Believe it or not, somewhere under that monster Thunbergia gregorii is a 10' x 20' x 8' chain link enclosure designed to keep the ducks safe from coyotes at night. 10 years ago I planted two one gallon pots holding vines that might have been 1 foot tall at the time. I never water these things and yet they've grow like swamp monsters, up and around the cage to swallow every portion entirely. If it weren't for frequent hacking around [keep reading...]
Blue skies, yellow sunflowers and Old Glory. Happy 238th birthday America!
One of my kids brought this home from a plant salel she was at. It looks like something out of Jurassic Park, but the flower he's really pretty.
Planted these from seed back in early March and finally harvested this week. It's a great onions for those of us with short days in the south. Great color and a nice, spicy onion flavor.
We're all used to seeing big white heads of cauliflower in the store, but I'm partial to this particular variety called "Cheddar" that you have to buy from a seed supplier (in this case, Pinetree Garden Seeds). Every bit as good as the snowy white variety, Cheddar is even better when you sprinkle a little olive oil, garlic and pepper on it and roast it in an oven for 20 minutes or so.
So I spent $4 on a Bird & Butterfly Garden packet, threw in a little water, and voila! Two months later a full blown North American Wildflower garden.
Chicken coops are generally drab affairs, but mine is draped in snowy white and wonderfully fragrant star jasmine.
Around here we've got a variety of mallow with a tiny white flower and a great big taproot that likes to take over just about everything. Fortunately, there are prettier, less invasive varieties native to other parts of North America. This one's a big mallow with a really showy pink blossom blooming in the butterfly garden.
10 or so years ago my youngest daughter brought home a packet of marigold seeds called "Little Tiger" (or something close to that) she'd won in a drawing at school. The first year we grew them they were, in fact, striped orange and yellow like a tiger. Each year we saved some seeds and planted them again. But as time went the stripes faded and a new pattern emerged with an orange flower ringed by a yellow band. Perhaps a [keep reading...]
Blackberries are ripe and ready for pies, jams and other good stuff. Now it's just a race between me, the squirrels and the birds to see who gets more.
