Can I Regrow My Memory from Seed?

I don't often grow flowers from seed -- vegetables, yes, but not flowers -- so I can't really use that as an excuse as to why I keep forgetting what flower seeds I did start this year. Thank goodness the flowers themselves are reminding me!

This is Scabiosa 'Dark Knight'
Gorgeous isn't it? At first I thought it was Rudbekia 'Green Wizard', but the petal-less heads suddenly open into these deep purple/black flowers. Got these seeds from Select Seeds if anyone is interested. (And behind the Scabiosa is a 'Black Pearl' ornamental purple pepper that reseeded on its own from last year's planting.)


Coreopsis 'Mardi Gras'
I ordered these seeds from Burpee a couple of years ago and didn't do anything with them until this past spring. Isn't this unusual? I love it and will start more next season.


Calendula 'Oktoberfest'
I know, I know...more yellow flowers. *sigh* The picture doesn't do this justice, though, as the undersides of the flower petals are a deep red. Lovely.


Cleome
And then there are the Cleomes that have sprung up all over the yard - including through cracks in the driveway. Whoever said Cleome reseeds readily wasn't kidding.


Ah yes...I do like to grow veggies from seed. I've never started more tomatoes and peppers in mid-summer before, but lots of Texas gardeners do it. And, since I've got two plots at the Community Garden in need of filling out -- as I mentioned before, there's been a ban on growing squash family veggies this year-- more toms and pepps were called for. It'll be a good experiment for me personally as a veggie gardener, anyhow.

For those not familiar with the unique North Texas climate, we actually have two summer growing seasons here; tomatoes shut down through July and August, but new plants put in during that time will produce through November in most cases.

I've also started some winter squash (Delicata and Spaghetti) along with some watermelon and cantaloupe for growing around my own yard, although it might be too late for the latter two at this point. We'll see. Again, it's all an experiment at this point. There's also some basil and dill thrown in there for good herbal measure.

Garden Blogger's Bloom Day: June

Yey, I made it this month!

The daylilies, as is usual this time of year, are cranking. Really nice to have that consistent splash of color in the front yard. The glads are about done, but gosh they're pretty. All of the yellow flowers in my aforementioned post are still blooming too...except that yellow squash I talked about has already succumbed to vine borers. Drat those things...!

The Heat Is On

June has definitely brought summer to North Central Texas, along with lots of wind. The last week has seen my crank-out patio awning tucked safely away due to continuous gustiness. The wind doesn't seem to stop me from cooking steaks on the charcoal grill, however, albiet cautiously. Strangely we've not been under wind advisories.

Some spider-related news: I always try to park in the furthest of our uncovered parking lots at work. The five minute slightly uphill stroll is usually a pleasant way to start the day. But imagine my surprise yesterday when I stepped out of my vehicle and was confronted by one of these. He was really quite large, leggy and beautiful; unfortunately the photo I took with my phone-cam was pretty crappy. No one else was around to see him and I was glad, as most people's reflex would have been to stomp on him.

The Front Yard No-Grass Garden Project looks better every year. One of these days I'll have the whole thing filled in. I was pleased that the Bear's Breeches decided to finally bloom this year, after three seasons of patient waiting.





Our 12-year-old collie Alf had a seizure the other night and I fear his days are numbered. He still seems to have the energy to go digging and skulking behind the sumac shrub in the back corner of our yard, pretending he's a jungle dog, however.

They Call Me Mellow Yellow

I hope this finds all of my fellow gardeners well and in full enjoyment of the summer weather.

In an unconscious overcompensation for an abundance of purple flowers being featured in my garden for the past few years, I've apparently shifted into a yellow phase, as evidenced below...and this is just what's blooming now. There are also yellow yarrow, esperanza, and snapdragons gearing up for a second round of flowers.


Coneflower 'Coconut Lime'


To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what this is. Looks like a type of scabiosa or double coreopsis to me...neither of which I remember planting. Help, anyone?


Tropical Hibiscus


Ornamental Peppers


Yellow Shrimp Plant


Due to the infestation of squash bugs, we've been forbidden from growing cucurbits in the Plano Community Garden this year. So...I'm growing them at home. This is a yellow squash variety called 'Gentry' - apparently bred for Southern gardeners.



More to come...I got a new digital camera (an Olympus Stylus 840!) and am still learning how to best use it.

Lagniappe (A Little Extra)

A few more Louisiana irises to drool over.


Black Gamecock (with Scabiosa)


Easter Tide

Hush Money


Our Dorothy

Sinfonietta

A Little Bit of Louisiana

Yes my gardening friends, it's time for the annual Louisiana Iris parade! The first two shown here didn't bloom for me last year, so I'm doubly tickled by their presence.

Byron Bay

Red Echo

Billy

Festivals Acadian

Fiesta Gal

Frank Chowning

More on the way..!

That's Just Ducky

The mallards in our neighborhood have been pretty friendly lately. A trio of males seems to especially like our yard.

Since we've been enjoying the HBO series of "John Adams" so much in our household, I was inspired to name them Adams, Jefferson and Franklin.

Everything's Late

We had a REALLY late freeze a couple of nights ago. Four nights before that...tornadoes. Very scary, but we were lucky. Didn't even lose power at our house. Many people lost much more, although the tornadoes that hit Dallas didn't register any higher than F1s. Winds were clocked at around 90 mph in some areas. I can't imagine what an F5 would do.

The storm made a great case for not planting Bradford Pear trees. Most of the down trees and limbs around town are Bradfords, a notably fragile tree. We have four mid-sized trees in our front yard: a 40' lacebark elm, a 30' Chinese pistache, a 30' magnolia and 25' Mexican plum, and they all did fine, although it was frightening for me to peek out between the blinds and see them bending sideways in the wind. Yeesh.

Anyway, moving along to the flowers now in bloom for April's Gardening Bloggers Bloom Day, for which I am also, and again, late...


Allium Schubertii

Brunnera 'Jack Frost'

Chives

Clematis 'Crystal Fountain'

Iris and Viburnum

Viburnum

Japanese Maple 'Matsugae'


Yarrow


Many of my Louisiana irises are budding and just about to burst open, so more pictures are forthcoming. My regular bearded irises are budding too. This is somewhat of a surprise to me since I divided and replanted (all 65 of) them this year, and really expected a reduced show. But hey, Mother Nature sometimes has other plans.

The Collin County Master Gardener plant sale is this Saturday. In addition to the fun of working the sale, I love shopping at it too - so many big, healthy plants at great prices. I'm hoping to score another Satsuma orange tree (but not kill it like I did the last one...)

I'm also expecting my shipment to come in from Garden Crossings. So...guess what I'll be doing on Sunday? What I love most: working in the garden!

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day

GBBD was yesterday, but I wanted to join in anyhow.



The daffodil and saucer magnolia blooms have already peaked, so I won't embarass myself with pics of their sad appearance; however, other plants - like the ranunculus asiaticus, Spanish lavender and euphorbia shown above - are just gettin' started.


Oh, and the dandelions are of course flowering like crazy. My tortoise can't eat all the ones I pluck and bring in to him.

Ready to Graduate

Next weekend, all of my little veggie seedlings will graduate to the garden. The varieties I had to restart have come along well.

Even though I usually avoid annuals like the plague (I always think of the Plant Delights t-shirt: "Friends don't let friends buy annuals"), I did start some annual flower seeds, including Calendula 'Oktoberfest' and Gentian Sage 'Cambridge Blue'.

The tomatoes are ready for planting too. This year, I'm trying a couple of hybrids for hotter climates: Orange King and Sun Leaper, plus returning to some old favorites: Early Girl, Black Pearl, and Red Lightning.

Fit for a Toad

I knew there were open pockets deep inside my compost bin, but I guess they were a little bigger and more cave-like than I thought...

After opening one of the ground-level sidedoors of the bin and scraping out some finished compost, I noticed several odd, white shapes deep in the hole. Sticking my shovel inside and knocking it around produced several of these gorgeous, portbello-sized mushrooms.

They sure looked tasty, but I wouldn't dare take that risk. So back into the bin they went.

The weather forecast finally allowed me to plant the four heirloom roses that have been languishing in containers in my sunroom all winter. They started leafing out weeks ago (I know, I know...not good), so I had to keep them inside until temperatures improved. Hopefully we'll be done with this snow stuff until next year.

The four roses, ordered from Heirloom Roses, were:

Midnight Blue

Julia's Rose

Remember Me

Scentimental

Kinda Purty

Ok, so, by Northern U.S. standards, it was a fairly pathetic dusting of snow that "crippled" the DFW metroplex last night. The snowfall was very pretty to watch as it came down, though.

I was worried about my lettuce sprouts in a container on the patio, but they seem to have bounced right back after the snow melted today.

Back On Track

Okay, back on track after another extended lull.

I must say, after a year of experiencing some personal stresses and tragedies, it's good to have the gardening bug back again. And man, I've got it back in a big way.

I'm writing for Dave's Garden on a regular basis, have adopted a second plot in our local community garden and have been planting in, and starting seeds for, my own garden at a crazy pace.

That last venture hasn't been so successful, unfortunately. While Mother Nature treated us to an unusually mild winter this year in North Central Texas (I don't think we ever got below 25°, which is uncommon), I did manage to misfire on the timing of planting some broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage sprouts.

After starting and nurturing them from seed in early February, my beautiful, robust little transplants went in the ground at the community garden last Saturday. I carefully mulched around them, and covered them with hoops and frost cloth. Monday came and brought with it 40mph winds and freezing temperatures - a double whammy that both blew off the frost cloth and froze my babies to the ground.

So, time to start again. I'll be a bit behind, but will graciously and politely ask Mother Nature for spring weather on the cool side. Let's see if she listens.

Still Here...

Good gosh, has it really been over two months since I posted here? Apparently so.

The Year of Weird Weather continues in North Central Texas. Flowers are still in bloom, and leaves remain on many of the trees. Some areas had a few snowflakes on Thanksgiving, but that's been it for the cold weather. To borrow the McDonald's tagline: I'm lovin' it.

I did find a great (and organic) landscaper to do the "big stuff" mentioned in an earlier post. It's been wonderful to have a new holes to fill and, of course, I've been doing just that. A gorgeous purple smoke tree now stands where the ugly mean yuccas once were. My bearded iris -- all 60+ of them, dug up and divided from the original 14 I'd planted three short years ago -- are now back in the ground and rebounding nicely around the new smoke tree. The Hakonechloa macra Beni Kaze is/was in the spot previously occupied by a large holly bush, but sadly it has since been munched to the ground by rabbits and/or rats.

I was worried that ripping out so many dense shrubs would discourage my winter bird friends from returning, but I've seen nearly all of them so far. The ruby-crowned kinglet has been enjoying the suet, plus a pair of chickadees and a white-throated sparrow are all back from last year. Haven't seen the downy woodpecker couple yet, but I'm sure they're just as mystified as us humans about the balmy weather.

I Know An Old Lady...

"I know an old lady who swallowed a fly;
I don't know why she swallowed a fly!
I guess she'll die!"

A lot of children still read Rose Bonne's story "I Know An Old Lady" -- surely one of the grimmest children's poems in existance. It's been cutesy-fied and cleaned up, of course. But a couple of years ago, my brother presented me with a fabulous gift: the 1961 hardback version that we had in our childhood, a book filled with the strange, abstract and wonderfully grotesque illustrations of Abner Graboff.

I look back on things like this and wonder how they influenced my life today, especially in my appreciation for creatures that so-called normal people find abhorrent.

For instance: I love spiders. Currently, we have a fabulous, gigantic cross spider on the outside of our kitchen window that I could watch for hours. I've dubbed her Shelob for her intimidating size (although she's only about 3" at full stretch and doesn't seem to have a taste for Hobbits).

It kind of breaks my heart to think of all the people who are scared enough by spiders to instantly squash or gas them at first site. These are incredibly beneficial insects...not to mention fascinating, strong and gifted. I think lately there are many times I would like to have eight appendages and eyes. And a pair of venomous fangs. heh.

But I digress. I have carried on to the point of boredom about how great spiders are. For you guys, it's like singing to the choir, right?

I am less loving of house flies, for sure. But that hasn't stopped me from stealing from the nasty pests for my Halloween costume this year; my husband and I are going to a party as the two morphed characters of the classic 1958 movie The Fly: the lab-coat wearing, claw-flashing, fly-headed creature (me, probably), and the fly-bodied man-headed being (hubby).



Believe it or not, I got the idea about a year ago after stripping off my black bra, tossing it toward my husband, and watching it land on and straddle his head like - you guessed it - a pair of fly's eyes.

Inspiration comes from the strangest places, doesn't it?

Recent Orders

While I obviously haven't been doing much gardening blogging lately, (too busy fretting about whether a certain mortgage lending company I now work for is going to stay afloat), it doesn't mean I haven't been thinking about gardening. And having a regular paycheck means I can buy plants again...woohoo!

Here's a look at some orders I've placed lately:

Dutch Gardens - I know...I am a bigtime sucker for ordering from these guys yet again...
Fire Of Love Tulip
Ginger Ale Heuchera
Coconut Lime Coneflower
Sumatra Amaryllis

Bluestone Perennials - The Centranthus aka Jupiter's Beard isn't available until Spring, which I'm really bummed about.
CentranthusRuber
Agastache Apricot Sprite
Nepeta Subsessillis
Achillea Terra Cotta
Achillea Walter Funke
Digitalis Obscura
Kniphofia uvaria Flamenco
Salvia East Friesland
Muscari Golden Fragrance
Gaura Corrie's Gold

White Flower Farm - I've never ordered from WFF before; they're a little pricey, but I had to have both of these coneflowers.
Echinacea purpurea Green Envy
Echinacea Tiki Torch
Grass Hakonechloa macra Beni Kaze
Festuca glauca Boulder Blue

Garden Crossings - The current special is great: free shipping on orders $75 and up. I like this company a lot anyway - their plants are always large and healthy and their website is simple but efficient.
Origanum Kent Beauty
Clematis Avante-Garde
Viola Black Magic
Echinacea Summer Sky
Itea Little Henry
Hosta Hanky Panky
Campanula Pink Octopus

It should be a busy fall. I've decided to go ahead and have some "big things" done in the yard around November 1. Namely, the removal of all of the remaining yuccas by the swimming pool, the holly bushes in the front, and a fairly large but nasty garbage-tree that got a horrendous case of bagworms. The bagworms were a pretty common problem around Dallas this year, but this particular tree has been the bane of both my neighbor's (it's apparently blocking his dish reception) and my existance for some time. So out it goes.

I'm not looking forward to the bill for any of this, but... *sucking in a deep breath*...it needs done.

On Dasher, On Skimmer, On Darner...uh...Blitzen?

Reading aloud the names of several common dragonflies sounds kind of like an Insect Santa calling his reindeer. All he needs is Rudolph, the Neon Skimmer to lead his pack...

This little fella -- a Blue Dasher, I believe -- was perched in the backyard and let me get close enough for this great shot:



I got this book as a gift a couple of years ago and really love it. Check it out, if you're a Southern gardener and a fan of dragonflies.

Jungle Fever

Yeah, I'm in Texas.

For awhile there, I was in doubt. Now...no. It's been 100° for a week, and we've got at least another week more to go.

That's all right, though. Everybody was expecting the heat to come. Sure as Karl Rove's resignation, we knew it would happen eventually.

Ok, here's a picture that begs a question similar to "do these pants make my butt look big?"

I'm wondering: does my backyard look jungle-y? I think it kind of does. (Although it's still not as obnoxious as it was a couple of years ago.)



The crossvine has gone crazy. The coleus are out of control. And I went a little nuts when I saw Home Depot finally got their Plumerias in.

Again, I'm pretty much fine with it. The drought is officially over in North Texas and I seriously doubt we will experience this kind of lush growth again for awhile. So, jungle-looking backyard? C'mon down.

New Nepenthes

Well, I might actually get some gardening in today...once the rain stops. Yes, more showers graced the Northern areas of the Dallas metroplex this morning. Temperatures had started creeping into the more August-like 90's lately, making for a bit of wilting among the smaller container plants, so a little drink from Mother Nature was welcome.

Since I start my new bigtime high-paying job on Monday (yey!), I allowed myself to splurge on this magnificent Nepenthes 'Miranda' that I spotted in Calloways. Actually, $26 wasn't a bad price for such a big specimen.



I always see the 'Alata' pitcher plants in stores and, being me, I wanted something a little different, especially after visiting Dotty Woodson's greenhouses recently and seeing her absolutely HUGE pitcher plants dangling spookily from the roof.

My Texas Star Hibiscus is doing pretty well despite being in a big pot. Once it's done blooming, I think it'll need to go in the ground. A few things in the Front Yard Garden Project have perished due to...wait for it...too much rain. Can you believe that? My 3'x3' rosemary bush is now a crisp brown. Two artemisias, an echinops and a kniphofia are gone too. Dang.



Of course, next year we'll probably return to our regularly scheduled drought and triple digit temps. But for now, I'm thinking swamp plants like the hibiscus might be appropriate.



Speaking of hibiscus, I have neglected to publicly thank my friend and fellow gardener Larry in NC (aka 'Daturapod') for sending me some lovely tropical and perennial hibiscus cuttings back in June. Larry was most generous in sharing these with me. I've got a cutting of that Hurricane Lily Hibiscus going for you now, Lar!