Jack Attack

Louisiana Iris 'Jack Attack'

More, But Different

Thanks to everybody who wrote with photos and suggestions about the "mystery bearded iris". I'm still not positive what it is, but certainly enjoyed its huge and numerous blooms. I also enjoyed hearing from some of you readers out there. :)

The bearded irises are about finished blooming here now. I missed some of the show while vacationing in Florida for the past week. I also apparently missed more wild weather; DFW had some hellacious storms while we were gone. Evidence of hail remains in the form of ripped petals on a few things, but the damage isn't devastating, thank goodness.

I am now being rewarded with gorgeous Louisiana iris blooms. Again, I can't say enough about the fans I received from Iris City Gardens last September. A great company with good prices, great service and an incomparable selection of healthy plants.

Louisiana Iris 'Willow Mint'


Louisiana Iris 'Black Widow'


Louisiana Iris 'Our Dorothy'

Iris ID

Anybody know what the name of this iris (the big one on the left) is? It's not one I've ever ordered. At first I thought it was 'Starship Enterprise', which I do have.

The second photo below is my 'Starship Enterprise' blooming last year. However, the falls on this new one are much more burgundy than purple, the beards are more orange than yellow, and the standards are a definite peach, as opposed to white.

Thanks in advance!

A Little Birdie Told Me

I am not ashamed to admit that I'm a bigtime weather weenie. Indeed, most would consider my continual level of interest in the surrounding atmosphere to be borderline obsessive. I check temperature forecasts at least once a day. When it storms, I watch the online Doppler radar. (Although I don't think anybody anticipated the severity and duration of the hail we had a few nights ago...!)

So when I noticed recently that the Cedar Waxwings were still hanging around, making those sad peeping noises from their perch in some nearby treetops, I figured they knew something the rest of us didn't: it was gonna get cold again. And sure enough, we're looking at a slight chance of snow this weekend. That's right: snow.

I'm super-glad to have held off on planting my summer veggies, both at the house and in my Community Garden plot. Most of the tropicals on my patio are in pots and can be brought inside no problem. However, I did plant the beautiful 'Lady Margaret' passionflower (pictured here a few weeks ago) and that is a concern, although a layer of chopped leaves should protect her enough.

I guess it pays to be a weather weenie...and a birdwatcher too.

Great Timing...Sort Of

Ok, so...I got laid off from my job. Mixed feelings abound. But at least they let me go during the busiest part of the gardening season.

Truthfully, the time off has been glorious so far. I hope to really re-organize this site, but in the meantime, here are some more great pictures of what's happening around the yard.


This is Syringa 'Sensation'. I've been waiting two years for this gorgeous lilac to bloom...and it's been worth it. I wish you could smell it. Beyond divine.


Colorful Poppies


The Crossvine that I bought at last year's Texas SuperStar Plant Sale. It didn't bloom hardly at all last summer, but is covered with flowers now.


Tiarella 'Sugar and Spice'


Part of my shade garden, with various heucheras, toad lily and shredded umbrella plant.

Early Bloomers

I'll save the best for last...


This Louisiana Iris was blooming back in January, after we had a bunch of rain. I've no idea what cultivar it is - strange-looking, eh? (It may actually be a Siberian iris...if anybody can ID this, please let me know!)



This is Euphorbia 'Tasmanian Tiger' and it's been blooming for well over two weeks. Love the variegated foliage.



I mentioned in a previous post how Nature Hills Nursery accidentally sent me somebody else's order of crocus bulbs and then told me to just keep them...so I planted 'em. Not bad, although I'd probably never buy these.



Many daffodils don't naturalize here in Texas, especially the weirder kinds, but these double daffs I got from Bluestone back in late 2005 are even prettier this year.




Between the rain, a good trimming and some fertilizer, this Mexican plum tree is blooming like crazy, much more so than in previous years. The honeybees are all over it already, and the smell is divine.



Wow, wow, wow. Say hello to Passiflora 'Lady Margaret'. What a babe! I just received this plant from Zone 9 Tropicals about a month ago. Temps aren't quite high enough to put her outside yet, so she got potted up and kept in the sunroom...where she seems quite happy for the time being. Can't wait to see my back fence covered with this lovely lady later in the summer!

Speak Now, Or Forever Hold Your Trowel

I can say with relative confidence that Spring is here in North Central Texas. The forecast has us staying above freezing the next 10 nights at least, with daytime temps reaching into the 70s. Hallelujah - it's been a long winter, even for us Dallasites.

While the juncos and Cedar Waxwings are still here and busily stuffing themselves for their flights northward, the adorable little ruby-crowned kinglet and the pair of downy woodpeckers are gone. I'll miss them. Sitting by the kitchen window and birdwatching while enjoying a hot cup of coffee was a nice way to pass the colder days...when I wasn't stuck in a chilly office building, of course.

Several of my plant orders are starting to arrive. It's funny...I don't feel as giddy about gardening as I used to. In fact, I was thinking the other day that gardening has become a lot like my marriage.

Now hang on...before all of you divorce lawyers start writing to me, let me explain.

My feeling about gardening now is that, like my marriage, I'm comfortable. Content. I've been doing both for awhile. I'm familiar with them, and confident in the proven techniques that make each seem to work.

I've matured. I don't have heart palpitations when my husband calls me, or squeal like a teenager when a big box of plants arrives in the mail. (Well, ok, sometimes I still do.)

I miss both my husband and gardening when they're not around. Even during the doldrums of a regular day at work, I miss Mark, but not in stupid girlish way. It's like that with gardening too. I pined for better weather, and grumbled about the cold in polite conversation. Such complaining seems pointless anymore, though; like the warmth of my husbands arms awaiting me at the end of an arduous day, the sun always shows up before long.

Of course, over time, you also come to accept certain...shortcomings. I'll probably never be able to grow dinnerplate dahlias here in Texas, and my husband will probably never pick his clothes up off the bedroom floor without being told. But that's ok. You learn. You adapt. You grow.

Almost There...

Sorry for the long lull, everyone. We've been enduring an unusually cold and wet winter here in Dallas -- making NOAA's predictions half-right -- and I try to keep my whining to a minimum during such times, since it really isn't that bad here compared to where some of you are. I grew up in Western Pennsylvania, so believe me when I say I know what a really shitty winter is like.

It's nice that we've gotten so much rain in DFW over the past couple of months, however, as some of the reservoirs have actually rebounded to acceptable levels. The Palmer Drought Severity Index for North Central Texas is even registering at "slightly wet". Wow!

I did manage to get to the Community Garden before some really nasty weather hit in January, and was shocked to find the huge purple broccoli pictured at right. The plant tag was gone, but I'm pretty sure it was a 'Violet Queen'. Really beautiful (and delicious...ahem), and nearly a foot across. I haven't been out to the plot since. I expect everything else is dead by now.

Online winter plant shopping has been kept to a minimum this year. I've really cut down on the number of retailers I use too. Annie's, Big Dipper, Burpee, and Bluestone will all get some of my money as a repeat customer this year, but few others will. I'm trying Zone 9 Tropicals for the first time, as they have great prices on a couple of passiflora I wanted. If you have a bad experience with an online nursery, let other gardeners know by leaving your opinion over at Garden Watchdog, a great site run by the folks at Dave's Garden.

It's already time to start tomato seeds here in Texas, but I haven't gotten around to it just yet. My enthusiasm for tomatoes seems to wan a little every year. The plants at the Comm. Garden got really big and did well for the most part, but the naughty mockingbirds love toms just as they're ripening....and when you're not monitoring the fruits every day, the birds tend to have a party in your absence. Also, tomato plants shut down here around July due to the heat, (but usually rebound in September for a weak second crop), so you spend a couple of months waiting for them to wake up. I guess some bird netting will be in order, at least. I'm not trying any new tomato types this year, though. I think I've learned my lesson in the "That's Really Cool, I Wonder If It'll Grow Here..." department.

Not much else is new plant-wise at this point. I've been running two humidifiers in the house almost constantly and have not seen one single spider mite on anything.

For reader "emmat" who commented on my last post about the ZZ Plant: I know ZZ's are supposed to be really difficult to kill, unless you overwater them. They are considered a tropical houseplant, very rubber/jade-like with a water-holding tuber. Mine actually didn't put up a spath (yet) but is sprouting new leaf stems like mad. I guess it really likes its spot next to Capt. Jack...who wouldn't? :)

In closing...I can't wait until Spring. There, I said it!

No ZZZzz's Here...

The ZZ plant I have on my desk at work (guarded by my 18" talking Capt. Jack Sparrow doll) is putting up a bloom, I think. Actually, Zamioculus Zamiofolia is an aroid, so the bloom may be more like a spath. Cool!

Blooming December

I seem to get more enamored with amaryllis every year. This one opened its first flowers the day after Christmas and is still going strong. It is a 'President Johnson' hybrid.



I bring my hibiscuses inside every year with varying degrees of success. They usually get spider mites something awful and then it takes them nearly all spring to recover. Well, not so with this beauty. This is 'Hurricane Lily,' and she really seems to like it in the sunroom (next to the cool mist humidifier, natch).



Happy New Year, everyone!

Bow to the Master

The Master Gardener, that is! Hehheh...not trying to get all imperial on y'all. But I am now officially a Master Gardener for Collin County. And it feels great.

Graduation last night was wonderful. We were treated to a great meal, an interesting speaker and several nice freebies. The best part was seeing my fellow classmates again, beaming from ear to ear, knowing that a year of hard work had finally paid off. There was a lot of pride in the room.

Speaking of guest speakers and freebies, Brice Creelman of local nursery Shades of Green talked about trees and trends, mostly, but also brought some plants for all of the graduates. And you can guess what happens when you offer free plants to a room full of Master Gardeners: mayhem ensues!

We each received a Zephranthes Labuffarosa (Blogger Matt Mattus has a gorgeous picture of one on his blog here) and an apparently very rare pink Turk's Cap (Malvaviscus) called 'Pam's Pink'.

We each also got a beautiful potted poinsettia and a cute Christmas tree ornament too, along with our requisite graduation certificate.

To top it all off, I was asked to take over the Webmaster duties at the CCMG website, and I quickly agreed. There is so much that needs done there, but it could be a phenomenal site.

What a great night. And what a great year 2007 is going to be!

December...the New January

I'm not sure what Al Gore would think of my theory, but it seems to me that over the past couple of years, the weather patterns have bumped up a whole month here in North Texas.

When I moved here in 1989, January and February used to be the really crappy months. December was always pretty decent. Well, not anymore. Nowadays, November remains mild, and as soon as December hits, the bad weather comes with it. And the springs are hotter now too. The past few Junes have been almost unbearably hot...like July usually is.

So yeah, it got down to 23° the other night. Nothing in my community garden veggie plot is flat-out dead, but there was significant leaf scorching. I shudder to think what would have happened if hubby and I hadn't covered the whole thing with frost cloth before the storm came.



The Purple Orach took a beating, as you can see here:



The Savoy Cabbage still looks glorious, though!



The Front Yard Garden Project stood up admirably to the ice and cold temperatures. It was my plan, of course, to only put in stuff that could take the rough Texas weather -- on both extremes -- and I'm happy everything has lived up to expectations so far.

I'm trying not to let the onset of winter depress me too much. The cold weather does bring unique pleasures. For instance, I could sit at the kitchen table for hours and watch the half dozen or so mostly female slate-colored juncos that congregate right outside the window. It is like having a bunch of miniature gray chickens in the yard, with all the pecking and soil-scratching. Adorable. They're an ornery bunch, though, and twitter at me angrily when I go outside for the mail and temporarily break up their little hen party.

Lastly, this week sees me finally, officially becoming a Master Gardener. Our graduation banquet is Thursday. Weeee!

Unlike Any Other

Well, we're being treated to a fabulous fall here in North Texas. The temperatures have remained mostly above freezing well after our expected first frost date (generally around 11/15) and the 10-day forecast continues in the same pattern. We'll get a slight morning frost on rooftops, but it warms so quickly that none of the plants really feel it. My coleus are pristine. One of the cannas by the swimming pool is in the process of blooming.

In my 17 years here, I don't remember it staying this nice for this long. I am grateful, as I still haven't moved most of my tropicals into the house yet. Or propagated any of the annuals. Or planted all the perennials lounging in pots on the patio.

Here's how the one backyard bed looked as of November 12. Pretty incredible.


Husband and I are taking the week after Thanksgiving off work, though, and with the weather being so cooperative, I hope to get caught up on everything indoors and out...including the many pictures I've promised to produce here, but haven't yet.

Things can change dramatically and quickly here, though, as I witnessed nearly a year ago. For now, it's wonderful.

Busy Bee

Well, it's been a whole lotta gardening for me the past couple of weeks. Let's review:

* The company I work for moved into a new building Friday. Prior to the move, I was asked by management to oversee the installation of some new landscaping, which thrilled me no end. My first landscaping job (sort of)! The hard part was finding somebody to do the work in such a short time; landscape companies are generally pretty busy this time of year.

I did the actual choosing, purchasing and arranging of the plants, and the crew simply came in and did what I told them; dig there, remove that, etc. It was great.

I'll post before and after pictures soon.

* Our Community Garden hosted a Fall Festival last weekend that turned out to be a really fun time. Nobody stepped in any of the fire ant hills that were rampant throughout the pumpkin patch, so that was good. I helped out at the Make Your Own Bird Feeder booth, where we smeared pinecones with peanut butter and then rolled them in birdseed. The kids really dug it.

My plot out there is really humming along, and I'll tell you what: putting hoops and bird netting over everything has made an amazing difference. Nothing has been munched on at all. I sprayed Bt on the curcurbits a couple of weeks ago, so the cabbage worms have been staying away too. My only wish is that I had planted more of the Purple Orach. It is gorgeous, but I only have one.

Pictures of the plot coming forthwith too...

* Today I spent the day outside in the glorious 60° weather doing various chores, like:

Pulling up three dead or mostly-dead nandinas and replacing them with two Texas sage.

Planting two five-gallon ornamental grasses that I got for $16 each at Lowe's. Really big and healthy plants too - not rootbound in the pots at all.

Planting 15 crocus bulbs (which I generally hate, but got by mistake from Nature Hills Nursery so I thought what-the-heck, I'll plant 'em) and six Allium Schubertii bulbs.

Planting various perennials that were lounging on the patio in pots.

Mulching the Louisiana iris bed.

Potting up three amaryllis bulbs. (I've placed a layer of sand on top of the soil to see if that technique really works in keeping the fungus gnats away.)

And now...drum roll please...photos of the Front Yard Garden as it stands right now (top) and as of October 2005 (bottom):

Soggy

Sorry for the lull here. Have been terribly busy at my "real" job and with other projects as well. Blogging, unfortunately, takes a backseat to most other stuff...including actual gardening, which I've been doing a lot of as the weather permits. We've received over 3" of much-needed rain in the past 24 hours, though, so gardening has snitched the backseat away from blogging for the time being.

Been receiving lots of orders from various companies, with mixed results. I don't know whether I attribute it to general Old Lady Crankiness or just a higher expectation for better service, but I don't hesitate to bitch (or, at least, notify the company) now when I receive a plant order that I am less than satisfied with. Cases in point:

Annie's Annuals: The 'Ladybird' poppy and one of the sages died within days of my receiving them. I let them know, and they cheerfully replaced the plants within a matter of days. Both are now doing spectacularly. Big thumbs up for Annie's - they have SO much cool stuff, too.

Bluestone Perennials: They used a box that was MUCH too big for my recent order. The plants were just thrown in among some packing peanuts, completely unsecured. Dirt was everywhere. I had to dig one of the three spindly euphorbias out of the bottom of the box - disgraceful. I let them know, they apologized and told me to notify them if the plants didn't make it. I'm kind of down on Bluestone at the moment. They are nice people, but the plants I've received from them lately have been less than healthy-looking. They've slipped, in my opinion.

Forest Farm: As you may remember, I was all hot over the Gold Ring barberry featured recently in Garden Gate magazine, and ordered one from Forest Farm at the end of August, along with a Helmond Pillar barberry and a Golden Smoke Bush (cotinus). Well, I received my order the other day. No Gold Ring barberry, but a note on the invoice stating it was no longer available.

As you can imagine, I fired off an email to Forest Farm expressing my disappointment that they hadn't notified me about the Gold Ring, since it was the main reason I ordered from them at all.

I received a nice reply from Ray, one of Forest Farm's owners, apologizing and explaining that they were phazing out that particular berberis and thought they had called everyone who ordered one letting them know of such. (He also said Garden Gate didn't bother asking them about their available stock of the plant when the article was published.) Ray said that frankly, they didn't feel Gold Ring was all that great; the rings are hard to distinguish, apparently. And then he offered to give me a full refund for my entire order, a very nice gesture that I couldn't rightfully accept. But wow. Impressive.

Van Bourgondien (aka Dutchbulbs.com): Placed an order online for three items, as the catalog I had was advertising free shipping no matter what the merchandise total. Cool. I entered the code where applicable and away it went. A few days later, I got an email with the total...including a $10 shipping charge. I wrote to complain, and resubmitted my code. They sent an email back that the $10 shipping had been taken off. Keep an eye open when ordering from these folks...I've seen lots of complaints about them on gardenwatchdog.com.

Garden Crossings: No complaints here at all. Big, healthy plants, well-packed, at pretty good prices. They are currently running a season-end sale, plus free shipping on orders over $75. Don't miss out.

Now, my next project is to find a way to have all my plant purchases be tax deductible.

Monday Morning Aches & Pains

When is having various bruises, bites, aches and pains on a Monday morning a good thing? When you got them spending nearly the entire weekend gardening.

In anticipation of our monthly Community Garden Work Day, I had gone to my plot last Wednesday and ripped out all the vining stuff and the squash and tomato plants. What a fun chore that was...not. I did uncover a 12" zucchini, several cantaloupes and lots and lots of squash bugs. Blech.

The only stuff left in the bed now: Kakai pumpkin, Delicata squash, Burpee eggplant, Ancho pepper, and Lilac pepper. Given that our beds are each 18' x 4', it looks pretty empty.

The work day started bright and early Saturday at 7...and I showed up around 7:30. I spent the entire time removing the old mulch, killing the few remaining squash bugs with orange oil, and adding a fresh layer of compost to my plot. I also worked in 5 lbs. of "Something Special," a really nice soil blend made by the great folks at Rabbit Hill Farm in nearby Corsicana, Texas. It's primarily bunny manure, alfalfa and various rock phospates. Great stuff.

Because we were supposed to get torrential rain and hail on Saturday, I elected to hold off on planting anything. We did get some rain, but nothing monumental, so...Sunday morning I was back at my plot, planting seeds. The air was crisp, cool and quiet. It was sheer heaven.

On the way home, I was a naughty girl. Stopped at Calloway's to see if they had any of the Tiger's Eye Staghorn Sumac. Now, I've had one of these for a year now (I got it from Wayside **cough-ripoff-cough** Gardens) and love it. But Dallas Morning News gardening writer Mariana Greene wrote a great article recently about how this glorious sumac is capturing everybody's heart and well...I decided I needed another one. Plus a couple of cool-looking pumpkins.

The rest of Sunday was spent piddling around outside in the great weather. It was about 80° with a nice breeze - just perfect. I divided a few irises and heucherellas, planted the new sumac and a few other things, put the tomato cages in the attic, and neatened up my potting bench area in the garage. Oh, that every weekend could give me Monday Morning Gardener's Ache...

Letter to the Editor

Here's a letter that was published in today's Dallas Morning News (I've taken out the author's name, although the paper did print it):

Naturally, it's a gamble

Re: "Tainted spinach illnesses grow – 109 E. coli cases listed; mixed greens among more brand recalls," Monday news story.

If the food is naturally grown, it's fertilized only with manure – the prime host for E. coli. So it seems that parasitic poisoning is a risk whenever you buy foods grown organically.

Say what you will about food grown with chemical fertilizers, but they don't harbor E. coli from fertilizer.

Here's the response I just emailed in:

As a Collin County Master Gardener intern and an organic gardener, I was deeply disturbed by XX's letter criticizing the use of organic methods in light of the recent spinach-related E. coli outbreak. My first thought was "Gee, I wonder what chemical company he works for?"

First off, Mr. X is premature in blaming cow manure. On Page 6A of the very same edition in which his letter ran, investigators revealed they still had no idea what the source of the outbreak was. It could be contaminated water in the area, unsanitary harvesting practices...lots of things.

Secondly, the FDA issues guidelines for composting manure before it's used on crops. No organic gardener or farmer in their right mind uses uncomposted cow manure on food crops. Composting, when done correctly, kills dangerous pathogens in the manure.

Lastly, Mr. X's statement "If the food is naturally grown, it's fertilized only with manure" is dead wrong. There are many, many FDA-approved organic fertilizers out there that farmers use, including rock phosphates, fish emulsion, seaweed and more.

For someone so concerned about manure, Mr. X seems quite comfortable spreading it around.

I'll agree that organic farming probably needs better regulations, though. It wouldn't surprise me if some of the farms are neglecting to compost properly or whatever.

And here is an interesting study I found while doing my research. Molasses can make your compost tea grow bad pathogens all over again. Interesting. Howard Garrett's popular product Garrett Juice is a mixture of compost tea, molasses and other stuff. I wonder if he's seen this study.

Lastly, if I was a conspiracy theorist-type, I'd wonder seriously if this whole spinach/E. coli thing was cooked up by someone who wants to either bring down the organic farming industry or maybe deal a blow to Wal-Mart and their recent organic food efforts. Not that I'm a fan of Wal-Mart either.

But it kind of makes you think. Maybe because these organic farms are struggling to keep up with demand, they're not composting properly, workers aren't washing their hands, etc. Who knows? I'd hate to see organic food standards lowered as much as I'd hate to see the organic "trend" stymied.

I just started some spinach seeds the other day. When in doubt...grow your own.

Rainy Days with Annie

Labor Day has been all wet here in DFW...not that I'm complaining. It's been an expensive day, though, as I've been spending this rainy afternoon placing fall plants orders over the Internets like an addictive fool.

Here's my first-ever order from Annie's Annuals:
Verbascum chiaxii 'Album Wedding Candles'
Verbascum 'Southern Charm'
Uncinia uncinata 'Red'
Trifolium rubens
Salvia munzii "San Diego Sage"
Salvia mexicana 'Limelight'
Rudbeckia occidentalis 'Green Wizard'
Papaver commutatum 'Ladybird'
Kniphofia citrina
Delphinium belladonna 'Cliveden Beauty'
Carex testacea "Orange New Zealand Sedge"
Carex comans 'Bronze'
Asclepias speciosa "Showy Milkweed"
Artemisia filifolia "Sand Sage"

Shipping was $42, which is a little high, but I do appreciate the fact they're using 2-day air. It still works out to about $10 per plant overall, and that's not bad.

Annie's has an excellent feedback rating over at Gardenwatchdog, in case you're curious. Will let you know how the plants look when they arrive in a week or so.

What's That Stuff Falling From the Sky?

Well, all I had to do to bring heavy rains to the DFW area was throw a pool party, it seems. (Somebody remind me of that next August when I'm bitching about the continual drought and triple-digit heat, ok?)

We did manage to get in some water volleyball before the clouds rolled in. Everyone oo'd and ahh'd over my mostly-Texas SuperStar garden, which still looks pretty fab. It even shrugged off a few boinks of the volleyball.

Once the rain came, we all crammed under the awning and watched the hummers fight. Great stuff.

The 10-day forecast for our area sounds pretty darned reasonable, with temps dropping into the unheard-of 60s at night.

Speaking of cold weather (just kidding), be sure to go over to Kathy Purdy's Cold Climate Gardening site. Kathy rounded up several seasoned garden bloggers -- myself included -- and posed questions to us about the state of garden blogging, how we got started, etc.

The responses are very interesting, and I feel really honored to be a part of it. Kathy is posting the responses in a continuing series all this week. Check it out.

Another Shrubbery!

Forgive me Father, for I have sinned. It's been only two days since my last plant order and I find myself yet again tempted by the horti-porn that regularly appears in my mailbox.

Yes, I succumbed to the wares of Forest Farm. The latest issue of Garden Gate magazine (a mag which I love, btw) had an article about a barberry bush called 'Golden Ring' and well, I just had to have one. Forest Farm was referenced in the mag as the only nursery that carries it.

And, of course, with the cost of shipping, it's never prudent to order just one plant from FF. So I got another barberry ('Helmond Pillar') and a small smoke bush (the lovely Cotinus coggygria 'Golden Spirit') while I was at it.

My penance? To flog myself repeatedly with the Bible-thick Spring '06 Forest Farm catalog. Out, you demons, out!