Johnny Jump Ups April 20, 2014

 Johnny Jump Ups are cheerful little flowers.  They reseed prolifically.  They begin sprouting from last year's seeds around November, start blooming around February, bloom throughout the spring, then they will die away as soon as the weather gets hot.  Johnny Jump Up flowers are edible, and they look pretty in salads or frozen in ice cubes, or brushed with egg white and dipped in sugar to decorate cakes.

The Vegetable Garden April 20, 2014

We had a salad of arugula, Red Sails lettuce, spinach, and mustard with our dinner on Saturday evening.

The spring garden is completely planted now that I have the 3 eggplants in the ground.  I have7 tomato plants in the middle bed.

I have one 4x4 bed and half of another planted with red potatoes.  This year I just crammed them in and crowded them up.

I planted a lot of onions because, well, we eat onions.  These onions are interplanted with Johnny Jump Ups which are edible flowers.

More onions and some Contender green beans.

This is Red Sails lettuce.  So pretty.

This is mustard that is trying to go to seed, but I keep pinching it back so it will hang on a little longer.  The young leaves are really good in salads.  I stuck a few potatoes amongst the mustard.

Carrots - fun to grow, delicious when they are freshly picked, and the greenery is larval food for swallowtails.

Lettuce and squash seedlings.  I will thin the squash next weekend.

More green beans and arugula.

Gulf Coast Penstemon and Columbine April 20, 2014

I have Gulf Coast Penstemon and Columbine growing together in a shady part of Max's Garden.  The penstemon is happy in full sun or in dappled shade.  And Columbine is a shade lover.  More specifically, Columbine likes that sweet spot at the edge of woods and sunshine.  And both plants reseed generously.

Easter Weekend at the Farm April 17 - 19, 2014

Shopped on Good Friday for Gumbo and Red Beans ingredients and headed to the farm.  Stayed through Sunday and left Monday morning for work.  Next weekend is our party, and I wanted to get some of the food cooked.

• My Ehemanii Cannas from Old House Gardens finally arrived in the mail last Wednesday.  I planted them as soon as I arrived because they do not like to be in storage.  They are particularly delicate, and were almost extinct at one time because of their dislike for being shipped.  This special canna was introduced in 1863.  It is truly a living piece of antique art.  It will grow 5 - 8 feet tall with big, green leaves.  Unlike other cannas, the deep rose-colored, bell-shaped flowers dangle rather than stand straight up.  I am very excited about these plants!
• I planted 2 Elderberry shrubs in the Medicine Garden.  I have been looking for some of these.  Elderberry flowers are good in teas, and of course you can make elderberry wine from the drupes.  They can take shade or sun, half and half is perfect.  The place I planted them has a little sun and mostly dappled shade.  They are said to be invasive, but I don't care.
• I planted 6 annual herbs in the Medicine garden:  two Vick's plants, two Toothache plants, and two Stevia.  Last year I didn't plant any annual herbs except from seed.  But this year, just for fun I bought some.  Vick's plant smells exactly like Vick's Vapo Rub.  You can drop the succulent leaves into steaming water and breath it in to clear up congestion.  Stevia is nature's natural sweetener, it is as sweet as sugar.  And the leaves of the Toothache plant can be ground up and pressed around an aching tooth to numb the tooth.   It is a very effective numbing agent.
• My Climbing American Beauty that I have trained around a conveyor belt my husband made into an arbor is in full bloom.  American Beauty roses have a wonderful smell, they have the reputation of having one the best rose smells of any rose.  It is a once blooming rose - better smell it now because it won't be back for a year.  I wanted a rose that would look absolutely spectacular around that arbor.  A once blooming rose  made the most sense.  It will have more blooms in the space of two weeks than a perpetual bloomer will have all year.
• The spring flush in the Rose Garden will be at its peak next weekend for the party.
• Another set of neighbors came over on Friday night that we met for the first time.  What happened to my secluded house in the woods?  Am I supposed to look presentable all day every day for whoever decides to drop by?  Good Lord.
• Saturday I cooked the red beans for the party next weekend.  Used all the celery and bell peppers, not enough left to make the gumbo.  That was really bad shopping judgement on my part.  Had to go into town since Sunday is Easter.  No store will be open out here in the country on Easter Sunday.
• Spread the last of the crushed granite on Saturday.  Didn't think I was going to be able to get the entire Shade Garden done, but my husband scraped up another load of granite and I got it done.
• Sowed Scarlet Runner Bean seeds in the Vegetable Garden.
• Sowed Hyacinth Bean seeds on the arbor at the entrance to the Rose Garden, the trellis in the Rose Garden, the trellis in the Long Border, the 3 trellises in the Star Garden, the arbor leading into Max's garden and the arbor at the entrance to the Star Garden.  Most of the seeds I sowed were saved from the vines I grew last year.  I bought a package of seeds, and there were only about 10 seeds in the package.  They are expensive!
• Spread some of my shredded leaf mulch in the Medicine Garden.
• Cut back the Almond Verbena in the Star Garden.  
• Watered here and there.
• Saturday evening I fertilized my roses using my trombone sprayer.
• Sunday morning I weeded and enjoyed the cool weather.
• Cut back two dead Salvia greggii, don't know why they died - voles maybe?
• Sunday morning I sprayed foliar fertilizer with my trombone sprayer on my camellias in Bert's Garden and along the boardwalk.
• Spread leaf mulch in the bare spot by the shed where it's too dry for anything to grow.  Also spread leaf mulch around the new shrubs next to the pool.
• Wandered around the Rose Garden smelling the roses.  So pleasant.
• Sunday I made a double batch of turkey leg and collard green gumbo.  I'll add shrimp next week after I heat it up.  
• Planted 3 eggplants in the Vegetable Garden.
• The weather was gorgeous all three days.  The time flew by.

Larval Food Plants April 20, 2014

Butterflies are very specialized.  Most butterflies will only lay their eggs on one kind of plant.  The most well-known example is the Monarch butterfly.  The Monarch will only lay their eggs on Milkweed.  I grow lots and lots of host plants.  I love butterflies.  Some of my newest host plants are below.

 I planted this tree this past winter.  It is a Paw Paw.  Paw Paws are native to Texas.  They are the host plants for the beautiful Zebra Swallowtail.  Zebra Swallowtails like wooded areas.  They will never been seen in urban or suburban areas.  Paw Paw trees are interesting in their own right.  They make huge fruits that have a banana-ish taste.  Paw Paws colonize.

 This is a Spicebush.  I have a female and a male Spicebush.  This is as interesting as they get.  The female will make little, insignificant yellow flowers in very early spring.  What makes them special is that they are the host plant for the Spicebush Swallowtail butterfly.  They feed at night and hide during the day.  But, you will know if you have caterpillars if you see rolled up leaves on your shrub.  They roll themselves up in the leaves during the day.  They are an amazing-looking caterpillar with huge "eyes" on their hind parts to scare away predators.

       This is Frogfruit.  Frogfruit is a ground cover, and it is the host plant for the Phaon Crescent.  I bought this at the Mercer plant sale this spring.

Bearded Irises April 20, 2014

 This is Galactic Gold.  I bought some at the River Oaks Bulb Sale a couple years ago.  I remember that I looked at the price on the sack and thought - this is a steal of a deal - and put the sack into my cart.  When I was checking out I realized that the price on the sack was for one, not all of them..  Expensive day.

 This is Missy Prissy.  Interesting color.

 This is Victoria Falls.  These have been good bloomers for me.

The Hot Border April 19, 2014

 The Hot Border is located along the Vegetable Garden fence, between the Vegetable Garden and the Shade Garden.  I am growing Tansey (which is an herb, the roots make a yellow dye), Rudbeckia Maxima, Candida Rain Lilies. Maxima Sunflowers, and Hinckley Columbine. 

Columbine are interesting flowers because they cross pollinate.  If you want your Columbines to stay the same color then don't plant another color.  The different colors mix themselves up and make new colors.  You can see the yellow and red flowers in the photo above.  That is the result of a bee or some other pollinator carrying pollen from one of my red Columbines over to my Hinckley Columbine, and there you have it - a new color.