What's Blooming Now - Cedar Sage 03/28/2011

Coralberry in the Spring

About My Pineapple Lilies (Eucomas Comosa)

What's Blooming Now - Naples Garlic 03/26/2011

French Sorrel the Medicinal Herb

Although French Sorrel has many uses medicinally, it is also a tasty, bitter green to include in salads and soups. It is an evergreen perennial and withstands my zone 8b winters very well.

A Weekend at the Farm 03/26-27/2011

Spent Friday morning at the Mercer March Mart with Nancy and Lisa. Arrived in Burton in the early afternoon.

• Planted the plants I bought at the plant sale:


• Three Pam Puryear Pink Turk's Cap along the boardwalk.


• One Hawaiin Pink Ginger


• One Maximum Butterfly Ginger (Hedychium thyrsiforme maximum) along the boardwalk.


• One White Butterfly Ginger (Hedychium coronarium) along the boardwalk.


• One Cleveland Sage in the Long Border.


• One Mexican Oregano in the Long Border.


• One Dutchman's Pipe (Aristolochia gigantica) on the arbor at the entrance to the Rose Garden. I didn't consider that it might not do well in zone 8. The label reads zone 9. I'm surprised. It will surely not survive the winter here if it is a zone 9 plant.


• One Blue Butterfly vine (Clitoria ternata) in the Star Garden.


• Three Rue in the Infinity Garden.


• One Patchouli in the Infinity Garden.


• One Stevia in the Infinity Garden.


• One Swamp Sunflower (Helianthus angustifolius) in the Hot Border.


• Eight scented Geraniums - Apricot, Pinewood, Lemon, Torento Ginger, Attar of Roses, Nutmeg, Citronella, Orange.


• I also received some bulbs I ordered several months ago. 50 Cranberry Star caladiums, 3 Mojito Colocasia, and 50 Liatris spicata. I planted the caladiums and the Colocasia along the boardwalk. I planted the Liatris in the Hydrangea Bed, in one of the Barbados Cherry beds, the Star Garden, and the Long Border.


• The poppies are starting to bloom. Very pretty.


• At last, I see new growth on the Celeste Fig tree I planted this fall. I thought it might be a goner.


• Spread fertilizer in the Shade Garden, the La Marne roses, the Big Daddy Hydrangeas, throughout the Infinity Garden, the Fringe tree, the Star Garden, the grape vines, the Sweet Olive, the azaleas, the gardenias, and the camellias.


• Shredded leaves and spread them over the Wave Garden. Got almost the whole thing covered. Just a bit more to go. I will not be using the leaf shredder again this year.


• Took lots of long walks. So pretty this time of year.


• I don't think my Barbados Cherries are going to come back. I'm so surprised! Unless they come up from the roots, I think they're dead.


• Moved the lemon and orange tree down to the Orchard. Both of them are in pots. I had them in the Greenhouse all winter.


• Cleaned out the Greenhouse.


• Picked lots of asparagus from the garden for dinner. They were delicious. Made a salad with radicchio from the garden.


• The cucumber and squash have popped up.


• Sunday was really cool and cloudy all day so I stayed inside and cleaned house.


• The armadillos are back with a vengeance, messing up my gardens all around the house.

What's Blooming Now Tubergen's Gem Tulips 03/20/2011

What's Blooming Now - In The Ditch Iris 03/20/2011

What's Blooming Now - Excelsior Spanish Bluebells 03/20/2011

I really love these bluebells. The vegetation is a bit larger than the ones I have growing in the Shade Garden. These are Excelsior Spanish Bluebells, and they are beginning their bloom time. The ones in the Shade Garden are not blooming yet. The bees were all over these. I sat and watched the bees for a long time as they crawled into and out of the tubular flowers.

Bluebells die back as soon as the weather turns really hot, so they aren't a good choice to be the center of attention in a garden space. There needs to be something that takes over after they bloom, or they need to be planted in front of something taller.

A Weekend at the Farm 03/19-20/2011

The weather was beautiful this weekend.

• Fertilized the rest of the roses in the Rose Garden with cottonseed meal. I still need to fertilize the 8 roses around the house.
• Watered.
• Finished cutting away dead debris in the Wave Garden.
• Sowed the last of the flower seeds I bought - Agastache, Gomphrena, and Echinacea.
• Sowed herb seeds in the Infinity Garden - Andrograhis, Allheal, Boneset, and Horehound.
• Sprayed herbicide on the driveway, around the pool, in the Shade Garden, and various paths.
• Planted six Oakleaf Hydrangeas in groups of three along the boardwalk.
• Planted five tomato plants. I thought five of my tomato plants had died so I bought five more. But the original ones are still hanging on so I planted four more in the Vegetable Garden and one in The Orchard.
• Sowed patti pan squash, Marina di Chiogga pumpkin, corn, and cucumber seeds. My husband likes us to grow corn. Corn is a big-garden vegetable, but I grow it because he gets a kick out of seeing it grow.
• Planted a white Coral Vine at the entrance to The Orchard that will climb up the archway.
• Raked and shredded leaves. Mulched around my Pineapple Lilies and around some of the grasses in the Wave Garden.
• Had dinner with the neighbors Saturday night.
• The Spanish Bluebells are blooming. So pretty. The Tuburgen's Gem Tulips are blooming. The azaleas and spirea, verbena, dianthus, and forsythia are all in bloom. Butterflies were everywhere!

What's Blooming Now - Beauty Plum

Plum trees need another kind of plum tree for cross-pollination. I also have a Santa Rosa plum tree which was just about to open its flowers when I left last weekend. This is the first year that my plum trees have bloomed. I'm very excited about it. I fertilized them with six pounds of cottonseed meal on Friday.

What's Blooming Now - Red Baron Peach 03/05/2011

Pretty Red Baron Peach tree! My other peach tree, Sam Houston, is only just beginning to flower. This will be the first year my Sam Houston has bloomed. The flowers are going to be a much paler pink than this Red Baron. I fertilized the peach trees this weekend. Six pounds each of cottonseed meal. Peach trees need to be fertilized monthly in the spring and summer.

A Day at the Farm 03/04/2011

• Here are some more pictures of my pretty Erlicheer daffodils.

I cut back some more of my ornamental grasses. I am about halfway through with the task.

I sprayed herbicide in The Orchard and the Rose Garden.

I sprayed fungicide on my roses. I am worried that I added too much chemical to the mix. I'll show up next weekend and they will all be dead.

I caught some carpenter ants eating my Mdm Isaac Perreire rose. They were about halfway through with stripping it. I followed the ant trail back to the main nest and poisoned it. It was deep in the woods of the property next door. Hopefully I have deterred them sufficiently. I didn't have any trouble with them last year.

Planted 12 tomato plants: 2 Celebrity, 2 Betterboy, a Bradley Pink, 2 Beef Master, a Super Fantastic, a Pineapple, a Black Krim, A husk Red Cherry, and a San Marzano.

Planted a Golden Bell Pepper and a California Wonder Bell Pepper, a Fairy Tale Eggplant, and an Ichibahn Eggplant, a Hot Red Cherry pepper plant, and a Big Jim pepper plant. I have some beets growing. I plan to sow some corn, cucumber, patty pan squash, and pumpkin in the next couple of weeks. That will be my spring garden - along with the asparagus.

I gave my Kitchen Herb Garden a much needed freshening up. Planted several kinds of thyme, a Spice Island rosemary plant, 2 cinnamon basil, 2 kinds of oregano (Hot and Spicy and Zorba Red). In that garden I am also growing sage, mint, arugula, chives, marjoram, and parsley.

I spread a weed and feed in the lawn around the house.

I fertilized my peaches, plums, apples and blueberries with cottonseed meal. Six pounds around each of the six trees and 2 cups around each of the blueberries.

I also fertilized some of my roses - Bailey Red, Valentine, 4 Belinda's Dream, Bermuda's Kathleen, Lady Hillingdon, Living Easy, Champney's Pink Cluster, and Bluch Noisette.

Pulled weeds.

Fertilized the asparagus in the Vegetable Garden and the Columbine in the Shade Garden.

Cut away dead vegetation in the Shade Garden.

Moved around the sprinklers in the Rose Garden to get better coverage.

What's Blooming Now - Candy Corn Vine 02/27/11

I have wanted a Candy Corn Vine (Manettia luteorubra) for a long time. The flowers look just like the candy! I found this plant at Buchanan's Nursery in The Heights. It hasn't had time to take off yet, but I have high hopes. The saying about vines goes like this: The first year it sleeps, the second year it creeps, the third year it leaps.