Blooming Sassafrass Tree March 4, 2018

Sassafras is native to Texas, but not really around my area.  I see a lot of it in the woods in Conroe where my parents' house is - it is an understory tree.  I planted it about 4 years ago.  It is a very fast-growing tree.

It is a tree worth planting in your landscape.  The leaves turn red in the fall.  It blooms these pretty yellow flowers in the spring.  And there are three different leaf shapes on a sassafras tree which is uncommon and therefore adds additional interest.  Finally, it is an herb ( file comes from the sassafras tree as well as the base for root beer). 

It was in full bloom this weekend and I though it looked really pretty.

Weekend at the Farm March 3 - 4, 2018

This a White by the Gate Camellia.

Josh, Amy, Koy and baby Cleo stayed with us on Saturday night.  Lots of fun spending time with them.  Cleo is just beginning to walk which is adorable to watch.

• Friday evening when I arrived, all I did was stroll around.
• Saturday morning I cleaned house - swept, mopped, cleaned the guest bedroom and guest bathroom.
• I mulched the front flower beds along the front of the house. 
• I planted 6 Helen von Stein lamb's ear in the Medicine Garden.  This variety of lamb's ear is superior to any I have grown.  The leaves are bigger than other varieties, and it will stay around for years.  The small-leaved variety seems to melt away in the hot, humid Texas summers.
• For the rest of the day Bert and I played with our little visitors.
• Josh and family left mid-morning on Sunday.
• I sprayed my roses with fungicide.   I now have roses in the Rose Garden (of course), along the front of the house, several throughout the Star Garden, and 4 in the Orchard.  So spraying for black spot takes some time. 
• I have a beautiful French marigold plant that came back from last year, so I sprayed that as well - trying to avoid rust if possible. 
• I also sprayed my Banana Shrubs with fungicide.  They are getting some sort of ick - loaded with buds, but the leaves are getting mildew-y and spotted.  I've looked on line, but I can't find any information about these shrubs being susceptible to any particular disease.  Hopefully the fungicide will resolve the problem.
• I planted 3 Mexican Mint Marigold in the Star Garden for some fall color.  This a fall-blooming perennial herb that has a scent and flavor similar to tarragon.  It's nickname is Texas Tarragon.
• I planted 2 purple salvia greggii, one in the Rose Garden and one in the Star Garden.  Greggii are very drought tolerant.  The vivid purple color of this greggii is so pretty, when I saw it I wanted it (even though I have so many greggii that I feel like they are becoming like weeds).  All of mine are red or hot pink which is why I just had to have this purple color.
• I sowed Candy Stripe Cosmos seed in half of the large area in the bed in front of the dining room window.  Several weeks ago I turned the bed over trying to completely rid myself of the Four O'Clocks that were in that bed.  I was able to get (hopefully) all of the bulbs dug out, but there are zillions of seeds in the soil that are starting to sprout.  Four O'Clocks throw off a lot of seed.  So I hesitated sowing the entire area with cosmos seeds in case I have to dig out the bed again.  I'll see what I'm up against.  That bed is against a western-facing wall, and the sun has not yet gotten high enough to cast any sunshine on that flower bed.  That's another reason I'm waiting to sow cosmos throughout the whole bed. 
• I watered in the Greenhouse Garden throughout the day.  I have several new plantings in there.  The timer is broken, it got a crack in it sometime this winter due to the freezing weather.  I will have to replace it.  I got everything pretty wet, but it's getting warm, so I need my sprinklers working on a regular basis!
• I planted 6 of the small variety lamb's ear near the Helene von Stein lamb's ear. I bought them before I stumbled upon the superior lamb's ear.  Stuck them in the ground anyway.
• I loaded the wheelbarrow several times with decomposed leaves from a pile I made two years ago.  Dumped it in the new corn bed I made in the Vegetable Garden. 
• Weeded, weeded, weeded.
• Amy and Jeff  came over late in the day.  I wanted to show her my Purple Phacellia.  It is a wild flower that showed up several years ago in my Vegetable Garden, and now I have it growing throughout my gardens.  She had never seen it before.  I will give her some seed when it goes to seed.
• My neighbor Eric brought me two scoops of horse manure in his tractor and dumped it outside of the Vegetable Garden.  So I'm excited about that!  That's like gold!
• Drove in to work on Monday morning.

Pretty Apple Blossoms February 25, 2018

Pretty Plum Tree February 25, 2018

One of my plum trees looked so pretty this weekend.  The other two plum trees are loaded with buds, and they will be in full bloom this week.

Bears Breeches February 25, 2018

I'm always looking for large-leaved plants.  I just love them.  Bears Breeches are shade-loving and clump-forming.  They send up tall spikes of flowers, white with purple bracts.  I planted four of them over the past two weeks.  In late summer they start to look pretty ratty.  Cut away all the leaves and they will sprout new leaves and look good all through the fall and into the winter.

 

Spotted Dead Nettle 'Orchid Frost' February 25, 2018

This spotted dead nettle is a shade-loving ground cover.  I'm always looking for low-growing plants, for some reason I have a difficult time finding them (or perhaps more accurately I have a difficult time growing them successfully).  This is pretty and it has purple flowers.  The light color will show up very well in the shade.  

Dead nettle is an herb.  This flowering plant possesses high amounts of tannins and has been effective for dressing injuries,  cuts and burns owing to its anti-inflammatory as well as astringent attributes.  In earlier days, dead nettle was held in repute in England for its supposed efficacy in curing scrofula (tuberculosis of the lymphatic glands) purported as the King's Evil, since people believed that the ailment could be cured by the touch of a monarch. The young leaves can be eaten in salads.

Inwood Daylilies February 24, 2018

I bought these 8 bare root daylilies at Buchanan's Nursery in The Heights.  I planted them in the bed at the front of the Rose Garden.  There is a Lady Banks rose growing on an arbor at the entrance to the Rose Garden, and it will soon over-shadow whatever grows in that front bed.  So I didn't want to plant a rose in that bed.