Cannas and Bananas: Creating a Bold Garden

Make it rain, or how to install your own DIY irrigation system

2011-07-16T20:01:00.001-04:00

Despite how hideous our lawn has been looking, my husband wisely pointed out that we probably aren't ready to install new sod yet. He reminded me that we're missing something really important: a reliable way to irrigate new sod.

I pointed out that we have a functional sprinkler and a long hose. He said I was crazy.

Okay, not really. But he did say that there was no way he was going to drag a hose around the yard for weeks and weeks to make sure that the new sod wouldn't fry in our hot Florida summers. I had to admit -- he had a valid point.

So we decided to spend our Independence Day weekend installing a proper irrigation system.

All in all, I think we dug at least 130 linear feet of trench. Since our soil is so sandy, it was relatively easy to get the trenches dug. I say "relatively" because it's still a lot of heavy lifting compared to the desk jockey stuff I do on a day-to-day basis. If we were going to do it again, I might want to rent a trencher. Of course, that requires advance planning, and we didn't decide that we were embarking on this project until sometime on Saturday.

On the positive side, we did have a few extra bodies who stopped by while we were digging trenches.

Our dogs love spending time with us when we're working in the yard, and being the softies we are, we let them. The black one is hilarious -- any time we dig a hole, he always starts rooting around in the soil like a pig hunting for truffles. Here he is sniffing the soil and digging deeper. If only we could train him to dig in a controlled fashion!

It took awhile, but ultimately we got all of the trenches dug and all of the pipes and irrigation heads laid out and glued together. We opted for overhead spray heads rather than drip emitters, since those are the best option for irrigating lawn areas. We even installed a timer and a rain sensor so that the system will run only when the lawn needs water.

Here's the finished project, with the soil tamped back in place. Now we just need sod!

Would I do it again? Absolutely. It was a lot of work but it saved us a ton of money to do it ourselves. Our cost for materials was about $300, whereas we would've paid a professional upwards of $1,000 to do the same job. Plus we ended up with a huge feeling of satisfaction, which is priceless.

For anyone who's interested, here's a fun time lapse video that we took on the second day of the project.

Lush lawns: the must-have accessory for bold gardens

2011-07-15T13:57:00.000-04:00

Good-ness! It's been awhile since I posted. Here's the quick update on the seedlings. A good number of them survived, despite the fact that I neglected to transplant most of them out of their six-packs.

These castor beans were a few of the ones that found permanent homes in the yard, and well, now I think they're just showing off to make the others jealous.

It's pretty amazing, really. Some of the plants that were stuck in six-packs were 18" tall and had shoved their little roots out the bottoms of the pots and into the soil below. I'm convinced that the only reason they survived at all was because of the microirrigation system that my husband set up. I seriously love that man.

And speaking of irrigation and why I love my husband, that brings me to my next tale.

For awhile now, we've been making plans to replace our old "mixed" lawn with a new, freshly sodded, beautiful green lawn. My husband is a turfgrass researcher, so it's perhaps not surprising that he wants a nice lawn in front of our house. Of course his specialty is golf courses and athletic fields, so I'm pretty confident he'll never turn into one of those crazy lawn-obsessed men who you see weeding their yard with tweezers every Saturday morning!

I've never been the kind of person who felt compelled to have a nice lawn. Mostly it's because I'm ~~lazy~~ busy with other things and don't like the maintenance involved.

That being said, I've come to realize that a good looking lawn can work wonders in a garden. As y'all know, I'm the kind of gardener who likes to mix lots of bold textures and colors in my plant beds. As lovely as that can look, it can sometimes be a little visually overwhelming. That's why you need a quiet place for the eye to rest -- like a lawn.

Think of it as the gardening equivalent of a neutral. Having that constant green backdrop will help make your bold and exciting plants really pop.

So we've been trying to kill off what's left of our current lawn. In short, it's ugly. After the winter rye grass petered out, we were left with brown, brown, and more brown. Ugh. I'm somewhat embarrassed about what my garden looks like right now. I know it's temporary, but I still feel like the neighbors probably drive by every day and wonder what the hell we're up to.

As I said, our plan is to completely re-sod the front yard, but there's something important we had to tackle first. Check back tomorrow for the full post on how we installed our own irrigation system!

Seedling update

2011-03-25T17:58:00.001-04:00

It looks like I'm having better success this year with starting plants from seed. Here are two shots of the first few plants popping their heads above the soil line.

And here's what they look like now (sorry for the vertical image -- iPhone issues).

What a difference! The only ones yet to sprout are the white datura and green nicotiana. I owe my hubby a big thanks for setting up the microirrigation system. Without that, I'm not sure the plant babies would've stood a chance.

Looks like I'll either have up-pot these or transplant them pretty soon here, before they get too big for those little cell packs.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Lovely spring

2011-03-24T17:51:00.002-04:00

We have had one of the loveliest springs that I've ever seen. I guess it's because we had a consistent stretch of consistent cold and then a gradual warming up, rather than the cold/hot/cold that we've had in other years.

The fragrance coming from the orange blossoms has been off the charts. I wish that this picture could be scratch and sniff so that you could smell the flowers firsthand!

All of the flowering trees and shrubs are blooming their hearts out. I just adore this Chionanthus virginicus outside my husband's office.

And now the herbaceous plants are revving up to bloom. Here's one of the soap aloes that we planted last spring along the street.

For those of you living farther north, hang in there -- hopefully spring won't be too far off!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

So far so good

2011-03-02T09:34:00.003-05:00

I decided to start some seeds this year. I figured I had little to lose since I already had a bunch of seeds hanging around from my last attempt.

So far they're looking good! I planted them last week and already the zinnias and roselle are popping up.

I think a big help is that my wonderful husband set up a timed microirrigation system to help keep them moist. That's really what I had problems with the last time. The seeds came up on their own, but I think they dried out before I got them planted in the ground.

Who knows--maybe this year I'll break the seed-starting curse!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Snail orgy

2011-02-26T09:55:00.002-05:00

One of my succulents has been looking pretty shabby for awhile now. I figured it was probably the result of cold damage.

But today I hatched another theory.

Do you see these? ALL of these snails came out of that one pot, and I'm guessing there were probably more that I missed.

As angry as I was at them for ruining my pretty plant, I just couldn't bring myself to destroy them. Something about the sound of the shells crunching seemed like it would be akin to nails on a chalkboard.

Instead I opted for the "catch and release" method, flinging them into one of the wilder corners of the yard. Hopefully they'll stay there.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Spring!

2011-02-17T09:32:00.003-05:00

It's official! Spring has sprung in our yard. So far, the camellias are in bloom...

...and the Japanese magnolia has also mustered a few blossoms, despite the fact that the squirrels have been treating it as an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Best of all, our lawn is still a lush green since my sweet hubby overseeded with rye. It's funny--for once we have a green lawn with brown plants instead of the other way round!

I know most of you are still trapped under a blanket of snow and that spring is still weeks (or months) away. Just think of it this way--you still have oodles of time to look at seed catalogs and plan your garden.

I'm realizing that if I want to start any seeds, I'd better not wait much longer. Maybe I'll try starting some cardoon again since I still have some of those seeds, and definitely some tomatoes. We'll see!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Small is powerful

2010-10-14T16:32:00.000-04:00

The last few days I've been reminded that small doesn't always mean insignificant. In fact, small can be quite powerful.

The fragrant olive bush (Osmanthus fragrans)in our backyard just started blooming. Even though each flower is no bigger than a pencil eraser, they all pump out an amazing amount of fragrance.

Case in point: every time I step out the door, I can smell the flowers. Nevermind the fact that the shrub is at least 40 feet away.

In fact, this shrub is a big part of why I fell in love with the backyard and bought the house. Well, the shrub and also the orange tree, but that's another story for another time.

At any rate, every time I smell these tiny flowers I'm reminded of an old saying:

"If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in the dark with a mosquito."

Ain't that the truth!

No orange meatballs

2010-10-13T09:13:00.003-04:00

Fall has finally arrived here in North Florida. The mornings and evenings are noticeably cooler, the sun is dipping lower in the horizon, and it seems like everyone is plopping potted mums by their front doors.

Don't get me wrong--chrysanthemums aren't bad plants. I even like spider mums a little bit. But the orange and yellow meatball-shaped mums are sooooo overdone.

This fall, why not think outside the usual plant palette? Choose plants that have warm colors like yellow, orange, or even purple, but avoid making any stereotypical plant choices like mums. Trust me. Your neighbors will thank you.

Canna damage

2010-08-20T14:29:00.002-04:00

Canna damage
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

The other day, I noticed a lot of damage on this canna. I figured I'd better take a look at the plant and see what was going on. After a brief scouting session, I found a hungry larger canna leaf roller that was treating my beloved canna like his own personal all-you-can-eat buffet. This was definitely not cool in my book, since this was the Canna 'Intrigue' that I paid good money for on my trip to Plant Delights Nursery.

If you live in Florida and don't know about canna leaf rollers, then it's time you learned. Most of the people I work with here at UF/IFAS would probably agree that leaf rollers are the most troublesome canna pests in our state. In fact, all of the damage that I found on my plant seemed to be the result of a single critter. Sure, it took me a few days between when I noticed the problem and when I checked it out. But still -- that's a lot of damage for just one caterpillar.

Larger canna leaf roller (UF/IFAS)

The lesser canna leaf roller can be a little harder to discover. These caterpillars are much smaller and typically roll themselves up in the edge of a leaf, where they then feed only on the top layer of the leaf.

Lesser canna leaf roller (UF/IFAS)

So if you have cannas in your yard, be sure to scout for pests often. It's a snap to make your own scouting kit, and it's much easier to get a problem under control if you find it early. You can hand pick the pests if there's just a few of them, or treat the plant with a biorational insecticide like Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) that kills the caterpillars without harming beneficial insects.

Needless to say, that leaf roller won't be bothering my plants again.

Dreaming of a cooler time--Pacific Northwest, Part III

2010-08-02T17:42:00.003-04:00

It's officially hot. Temperatures have been in the mid-90s or higher for days now, and the heat index has gotten as high as 105. Both me and my poor plants feel like we're melting, so I figured now was as good a time as any to put up those final photos from my spring trip to the Pacific Northwest.

After we left Seattle, we were destined for Victoria, BC. We drove to Post Angeles and then took the ferry across the Straits of Juan de Fuca.

The weather was pretty amazing while we were in Victoria, BC -- not too hot and not too cold. We poked around the town area for a day or two, and then headed to our ultimate destination -- the world-famous Butchart Gardens. The place was pretty surreal -- kind of like Walt Disney World for gardeners.

Here's the shot that everyone takes when they visit Butchart -- the view from the staircase at the top of the sunken garden. There's a really cool story behind this garden.

It was a little overcast during part of the day, but the place was still non-stop, in-your-face texture and color.

See what I mean? Those tulips were insane! I swear that I didn't Photoshop these shots to enhance the color. And speaking of tulips, I couldn't believe how well our shirts matched the tulips in this shot. Crazy, eh?

It seemed like everything was bigger and better at Butchart. Get a load of this arborvitae hedge -- it has to be one of the hugest hedges I've ever seen. Jason is just barely visible at the base of the hedge, even though he's over 6 feet tall. If you're trying to create privacy in your yard, this is definitely the way to do it!

On a smaller scale, I thought this was a clever and inexpensive way to create a visual barrier between a path and a lawn area. I guess if you have close to a million visitors each year, it's important to keep them off of the lawn.

And I know this shot doesn't look like much, but I had to share it. Those little stumps in the right side of the frame are bananas! Yes! Bananas in Canada! My guess is that they have to cut them to the ground each fall and protect them with straw, but they might be left to fend on their own. I'm guessing they're Musa basjoo.

Well, that's about it for Butchart. I guess now it's time for me to brave the heat and turn over a new leaf, pulling out the melted plants in my yard. Ugh. Wish me luck!

Plant death tolls

2010-07-27T10:32:00.005-04:00

Trip to PDN
by Gardening in a Minute

So the ensete is still hanging on. I wish that it looked as good as this one that I saw at Plant Delights Nursery last year, but ultimately I think its days are probably numbered. I think I'll probably have to add it to the tally of "plants I've killed" before summer is over.

But thanks to the Plant Delights Nursery E-newsletter that I received today, I don't feel quite so bad about it. Apparently, Tony Avent and his esteemed colleagues have killed their fair share of plants too. Here's what he recently wrote:

"Here at PDN, we’ve celebrated a milestone recently, as our database indicates that we have now passed the 20,000 mark for killing plants. 20,194 dead accessions (different plants) is actually our current total, so don’t even think about complaining that you have a brown thumb. Our dead/alive plant rate now stands around 50%, but since our goal is trialing, experimenting, and learning the possible parameters under which each plant will grow, these numbers are actually a good thing...I’m constantly reminded of the late Dr. J.C. Raulston’s quote, 'If you’re not killing plants, you’re not growing as a gardener.' No truer words were ever spoken."

Amen! This makes me feel at least a little bit better that my beautiful ensete may ultimately wind up in the compost pile. At least I'm only in double digits of plants that I've killed. That five-figure mark is a completely different league.

If you'd like to hear Tony's pearls of wisdom firsthand, subscribe to the PDN newsletter here.

Ensete death march

2010-06-18T09:11:00.001-04:00

Sick ensete
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

Well, it looks like I was right. My beautiful ensete is dying. This is what it looked like after I came home from my out-of-town conference this week. Definitely not good.

I just wish I knew what was going on with it and if there was any way to save it. I'm wondering if nematodes might be the culprit, since they're mentioned in this article. If that's the case, I'm thinking that my best bet would be to get a nematode assay done before I plant another ensete in the same spot.

Front garden progress

2010-06-16T13:49:00.008-04:00

Earlier this week I blogged about the potentially sick ensete. I figured I might as well share some photos of the other beautiful things that have been going on in the front garden.

First off, the cannas and bananas have been going gangbusters. The 'Red Stripe' canna that I bought at Plant Delights Nursery last September is getting huge, and the 'Intrigue' canna is looking beautiful. The striped canna is 'Bengal Tiger'. It was a generous passalong plant from Tom, along with a dwarf Cavendish banana that's doing splendidly.

Speaking of what I bought at PDN, the chasmanthium seems to have died. Very sad. It turned brown over the winter and I cut it down in spring. It put out a half-inch or so of new growth but then never grew any more. In Southernese, I'd say it up and died.

But back to the pretty stuff. Here are some macro shots of the cannas and bananas for you to salivate over.

Canna indica 'Red Stripe'

Canna 'Bengal Tiger'

Canna 'Intrigue'

Musa acuminata 'Dwarf Cavendish'

And one of the mystery cannas that we transplanted recently is about to bloom. I'm wondering if it might also be 'Red Stripe'.

Sick ensete?

2010-06-13T13:43:00.003-04:00

Sick ensete?
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

We planted this beautiful ensete back in April. It's been doing great and has double in height since then. But all of a sudden it's looking a little sick.

It's listing to one side, and the leaves have started wilting. If wilting were the only symptom, I'd wonder if the cause was just the 90+ degree weather we've been having.

But the leaves are also looking chlorotic, namely in patches that correspond to where the leaf is sagging.

Plus the roots are starting to pop free from the soil, as if they might be decaying.

Any ideas what might be going on? I'm wondering if it might be some sort of fungal or bacterial disease. I'd love to be able to treat the problem, but I need to know what's going on before I apply any potential pesticides.

This makes me very sad.

Spring in the Pacific Northwest, Part II

2010-06-01T16:14:00.000-04:00

Here's the second post about my recent trip to the Pacific Northwest. After spending time in Portland, we made our way up to the Seattle area. Our first stop was in Renton at the Virginia Mason Athletic Center, aka Seattle Seahawks practice facility. As you all know, I'm much more interested in plants than I am in turf, but even I enjoyed this stop.

We got to peek in the indoor practice field which was HUGE. Nike was filming a commercial of some sort while we were there, so we had to sneak in between takes. The outdoor practice fields had a great view of Lake Washington, but it was pretty overcast that day so my pictures aren't that great.

We got back on the bus and headed up to Seattle and met Nolan Rundquist, the city arborist, for a walking tour of the city. It was really interesting to hear about all of the challenges his team faces trying to grow trees in an urban setting. Here's a shot of us on the tour. Of course I just had to put up this particular photo because of the Dahlia Lounge sign, given my love for dahlias.

The euphorbias that we saw all over the city were amazing. I wish we could grow these here in Florida, but I've heard that they're prone to powdery mildew.

I really loved the color and texture combinations in this bed.

The next day we got a tour of Qwest Field where the Seattle Seahawks play, and a tour Safeco Field where the Seattle Mariners play. I have to say, it was pretty freakin' cool to get to walk on the fields. I mean, how many times do most people get do that? Plus, I've been a big baseball fan since I was a kid, so this was a real treat for me. Here's one of my favorite shots looking down the third base line at Safeco Field.

But y'all want to see pictures of plants, right? Fear not! The plant jackpot came when we headed up the road to Bellevue Botanical Garden. It was a delightful garden full of all sorts of fabulous plants in stunning combinations like this one, which I think was a gold sedge and Ophiopogon nigrescens. I'd love to come back and see this garden as it changes from season to season.

Check out this beautiful Japanese forest grass (likely Hakoenechloa macra 'All Gold'). Isn't it beautiful? Sadly, I've also heard that this one won't thrive here in Florida. Sigh.

I loved this Cotinus for its striking contrast between the foliage and the flowers. I'm wondering if we can succesfully grow smokebush in Florida. My trusty Southern Living Garden Book says it can be grown as far south as Georgia, but I'm thinking that Florida might be a little too warm for it.

The garden also had tons of ferns, and I've been a sucker for ferns ever since college. They're so primitive and yet so fascinating!

We also saw lots of primroses throughout our journeys in the Pacific Northwest. This was a fairly new plant for me.

Well, that's all for now. The final installment will include the photos I took when we went up to Victoria, British Columbia and visited Butchart Gardens. If you've never seen photos of Butchart, you're in for a treat. I promise the next post will be chock full of bold plant combinations for all of you daring gardeners!

Spring in the Pacific Northwest, Part I

2010-05-21T16:02:00.000-04:00

Portland, OR -- The City of Roses

I promised to post about my vacation to the Pacific Northwest, so here goes. I took a lot of photos, so I'll try to pick only the best ones to share with all of you plant lovers. Let's start with the highlights from around Portland, OR -- The City of Roses.

Our first stop was the Nike Worldwide Headquarters campus in Beaverton, OR. We were treated to a presentation by the landscape architect and then had a walking tour of the campus. The landscape was designed with a berm around the entire property, which effectively created a beautiful environment that feels totally separate from the surrounding city of Beaverton.

Allee and fountain at Nike World Headquarters

I developed my newest plant crush while we were at Nike: hellebores. I just loved the form of them, and their texture was unique in that it was papery. (Note: a little digging on the internet revealed this because what looks like petals are actually sepals.) We ended up seeing a lot of these throughout the trip in a number of different shapes and colors.

Hellebore at Nike World Headquarters

Hellebore at Portland Rose Garden

More hellebores at Portland Rose Garden

We Floridians had a hard time resisting a few of the perks of spring in Northern climates -- fragrant lilacs and soft, feathery lawns.

Scratch and sniff

Real grass!

Our next stop was Berry Botanic Garden, which was a truly amazing place for a plant nerd like me. The gardens were originally the private estate of Rae Selling Berry, a plantswoman who collected rare plants from across the globe. After her death in 1976, a dedicated group of people banded together to form "The Friends of The Berry Botanic Garden" to purchase the estate and preserve the gardens. Sadly, financial woes are forcing the garden to close, so it's rather fortunate that we had the chance to see it. Such a shame, really. It's an amazing garden. (For some reason I can't find my pictures of their trough gardens, which were pretty cool.)

Dawn redwood at Berry Botanic Garden

These beautiful blue flowers are on striking three-foot tall stalks. We had seen them at Nike, as well. Our docent at Berry Botanic Garden told us that they're native bulb called Camassia, and that the Native Americans used to eat them.

Camassia at Berry Botanic Garden

And of course, there were tons of beautiful ferns including this lovely maidenhair fern.

Maidenhair fern on nurse log

Then we headed to Washington Park, International Rose Test Garden, and the Japanese Garden where we were set loose to pursue free-for-all, self-guided tours. I'd been to the Japanese Garden before on a previous trip, so Jason and I decided to poke around the rose garden and the park. Plus, it had been a full day and it seemed like it would be nice to just wander and relax.

Amphitheater in Washington Park

This is where I discovered another one of my other plant crushes -- these large shrubs that put off a wonderfully soft, sweet smell. At first I thought they might be a hydrangea of sorts, but it turns out they're a viburnum.

Viburnum in Washington Park

And here are some of the yet-to-be-blooming roses in the rose garden. I'm imagining what this would look and smell like come mid-summer. Amazing, I'm sure!

Rose garden

Well, that's about all the time I have for now. Here's one last shot from the Portland Rose garden. They actually had what looked like bananas and brugmansias in this garden, but they were pretty puny at this point in the spring and not at all worth taking a picture of. I promise that the next posts will feature more of the bold plant combinations that you've come to expect from Cannas and Bananas.

Sun dial in Shakespeare Garden in the Portland Rose Garden

Perennial underacheiver

2010-05-12T13:49:00.003-04:00

Amaryllis
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

You'd think I'd be raving about this beautiful amaryllis. It's a stunning shade of coral and the blooms are at least six inches across.

Truth is, I've been pretty disappointed with this plant because it's been a perennial underachiever in my yard. I planted it back in early 2001 after receiving it as a gift plant just before Christmas. While it's put up plenty of great foliage over the years, it had never bloomed. Until now, that is.

And bless its heart, it was kind enough to open up just before we left for our recent vacation to the Pacific Northwest. By the time we got back, the flowers had wilted down to little wisps.

Speaking of the Pacific Northwest, I shot nearly 400 photos of plants, gardens, and other fun things while I was out there. In the next weeks, I'll be putting up a few posts highlighting what I saw and revealing my newest plant crush.

Epcot wrap-up

2010-05-11T13:04:00.008-04:00

The Epcot International Flower and Garden Show wraps up this coming weekend. If you've never been, it's totally worth checking out. The Disney Horticulture staff create stunning plant displays all over the park, including some amazing topiaries. They also feature a special pavilion called Garden Town where you can go and listen to talks from the big names in gardening.

If you can't make it this year, you can always mark your calendar for next year. The festival typically begins in March and runs through mid-May.

These photos were taken when I was there a few weeks back helping out with the Florida Master Gardener "Ask the Expert" booth. The first shot features a new topiary installation that played off of "American Gothic." I loved that the bed included a number of edibles, given that people have gone so crazy over vegetable gardening.

Okay, so the purple lablab beans in this photo aren't exactly edible, but they do look good growing up those bamboo tripods. I'll bet that the tomato plants in the mid-ground are setting fruit by now.

I was also excited to see that the horticulture staff had included cardoon in a few of the planters this year. I tried to start some cardoon from seed last year, but my poor plants never made it past the seedling stage.

Here's a close-up of the amazing texture on the leaves.

I also got a chance to visit with my friend Debra Prinzing from the Garden Writers Association. She was the featured speaker that weekend and was talking about her beautiful book Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways. And just before I saw Debra, I learned that she's ~~the new garden editor~~ a contributing editor for gardening at Better Homes and Gardens. How cool is that? Congratulations, Debra!

Every year there's at least one plant that people stop by the booth and keep asking about. This spring, it was definitely delphinium. I found this container with delphinium over in the England pavilion, though they've probably changed it out by now to a warmer-season plant.

And finally, here's a signature view over one of the lagoons by the monorail. People just love the floating containers and the broad strokes of colorful bedding plants. If you look closely, you can see that the pink plants were just installed. They look like petunias and they probably replaced a cool-season annual. They'll no doubt fill in over time to create the wall-to-wall plants look that Disney is known for.

Well, I hope to blog again soon about my own garden. I still have some design tweaking to do in the front yard, but it's amazing how quickly all of my new plants are all filling in. I get butterflies every time I pull into the driveway and see how well my new cannas and bananas are doing. Stay tuned for photos!

Plants to drool over, part III

2010-04-12T16:50:00.069-04:00

Welcome to the third and final post about the cool plants I saw at the 2009 Garden Writers Association conference!

This time I'll be recapping what we saw at the JC Raulston Arboretum on the NC State University campus. I'll start by saying that we saw a ton of cool things, and I'll do my best to highlight them all. I'll also say that it was pretty nasty while we were there -- overcast and drizzly -- so not all of the photos are the best.

The first photo shows some inventive planters that we eventually saw in the trials garden. I'm pretty sure they were just sections of drainage pipe that had been painted. Colorful, cheap, and affordable -- all good things in my gardening world!

Emily and I officially started our tour looking at some of the trees, including this cool magnolia. Can you believe that it has variegated leaves? It was hard to get a good picture since it is a full-sized tree, but I think you can see some of the yellowish leaves.

Once we made it to the bedding plant trials garden, I fell in love with Gomphrena spp. 'Fireworks'. The flower heads had much more interest than a typical round Gomphrena flower, and the plants themselves were quite thick and robust. I might need to buy myself some seeds from Burpee next year and give this one a try.

This orange bulbine was really beautiful. It was taller than the yellow bulbine that I'm used to seeing around here and had denser foliage. I could totally see myself using it in my garden somewhere.

And check out this odd-looking plant! Apparently it's a milkweed family plant called Gomphocarpus physocarpus. The seed pods were really cool, so much so that Emily and I both ran over to look at it as soon as we laid eyes on it. It was pretty tall, too -- maybe 6 or 8 feet. Very striking.

This is what they called the lath house. I liked that it seemed like a clever and easy way to create a shade house by creating a framework with standard lumber and then topping it off with wood and wire snow fencing. Again, easy and affordable -- both good things.

We saw Illicium mexicanum 'Aztec Fire' in the lath house, and boy, was it hot! The leaves of the plant looked like our own native Florida anise, but the red flowers made it so much better. The sign said that it's native to Northeast Mexico. Apparently it's commercially available and is suited for Zones 8-9, so maybe I'll have to give it a try.

Finally, we saw a lot of cool succulents in the rooftop garden and the xeric garden. The one on the left is similar to the one that I bought at Plant Delights Nursery. It was only a foot or so tall. The one on the right was Agave 'Mr. Ripple'.

That's all for the 2009 GWA updates. Come September, I'll be heading to Dallas for this year's conference. Can't wait!

Plants to drool over, part II

2010-04-05T17:16:00.000-04:00

As promised, here's the second installment of the recap of the cool plants I saw during the 2009 Garden Writers Association Conference.

Our second set of tours took us to holy ground -- Juniper Level Botanic Garden at Plant Delights Nursery. If you don't know, the Plant Delights catalog is THE catalog to drool over every spring. Plantsman Tony Avent keeps it packed full of interesting and exotic plants that plant geeks everywhere love to covet. Plus, he has a great sense of humor. How many other catalogs do you know that stock cultivars like 'Get Nekkid', 'Red Neck Heaven', 'Elvis Lives', and 'Bubba'?

Needless to say, we were all pretty excited to see the nursery and garden, and few of us left without buying a plant or two. The first picture is me proudly holding my purchases:

+ Agave parryi 'J.C. Raulston'
+ Chasmanthium latifolium 'River Mist'
+ Canna indica 'Red Stripe'
+ Canna 'Intrigue'
+ Solidago stricta

Interestingly, I wasn't the only one to be smitten by the solidago. Several people I know picked up this plant. It's funny because the plant was not on my must-have list at the beginning of the morning. I've never so much as circled it in the catalog. (Note: I just realized that's because it's only offered at PDN open houses and online.) But we saw it in bloom in the garden and it was just gorgeous. The leaves are much less prominent than what I usually associate with goldenrods (even less so than the image on the PDN page), so the form is much more striking. Plus it was in bloom, and any nurseryman knows that customers are suckers for plants in bloom.

I had plenty of cannas to choose from. In fact, this entire aisle was full of cannas! It's a wonder that I came back with only two varieties. Damn budget.

The garden featured several whimsical touches, like this dragon coming out of a grouping of yuccas. Apologies for the blurriness, but this was an early morning tour. I'll say that it's because the lighting was low, but it could've been that I was still waking up.

Speaking of whimsy, Tony Avent even created his own mountain on premises, dubbing it "Mount Michelle" after the famous Mount Mitchell in the Piedmont area of North Carolina. Here's a shot of Emily and Tom walking under that waterfall on Mount Michelle.

Tom insisted that we take his photo in front of this variegated ligustrum. Yes, the light coloring isn't flowers -- it's the leaves. And can you get over how big it is?

And speaking of big plants, check out this agave. Sure, Emily and I aren't exactly the tallest gals around, but this thing really was huge, I swear!

I really liked this plant, which was just around the corner from the agave. I think it might be Curcuma zedoaria 'Bicolor Wonder'. If so, it should get up to 72" tall. I might have to try this in the shady part of my front bed to give it a tropical punch.

Well, those are my favorite photos from PDN. We spent the other half of the tour at the North Carolina Farmers' Market. I bought a small Albizia julibrissen 'Chocolate Summer' there, which made me sooooo happy, despite the $40 price. I have wanted to have a 'Chocolate Summer' mimosa since 2007 when I first saw one in Oklahoma City. Yes, I know that the species type is invasive here in Florida. I'm hoping that the fancy cultivar will be less aggressive. If need be, I'll cut off the flowers before they set seed. I just had to have it!

I didn't take many photos at the farmers market -- just a few fall-inspired shots of pumpkins for sale. I'm not going to bother posting those, since I know that you guys don't come here for pumpkins. You want photos of bold and beautiful plants! Swing by later and I'll have another post that's chock full of beautiful plant photos from our visit to the J.C. Raulston Arboretum.

Plants to drool over, part I

2010-03-31T16:03:00.005-04:00

Today I realized that I never followed up with the post-GWA post that I promised. I hate not coming through on a promise that I've made, so here's the first recap of the trip.

Before we even got out on the garden tours, I was drooling over plants. Check out this beautiful "floral" arrangement that was in the lobby of our hotel. There's nary a bloom in sight! That's the kind of creativity I like to see when it comes to gardening.

Our first tour was of the Sarah P. Duke Gardens at Duke University. I remember visiting these gardens years ago when my family lived in Durham and seeing beds and beds of spring bulbs that took my breath away. Thankfully, the garden was equally captivating at summer's end.

I was especially in love with the area known as the Terrace Gardens, since they used a host of great tropicals in striking combinations. Here's a beautiful Ensete ventricosum, aka Abyssinian banana. Big surprise that I was drawn to it, eh?

The afternoon light was absolutely amazing the way it danced through the elephant ear leaves. I have no idea what species or cultivar they were, but wow were they pretty!

And as long as we're talking about elephant ears, check out this speckled one. I'm thinking it might have been Alocasia 'Hilo Beauty.' You can just see some of the other bronze-leaved elephant ears from above in the background of this shot.

The Terrace Gardens also included red-leaved castor beans, possibly Ricinus communis 'Carmencita' I know I've definitely mentioned wanting a red-leaved castor bean at least once before. I love the bronze foliage and spiky seed pods.

Okay, enough about specific plants for now. Let's talk about form. It was magical the way the various plant forms in this scene played against each other -- the tall hollies, the broad junipers, and the round mums. It was so energetic, even though all the plants were basically in the same color palette. I think there's a design lesson in there somewhere.

I'll put up another post soon with photos of our visit to Plant Delights Nursery, the Raleigh Farmers' Market, and the JC Raulston Arboretum. The full set of photos is available on Flickr, in case you're craving more before then. Happy gardening!

So much for what I said earlier

2010-03-29T13:08:00.006-04:00

New plants and mulch
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

I know I said I was probably hanging up my garden blogging gloves, but what can I say? Spring sprang and I got the itch that all gardeners do. I figured as long as I had made some solid progress in the yard, I might as well blog about it!

As always, you can click on the photo to make it bigger and see the plants in all of their glory.

Jason and I purchased a bunch of new plants this week. The amazing part is that we got them all in the ground the very night they came home. If you know me, you know that rarely happens. Heck, I still have plants that I paid good money for a year ago sitting in pots in the front yards! And no, they aren't container gardens.

Here's what we bought and planted:
+ soap aloe (Aloe saponaria)
+ fireworks grass (Pennisetum setaceum 'Fireworks')
+ Abyssinian banana (Ensete ventricosum 'Maurelii').

Can I just tell you how excited I am to finally have an ensete in the front yard? I've been lusting after this plant since I first saw it at a Garden Writers Association conference three years ago. I splurged and bought the biggest size I could find so that the plant could get itself nice and big before the freezing temperatures return in December. They're root hardy here, which is good, but the leaves tend to burn back.

If you haven't ever seen the 'Fireworks' fountain grass, you should check it out. It's incredibly colorful. I'm not sure yet if it will survive our winters -- it's supposed to be Zones 9-11 and we're 8b -- but I'm going to give it a try. If it dies, I'll just put in something hardier.

Speaking of ornamental grasses, the bamboo muhly grass that I brought back from GWA is still going strong. Jason and I debated about cutting it back but decided to leave it for now. And the river oats that I bought last year at Plant Delights Nursery are starting to come back, so that's good.

We also a dwarf Cavendish banana in the front yard, courtesy of Tom. Apparently the squirrels in his yard wouldn't stop chowing down on it, so he decided that the only humane thing to do was to give away the plant. Lucky me! I guess his other option would be to shoot the squirrels, but that's probably less humane.

And I can't get over how nice it all looked once we added a "mulch veneer," as our friend Erin calls it. We spent $30 and got eight bales of pine straw. They just barely covered all of the crappy looking mulch that we got for free from the power company. Not a bad use of resources, if you ask me.

In the backyard, we planted the grow box with two 'Sweet Million' cherry tomato plants and also planted two jalapeno peppers in containers. And I finally got the fig tree in the ground after a year and a half. Yes, it's true. I'm hard on plants. Jason says I'm just "trialing" them to make sure they're hardy before I spend the time to put them in the ground.

We still have a lot to do, though. We need to remove the azaleas under the front windows completely -- we cut them back last year, but that's as far as we got. We need to remove the stumps along the south edge of the property where we cut out the overgrown holly bushes and viburnum (yuck). That's where I'm planning to finally plant those yuccas, but I don't want to put them in until the stumps are gone.

At any rate, it's been a busy gardening season so far. Who knows -- maybe it will be a good season for blogging too.

Something's gotta give

2010-03-17T14:46:00.001-04:00

Split oak tree in Forest Meadow Cemetary
Originally uploaded by Gardening in a Minute

Do you ever feel like you're branching in so many directions that something's got to give?

If you're a regular reader (I know there's at least one of you), you've probably noticed that I haven't posted in four months. Shameful, I know.

While I enjoy this blog, I'm not sure if I'll continue it. I've definitely enjoyed it, but I'm just having trouble finding time to blog. One issue is that I have a lot more on my plate at the office these days. I'm writing more scripts for our radio show and working on a big project for Florida Master Gardener Program. I just haven't felt like I can spare the time to blog instead of focus on those other important tasks.

And I also don't feel like I have the time to blog after work. Part of the reason why is that I've been spending more of my free time over at my craft blog, trying to make it better.

So long story short, I'm on hiatus from this blog. Of course, I may get inspired now that it's springtime and there are plenty of things to blog about, but I make no promises.

Thanks again to everyone who has been reading this blog, and I hope your gardens all bounce back beautifully this spring!

Papaya harvest... finally!

2009-11-10T14:32:00.002-05:00

Homegrown papaya
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

Finally! The little papaya that I've been nurturing since April is ripe enough to eat! Well, almost. I wanted to let it ripen a little while longer, but it developed a soft spot and I was afraid the whole thing might rot.

I brought it into the office and shared it with everyone here. The blossom end tasted like a papaya ought to taste (which in some people's estimation, isn't tasty at all). Georgia really liked it, but I was kind of on the fence. I'm one of those people who don't always like papaya, but I have to say that it was pretty darn cool to eat something I grew myself -- especially since it was seven months in the making.

Here's a shot of the plant back when it was in bloom.

You'll notice that there were two flowers. The second fruit is still ripening on the tree. And man, has the tree gotten big. It's nearly as tall as me! Okay, so maybe that's not saying much since I'm just 5'2", but it's pretty amazing to see how it's changed.

Headed home, plants in tow

2009-09-27T06:54:00.002-04:00

Plants!
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

We're headed home from GWA with a van full of plants. Counting all of the larger plants and small 4-inch pots, we must have close to 75 plants in the van with us. And miraculously, we still had room for our luggage. We're hoping to get home by mid-afternoon so that we can start getting them in the ground. Right now our ETA is 3pm, but the rain could slow us down.

Plant Delights Nursery

2009-09-25T09:49:00.003-04:00

Plant Delights Nursery
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

Today we visited Plant Delights Nursery as part of the Garden Writers Association symposium. Holy cow--it was amazing.

I tried to exercise some restraint and ended up buying five plants: two cannas (of course), an agave, a river oats, and a funky goldenrod.

I took a bunch more photos on the regular camera and will post them later.

It's that time of year...

2009-09-21T16:34:00.003-04:00

Kim and the incredibly tall cannas at Cistus Nursery outside Portland
Originally uploaded by Gardening in a Minute

Admittedly, I've been a lackadaisical blogger for most of 2009. Sorry. I've just been busy. And speaking of busy, it's time for me to hit the road to the annual Garden Writers Association symposium which is taking place in Raleigh, NC. You may recall that I went to last year’s symposium in Portland and took a lot of photos and also blogged about it.

Last year we visited some amazing nurseries likeCistus Nursery and Joy Creek Nursery. As you may recall, I fell head over heels in love with Cistus. This year it could be even more dangerous for me – we’re going to Plant Delights Nursery!

For those of you who don’t already know, Plant Delights is the gardening catalog that true plant geeks salivate over because it has such an amazing array of hard to find plants. Some might even go so far as to call it “hort porn.” And the catalog itself makes for an amazing read. The narratives are witty and remind me of the J. Peterman catalogs in that they’re just as fabulous as the items themselves.

The special treat is that we get to see their on-site garden, which I’ve heard is absolutely amazing. And did I mention that we’re driving a van up there? I would loooooove to pack it full of plants to bring back, but sadly, my budget is super tight right now. I’m telling myself that I can bring back one plant. I’m leaning toward an agave or a yucca, since they’re probably the twp plants that I have the least chance of killing. I’m especially fond of Yucca filamentosa ‘Color Guard.’** But holy moly—if I wasn’t afraid of killing it, I’d buy a Colocasia gigantea!

We’re also up for three GWA Media Awards. Last year we won a gold award for the “Gardening in a Minute” radio show in the category of “On-Air Talent: Radio.” Fingers crossed that we’ll win gold again this year!

I’ll be sure to take plenty of photos again this year and will try to blog a little bit from the road. Emily’s bringing her laptop and said she’d let me use it.

And just for fun, here’s a shot of a gnome I spotted during one of the garden tours last year. Think we’ll see gnomes in North Carolina? I’m hoping so.

------------------
** The funny thing is that I bought three plants at the Kanapaha Garden Festival this spring that I thought were a cultivar of Y. filamentosa, but it looks like they might be Y. aloifolia ‘Variegata’. I wanted to put them in the new front bed, but the trouble is that they can get up to seven feet tall. Yikes! Sadly, they've been sitting in pots waiting for me to figure out what to do with them. I think I'll put them in the backyard since it's the only place I can think of that gets enough sun and would have enough space.

What's old is new again

2009-08-31T12:58:00.002-04:00

Banana in container at Chinese Garden in Portland
Originally uploaded by Gardening in a Minute

Okay, so it's no secret that I've been a blogging slacker. The bottom line is that I've had a lot going on at the office (translation: other stuff that's more pressing than blogging) and I really haven't been doing much in the yard other than trying to keep the grass/weeds from growing into a jungle. It IS summer in Florida, after all!

Those things being said, I figured it was about time that I posted something on this blog, so here goes.

When I was at the Garden Writers Association conference last year in Portland I spotted this clever container. It's actually not a true container -- it's just a section of reed fence wrapped around a basic black pot. How easy is that? I always love it when something can be both good looking and affordable.

Fast forward a few months to the Friends of the Alachua County Library book sale. I was browsing the gardening section (naturally) and found this great book.

Once I got it home and started flipping through it I was amazed to see this project, which was essentially the same pot treatment that I had spotted in Portland. How funny is that?

In case you're interested, I'm posting a few other shots of the book. I think the mid-century interior shots are too cool not to share. As always, you can click on the photos to see them larger (via Flickr).

More office shenanigans

2009-07-15T14:23:00.003-04:00

Googly eyed cones in Georgia's car
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

The cycads in front of our office recently produced cones, which meant that it was time for more office pranks.

Last year Georgia discovered one of the cones during an after-work weeding party and was pretty grossed out by it. Naturally, I absconded with it and then put it on her office chair for her to find the next day. She wasn't exactly pleased.

I figured that I needed to step things up a little for this year's cone prank. Given our collective fascination with googly eyes (see my post about another related prank), I figured I couldn't go wrong with adding googly eyes.

Plus, I thought that it would be great to plant the cones in Georgia's car, where she would least expect them. She's been trying to beat the Florida heat by leaving her windows cracked, so it was pretty easy to finagle my way into the vehicle.

Needless to say, she was surprised. In fact, I think she actually kind of liked it.

Now the only question that remains is what prank can I dream up next?

Papaya goes home

2009-06-25T13:26:00.001-04:00

Papaya
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

My papaya plant recently made the journey from my office to my house. My co-workers had been very tolerant but it was getting waaaay too big to sit on my desk any longer. Poor Jen could hardly see out the window any more.

So far it's adjusting well. I think it might be getting a little sunburned (see photo), so I moved it into a spot where it only gets direct sun in the morning.

The good news is that it hasn't dropped the fruit that was already forming, and there's now another fruit on the way. In fact, the first fruit is getting pretty big -- about the size of a small lemon. Maybe I'll eventually have a ripe papaya that's big enough to eat!

And speaking of big, the plant itself is now about three and a half feet tall and three feet wide. Wow! It's so much bigger than it was here and even here. It's amazing that it fit in the back of the SUV. One month more and I might've had to resort to renting a flatbed trailer.

Slowly but surely...

2009-06-01T15:59:00.002-04:00

Slowly but surely...
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

The mulch is finally spread! I couldn't have moved that giant pile alone and am incredibly grateful for the help I received. (Thanks!) Doesn't the bed just look great? I couldn't resist plopping a few plants on top of the mulch just to see what the final result might end up looking like. I can't wait to get the plants in the ground!

Of course, now I'm realizing that I should redo the bed that runs along the front of the house. It looks pretty scrappy in comparison to the new bed. One step at a time though, right?

Peach picking

2009-05-28T14:36:00.006-04:00

It's peach picking season here in North Florida. Last weekend I went down to Florida Peach Farms & Nurseries in Citra and picked about ten pounds of juicy peaches. I've enjoyed some of them fresh and also made a peach crisp using the fruit crisp recipe in the trusty "Joy of Cooking" cookbook that I got from my grandmother, adding a dash of good rum for a little extra interest. Okay, so maybe it was more than a dash, but the crisp sure turned out tasty.

The orchard should be open again this weekend for picking and it's definitely worth making the trip if you're looking for something fun to do. Be sure to also stop at The Orange Shop on Highway 301 in Citra for the tastiest fresh squeezed orange juice you'll find for miles.

Best. Prank. Ever.

2009-05-08T13:54:00.001-04:00

Georgia freaks out over the googly eyed plants
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

One of my co-workers loves the sketch that Christopher Walken did on Saturday Night Live titled "Indoor Gardening Tips from a Man Who's Very Scared of Plants." If you haven't seen it ,watch it here before reading any further.

I decided that it would be the perfect prank to fill her office with googly eyed plants. Conveniently, she went out of town for a work conference so I had ample time to move all of our office plants into her office, affix 204 googly eyes to them, and avoid getting caught.

After she got over the initial shock (see first photo), she loved it.

Here are a few more shots of the googly-eyed entourage.

Georgia, pretending to be Christopher Walken

The googly-eyed gang

My favorite cross-eyed cutie

Even my beloved papaya got into the act

King of the Mountain

2009-05-05T14:57:00.001-04:00

Free mulch
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

Apparently, mulch piles are exciting places. When I left the house this morning I spotted a young girl climbing on my mulch pile. It's funny because as I was spreading the mulch last night,* I started thinking about how much I loved climbing on dirt piles when I was a kid. One of the neighborhoods we lived in was still under development, so it seemed like there was always a half-built house that was getting a pile of sand delivered.

This girl wasn't just climbing on the pile -- she was clearly hunting something. I greeted the girl and her companion, who I took to be her grandmother, and asked what she was after.

"Lizards," she replied. "They like the mulch."

Cool, I thought -- a gal after my own heart. As a kid, I spent countless hours hunting for crayfish in the creek and catching insects.

But then I started thinking about why lizards would want to climb all the way to the top of such a huge mulch pile. My first thought was that the lizards had liked eating the insects swarming over the pile. Or maybe, just maybe, the lizards liked climbing the pile just because it was there, like Everest. Heck, it IS like Everest to a tiny little lizard! When I get home tonight, I'll check to see which lizard is defending his title as king of the mountain.

*(And yes, this means that I'm actually making progress on the front bed. I'll try to get the rest of the mulch spread out tonight, and will definitely post pictures if I do.)

Free mulch

2009-04-30T15:13:00.001-04:00

Free mulch
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

My utility company was trimming trees in my area and was kind enough to dump a load of mulch in my yard, all for free! While it isn't as pretty as the mulch from the store, you can't beat the price. You can call your local utility company to see if they have a similar program.

However, this mulch is from green wood so it needs to age a bit before I put it near plants, lest it burn them. For me it's not a big deal. I'll spread out the mulch and let it sit for a little while, and then I'll put in my plants. I like this plan because I can now officially say that I'm not procrastinating about getting the planting done. I'm just waiting for my mulch to mellow. ;-)

Once the plants are in, the mulch will help retain moisture and keep the weeds in control. You can read more about mulch on Gardening in a Minute.

Blank canvas

2009-04-20T13:40:00.005-04:00

Front yard panorama
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

So the blank canvas in my front yard continues to stare at me. It's because I decided to hold off on installing the plants I bought, at least for a little while. I had some major plumbing work that needed to be done first.

See the line of fresh dirt in the photo that stretches back toward the house? There's a brand new water supply line underneath there. For years the water pressure in the house has been low, and I decided that now was the time to finally deal with it. Replacing the line helped some, but it was the new meter that the utility company installed that really made the difference. Finally, I can water the yard and flush toilets at the same time!

So I guess now I have no excuse for not planting that front bed. I'm still waiting for the seedlings to be big enough to transplant, but they're coming along nicely. Here's a shot taken on April 6. Since then, the okra seedlings have also popped up. As always, you can click on the photos to have a closer look.

Certain seedlings have suffered an untimely death. I'm not sure what killed them. Cutworms perhaps? Some of them seemed to be severed off at the soil line. Though a few were uprooted entirely, which is often the work of nefarious squirrels.

Two of the six castor bean seeds that I sowed have come up. I'm not sure why the others haven't. I also wish that the ones that came up were the bronze-leafed variety. I wasn't sure what I'd end up with since I bought a mixed pack of seeds, but I really wanted the kind with the purplish leaves.

I'm going to try to get the yucca and bromeliads in the ground this week. I'm also probably going to buy some yellow bulbine to add. I can't wait!

Papaya sabotage

2009-04-10T16:20:00.002-04:00

Papaya sabotage
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

Last Friday one of my co-workers was in my office. He looked at my papaya plant and asked, "Where's the fruit?"

"What do you mean," I said. "Isn't it still there?"

Nope. It turns out it had fallen off. I was crushed. I don't think it's any secret that I had high hopes for that little papaya.

I blame the papaya's death on the nefarious gnome that has been lurking in the planter as of late. Many people think that garden gnomes are innocent creatures, but I'm not so sure.

This little gnome has been making the rounds in our office as of late. More often than not, I'm the one who deposits him in my co-worker's tea cup or hides him in her heart-leafed philodendron. She recently planted him in my papaya pot, and I thought nothing of it. Now I wish I moved him along before he had a chance to sabotage my papaya.

Of course, the fact that the papaya fell off could be related to the fact that I repotted the plant, but I'm going to stick with my story of blaming the gnome.

The good news is that the papaya is getting ready to open one, if not two, new flowers. Fingers crossed that they'll bear fruit before the gnome comes for another visit!

Papaya progress

2009-03-30T14:38:00.004-04:00

Papaya dwarfs my desk
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

The papaya that I keep on my desk has been growing like crazy. It flowered a few weeks ago, as you may recall from my earlier blog post, and the resulting fruit just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Jen insisted that I blog again about the papaya's progress, so here goes.

Here's a photo of the fruit on March 11, about a week and a half after the flower first opened.

And here it is on March 30, the day it got transplanted.

I wanted to hold off on transplanting until the fruit had matured, but the plant just seemed like it couldn't wait any longer. I had a bit of trouble finding the right sized container. While the new pot may look huge, it really is the next size up. As you may recall, the previous container was tall and narrow. This was the only pot I found that was not only wider than the original pot but also deeper.

Here's a picture of Bart (who generously offered to help me) coaxing the papaya out of the old pot.

And here we are checking the height of the plant in the new container, before backfilling with potting media.

Finally, here is the plant after it was tucked into its new pot and given a thorough soaking.

Thanks again to Bart for his help!

Gardening at night

2009-03-24T14:35:00.001-04:00

Gardening at night
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

Last night was a busy gardening night. I stopped by Home Depot on my way home and picked up new pots for my papaya and bird of paradise, both of which desperately need to be transplanted. I was expecting to settle for pots that were boring or so-so, but their selection of colorful resin planters blew me away. And, they were even affordable.

Then I went home and started the new seeds I ordered, since they came in last week. Here's a picture of me misting them under the glow of the porch light. It made me think of that R.E.M. song that I used to like so much.

I do still like the song, but unfortunately it has been stuck in my head since last night. Don't you hate when that happens? My old trick for getting a song out of my head was to sing it to my sister, and then magically it would get stuck in her head. Hmm... maybe I'll have to give her a call today.

Weekend surprises

2009-03-23T14:04:00.003-04:00

New plants
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

I bought these plants this weekend at the Kanapaha Garden Festival. Both should be evergreen here in North Florida and will provide the bones that keep the front bed interesting through all four seasons.

I was told that the purplish-grey ones are Dyckia 'Silver Dragon' and the yellowish-green ones are Yucca aloifolia 'Variegata'.

I thought that the yuccas would only get 3-4' tall, or at least that's what the gal who sold them to me said. I looked them up once I got home and realized that I'm in for more than I bargained for. These are supposed to reach up to 7' tall! Gulp.

Looks like I should reevaluate where I was planning to put them. Maybe I'll put just one in front and save the other two for the back yard. Of course, I could put all three in the front bed and just create a fortress look!

I also need to double-check the identification on the bromeliad. I looked in the Bromeliad Society International online cultivar database and couldn't find mention of 'Silver Dragon'.

Either way, I do love this brom. It has fabulous purple foliage covered with silvery scales, which makes it so interesting to look at. And isn't that orange flower spike luscious, especially in contrast with the purple? Oh yes, mine will be a colorful garden.

And funky, too. Check out the bench I also bought at the show. I'm calling it a funkified Adirondack chair.

I wasn't planning on buying a bench until later in the design process. In fact, I had dedicated all of my current budget to getting unique plants. But hey, sometimes life throws you unexpected surprises that are too perfect to pass up.

Heck, it even has built-in ledges for me to rest a beer on as I sit in the garden on warm summer evenings. The only thing missing is a built-in fan to keep me cool and push the mosquitoes away.

I may add a coat of colorful paint down the road, but that depends on how much color I get from the plant palette. A plain white bench might allow the plants to shine even brighter.

Picking plants

2009-03-18T11:46:00.004-04:00

Castor bean at Kanapaha Botanical Garden
Originally uploaded by Gardening in a Minute

Yesterday I ordered a bunch of seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds in preparation for planting the new bed in my front yard. Here is the list of the seeds I ordered, many of which are both edible and ornamental. Don't you love multi-tasking plants?

Gobbo di Nizzia Cardoon (AR103)
Garden Mix Castor Bean (FL280)
Double Purple Queen Datura (FL313)
Lime Green Nicotiana (FL521)
Mexican Sunflower (FL729)
Royal Purple Zinnia (FL806)
Lime Basil (HB103)
Cilantro (HB125)
Lemongrass (HB162)
Leonitis (HB167)
Hill Country Heirloom Red Okra (OK112)
Thai Red Roselle (RS101)
Green Zebra Tomato (TG103)
Cherokee Purple Tomato (TP101)
Japanese Black Trifele Tomato (TP107)
Striped Roman Tomato (T105)

I figured it would be cheaper to start some of my own plants from seed rather than buy established plants at a nursery. We'll see -- I guess it depends on how successful I am at growing plants from seed!

The tomatoes and cooking herbs will go in the backyard, and I may not end up using all of the others in the front bed. I just couldn't decide.

I do still plan to buy a few plants from the nursery to help give the front bed some good bones. I don't want it to look too empty in the winter. The options include:

Forest Pansy redbud
muhly grass
Bulbine frutescens (less winter hardy, but still pretty)
Yucca smalliana 'Bright Edge'
Ensete ventricosum 'Maurelii' or Ensete 'Tandarra Red' (both cold sensitive, but root hardy)
paddle plant (which apparently is actually Kalanchoe luciae and not Kalanchoe thrysiflora, as I had been calling it)

The next things to do are to make a sketch of the bed so that I know how the plants should be arranged and look into buying limerock that I can use to edge the bed.

March--Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

2009-03-16T14:19:00.001-04:00

(Apologies for the non-standard font. Blogger and I got into a fight today.)

As part of Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, here's a run-down of what's blooming in my garden right now.

Initiated by May Dreams Gardens, countless bloggers now participate in Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. They simply create a post on their blog to showcase what's blooming in their gardens and then link it to the current GBBD post at May Dreams Gardens. No rules. No requirements. Just good garden fun.

Orange

(click photo for larger image)

My sour orange tree is in full bloom and is generating the most heavenly scent imaginable. I sat in the backyard the other night after work, just drinking in the fragrance. Sometimes I wish I had a tastier type of orange, but the fragrance alone really does make the tree worthwhile.

'Spice and 'Louis Phillippe' Roses

(click photo for larger image)

My 'Spice' and 'Louis Philippe' roses are both blooming -- true to form for old garden roses. (Sorry this shot is slightly out of focus. I think I still had the camera set on macro.)

Azaleas

(click photos for larger image)

My azaleas are still blooming. Admittedly the one in the top photo could definitely use some pruning, but I wanted to wait until after it was done blooming.

Sweet viburnum

(click photo for larger image)

The sweet viburnum hedge on my property line is getting ready to bloom, which I'm not really looking forward to. Their "sweet" odor doesn't smell so sweet to me.

Camellia

(click photo for larger image)

The pink camellia is now flowering. It's nothing compared to what I saw in Dave's yard but it ain't half bad, especially considering that I don't give it any care.

Spiderwort

(click photo for larger image)

Many people consider this plant a weed, but I love it.

Bromeliad

(click photo for larger image)

Technically this bromeliad isn't blooming, but the throat did turn from green to red so I decided to post a photo anyway. And thanks to Tom who originally gave me this plant!

Loropetalum

(click photo for larger image)

And technically this loropetalum isn't blooming, but I just loved the new burgundy foliage so I had to take a picture.

Other plants blooming around town include dogwood and redbud, and Carolina jessamine.

A garden coach is a gal's best friend

2009-03-12T13:49:00.001-04:00

New landscape bed in front yard
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

I'm one of those gardeners who easily gets paralyzed by too many options. I've been known to sit and ponder what I should do with a certain corner of my yard for years, never to take action. But all this has changed -- I'm finally digging in!

This transformation is all thanks to my newly found garden coach, Erin. I first heard about garden coaches at the Garden Writers Association convention last fall.

I've got plenty of plant knowledge and DIY gumption, so I never felt like hiring a landscape designer was the right thing. But at the same time, I wasn't making any progress in transforming my yard. It turns out that a garden coach was exactly what I needed. Having someone else to bounce ideas off of has been a huge help and has lifted my decision paralysis.

Case in point: my front yard.

For years I talked about installing a bed that paralleled the street. I wanted less turf and more plants. And, I was tired of mowing around the pindo palm, so it really needed to be part of a bed. However, I had a hard time deciding what shape to make the bed. And I also had a hard time believing that my crude vision of a plant-filled bed could become a beautiful reality.

Enter Erin. She came over a few weeks ago after work. We looked at the yard and used a garden hose to lay out a few bed lines. We settled on something we both though looked good--a deep bed that left only a ribbon of grass that would lead the eye to the back corner of the yard.

We marked it off with surveyor's paint (image above) and then sprayed Roundup to kill the turf (or more truthfully, the weeds). It took awhile for the area to turn brown, but it finally has. I'll probably do another application before I install any plants.

And speaking of plants, I've got a list of contenders started. Of course, I have plenty of old plant lists collecting dust around my house. The problem has been that I never decide which ones I actually want to install. This time I'm going to run them by my garden coach and see what she thinks of my options. Problem solved!

But as long as we're talking plants, does anyone have any bold and beautiful plants that they think would work well? The bed stretches the length of the house. I need mostly shorter plants close to the driveway but can use some taller (10-12') plants on the other side of the pindo palm.

I already have the 'Queen Emma' crinum and would like to play off of its burgundy foliage. Some of the top candidates include Ensete (no surprise there), brugmansia, castor bean, silver saw palmetto, red zinnias, kniphofia, and 'Forest Pansy' redbud.

Oodles of camellias

2009-03-04T12:09:00.003-05:00

Camellia
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

My friend Dave knows that I dig gardening and sent me a text message to let me know that his camellia bushes were in bloom and suggested that I stop by to see them.

I stopped in after work today and was blown away. Dave must have close to 150 different camellia bushes tucked into his yard!

They were all there when he bought the house in the early 1990s. Apparently the house used to belong to Bill and Birdie Carroll (sp?). Dave says that Bill was a horticulture professor at UF, which explains all of the camellias.

At any rate, the place was just amazing. Dave let me take several blooms home, and I took a few photos of other ones around the yard.

Here are some close-up shots of the ones I took home, moving clockwise around the photo above. I don't know the cultivar names for any of them (sorry). You can click on each photo to see it bigger.

This one was cool because the variegation was so smooth--like when you work wet-on-wet with watercolors.

This one was jam-packed full of petals. At first I thought it was a cluster of several flowers, but it really is just one flower.

I think this one was my absolute favorite. It reminded me of a candy cane.

Here's another beautiful variegated variety.

And here's a deeper pink variegated variety.

I also took some photos while we were walking around his yard, though they're not that great. I took them with my phone and the light was fading, neither of which makes for great photos.

Here's another candy cane one.

And look at this one! It had red stamens! I've never seen anything like this before on a camellia.

I couldn't get over how uniformly the petals aligned on this one.

And here's one last vignette. Dave floats the blooms that fall to the ground in his birdbath, changing out the colors and styles of blooms as he sees fit.

Papaya in bloom

2009-03-02T13:51:00.003-05:00

papaya flower
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

My papaya plant is blooming! I'm so excited. It has had flower buds on it for about a month now, and one of them finally popped open on Friday. I noticed the flower just as I was getting ready to leave for the weekend.

I got this 'T.R. Hovey' papaya as a tissue culture plug over a year ago (thanks, Tom!). It sits on my desk right next to a window and gets direct light in the early morning and then indirect light the rest of the day. I water it regularly and fertilize it occasionally.

When I came in this morning, the flower petals had curled backward exposing the unique, antler-like structure that I think is the stigma (see it close up). I don't see any stamens (the male, pollen-bearing structures). My pictures in my Botany Illustrated book makes me think it's a unisexual flower, but then I'm not sure how it could bear fruit. Tom says it's a bisexual flower, which would make sense if it's able to produce fruit on its own.

Secretly, I think Tom envies my papaya. He left his papaya outside and it's looking somewhat sad right now, since the colder winter temps caused his plant to drop a lot of its leaves. Mine not only has flowers, but also plenty of leaves. For once I have out-gardened Tom!

Mardi Gras, meet Plant Nerd

2009-02-24T11:30:00.001-05:00

Mardi Gras costume -- Exotic Invasives Woman!
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

I've been accused of being a plant nerd before, but today I'm taking it to a new level.

I'm not in New Orleans this year for Mardi Gras, but that didn't stop me from celebrating in costume. I'm dressed as Exotic Invasives Woman, a superhero who seeks to rid the world (or at least my own backyard!) of exotic invasive species.

New Orleanians often choose costumes that have a humorous, timely, and/or satirical twist. I picked this costume because: A) I work full-time writing about gardening and telling people that they should remove exotic species from their yards; and B) my own yard has at least five different exotic invasive species growing in it (tuberous sword fern, nandina, air potato, elephant ear, and old world climbing fern).

Yes, I know. It's shameful. I've been trying to get rid of them, but it's a tedious process. So anyhow, I hope you get a laugh out of the costume.

You can click on the photo to see notes that include an explanation of each species. Or view the photo large for a closer look at the plants (though they're not 100% botanically accurate since I was stuck with what was available in the silk flowers section of Michael's).

Advance apologies to my co-workers if any parts of my costume fall off and propagate new plants!

February--Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

2009-02-17T14:00:00.001-05:00

(Apologies for the weird highlighted words. I accidentally deleted this post and had to recreate it from a cached Google version.)

February--Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

As part of Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, here's a run-down of what's blooming in my garden right now. We've had a few hard freezes since my January post, so there isn't as much blooming now.

Initiated by May Dreams Gardens, countless bloggers now participate in Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. They simply create a post on their blog to showcase what's blooming in their gardens and then link it to the current GBBD post at May Dreams Gardens. No rules. No requirements. Just good garden fun.

Camellia

(click photo for larger image)

My two camellia bushes are in the back corner of the yard so I have to remind myself to go check for blooms when the weather starts getting springlike. I headed out recently and lo and behold, the white camellia had started blooming. I brought a few blooms into the house so I could better enjoy them.

'Louis Phillippe' Rose

(click photo for larger image)

My 'Louis Philippe' rose is still blooming its heart out, despite the recent freezes. You gotta love a tough yet beautiful old garden rose like this.

Azalea

(click photo for larger image)

You may remember that my azaleas started blooming last month. The existing blooms got a bit burned byt he recent freezes. However, new blooms have opened and the plant is looking pretty good.

Well, that's all that's blooming in my yard for now. The redbud trees are starting to pop around town, but I don't have one in my yard. Yet. I've been coveting the 'Forest Pansy' and 'Hearts of Gold' cultivars. I think I'll add one of these two within the next several years since I'm so ga-ga for them.

Other plants blooming around town include dogwood and Walter's viburnum. You can see photos of Walter's viburnum on Tom's latest blog post.

Winter's still here

2009-02-05T14:20:00.003-05:00

We were forecast to have a low of 16 °F last night. When I got to work this morning, the orchard by my office was again a land of ice.

I don't know about you, but all this ice makes me want to curl up with a cup of hot tea and wait for spring! But hey, at least I don't have to deal with ice on my driveway like those poor people up north. Oh wait, was I gloating? Sorry.

Florida-style winter wonderland

2009-01-21T10:05:00.004-05:00

Last night it was supposed to drop into the 20s for anywhere between eight and twelve hours. Needless to say, I didn't bother to cover my plants. If you've been reading this blog you know I ascribe to the "tough love" gardening philosophy. Plus I'd gotten a bit complacent -- the previous freezes that were forecast hadn't hurt anything in the yard. Not so this time. Here's the body count:

Crinum in front yard

Backyard bed

This hibiscus doesn't look too bad in the photo, but it has that distinct droopy look in person. It was definitely zapped.

I meant to pull in my white bird of paradise but forgot. Thankfully it looks unharmed.

And finally, here are some shots of the orchard that I drive by every day on my way to the office. Isn't it magical? This is the first time I've seen them ice it down. I guess they were worried about the blooms and new growth that had started to appear on the peach and plum trees. The icicles remind me of a winter wonderland! (Click on the photos to see them bigger.)

Morning jewels

2009-01-19T11:31:00.004-05:00

The last several days have been cold, at least by Florida standards. But a warm front pushed in last night and triggered some rain showers. When I woke up my yard was shrouded in fog and the plants looked like they were covered in diamond dust as the morning sunlight danced through the residual water droplets. I had to snap a few photos before heading in to work. As much as I'm a night person, I really do love morning moments like this.

January -- Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

2009-01-15T08:07:00.004-05:00

As I said in my last post, it's the quiet season in my garden. That being said, there are a surprising number of things blooming. We had some cold snaps back in October and November (kind of early for us), so I didn't really expect much to be blooming until spring hit. However, we did have some warmer temperatures in recent weeks so perhaps the plants all think that spring is here. At any rate, here's what's blooming.

Fragrant olive

Ah, this has got to be one of my favorite plants in the garden. Sure, it's not the most attractive -- it's tall, and spindly, reminding me of a Charlie Brown Christmas tree. But boy, does it smell wonderful. It's amazing that such tiny flowers can pump out so much sweet, intoxicating aroma. If you live in Zones 7B-9B and don't have one in your yard, I highly recommend putting one in--especially by a front door or walkway where you'll catch a whiff of it when you pass by.

Beach sunflower

I transplanted a few scrawny plants from the office into this bed back in March. They've really filled in and have been blooming non-stop ever since. In fact, I might have to thin them out if the predicted freezes don't take care of this for me.

'Louis Phillippe' Rose

Sigh. What can I say about this rose? I do nothing to it and it rewards me by blooming yearround with its spicy blooms. Amazing.

Saucer magnolia

This pretty magnolia is tucked into the back corner of my yard, so some years I hardly notice its blooms. Thankfully, I spotted it this year. It bloomed last year around the same time. It's also sometimes called a Japanese magnolia.

Glorybower

This vine is still going strong. It usually gets fried by cold temperatures, but I guess my yard has somehow been spared from the colder temperatures that Tom has had at his house.

Sandanqua Viburnum

I'm not particularly fond of this bush, but it's a respectable foundation plant in my front yard so I'll leave it there for now. Interestingly, it emits a skunky smell when pruned.

Azalea

These poor little blooms will likely get zapped later this week if the temperature drops into the upper 20s for two consecutive nights, as predicted.

Sandhill cranes

2009-01-09T13:12:00.003-05:00

Sandhill cranes
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

I couldn't resist posting this. Sandhill cranes are absolutely one of my favorite things about North Florida winters. Groups of sandhill cranes migrate to our area to overwinter, camping out on the various fields and prairies (though there are populations of sandhill cranes that are permanent residents).

All this week, we've been seeing a group of about eight cranes on the field in front of our office. What a treat to be greeted by them each morning as I drive in! Today I snapped a few photos of them. They mostly spend their time scratching around looking for something to eat. Then when I left at lunch, they had moved to other side of the road where several had laid down and appeared to be napping. Sorry--no photos of that.

At any rate, our whole office group is pretty much in love with these beautiful birds. Sarah also blogged about sandhill cranes. Scroll down to the bottom of this post for a link to audio clips of their unique and beautiful calls.

Northern looks for Southern climates

2009-01-07T14:09:00.014-05:00

Holy moly it's been a long time since I posted! Please forgive me! I know many people get busy around the holidays, and I feel like I got wrapped up in the whirlwind earlier than most. Plus there hasn't been much going on in my own garden worth blogging about. But I'm back and I have some cool new plants to share with you.

Y'all may remember that I was in love with the phormiums that I saw in Portland. However, my friend and garden coach Erin told me that they won't grow here since our humid weather falls in the summer rather than the winter. Boo.

But Athens Select has introduced great phormium alternatives that they say are guaranteed to take the heat, humidity, and general punishment that the South serves up. Meet Pennisetum purpureum 'Prince' and P. purpureum 'Princess.' They're a cute couple, don't you think? (Zones 8-11, full sun, 2-6' tall)

Athens Select also has some great hibiscus varieties that look like Japanese maple--another plant that Northerners whine about not being able to grow once they relocate to Florida. Check out Hibiscus acetosella 'Panama Bronze' and H. acetosella 'Panama Red'. (Zones 8-11, full sun, 3-4' tall)

You can read more about these plants here (click on the links in the left sidebar once the page loads).

They're gone

2008-10-27T15:42:00.003-04:00

Forgive the lack of photo on this post, but there's a good reason. Remember those io moth caterpillars that I said were disappearing?. Indeed, they're gone (hence the lack of photo). They didn't seem large enough to be ready to pupate, but who knows. Or maybe one of those huge crows that haunts our office gobbled them up. Who knows. I guess that's the way nature works.

A few (more) of my favorite things, Part III

2008-10-24T17:42:00.002-04:00

Phormium is big in Portland, as I mentioned in the last Portland post. In fact, we saw it at both of the private gardens we toured in Northeast Portland. We were supposed to be able to see six urban gardens, but there were major problems with scheduling and the buses -- don't get me started.

Our first stop was at Darcy's Bloomtown garden. Like many Portland gardeners, Darcy had removed her front lawn in favor of more plants. Amen, sister!

Curbside bed as seen from front garden
Look at how many plants she packed into a narrow, four-foot wide space!

Phormium
Love that color!

Colorful combo

Clever garden gate

Now on to Nancyland! Nancy also removed her front lawn in favor of plants, but not before adding this humorous homage that made me believe that Nancy was my kind of gardener:

Nancy also included a recycled window as a garden gate. Note the nice detail of the marbles along the top edge.

Indeed, Nancy's garden spoke to me in so many ways. It was chock full of interesting art and recycled materials.

Impromptu sculpture

Bold color

Clever planters

And last but not least, humor
This says, "My garden kicks ass" in Latin. I couldn't have said it better myself!

To see all of the photos that I took at Nancyland, click here.

--------

Update: As requested, here's the dinosaur I spotted in the garden but didn't originally post. He's kind of small, but still quite fierce.

Safe garden voyeurism

2008-10-23T17:32:00.010-04:00

Gardeners like to enjoy their own gardens, but they also love a chance to peek at what their neighbors are doing. Occasionally, this lands a gardener in a sticky situation. At the recent Garden Writers Association conference, I learned of a safe way to get glimpse what's blooming in other garden bloggers' yards through Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day (thanks, Dee).

Initiated by May Dreams Gardens, countless bloggers now participate in Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. They simply create a post on their blog to showcase what's blooming in their gardens and then post in the comment box of the GBBD post at May Dreams Gardens. No rules. No requirements. Just good garden fun.

So here's my first go, albeit a day late.

I'm happy to announce that the crinum in the backyard is blooming. You may remember that this is the one that was affected by spider mites. You can still see a bit of the damaged foliage in the picture. The mites have reappeared, but I treated promptly so all seems fine.

Crinum procerum var. splendens 'Queen Emma'

The Camellia sasanqua by my carport also popped open its first two blooms of the season. It always surprises me. Most of the year it's a stately evergreen shrub and them boom! Once fall arrives it's covered in pink blossoms.

Camellia sasanqua (unknown variety)

The Phillippine violet is also in bloom. This one was given to me by Dr. Bob, one of the other Master Gardeners who trained with me last fall. Thanks, Bob! It really is a great plant.

Barleria cristata

The clerodendrum at the front of the carport has been blooming all summer and continues to do so. Here's an interesting point about this plant. I had heard that it could be overly aggressive, though I'd never had any problems with it. No problems, that is, until I dug around in that bed to remove the invasive sword fern that was growing there and to add a few crinum bulbs I bought at Home Depot. Now the clerodendrum is putting up shoots as if its life depended on it!

Clerodendrum thomsoniae

And finally, the pinecone ginger flower stalks have turned a fabulous red. I cut a few of them so that I could enjoy them in the house.

Zingiber zerumbet

"So they all rolled over and one fell out"

2008-10-23T10:47:00.002-04:00

Lone io moth caterpillar
Originally uploaded by Gardening in a Minute

Do you remember that nursery rhyme that used to go like this?

There were ten in the bed and the little one said
Roll over!
Roll over!
So they all rolled over and one fell out.

I was thinking of this yesterday when I left the office and then again when I came in this morning. Why? Because those cute little io moth caterpillars are already dwindling in number. When I left last night there were only six.

This morning there was only one.

Did they get tired of being snuggled up against their brothers and sisters? Did the little one ask them to all roll over? Or did some bird come and whisk a few of them away for a snack? Who knows. I keep hoping they're hiding under a leaf and I just didn't see them, but I doubt it.

On an interesting note, the redbud tree they were on is already showing flower buds. Seems a bit early since it's now October and these trees normally flower in the spring. Wonder what's going on there.

They're baaaack!

2008-10-22T11:19:00.003-04:00

It looks like we've got a fresh crop of io moth caterpillars on one of the redbud trees outside the office. Jen noticed them last night as she was leaving work. This time they're on the opposite tree from the last group of io caterpillars that were here in August.

I watched them for a little bit this morning. There are nine of them this time, and they're all clumped on a single branch. Funny. I wonder if they like to be around their brothers and sisters. I think they'll have to pick a new branch soon -- the one they're on is darn near defoliated.

It will be interesting to see how long this batch stays before they disappear. The last batch was around for maybe two weeks before they all vanished. I assume they pupated, but I never did see any coccoons, apparently because they leave the host plant in order to pupate.

A few of my favorite things, Part II

2008-10-21T17:19:00.001-04:00

It's no wonder that Kniphofia is commonly called red hot poker. It is definitely a hot plant! I included a shot of one variety in my last post, and this post will have even more.

We saw several varieties of Kniphofia--as well as oodles of other great plants--at Joy Creek Nursery while in Portland for the Garden Writers Association conference.

Kniphofia, variety #1

Kniphofia, variety #2

I don't claim to know what varieties these are, but you can check the Joy Creek Nursery online catalog for all of the varieties they offer for sale.

They also had a great selection of ornamental grasses.

Japanese Blood Grass (I think)
If this is what I think it is, it's supposed to grow in Zones 5-9. I don't know about its heat zone tolerance.

Miscanthus sinensis 'Gold Bar'
This plant was amazing and I am definitely making room for it in my garden. It should grow fine here in North Central Florida, from what I've heard.

Variegated Yucca
This looks a bit like an ornamental grass, but it's actually a yucca. I liked it so much that I might have to find a spot for it in my garden. I think it would look nice next to one of my 'Queen Emma' crinums.

Trachelospermum asiaticum'Ogon Nishiki'
And speaking of variegation, this variegated Asiatic jasmine was unlike any I've seen. I wonder if it would do well here in Florida?

Apple tree

I couldn't resist taking a shot of this beautiful apple tree that was spilling its bounty onto the ground. It made me nostalgic for the apples that Jenny and I would buy at the farmers' market in Northampton when we were in college. Sure, we have apples at the supermarkets here in Florida, but we just don't get the diversity that I used to see at the farmers' market there. The only northern apples we ever see here at the markets are 'Rome' and 'McIntosh'. Oh well. I guess it's the trade-off I pay for living in an otherwise blissful place where I don't have to shovel snow.

A few of my favorite things, Part I

2008-10-17T16:57:00.001-04:00

Dahlias? Done that. What else did I see in Portland that was worth blogging about? Here's the first of several posts with the best things I saw in Portland.

Hands down, Cistus Nursery on Sauvie Island has to be the most fantastical nursery that I've ever seen. If you're ever in the Portland area and have a taste for exotic or unusual plants, you simply must stop in for a visit. How you squeeze all of the plants you crave into your luggage is something that I will leave up to you.

Sign behind service counter

Pindo palm
Click the photo to read the funny story behind where this palm came from.

Phormium and ferns
Phormium plants are striking and appeared in almost every garden we visited in the Portland area. Apparently they like the dry summers and moist, mild winters. I've heard they would melt in hot, wet summers in Florida, but I haven't tried growing them myself.

Yucca and agave

Kniphofia

Brugmansia
This brugmansia appeared with many other tender plants in the Cistus Nursery "Zonal Denial" room.

Cannas
How could I resist?

Did I mention how tall these cannas were? Given, I'm only 5'2" so I'm not the best scale, but these must have been 12 or 15 feet tall. I believe that the tallest ones with the small orange flowers were 'Omega', but I'm not certain.

To see all photos I took at Cistus Nursery, click here.

Nature's gems

2008-10-16T16:38:00.002-04:00

While walking from my car to my office this morning I was greeted by dozens of little jewels glistening in the grass. They were itty bitty spiderwebs. I'm guessing that they're always there, and that I only noticed them today because we had a particularly foggy morning. It's amazing the little surprises that nature can hold. What amazing things have you seen recently in your garden?

P.S. And yes, I promise to add more photos of garden goodness from my trip to Portland! I've just been busy with other work-related projects.

Dahlias for the South

2008-10-10T11:19:00.005-04:00

So do you have dahlia lust after seeing all those photos from my trip? I sure do. Now I just have to figure out how to grow them.

I went online to see what I could find about growing dahlias in the South. Apparently there isn't a Florida dahlia society, but I did find the Web site for the Georgia Dahlia Society. It included some great information about dahlias that grow well in the South.

I'm going to join the Georgia Dahlia Society. It's only $27 and you get the newsletter, mentoring from an advanced dahlia grower, $10 in dahlia bucks that you can use at their tuber sales, and much more. What a deal!

Dahlia jackpot

2008-10-02T11:34:00.004-04:00

Art Redfern tending his dahlias in Corvallis
Originally uploaded by Gardening in a Minute

After the Garden Writers Association conference, I stayed a few extra days in Oregon visiting with my friend Jenny. We walked to the grocery store one night and discovered the mother lode of dahlias, right there in her suburban neighborhood. Needless to say I was intrigued. I even tweeted about it on Twitter.

Emily, Tom and Erin all know how smitten I am with dahlias. I mean, how can you not love flowers that are so richly colored and so beautifully formed? They also feature prominently in the bold gardens of Christoper Lloyd, Sarah Raven and others--the gardens I'd love to emulate.

I admired the yard each time Jenny and I walked to the store, but it wasn't until my last day in Corvallis that I stopped by with my camera. Lo and behold, the gardener himself was out in the yard.

I found out that his name is Art Redfern and that he has been growing dahlias for more than 20 years. He got started with dahlias because his wife's father had grown them. Art now grows more than 250 different dahlia varieties. Wow.

I had a feeling he was growing lots of different types since they're all arranged in gridded beds with plant ID tags.

The East Bed

The West Bed

ID Tag

It was quite an impressive operation for someone who does this as a hobby. And of course, the dahlias themselves were equally impressive.

After I'd chatted with Art for awhile and said that I really ought to be getting back, he asked if I'd like a bouquet to take with me. Well yeah... of course! Like I'm going to turn that offer down!

Jenny came around the corner at this time, no doubt wondering where I had disappeared to. By the time Art was done cutting, Jenny and I both had our arms full of dahlias. You can see all of the ones he gave us in this photo. And yes, they really are that big.

In fact, the large pink one in the center was bigger than my head! Art told us that it's called 'Elsie Huston' and that it's a repeat prize winner at dahlia shows. No surprise there.

It would be a lot of work, but I just might have to see if I could grow some dahlias at home. I know they need a good, rich soil and lots of moisture. Our native soil wouldn't work, but maybe I could amend the soil with bags of composted cow manure or try growing the dahlias in containers. Who knows--maybe I could become the dahlia queen of Florida!

If you're interested in learning more about dahlias, Art recommends the Colorado Dahlia Society.

Now that's my kind of Zone 8!

2008-09-23T00:41:00.005-04:00

The garden tours that we've been going on with GWA2008 have been amazing, save a few logistical snafus. Yesterday we visited Terra Nova Nurseries, which even had cannas and bananas. Can you guess how excited I was?

Apparently they don't sell much of these -- their bread and butter are plants like echinacea, heuchera, and tiarella--most of which won't do well back home). But I was ecstatic to see Zone 8 plants that would work in my Zone 8 garden. So excited, in fact, that I made Emily take my picture in front of said plants.

I've taken hundreds of photos since I got here, but uploading them has been a tedious process. I promise that I'll blog more about all of the fabulous things I've seen once I get home and have a faster internet connection.

And yes, for you punctuation police out there, I am aware that I continue to use exclamation points in my blog post titles. Can I help it that I'm excited about all these cool plants I'm seeing? Did I mention that I have the coolest job ever?

The other Zone 8

2008-09-21T11:02:00.003-04:00

We spent yesterday afternoon touring gardens in Northeast Portland. Our Florida gang really enjoyed seeing the gardens and marveled about all of the plants that grow here but don't grow at home, even though both Gainesville and Portland are in Zone 8.

I was drooling over all of the gorgeous dahlias that we saw in every garden we visited. If only I could grow these! Every time I've bought dahlias at home they've died before I could even get them in the ground.

I've got oodles more photos, so I'll be posting more later. Stay tuned.

Greetings from Portland!

2008-09-20T11:41:00.001-04:00

Landscape bed in front of conference hotel
Originally uploaded by Gardening in a Minute

After a looooong day of travel, our group arrived safely in Portland for the Garden Writers Association annual conference. The air here is decidedly cooler and very refreshing, which I find especially helpful given my post-travel grogginess.

This picture is from the planting bed in front of our hotel. The plant palette here is very different from what we have back home in Florida and wonderful to look at. I'll no doubt have more pictures to share after I come back from this afternoon's garden tours.

The educational sessions also start today, and the trade show will wrap up this evening. Here's a shot of Tom Wichman talking to a conference attendee at the FNGLA booth.

The best job ever!

2008-09-12T12:16:00.001-04:00

Deck at McMayhill & Baker home
Originally uploaded by Gardening in a Minute

Have I ever mentioned how much I love my job? I get to do such cool things, like attend the annual Garden Writers Association conference next week. Woo-hoo!

Last year's conference was chock full of sessions that offered great information on garden writing. Plus, I got to attend some absolutely fabulous garden tours. Here's a sampling of the photos I took on the garden tours during last year's conference. If my garden looked like these then I'd be set! You can view the whole set on Flickr.

This year's conference is being held in Portland and promises to be equally great. I'll do my best to blog from the conference so that you can see the great gardens too.

Is anyone else out there planning to attend the conference?

Final Fay update

2008-08-28T15:31:00.002-04:00

Injured crinum
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

The south winds from Tropical Storm Fay snapped a few leaves on the 'Queen Emma' crinum in the front yard. It should be fine, but it doesn't look quite as pretty now. I'm hoping this one will bloom again soon.

And before Fay left Florida, it dumped some additional rain on us. Some of the final feeder bands were more intense than the main storm was. Emily blogged about the flooding in her yard. I also got a bit of flooding, but it cleared up within a day.

Low spot in backyard:

Outside my front door:

The Trouble with Water Oaks

2008-08-22T18:50:00.001-04:00

Fallen Water Oak Limb
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

The big problem with water oaks is that they don't hold up well in storms. Case in point--Tropical Storm Fay just knocked this large limb out of a water oak in my yard.

Even more exciting was the giant water oak that cracked open in my neighbor's backyard, snapping the power pole as it went down. Needless to say, the other side of the street doesn't have power right now.

Indeed, the experts at UF/IFAS agree that water oaks have their drawbacks: "The tree often begins to break apart just as it grows to a desirable size."

These trees, known botanically as Quercus nigra, are fairly common here in North Florida. They're fine in natural areas, but they aren't as suited for neighborhood settings because they pose a hazard during serious storms.

I'm pretty sure that the one in my yard was a volunteer since it's growing straight out of an azalea bush along my property line. I've thought of cutting it down but just hadn't wanted to spend the money. We'll see. Maybe I'll have a certified arborist come give me an opinion about removing the tree.

Sick crinum update -- mites!

2008-08-12T11:43:00.002-04:00

Sick crinum update (normal photo)
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

Here's what my crinum is looking like these days. A few of the leaves have fallen off since the last shot. I talked with a few people about the office about its decline and Tom suggested it could be spider mites.

Bingo! I had seen some webs on the plant but had assumed they were from beneficial spiders. When I looked more closely, sure enough, there were spider mites on the undersides of the leaves. Apparently they were sucking the plant dry.

It was too late that night to take chemical measures, so I blasted the plant with the hose, which is often a good first line of defense against insects. Then later I treated the plant with a pyrethrin-based insecticide. I would have preferred an oil-soap spray, but I happened to have the other product handy.

I'll reinspect in a few days and see if the mites have disappeared. If not, I'll need to treat them again.

Io moth caterpillars

2008-08-07T11:12:00.002-04:00

Io moth caterpillars
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

While walking in from lunch yesterday, I noticed that the 'Forest Pansy' redbud at our office had some serious munch marks. I flipped over the leaves and, lo and behold, there were several io moth caterpillars hiding out.

I just love the color of these caterpillars--almost an electric lemon-lime color--so I like to get close and really admire them. But it's best not to touch--they have stinging spines on their bodies (see the tufts?), so it's a good idea not to touch them.

Caterpillars typically go through several stages before pupating and turning into moths or butterflies. These caterpillars are probably first instars, based on their markings. In time, they'll develop into io moths.

Sick crinum?

2008-08-02T13:17:00.005-04:00

Sick crinum?
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

I think one of my 'Queen Emma' crinums is sick. (Note: I'm not entirely sure they're 'Queen Emma' crinums--it's just my best guess based on the foliage and flowers.)

The first thing I noticed is that all the little pups around its base turned ghostly pale and shriveled up. You can see the papery remains of some of the pups, plus a few that are hanging on in their current pallid state.

Don't be confused by the bright green leaves you see at the base--those are actually two bromeliads and aren't baby crinums.

Now the foliage on the main plant is discoloring. Some of the older leaves have severe yellowing along the margins, along with some rust coloration.

The youngest leaves in the center of the plant look like someone sucked the color out of them. They're looking rather pinkish. I guess if they're losing chlorophyll, then the red pigments that naturally appear in this variety would be more visible.

I'm going to do some research online to see if I can get to the bottom of this. Anyone else out there reading this post have any clues?
----------
NOTE: It seems that spider mites might be the culprit. I posted an update here.

Spider lily

2008-07-28T15:35:00.002-04:00

Spider lily
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

For years I cursed this plant, dubbing it the amaryllis that never bloomed. It finally bloomed, proving me wrong on two counts. Apparently it's a spider lily (Hymenocallis latifolia) and not an amaryllis.

It's not entirely surprising that I didn't know what it was. The plant tagged along for the ride when I transplanted a huge coontie plant from a friend's yard to my own. I didn't want to try digging the bulb out of the coontie, so I let it be. More than five years later, I finally know what sort of bulb it is.

This is a good example of why the experts tell you not to rip things out when you move into a new house. If you can't be sure of a plant's identity, you never know what surprises might await you!

Weeds!

2008-07-25T10:30:00.002-04:00

Weeds!
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

Yesterday I spent part of the afternoon weeding the beds in front of the office. Don't worry--I didn't pull all of these myself! I'm dedicated, but I'm not THAT dedicated.

We had about eight people who turned out to help, though Erin, Georgia, Tom and I were the only ones to stay until the project was done. We ended up with a pile that was about two feet tall by three feet wide by six feet long. I find great pleasure in watching weeds wilt on the sidewalk after I've pulled them. It's as if I'm saying to them, "Ha! Take that! You thought you were so clever but I won this battle!"

We celebrated our victory by enjoying ice cream back inside where the air conditioning was blissfully cool. And I must say, the bed looks so nice now! I smiled as I walked by it this morning.

Last harvest?

2008-07-14T23:37:00.001-04:00

Tomato
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

This is perhaps the last tomato that I'll eat this season from my garden. The wet weather has caused many of them to split before they fully ripen. Even this one wasn't totally ripe -- you can see the white, fibrous area near the core.

There are a few green tomatoes left on the vine. We'll see how well they ripen up. The rest of the plant is looking pretty tired -- the leaves are rolling and yellowing. As much as I love to eat homegrown tomatoes, I think I'm done doting on this plant.

Canna in bloom

2008-07-02T01:34:00.002-04:00

'Tropicana' canna in bloom
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

Guess what's blooming in my garden? My 'Tropicana' canna! It's not as tall as I usually see cannas getting, but I guess that because I started this one from a bulb (or is it a corm? a rhizome? my botanical terms fail me at this point in the evening). In the past, most cannas that I've had in my yard have come as transplants, already nice and tall in their one-gallon pots. My other cannas are doing well with putting out foliage, but none of them have started flowering yet.

EDIT: Apparently this is not a 'Tropicana' variety, but I don't know what it is.

Caterpillars

2008-06-21T20:09:00.002-04:00

Southern armyworm caterpillar on my tomato plant
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

I found a big brown caterpillar on my tomato plant today and went trolling on the Internet to find out what it was. Apparently, it's a southern armyworm (Spodoptera edidania).

I've actually seen a lot of small caterpillars skeletonizing the leaves of my tomato. Apparently, they're the younger larval instars of this guy. Most caterpillars go through several larval instar stages, which can make it difficult for folks like me to definitively identify them. This guy's darker coloration suggests that he (or she) is a later instar stage.

Speaking of identifying caterpillars, it looks like I misidentified this caterpillar. It's actually a tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta) and not a tomato hornworm (Manduca quinquemaculata). Tomato hornworms have eight white V-shaped markings on their side while tobacco hornworms have seven diagonal white lines.

RIP cherry tomato plant

2008-06-20T19:16:00.002-04:00

Dead cherry tomato before removal
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

My cherry tomato plant finally bit the dust. I had been holding off on posting for awhile because I wanted to be able to brag about how well my tomatoes were doing. Alas. One is still plugging along ('Hillbilly'), but the other is dead ('Black Cherry').

You can see the remains of its crispy brown skeleton in the left half of the container. I'm still not sure what killed it. The leaves started wilting quickly and then turned brown and crunchy. The stems also changed, losing their solid feel and changing to a hollow feel. There are a number of different things that can cause wilt in this neck of the woods. I guess I'll never know the official cause of death.

The amazing thing is that the tomatoes that were on the vine continued to ripen. I think I ended up with three dozen or more 'Black Cherry' tomatoes all told. Yum!

I removed the plant from the container this week to give the remaining 'Hillbilly' tomato plant more room to breathe. It seems to be working. The long-green tomatoes are now starting to blush. Can't wait to taste those.

Tomato harvest

2008-06-16T12:52:00.003-04:00

Tomato harvest
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

It's finally time to harvest some tomatoes!

These are 'Black Cherry' tomatoes that I planted as transplants in a self-watering container. I think I got about two dozen tomatoes off the plant. And yes, they are delicious! I ate some with my dinner salad last night and am eating the rest now on my lunch salad.

These are actually the first tomatoes that I've ever grown all by myself. We had a big garden when I was a kid, but my parents did all the hard work.

The sad news is that the tomato plant itself is pretty much dead. I think it got wilt, because all of a sudden the leaves started shrivelling up and turning brown. The stems seemed to rot, too. If I squeezed them, they felt hollow. However, the tomatoes kept ripening so I left the plant alone.

The other tomato plant in the container seems to be doing fine, so perhaps it's resistant. Let's hope so. I can't wait to sample those tomatoes, too.

Scout early and often

2008-05-23T14:21:00.008-04:00

Tomato hornworm caterpillar on my tomato plant
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

I've been checking my tomato plants almost daily to see how they're progressing (lots of baby tomatoes!) and also to check for signs of diseases and pests. This week I found my first tomato hornworm caterpiillar.

Well, to be truthful, I found the frass first. Frass, you ask? Well, it's just a fancy word for caterpillar poop. It's usually easy to spot because it's dark and stands out strongly against the leaves, unlike the caterpillars themselves which tend to blend in. For a close-up of the frass, click here.

I scoured the tomato bushes and found four young caterpillars and quickly introduced them to the bottom of my shoe. This is the first line of defense (pick and squash) if you're using integrated pest management. My next step was going to be treating the plants with Bacillus thuringiensis, a microbial insecticide, but I was unable to purchase it at my local big box store during last night's late shopping trip. Darn those big box stores.

My tomatoes have shown other signs of pest damage, namely leaf miners, but I haven't treated them because leaf miners usually don't cause major problems. Tomato hornworms, on the other hand, have voracious appetities. No way I'm leaving those buggers on my prized tomatoes.

Update 6/21/08: it looks like I misidentified this caterpillar. It's actually a tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta) and not a tomato hornworm (Manduca quinquemaculata). Tomato hornworms have eight white V-shaped markings on their side while tobacco hornworms have seven diagonal white lines.

Four O'Clocks

2008-05-09T19:33:00.002-04:00

Four O'Clocks
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

My four o'clocks started blooming this week! Apparently, they thrive on neglect.

A co-worker gave them to me last year as volunteers he had pulled from his own yard and placed in pots with our native sandy soil. They are a classic passalong plant here in the South, in part because they self-seed so readily.

I pretty much ignored them all year, except for stopping to inhale their intoxicating fragrance from time to time. Once our cold weather set in (yes, I know it's still mild by northern standards), the plants died back. I wondered how they'd fare since they're technically annuals, but was hoping they'd come back since I had heard that they create large, underground tubers.

Sure enough! The foliage sprang up a month or so ago and now I'm graced with flowers. One of my other co-workers views four o'clocks as weeds. I disagree. I think they're wonderful. We're so lucky in the South to have such amazing weeds.

Beautiful blooms

2008-05-09T10:24:00.002-04:00

'Hillbilly' tomato blossoms
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

My tomato plants are flowering -- yay! I can hardly wait for them to produce fruit.

I haven't seen any bees pollinating the flowers yet. My understanding is that tomato flowers are self-pollinating but require the vibration of bee wings in order for the pollen to shake free from the anthers and pollinate the stigma. Just in case any bees don't come along, I jiggled the flowers with my fingertip. We'll see if this is helpful or if I'm being an overprotective tomato parent. I want my tomatoes!

Also, can you see the water droplets on the leaves in the background? Every morning when I come out to check on my tomato plants there are these beautiful water droplets along the edges of the leaves They're like little jewels the way they catch the morning light. I guess they're the result of the moisture the leaves have accumulated from a hard day of evapotranspiring. I imagine that the liquid makes its way to the leaf margins as the night progresses. Then once the sun rises each morning, the droplets are melted away by the sun's warmth, only to have the cycle begin again. Pretty amazing.

Succulent dish

2008-04-27T11:45:00.001-04:00

Succulent dish
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

Yesterday was supposed to be dedicated to getting work done that I brought home from the office, but I just couldn't resist getting my hands a little dirty.

I put together this succulent dish with some plants I picked up Friday night at Home Depot -- my favorite is the furry, chocolate-colored Kalanchoe on the left.

I had been wanting to create a succulent dish for some time now. I have a spot on my porch that just seemed to be screaming for one. We'll see how the plants fare -- the spot may not be sunny enough for their liking.

Free plant Friday!

2008-04-26T11:35:00.000-04:00

Free plant Friday!
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

Sometimes at work we get free plants, and Friday was one of those days.

I think the plants are typically leftovers from the trial garden installation or from research studies. Honestly, it doesn't matter to me. Look at all these great plants!

I got to take home five flats of six-inch pots, which probably would've cost me close to $200 at a nursery. I'm planning to install them in the beds I've been renovating.

You can't beat homegrown

2008-04-20T13:54:00.000-04:00

Tomatoes!
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

So I finally got around to planting the tomato plants that I bought at the Kanapaha Garden Festival. They're heirloom varieties called 'Hillbilly' (left) and 'Black Cherry' (right).

I wanted to have one indeterminate and one determinate variety for my first tomato-growing experiment. The idea is that the indeterminate plant ('Hillbilly') will give me some big, sandwich-worthy tomatoes in the beginning of the season, though it's likely to poop out once temperatures climb. The determinate plant ('Black Cherry') should bear fruit throughout the summer that I can use on salads or in pasta dishes, quiches, or whatever.

I opted to use a self-watering container that I bought from Gardener's Supply Company, with the logic that I would never remember to water the tomatoes as often as they needed water (I'm kind of bad like that).

The container design is great, but the cage is another story. I cursed like a sailor while attempting to assemble it. The genius of the design is that it's several flat wire panels that can then be easily shipped. The giant flaw in the plan is that the plastic connectors that hold the wire frames together are poorly designed.

You're supposed to be able to snap the frames into the connectors, which is easier said than done. I dug a number of tools out of my kit -- pliers, zip ties, and electrical tape -- but still couldn't get it together the way the instructions indicated. Grrr. I finally used the electrical tape to secure the frames to the connectors. Hopefully it will hold up to the weight of a fully loaded tomato plant.

Also, I debated about putting both tomato plants in one container, since 'Hillbilly' is likely to get pretty big. We'll just have to wait and see how it goes. But boy am I anxious to have a bite of my first homegrown tomato!

Weedflower garden

2008-04-19T20:59:00.004-04:00

Backyard "weedflower" garden
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

My backyard is currently what I call a "weedflower garden," since it's covered with tons of native spiderwort plants that put out oodles of beautiful blue flowers each morning.

The yard didn't always look like this.

When I first moved in, it was your standard-issue suburban back yard with a decent covering of grass. I wasn't big on watering and fertilizing, so over time the weeds (as some people call them) began to take over. I really like the flowers produced by spiderwort, known botanically as Tradescantia virginiana, so I let them grow and bloom each spring. At least for awhile.

Soon I'll get serious again and mow down the "weeds," which will no doubt bring my neighbors great satisfaction. I think they believe that my backyard is a bad influence on their closely tended and well-manicured lawn. Oh well. At least I'm a good neighbor in other ways. I don't have a yippy dog, I don't throw loud parties, and I don't harass them for the invasive Chinese tallow tree that they have allowed to flourish in their front yard (although I should, especially since I'm always finding seedlings in my yard).

Spiderwort
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

Until I get motivated to mow, I'll continue to enjoy my weedflower garden. I like to gaze at the flowers from the kitchen door while sipping my morning coffee. I marvel at how the flowers seem to blanket the entire yard and at how the morning sunlight backlights the blue petals until they almost glow.

Getting ready for mulch

2008-04-03T12:22:00.003-04:00

Getting ready for mulch, step 2
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

I finally got all of my major plants in the ground in my back landscape bed and my spring bulbs have also popped up, so it's time for mulch.

Mulch is important in the Florida garden because it helps conserve moisture and keep weeds to a minimum.

I decided to lay a thick layer of newspaper underneath the mulch for extra help supressing weeds. The brown stuff you see on the newspaper is composted cow manure, as suggested by The Wicked Gardener -- it helps make the newspaper less noticeable if it peeks through the mulch, and it adds nutrients for the plants to use.

I'll post a photo once I get the rest of the bed mulched (I ran out of time and supplies).

Crispy lemon

2008-03-28T11:25:00.008-04:00

Crispy flowers
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

Bummer. My variegated lemon got fried in this week's cold snap.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I was out of town in Washington, D.C. When I watched the national weather on Tuesday morning I found out that the temperature in Tallhassee was 29 while it was 34 where I was in D.C. Gulp. I figured this was probably not good news for all the tender tropicals poking their heads up in my yard.

I spoke with a friend later in the afternoon who said that everything in his yard was fine. "Whew!" I thought to myself. I dodged that bullet.

But this morning proved me wrong. I was walking around the yard checking for damage. All the tender tropicals made it through, even though they're just tiny little plants trying to get established right now. Heck, even the Thailand Giant Colocasia that I planted just before I left town made it!

I discovered my little variegated lemon tree, which was a gift from a co-worker, all shrivelled up and crispy looking on my patio. Even the flowers were crunchy, which was double dissapointing since I had been looking forward to smelling them bloom and then to eating the fruit.

The interesting thing is that the lemon was right next to a pot of young banana plants, which made it through just fine. Maybe the orange was drier and thus more susceptible to frost/freeze damage? Maybe it got hit with the morning sun before the banana did and that's why it got crispy?

Oh well. The trunk seems to be okay, so I'm guessing the plant will drop its leaves and put out a new flush. In the long run, all will probably be fine.

And for those of you hankering for photos of traditional spring flowers (cherry blossoms, hyacinth, tulips, etc), stay tuned. I'll be posting some photos from my D.C. trip soon.
------------
Update: So upon further inspection, I think the lemon might have succumbed to drought, not freeze. I forgot to water it before I left for D.C. and my best guess is that it dried out. I'm watering it now to see if it might come back. We'll see.

Nature vs. nature

2008-03-23T23:33:00.003-04:00

crocus
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

The squirrels are doing their best to curtail the bulb display in my sister's yard in the Washington, D.C., area.

I've been visiting with my sister and her husband over the holiday weekend. We did some yard work since the weather was so nice and noticed that several of the bulbs, like this crocus, seemed to have exploded. The leaves are still there but the flowers have been scattered about.

We also saw a number of small holes in the ground, but didn't know what was causing them. Until later.

Then we saw the ultimate taunt. Not only have the squirrels been eating the flowers, they're also uprooting the bulbs entirely and leaving them on the railing of the deck, as if to say, "You can plant all the pretty bulbs you want but we're just going to rip them out of the ground and treat them as edible delicacies." Damn squirrels.

And poor crocuses! I'll bet they were initially happy to be planted so lovingly in my sister's yard, thinking that they'd be destined for a life of suburban bliss. But no, not if the squirrels have anything to say about it. I guess this is a case of nature versus nature, with the squirrels ahead 1-0.

Bees and Bidens

2008-03-16T14:28:00.002-04:00

bees and bidens
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

Of all the things growing in my yard, Bidens alba is probably my least favorite.

The flowers aren't bad, but once the plant is done blooming it produces these sticky little seed pods, hence the name "common beggar's tick." I typically try to pull these out before they go to flower and set seed, but sometimes the plants get ahead of me.

Today I was lounging on my back patio working on a story I'm writing when I noticed that my pesky Bidens were attracting a number of honey bees.

As you may know, honey bees have been facing a number of challenges as of late, including colony collapse disorder.

Needless to say, I was encouraged to see so many of them flitting from flower to flower in my yard. It made me think that maybe I should leave the Bidens be, so as to provide a good food source for the bees. (Not to mention that this idea appeals to the lazy gardener in me.)

Apparently, one creature's weed is another creature's breakfast!

pollen

2008-03-14T13:47:00.002-04:00

pollen
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

Ugh. We have even more pollen floating around in the air. This time I think it's the oak trees that are the culprits. Many of us at the office have been experiencing symptoms -- post-nasal drip, sore throats, and congested sinuses.

I snapped this picture as we were heading to lunch today. We had experienced a light rain, and apparently it swept all the pollen from the parking lot into the gutter. Can you believe how thick it is? Sheesh.

Beach sunflower

2008-03-12T13:06:00.003-04:00

Beach sunflower
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

So we're not at the beach, but the garden in front of our office does boast a nice patch of beach sunflower, aka Helianthus debilis. This is the first one to show its cheery face this spring, so I thought I'd capture it for all of you who are still suffering under a blanket of snow.

A few weeks back, I transplanted a few seedlings from this patch to my own garden. They weren't looking so hot at first. Of course, this might be because I just yanked them out of the ground like a common weed and then threw them into my sandy, unenriched soil. But hey, anyone who knows my gardening style knows it's all about tough love. At any rate, the transplants finally stopped wilting and look like they're going to make it. I'll blog about them once they start blooming.

Canna!

2008-03-10T12:39:00.003-04:00

Canna peeking through the soil
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

My first canna of the season is popping its little head above the surface of the soil. I planted this 'Wyoming' canna on February 17, if memory serves me correctly. We've had two cold snaps since then, but they don't seem to have hindered this little guy's debut into the world.

The 'Wyoming' cannas have striking bronze/burgundy foliage and produce bright orange flowers -- a perfect look for a bold garden!

I also planted some 'Bengal Tiger' canna rhizomes (variegated yellow-green leaves and red flowers, also called 'Pretoria'), three Scadoxus multiflora corms (fabulous red globular flowers), three crinum bulbs (classic pale pink flowers), and some white/green caladiums.

All are in the ground, and so far the cannas and the scadoxus are the only ones popping up. I bought them all at my local Home Depot, but you can also get them through online retailers like Brent and Becky's Bulbs.

By the way, the purple rod you see to the right of the canna is a knitting needle. Since I'm planning to add more plants to the bed, I wanted to make sure that I'd know where I had planted the rhizomes so that I could avoid disturbing them if they were slow to pop up. I have a bunch of old knitting needles on hand, so I figured they'd work great. I was even able to color-code them -- the 'Wyoming' got a purplish-colored needle since it has somewhat purple foliage. If you don't have extra knitting needles at your house, you could also use skewers used for making shish kebabs. They're cheap and readily available at the supermarket.

Final cold snap

2008-03-08T12:40:00.003-05:00

There's a cold snap forecasted for tonight. The weather folks say it will get down to 33 degrees (F) but I'm going to be lazy and not protect my plants. I just get tired of digging that bird-of-paradise around and pulling out the blankets for the in-ground plants. The cold snap we had in February didn't seem to cause too much damage. Plus we had tons of rain today, and irrigating before a cold snap is supposed to help protect plants from cold damage. Fingers crossed!
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Update: No damage. Yay! One of my co-workers says it dropped to 31 degrees across town at his house, but my plants fared fine.

Drive-by shooting

2008-03-03T09:39:00.006-05:00

tabebuia in my neighborhood
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

I was on my way to work this morning, zoning out while driving down the same road I always take to work and then, BAM! Where did that come from?

All of a sudden there was a tree I'd never noticed before in bloom with these striking yellow flowers. Being the plant geek that I am, I had to turn around and take a picture.

I'm pretty sure this tree is in the genus Tabebuia, though I'm not sure of the species (maybe T. aurea, which used to be T. caraiba). These trees are native to areas further south, and it's somewhat unusual to see them this far north (though we do have several other specimens here in Gainesville).

At any rate, I just wanted to share this ray of sunshine with everyone, even if the sky in the back of the photo looks a bit gray.

Camellias from my garden

2008-02-29T10:13:00.004-05:00

camellias from my garden
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

We were expecting another freeze tonight so I thought I'd clip some camellias, lest they get zapped in the freeze. Thankfully, the freeze didn't end up damaging any plants in my yard.

My camellias aren't show quality -- some are a little raggedy on the edges -- but I still enjoy them. I figure they look pretty good considering that I really don't do anything to take care of the bushes, just a little pruning every now and then.

I've never been big on fertilizing, even though from a biology standpoint I know that plants need certain nutrients to thrive. Part of me was worried about not knowing how much to apply and contributing to groundwater pollution, i.e. how to fertilize appropriately. I'm thinking about using some controlled-release fertilizer that's good for acid-loving plants. The plants would probably appreciate it. As long as I choose a controlled-release formula and apply the right amount, I shouldn't be causing any excess leaching of the fertilizer into the groundwater.

A co-worker saw the camellias on my desk and suggested I try air layering to produce more plants. It would be cool to have new camellia plants to share with my gardening friends, but I'm not sure I've got the stamina for the air-layering process.

The plant spa

2008-02-27T23:46:00.005-05:00

The plant spa
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

Brrr! It's supposed to get down to 27 degrees tonight here in Gainesville and I just got in from dragging my plants into the warmth of my laundry room, aka the plant spa.

The tender in-ground plants got swaddled in blankets and tucked in for a cold winter's nap. The key is to make sure that the blankets go down to the ground so that they trap the residual ground heat. I'll leave the blankets on through the day tomorrow because we're expecting more freezing temperatures tomorrow night.

I'm also trying something new tonight -- propping up the blankets with a broom -- because the last time I covered the crinums I snapped a few leaves.

You're it!

2008-02-19T13:33:00.016-05:00

This isn't related to gardening, but it is related to blogging.

Apparently, I've been tagged by the Wicked Gardener. (Thanks!) It seems like this means I'm supposed to list ten (or so) random facts about myself here, and then tag a few fellow bloggers. So here goes...

I kill plants. Not intentionally, of course, but it is true. As much as I love plants, I'm not always the best at taking care of them. I call it the tough-love approach -- I give them water for the first month or so, then they're on your own. My greatest horticultural sin is buying plants and then never putting them in the ground, leaving them in their pots to wither away and die (my deepest condolences go out to the perennial peanut I killed in this manner last fall). There. I've said it.

I like baseball. Some people say it's boring, but I love the tradition of it. I've been a Braves fan since I was 8.

I also like country music. Most people find this surprising, but I've been a fan of country music since high school. I can definitely tap my toe to mainstream, contemporary country, but I get much more excited about old-school country (including Johnny Cash, George Jones, Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, and Wanda Jackson) and alt-country (Son Volt, Whiskeytown, The Jayhawks, Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams and Neko Case).

My favorite color is green, which is perhaps not surprising for someone who professes to love plants.

I lead a secret life as the sassy crafter, saving the world one project at a time by transforming old cast-offs into fun, new creations.

I once made my sister throw her Barbie shoe out the car window on a cross-country road trip. I'm still trying to live down my title of World's Meanest Older Sister.

I have a weakness for shiny things.

Back when I was a full-on vegetarian, I once ate a plate of venison. I was in college at the time, and my best friend's dad sent her the backstrap cut from the first deer he shot that fall. I figured he'd gone to all the trouble to kill the deer, clean it, and ship the tastiest cut all the way from Oregon to Massachusetts, so there was no way I could refuse a taste. A taste? It was so good I ate the whole plate!

My middle name is a common food item.

I used to race mountain bikes and was once a Florida State Champion.

So now I'm tagging a few other bloggers whose blogs I enjoy reading: Florida EcoMania, Garden Living, Gardening in Central Florida, Bella Dia, betz white, gonzomama knits, Craftside, and MissMalaprop.com.

Pollen in the gutter

2008-02-07T10:48:00.002-05:00

Pollen in the gutter
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

Okay, so this has little to do with creating a tropical-look garden, but I felt compelled to post this here. Most of us in the office have been suffering recently with snuffly noses, sore throats and congested sinuses. I had seen online that the pine pollen counts were high and now I have visual confirmation. Apparently it rained a little bit last night and washed the pollen into the gutter, leaving a pollen high-water mark. That's a lot of pollen!