Front Yard Fantasies

We had our first Master Gardening training session yesterday, and it was a lot of fun. The current crop of MGs in Collin County are certainly an organized and enthusiastic group. We even took a little preliminary test to see where everybody's level of gardening expertise is at; I think I did pretty well, but we won't get the results back until next week.

Anyway, one of the MGs was speaking to the group, and happened to mention that her entire front yard is a garden. No grass.

Needless to say, a little lightbulb started blinking above my head.

You see, half of our front yard is nice, lush, green St. Augustine grass. The other half, however, is a mixture of crabgrass and a bunch of sickly looking other grasses making an unsuccessful attempt to take over.

Wouldn't a front yard garden be wonderful? Think of all the plants I'd have to buy...(picture me rubbing my hands together with glee.) Think of all the extra space I'd have to collect different species...woohoo!

And, although it would mean less mowing, the idea was not met with particular glee by my husband.

"Are you sure that's legal?" he asked after a long silence.

Well, there's a lot to do before starting anyway, so I guess I'll add "check city ordinances" to the list. In the meantime, I've ordered this book, which should really get my creative juices flowing.

Here's a picture of the part of our front lawn I'm talking about:

The Hummer Cafe...

...is open for business! I was afraid the feeder hanging outside my bathroom window would be too close to the house, but this little female rubythroat seems to like it just fine.

Making Herb Vinegar

When my organic herb garden went ballistic in the heat of summer last year, I made lots of herb vinegar with it. Since moving to our new house, I've kept herbs in containers so they're more under control. However, I recently had to pot up my variegated lemon thyme, and the thick, fragrant foliage is just begging to be made into salad dressing.

Before making last year's batch of herb vinegar, I searched the Internet far and wide for herb vinegar-making techniques, and settled on this nice lady's method, shared as an inspiration from her grandmother. Thanks Alleta, and thanks Ethel!

Alleta recommends Sunburst Bottle Company for purchasing corked bottles. I found some gorgeous (and super-cheap) colored bottles over at Specialty Bottle, but they don't seem to carry the ones I bought anymore. There are some comparable small corked colored bottles available here for under $2 each.

My Cantaloupe Wears Pantyhose

See? Well, I'm using it as a sling, not to hide the appearance of ugly lines and bumps. There's another melon forming on the same vine...this is 'Superstar', a good performer I've grown from the same batch of old Harris Seeds for the past three years.


Betcha haven't seen many of these - it's a pepper called 'Fish' with beautiful variegated leaves. The peppers themselves are supposed to be very good in seafood dishes, but I have't gotten any from this plant yet. Nice to look at, though. Seeds are available from Tomato Growers Supply.


A common site throughout Texas right now - the flowering of the big yuccas, otherwise known as Spanish bayonets. This flower stalk is at least 3' tall.


The latest addition to the family, as I continue to feed my growing passionflower obsession. I picked this beauty up for $6 the other day. It is Passiflora 'Incense' and smells wonderful.

Photo Update

Ok, I can take credit for the passionflower in this photo. Looks like an alien being, doesn't it? The vine is loaded with buds, but they seem to only want to bloom one at a time.





My first harvest of tomatoes - an Italian variety grown from Johnny Seeds called "Juliet" - continues to grow. These should make nice sauce or salsa...or both! The plant is massive.



Also grown from seed (seedsofchange.com), this is a Rosa Bianca Eggplant bustin' loose. There are four of these forming on the 2' tall plant.

A Big Bulbous Lie

It happens every year.

I tell myself I'm not going to order bulbs for next spring. I'll just stick with the perennials already in the ground and be happy with what I have.

But, inevitably, it's all a big fat lie.

The lie happens in stages. The catalogs start showing up displaying tulips in varying shades of glorious color, and my mind drifts back to the spring a few years ago.

When you see those first tulips start to poke through the ground in late winter, it's such a wonderful, reassuring reminder that better weather is on it's way. By early March, I had a rainbow of hyacinths lining the sidewalk, lily and parrot tulips dancing across the beds...it was lovely. Cars slowed down as they passed my house. People walking by would stop and nod in appreciation. Ah, how it made my head swell.

What's funny is that you'd think tulips and hyacinths would perennialize ok here in Texas, but they really don't. Daffodils do well, but I don't particularly care for them. So, each year I've set about buying new bulbs...and have had terrible luck ever since my big-headed experience of a couple of years ago.

Thankfully, I do keep better gardening records than I used to. After my husband and I moved late last summer (almost a year ago...wow!), I ordered a modest amount of bulbs -- tulips and daffodils -- for the new landscape, not knowing what might already be there. Well, the ones I ordered did horribly. Most didn't come up, and the ones that did were not the color I'd ordered. So I'll be avoiding that particular company for bulbs and trying another this year.

Here's what I've ordered so far (from Van Bourgondien):
Tulip 'Ballade Dream' (shown at right)
Tulip violacea 'Pallida'
Muscari 'Dark Eyes'
Muscari white
With my order I'll also get 10 free red species tulips.

(Lots of people have given VB a bad rating over at Garden Watchdog, but I've been ok with them so far.)

I'm looking to pair the 'Ballade Dream' with some solid yellow lily-flowering tulips. A black/purple Triumph Tulip variety called 'Jackpot' has also caught my eye, and I think they would be lovely paired with some solid white, similar-shaped tulips. So, credit card in hand, here I go...

Meanwhile, back at the ranch here in Texas:

It is a miserable 97° with a "feels-like" temp of 102°. The remnants of Hurricane Emily are spinning northward from South Texas as I type this, but I doubt we'll see much of anything in the way of rain.

We have had weird, individual stormcells strike various parts of DFW over the past 10 days. Last Friday I couldn't even leave my office at 6 p.m., the rain was so torrential. When I got to the house just 11 miles away, we'd barely received a drop. The next day was a different story, though. My two 75-gallon rainbarrels got a good filling.

Just one passionflower has opened on my Passiflora 'Blue Horizon' plant so far. My reaction: slack-jawed wonder, followed by the uttering of "that's the coolest thing I've ever seen", followed by a frenzied Internet search for a place to buy more, even cooler passionflowers. The search brought me to Grassy Knoll Exotic Plants, from whom I ordered four more passiflora.

Incidentally, my 6' Blue Horizon vine is now covered in forming flower buds, so I'll be taking the coolest picture ever in a couple of days. Will be sure to share, of course. (The picture at left is not from my plant.)

I picked up a Brugmansia Double Purple at North Haven Gardens on Friday for the bargain basement price of $9. It is about 4' tall and was in desperate need of repotting, which I did this morning. Once it recovers a little and the blooms resume, I'll take a picture of that too. It's breathtaking.

The tomatoes have been late in forming this year. Usually I enjoy two harvests here in North Texas -- one in June and a smaller lot in late October -- but our rainfall has been nothing short of pathetic this summer. Plus, we had a run-in with a family of rodents a month or so ago, and they especially loved my tender young tomatoes as they were forming. One rat also apparently liked chewing the stem of my eggplant...until I found the creature dead under a hydrangea. All parts of eggplants except the fruit are highly toxic, so I'm just speculating here, of course...

I enlisted the help of a Rat Zapper to get rid of the rest of them. Usually I am very welcoming of animals in my landscape but with rats, it's a different story. We ended up zapping two adults and two babies, in addition to the adult who encountered Death By Eggplant.

I have been accepted for the Master Gardener program of Collin County. Class starts Aug. 15. I feel honored and excited to be participating in this program.

It is interesting to walk around the Test Gardens at the Texas A&M Research Center where our classes will be held. If a plant survives the test period (four years, I think they said) without any pesticides or fertilizers, it is declared a Texas Superstar.

While walking through the test garden, I of course found myself rummaging through my purse for pencil and paper to write down the names of plants that caught my eye.

It's an addiction, you know, this gardening thing.

Project: Whiskey Barrel Water Garden

I don't know why or when it suddenly struck me to do it, but I dove into creating two whiskey barrel water gardens this weekend.

The whole project was a study in perfectly-timed bargain shopping. Garden Ridge had the foam/lite whiskey barrels on sale for $19 each, so I scooped up two of 'em, along with a bag of polished river rocks. Lowe's had their water plants at half price, and I also found two large Black Magic Elephant Ear plants on a clearance shelf for $5 each. (Both looked a little abused, but each had new leaves emerging and healthy-looking white roots.)

Also, I had bought three gorgeous variegated irises at Home Depot last week and inserted these in the barrels as well. They were only $3 each, and were tagged with a Latin name of Iris Pumila 'Argentea' and the common name Variegated Sweet Iris, but those names don't match...Variegated Sweet Irises are generally bog plants falling under the Latin name Iris Pallida, so I'll be watching these carefully, in case they shouldn't be bog plants at all.

Needless to say, I was way pleased with the score: about $30 for each barrel, including plants!

I drilled a small runoff hole about 1-1/2" below the lip of each barrel, filled the barrels with water and placed the plants -- pot, dirt and all -- in the water, weighing each down with the rocks. The finishing touch was 1/4 of a mosquito dunk.

It'll take awhile for the other water plants to get going, as they were sitting in boggy water in the store and not receiving any sunlight, but I think the barrels look pretty good already.

A few minutes ago, I broke down and ordered three ultra-cool (and carnivorous!) Sarracenia leucophylla pitcher plants from my friends down in Florida at Sun Coast Orchids. They are great people to deal with, especially if you're looking for some cool orchids.

On another note, thanks for your patience the past month as I got my new domain up and running. Happy Independence Day, and be sure to look for a new Organic Gardening column over at Suite101.com in the next couple of days.

Transferring Domain

Please bear with me as I transfer to a new web hosting service...thanks!

More Photos From My Garden

Rudbeckia Goldsturm


Daylily (these are huge!)


Strawflower - feels like crisp paper...thus the name.


I'm not crazy about hydrangeas in general, but these do brighten up the back yard.


Couldn't resist this Pitcher Plant at Lowe's for $10.


The dahlia bed is looking good...


Pelargonium Vancouver Centennial - one of my new favorite additions.


Orange Meadowbrite Echinacae


Some kind of clematis...Hagley Hybrid, maybe?

Mistress In Training

Well, I got the magic letter from Collin County the other day...the invitation to attend the Master Gardener Training Program this fall. Woo-hoo! (Can I be a "Mistress Gardener"? It doesn't sound as commanding as "Master", but...)

This program is only offered once a year to a few people. It doesn't mean I'm special or anything, believe me - it's just that my name came up on what is apparently a very long waiting list. Each applicant is just that; you must be accepted into the program.

The class is every Monday for 13 weeks. Luckily, my employer is super-cool about this sort of thing; I met with my two immediate bosses this morning and they were very supportive.

I've wanted to get involved in some kind of volunteer work for quite some time, and this will be perfect. You see, once the training program is completed, Master Gardeners are expected to perform at least 65 hours of community service each year thereafter to maintain their status. They do everything from assisting the County Extension Service with phone questions to giving plant presentations at schools and garden clubs. I figure I can help out with the website when needed too. Fun!

Ninety-Freakin'-Seven!

Yes, it's 97° here today, with a "feels like" temp of 102°. Lovely, eh?

This is quite unusual, even for Texas, actually. May and June are routinely our most comfortable and enjoyable months until Fall comes.

Yeah, tell that to my poor plants. I rushed out yesterday morning to put mulch on all the flower beds and got about 80% done before I had to come inside. Just too darn hot.

On the plus side, I had my first swim in our "new" pool today. First one I've had since we moved in, anyways. Still a bit on the chilly side (surprisingly), but it felt mighty good.

In flower news, I've been taking advantage of some of the online nurseries' end of season sales. Wayside Gardens, in particular, had some great prices on summer flowering bulbs like Cannas, gladiolas, and callas. I even got a large (and I mean LARGE) arisaema bulb for only $3.95.

Gardeners, be sure to sign up for various newsletters and other alerts from these online retailers in order to take advantage of what rock bottom prices they may be offering this time of year.

Greener Choices

I just ran across a great new website put together by Consumer Reports - it's called Greener Choices, and it's a fantastic, free resource for shoppers to find more environmentally-friendly products.

Just recently launched on Earth Day of this year, the Greener Choices site also has a lot of information about how to recycle phones & appliances, economical automobile choices and what the auto industry is doing (or not doing) about fuel alternatives, and more.

Where No Iris Has Gone Before...

I've written and posted a new Organic Gardening article over at Suite101.com...click here to check it out.

After a 1.5" downpour last night, things are looking lovely around my garden.

Behold, the 'Starship Enterprise' iris which just bloomed. The loveliest iris I've ever seen in person, I must say.




Also, my chives are beginning to flower with their pretty pink/purple blooms:



And, last but not least, the first of probably very many Round French zucchinis to emerge:

More Photos from My Garden

A Wild Yellow Ladyslipper Orchid I recently bought from www.wildorchidcompany.com



Iris 'Stellar Lights'



Iris 'Earl of Essex'



Daylily (bought bareroot from Wal-Mart!)



Tiarella 'Crowfeather'



Mom (bottom left) and baby (top center) ladybugs doing cleanup duty of some aphids



Clematis (Jackmanii...? Not sure, as this was here before we moved in. Beautiful, yes?)

Say No to Arctic Drilling

Contact your state's representatives and voice your disapproval over the shady, dangerous, inaccurate and unnecessary drilling effort into the Arctic Refuge:

http://www.nrdc.org/

Call Bayer on 4/21!

I just received this notice from the NRDC - please spread the word.

Although it is most famous for making and selling aspirin, the chemical giant Bayer also sells the highly toxic pesticide lindane, even though the chemical has been banned in more than 35 countries around the world. Please join a national call-in day to urge Bayer to stop selling this dangerous pesticide.

== What to do ==
Join a national call-in day to Bayer's Crop Sciences North American headquarters tomorrow, Thursday, April 21st, from 9am - 5pm eastern time. The call-in number is:
1-919-549-2828
where you can leave a message for Wayne Carlson, the Vice President of Regulatory Affairs (please note, this is not a toll-free call).

Please tell Mr. Carlson that you are calling to urge Bayer to stop selling lindane. You might also mention that:
-- lindane is an old, dangerous and unnecessary pesticide;
-- lindane has been banned in more than 35 countries, including Germany, Japan and Brazil;
-- any of your own reasons why you think Bayer should stop selling lindane (see below for more information about this toxic chemical).

== More about lindane ==
Lindane is an old, dangerous pesticide that targets the central nervous system and can cause dizziness, nausea, vomiting, seizures and coma. The chemical builds up in our bodies, and is found in blood and breast milk in people worldwide (children are especially vulnerable to its toxic effects). Lindane is also highly toxic to wildlife, including fish, bees and birds.

More than 35 countries have already banned lindane -- but the United States isn't one of them. Bayer distributes lindane for agricultural purposes here, despite threats to our health, environment and food supply.

Please call Bayer tomorrow at 1-919-549-2828 and urge it to stop distributing lindane immediately.

Please also forward this message to others, and urge them to call Bayer tomorrow as well.

Thank you!

Go Organic for the Butterflies

If you need an additional reason to stop using toxic pesticides, here's a good one.

Cake or Compost?

Our environmentally-conscious friends over in Scotland have recruited one of my favorite entertainers, Eddie Izzard, to narrate composting advertisements to be broadcast across the U.K.

Celebrating the Wonder of Life

Yesterday, our friend Mike made a couple of small, purposeful movements. Doctors are taking this as a good sign, at least for now.

Life is truly a gift, isn't it? As I bask in this good news about my friend, I will also take a moment to once again share the beauty of life around me.

Please, everyone...don't ever forget to stop and smell the roses, ok?

A nice shady corner of my East side/front garden



Magnolia 'Jane' (if only you could smell this too...)



Flowers that will eventually find their way into my front beds



Cirrhopetalum Elizabeth Ann X putidum orchid

Brief Update

I apologize for not updating recently. If you read my regular blog, you know that I lost a close friend over this past week in a traffic accident.

Gardening is hard at the moment - it allows me too much time to think about my friend Mike, who will probably never regain consciousness and will never again be the outstanding, happy go-lucky guy that he was.

I will miss him terribly.