in the ground.

The guys taking care of my lawn and other yard maintenance are great and inexpensive so I have no doubt they will do a superb job - Part of my hesitation is also that there are no garden centers here except at places like Home Depot and Lowe's which means the plants are from California - on my way to see this new doctor in Tomball we passed a couple of what appears to be places where nursery stock is being grown - need to find out how to tap into those trees and plants. there must be a local garden center and I just have not figured out how to find it using Google.

[BarbStAubrey]

Well I did it - tired of the winter kill taking out the Gardenias and so I had them pulled - Emigdio was here yesterday with his crew of 3 and did a lot of planting for me - along the front where the Gardenias were I had him put in a row of Carolina Midnight with the Burgundy leaves  - Planted 2 Vitex - they grow very quickly to about 8 to 10 feet tall and so I have one in front under the tree canopy and one in back about 20 feet from my bedroom windows - a bunch of Crepe Myrtle scatted in the back along with some Lantana that I love - can you  believe I found white Lantana - I'm so excited -

And then something new to me - Have you ever heard of Japanese Blueberry? They were available of all places in the small garden center outside the grocery story HEB - evidently they come as shrubs or trees or tall buses which is what I have - I'm thinking these are pruned to from trees but I'm not yet familiar enough to know - I have 3 of them along the side fence - they are not quick growers but from all I've read their roots should not interfere with the septic lines - I really need a barrier along that fence line - on the other side is the back yards that are clear of almost any growth that are about 2 acres and then a road that is getting busier and busier - between needing a sound buffer but more something to stop the fumes from traffic plus I don't use that side of the yard I am going to plant it thick with the kind of trees and tall shrubs that grow 35 and 40 feet tall and so these are a start - I'm limited in my choice of quick growing trees because the septic is on that side - not nearly as tall but I hear Serviceberry works near a septic and so I'll have a couple of them for a change of texture with deciduous leaves and berries. Although, these Japanese Blueberries get berries that the birds like. Please if any of y'all know anything about the Japanese Blueberry fill me in...please!

[ginny]

I don't know a thing about Japanese Blueberries but I bet your local Extension service does and it's a free phone call or email or website visit for the one in your area. I always use mine, to see if a tree or bush will grow where we are. Not so much grow as flourish, there being a huge difference. hahaha

It's really amazing how the local garden centers get in this stuff blooming which has no particular desire to grow in  one's area.

Good luck!

ALL of my experiments in rooting new plants failed! I finally took the gardenia which was over a foot tall but  had died, out of its pot,  to see why.  The top and bottom of the soil were wet but there was this ominous island in the middle of the dirt, totally rock hard and of dry earth. I have NO idea what happened there but I planted it outside for luck anyway, along with the azalea...the ONE which had lived out of a tray full. No roses. Irony of ironies,  not a week ago I  had put in water a spectacular bloom of John Paul II, a gorgeous white rose,  and this morning in throwing it away I was shocked to see a ROOT coming from the stem?  A ROOT! In nothing but water!!!!! So back in the water it went.
 
I have NO idea what happened! Except that rooting plants is apparently not my forte? hahaha Except for ivy hahaha I seem to be quite good at that...

The hawks are wiping out an entire clutch of doves at my bird feeders. Every day it seems they swoop down and it's been a long time since we've seen doves, makes me wish the hawks would go somewhere else.

Very happy with my  flower borders at the moment.  Wish I could stop dragging hoses, hate that the most.

How is YOUR garden growing?