Sea Star Sedum Makes Its Appearance

I am delighted to see the Sea Star Sedum coming back. I don't know if it was the dry conditions of the 2011 drought that made it disappear, or if it dies back in the heat. But, it is a very good reseeder. Let the flowers go to seed and you will have little volunteers springing up everywhere the following season. I was even able to dig up little patches of it from the path in front of the flower bed. The tiny little seedlings are in the foreground of this picture and there is also a little patch of it growing in the top right of the picture. That is a gold yarrow seedling in the middle of the picture.

These are Tickseed seedlings. I just stuck this photograph in because they are so cute!

More Sea Star Seedlings.

The First Erlicheer Daffodils of Winter

The Erlicheers are beginning to bloom. Erlicheers are winter bloomers. I often refer to them as spring bloomers, but they are actually considered winter bloomers. February is their normal time to bloom. I planted 100 bulbs the autumn before last. These are planted in a flowerbed that surrounds an oak tree. That was a perfectly fine spot to plant them because the oak tree is leafless during their bloom time. These are very good bulbs to plant under deciduous trees for that reason. The flowers will be long gone by the time the tree leafs out. And the greenery will yellow and disappear in the spring time.

Erlicheers have a very intense smell. I absolutely love it! But my husband considers it to be a very obnoxious scent, and he doesn't like me to cut them and bring them into the house.

The Erlicheers are loaded with buds! Along the front of the bed are Ox Eye Daisies that were growing wild in the lawn. I dug them up out of the grass and planted them in the flower bed. They put on a fine show in the spring.

What's Blooming Noew - Zeolite Calendulas

The leaves and petals of Calendulas are edible which is why I have them growing in the Vegetable Garden.

They grow very easily from seed. The seeds are large. I really like to know the size of seeds before I order them! Some seeds are like dust, so if I knew how small they were I would order a lot more packets of them. Unfortunately that is not information that seed companies offer. Calendulas like cold weather. Seeds should be sown in the fall where I garden (in Brenham, TX).
I suppose they can be sown in very early spring as well, but if they are planted in the fall the plants will be very large and floriferous when spring comes along. Another plant that likes cold weather is the Nasturtium. I planted Nasturtiums last spring, and they grew very quickly and bloomed profusely before the hot weather set in. So perhaps Calenduals would do the same. I'll have to experiment. A gorgeous bud.

Reseeding Feverfew

Feverfew reseeds. I don't actually know if Feverfew is a reseeding annual or a perennial. Mine was healthy and bloomed profusely, then after it bloomed, it died. All the flowers dropped their seed, and here I am in the winter, and it is coming back from seed. We had such a horrible drought in Texas in the summer of 2011 that I'm not sure what a normal growth pattern is for Feverfew. Also, I have voles. They attack the roots of plants, so maybe voles got the mother plants!

Above is a flower bed full of Feverfew seedlings. The leaves and the unopened flowers (it blooms in the spring) make a tea that will alleviate migraines. It is a very useful medicinal herb.

I just discovered there is a double Feverfew. The flowers look like pom poms. I want some!

The First Crocuses of Winter

These are Crocus Tommasinianus. I planted 100 of them last fall.

Composting

I am dedicated to composting. I hate to see compostable materials go to waste! Compost is very important, particularly in a location as hot as Texas. Nutrients in the soil get depleted very quickly in hot environments. It's important to prepare the soil when building a new bed by adding compost generously. But also, piling compost around shrubs and established perennials is very important too. Mulching is another good way to add nutrients to the soil.

In the fall I shred oak leaves for my compost piles. Oak leaves are superior compost material! I also sneak over the barbed wire fence and filch cow manure from my neighbor's obliging cows. That's really good stuff! I also usually add the bags of grass clippings left at my Houston neighbors' curbs because my own lawn service mulches the clippings into the grass, so I do not have any of my own. Grass clippings are a good "green". The green material cooks the compost pile, so grass clippings will really move the process along. And, of course, all the debris from the Vegetable Garden gets thrown into the pile, scraps from the kitchen, and egg shells. I also throw all the fire place ashes into the compost pile, although there is some debate as to whether or not ashes are good or bad. In a summer such as we had last year, I water the compost pile occasionally because, optimally, the compost material should be slightly moist - like a wrung-out sponge. I also occasionally turn the pile and mix things up. Turning over the compost pile helps speed up decomposition.

I am working on the above pile first. All the green material gets thrown into the above pile, and then at some point, I will let it decompose and start throwing green material into the pile below.

A Day at the Farm Jan 29, 2012

This is bronze fennel. With the cool weather and mild winter, the bronze fennel is really thriving. I let all of it go to seed, and there are fennel seedlings all around the mother plants and in other nearby beds in The Orchard.

Beautiful weather. Arrived Saturday evening.

• One of my roses is suffering from the tunnels around the root system. I noticed that it is dropping leaves and tilting over. I turned the hose on full force and pushed the hose into the ground around the roots. I poured water into the hole, and all the soil collapsed. Hopefully the varmints living in there will move on. I repeated this on several of my rose shrubs. Same thing, the earth collapsed when I flooded the tunnel.



• Mulched one of the boardwalk beds near the house.



• Sowed some triple curled-leaf parsley in the Infinity Garden.



• The parsley that I sowed two weeks ago in the Orchard and the Infinity Garden has sprouted.



• Filled in a flower bed with the last of the soil I bought a month or so ago. It just needed a little. My husband changed out the cedar log that was edging the bed, and it needed to be filled in.



• The crocuses and the star flowers are starting to bloom. Also, the Erlicheer daffodils are beginning to bloom.



• The Meyer lemon tree in the Greenhouse is in full bloom - smells wonderful! It's early for the lemon tree to bloom. Must be the mild winter and the warmth of the Greenhouse.



• Raked and shredded leaves. Got a large part of one side of the Boardwalk Gardens covered up in leaf mulch. Most of the leaves that have fallen from the trees are gone. It's strange how that happens. I guess they blow into the woods. I shredded a lot of them, of course.



• Cut away chicken wire from around the Prissy Miss Bearded Irises in the Orchard. Cut away chicken wire from the plants in the Bedroom Garden.



• Pulled up some lettuce in the Vegetable Garden that was about to go to seed. I didn't like that lettuce! So I certainly don't want it to go to seed and get more of it!



• Sprinkled Sevin Dust on the cabbages. I try to stay away from pesticides, but sometimes I have to do it. The caterpillars are really making it look ugly.



• Pulled weeds.



• Stopped by the Arbor Gate on the way home. The fruit tree sale was today. I wanted a Cherry of the Rio Grande and a Mayhaw. They didn't have either. The Cherry will be sold at their citrus sale, and the Mayhaw will come in with their new natives. I was excited to see that they had Tiger Lilies. I purchased one, I have been looking for them. And I purchased one Triumphator Lily. The Tiger Lily was an great find.
  

A Day at the Farm Jan 22, 2012

Quick trip to the farm to check on things.

• Pulled weeds everywhere.


• The Erlicheers are beginning to bloom. They have the sweetest smell of anything I grow with the exception of the Noisette roses.


• I spent quite a bit of time pulling up seedlings that were growing around my bulbs. Bulbs don't like to fight for space. I find they won't bloom if they are overwhelmed with other plants. I don't like pulling up plants of any kind! I feel like they're my babies.


• I watered the citrus trees in the Greenhouse.


• I watered here and there.


• All the crocuses have emerged. All the Byzantine Glads have emerged. I'm still waiting on the the Spanish Bluebells to pop up that I just planted. The ones I planted last year are already up.


• Worked in the Vegetable Garden for a while. Took home mustard greens to put in a soup.


• The radicchio is beginning to go to seed. That's good. The bees like the flowers, and there is almost nothing blooming anywhere else.

Multiplying Gladiolus Communis Byzantinus

The above picture is of a bed of Byzantine Glads (with some errant little mushrooms sprouting up around them). They are spring bloomers with magenta colored flowers. These are not like the gladiolas in the florist shops and grocery stores. They are the wild, or species, tulips that grow on the hillsides of Turkey. I just planted these corms this fall, and as the picture illustrates, as they emerge from the ground, there is one green blade - one per corm.

The corms in the above picture were planted three years ago. A single corm has multiplied into 10 corms.

Emerging Bulbs

These are some of my species tulips. They are called Tubergen's Gems. Where there was one, now there are two. This is why I love bulbs - it's the only math I understand - multiplication! Tubergen's Gems are yellow and red. They open and close with the movement of the sun. When they are fully open with in the middle of they day, they look completely yellow. When they are closed up in the very early morning and evening, they are completely red. I planted 100 of these species tulips under a peach tree last fall.

These are bearded iris. Normally they have attractive greenery that does not go dormant. But these were not in a very hospitable spot. I just moved them to a new flowerbed where they will receive more sunlight.

These are Excelsior Spanish Bluebells. Just beyond the spot where the greenery ends I have created a new bed and planted about 100 more of them.

Excelsior Spanish Bluebells are good multipliers. I planted these last fall, and one bulb has turned into three.

This is a row of Philippine Lily seedlings (grown from seed off of plants that have long ago disappeared thanks to rooting armadillos) and a row of Ox Blood Lilies give to me by my sister for Christmas.

This unruly greenery is Neapolitanum Alliums. The flowers are white. They reseed vigorously. The bulbs are not very long-lasting. They multiply primarily by seed.

These are called Narcissus Linnaeus Odorus, commonly called Campernelles. They have a good smell, hence the name "odorus".

A Weekend at the Farm Jan 6-9 2012

This is a Zeolite Calendula. Calendula flowers are very long lasting. This flower has been open for two weeks, and it still looks good. Candulas are also called Pot Marigolds because the greens used to be thrown into the stew or soup pot. I don't know of anyone anymore that cooks the greens of Calendulas, but you can! The flower petals of these plants are edible. I have these growing in my Vegetable Garden. The leaves can be used to sprinkle across plates or to brighten salads.

I cut back the dead asparagus vegetation.

Shredded leaves on Saturday and Sunday. Spread the leaves in the circle of the driveway and the Rose Garden. I'm trying to enrich the soil in the circle drive. My long term plan is to naturalize various bulbs in that area - Phillipine Lilies, Spider Lilies, and Rain Lilies.

Sprinkled organic fertilizer on all of my emerging bulbs - the Bacon and Egg daffodils, the Grand Primo daffodils, the Excelsior Spanish Bluebells, the Oxblood Lilies, , the Phillipine Lilies, the Rolf Fiedler Ipheions, the bearded irises, the Napes Garlics, and the rain lilies. I try and fertilize my bulbs when they first appear and just when they form buds.

Soaked parsley seeds overnight in water to soften them up. Sowed them in the Orchard and the Infinity Garden.

Sowed a packet of California Poppied 'Sunset Mix' seeds in the Orchard.

Pulled up chicken wire that was pegged down over the Bluebells along the Boardwalk.

Trimmed bug-chewed leaves off the vegetables.

Moved some Ox Eye Daisy plants growing wild in the yard over to a flowerbed where I think they will do really well.

Watered shrubs around the Greenhouse.

Watered the citrus trees in the Greenhouse.

Weeded. I'm keeping up with it pretty well. Cool season weeds are easier to pull up than warm season weeds.

The gardens look good. Spring will be so pretty!

Pretty Vegetables

This is a big patch of radicchio.

These are stems of Bright Lights Swiss Chard.

More Bright Lights Swiss Chard - so colorful!

Bright Lights Swiss Chard.

Greenery of golden beets.

Golden beet greens again - beet greens are very tasty.

These are mustard greens. Mustard green leaves are huge. They have a wonderful flavor.

Curley leaf parsley. It makes a great border plant. Butterfly larvae eat it, so it is a great plant to grow in a butterfly garden.

More parlsey growing amongst some garlic.

This is kale. Interesting looking!

More kale - bumpy and deep green.

This is wrinkly Savoy Cabbage.

Pictures of Seedlings in My Garden

These are poppy seedlings. My aunt MaeDell gave me some seeds years ago. Now I have billions of seedlings in every one of my gardens. Sometimes the flowers are pink singles and sometimes they are frothy doubles.

These are sweet peas. This particular variety is low growing, but it still climbs which is why I am growing them in a circle of chicken wire on which they can climb.

These are California poppy seedlings. The blue-green foliage is very pretty. The flowers are
bright yellow, and the bees love them.

These are larkspur seedlings. Larkspur has lacy leaves and flowers in a range of pastel colors.

Seeing Green in the Winter

If you want to see green in the winter, try Ox Eye Daisies. They remain green in the winter, they spread quickly, in the spring they make beautiful white daisies with yellow centers on tall stems. They are great plants. They like some protection from the afternoon sun.

A Weekend at the Farm Dec 31 - Jan 02 2011

This is a picture of pink Melody Dianthus. The dianthus in the Meolody series are my favorites because the flowers stand up on tall stems above the plant. The Dianthus is all that is blooming
in my garden right now.

Cool and sunny most of the weekend.

• Washed off the furniture on the porch and the doors along the front of the house, the side of the house and the door off the master bedroom. The get dusty and cob-webby.



• Sprayed herbicide in the Orchard, the Rose Garden, the Star Garden, and the driveway. I took advantage of the warmer weather and sunshine and sprayed because the weeds were really beginning to take over - as well as wildflower seedlings that were popping up in all the wrong places. Herbicides don't work in temperatures under 60 degrees.



• Raked the Orchard and pulled up the last of the chicken wire that I had staked to the ground to keep the armadillos away. Weeded. Looks much better.



• Raked the Rose Garden and weeded.



• Dug up some 'Blue Bottles', little muscari bulbs, also called grape hyacinths, and I transplanted them everywhere. These little bulbs are true survivors. Three years ago when I transplanted my Chrysler Imperial rose from the backyard in Houston into the Rose Garden in Brenham, there must have been a few bulbs in the soil. When I dug them up today, clustered around that same Chrysler Imperial, there must have been 300 - maybe more. Pretty overwhelming if you're faced with finding homes for them. I planted as many as I could and left the rest under the rose. If you don't thin them out they stop blooming. I planted some in all the rose boxes and finally stuck some in the grass. Blue Bottles do well naturalized in grass.



• Transplanted a few Philippine Lily seedlings from one bed to another.



• Raked the Shade Garden.



• Most of my time throughout the weekend was spent shredding leaves - raking and shredding. All the leaves have fallen off the trees now, so it's time to start raking. I made three huge piles of shredded leaves in the compost bin and next to it. Oak leaves make good compost! There are still a lot of leaves to shred. Next weekend I will do some more. It's hard work raking and shredding, but shredded leaves make such good compost and it makes pretty good mulch too. Not great mulch (too light weight) but good mulch if the alternative is no mulch. I have so much acreage to mulch that if I tried to purchase real mulch to cover everything I'd go broke.



• Ate from the garden quite a bit this weekend - lettuce in the sandwiches, radicchio salads, wilted mustard greens for dinner.



• Watered the citrus trees in the Greenhouse.


• Moved some blackberry plants that had tip rooted from their mother plants. I moved them to two beds in the Orchard that had only wildflowers growing in them last year. If a blackberry vine lays on the ground, it will root all along the branch. You have to be diligent about pruning blackberries or you will have a stickery, unruly bramble.