I love when the Crape Myrtles bloom.  In China, they are called the "flower of one hundred days," because they bloom that long.

 

Crape Myrtles, or Lagerstroemia indica, are small trees that grow to 30 feet, and come in lots of colors:  from white through pink and lavender, all the way to dark red.  The white ones are called Natchez, and you can see those planted in large groups all around.  There are some beautiful ones at the United Community Bank in Blairsville.  Many cities plant them in the medians and other public places.  Nice city trees.  

 

The one in this picture isn't a tree;  it's more of a bush.  It has multiple trunks and is only about 5 feet tall.  But look at that color!!!  I love the lavender ones.  I also love the peeling bark of Crape Myrtles, revealing creamy shades of tan, and twisted, muscle-like wood.  Gorgeous trees and shrubs.

 

Look for them in your travels.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now THIS is a pretty picture!!  It is day 2 of compost tea to use for fertilizer in the garden.

 

I'd heard of it before, but never did anything about it.  Well, I found a recipe for it, and it looked super easy.  And, best of all:  My friends are painting their house and have lots of 5 gallon buckets with lids.  

 

Here's the recipe:  Take compost that is ready to use and fill a 5 gallon bucket 1/3 full with it.  Fill it the rest of the way with water.  Give it a stir every time you walk past, or twice a day, and in 5 days it is ready to use.  Strain it through fine mesh, dilute it with an equal amount of water, and use it in the garden.  It is good for the roots and foliar fertilization.  So, I started a couple batches, and I will let you know how it works as fertilizer.

 

Just as a sidenote, my friends in Yorktown, VA, have a delicious recipe for compost soup.  They take bits and pieces of leftover vegetables, meat and chicken, and put them in a container in the freezer.  When they want to make soup in the winter, they just get the "compost" from the freezer, augment it with broth, and BOOM!!! supper.  Kinda the same thing, right?

 

So, Linda, I thought you'd get a tickle out of my compost tea.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

I was up in my new happy garden the other day, pulling a few weeds, and look what I found!!!

 

First of all, I didn't even know that I planted a zucchini up there.  I knew I planted some kind of squash, but I thought I put all the zucchinis in the vegetable garden. Well, apparently not.  

 

What a happy surprise.  Btw, it was delicious!!  

 

HAPPY ACCIDENTS!!!

 

This is my other favorite tree in Meeks Park.  

 

It is a Dogwood that fell down years ago, and the branches have sprouted vertically, making it look like its own little forest of trees.  

 

Talk about a will to survive!!!

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

This is our Lemongrass growing in a pot.  This one is about 3 feet tall and as wide.  It is an annual here, so I don't bother planting it in the ground;  I just buy a 6 inch pot of it and up-pot it into a 12 inch pot, then place it around the corner from the front door.  It looks nice nestled into the Mondo grass.

 

Lemongrass is a very cool plant.  Besides being pretty and fragrant, and somewhat deer resistant, it keeps the mosquitoes away!!!  

 

It is used extensively in Thai and Indonesian cuisine.  The fresh stems are crushed and give off a delightful lemon scent.  We use the stems as a rack under a chicken to be cooked on the grill.  It gives a subtle lemon flavor to the chicken.  

 

Up til now I have bought a pot of Lemongrass every year.  Well...this year I bought lemongrass SEEDS.  We'll see what happens next spring.  I'll let you know.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Have you noticed that the Hoary Mountain Mint is blooming?  

 

You can see it in the neighborhood, especially down by the creek, and all along the roadsides.  It stands about 2 feet tall, and is a bit weedy-looking.  It's easy to spot  because it's white on top.  It looks like it has been dusted with baby powder.  

 

Like all mints, it has square stems, and opposite leaves, and the flower clusters sit atop the leaves.  If you can get close enough to pick some, and crush the leaves, you can smell the mint.  

 

We love seeing it this time of year.  Look for it.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

We saw this tree in Meeks Park a few weeks ago, and Seek told us that it is Buffalo Nut.  Never heard of it, so I had to look it up.

 

Here is what Wikipedia says about it:  Pyrularia pubera, or Buffalo nut is a shrub in the Sandalwood family and grows in the eastern US from New York to Alabama, found mostly in the Appalachian mountains.  Here's the interesting thing:  it grows up to 12 feet, mostly in the shade of other trees.  You can see that here with white oaks.  It is a parasitic plant, specifically a hemiparasite which while still photosynthetic, will also parasitize the roots of other plants around it.  Hmmm. Pretty interesting, huh?

 

Ever since we first noticed it, we look for it every time we go there.  There are so many interesting plants in the Park.  There's always something to see.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

 

The Devil's Walking Sticks are also blooming now.  There are several on Crabapple Lane, and some on Five Forks Drive too.

 

Its botanical name is Aralia spinosa, and it is commonly called Hercules' Club, Prickly Ash, and Devil's Walking Stick.  If you look closely at the woody trunk you can see how it got that name.  There are big, fat thorns all around the trunk.  

 

It loses its leaves in the fall, and is just a stick all winter.  But in the spring it leafs out again, and now in summer it is blooming.  In a couple weeks, these pretty white flowers will turn to dark red berries.  It is quite striking in all seasons.  Look for it, now that you know what to call it.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

The Sumacs all over the neighborhood are starting to bloom.  The ones here are Winged Sumac and bloom yellow.  There is another species of Sumac: Staghorn Sumac that blooms red.  They are blooming now too.  You can see them along the highways.

 

The pollinators are all over the flowers.  We've seen bumblebees, honey bees, even hummingbirds sipping nectar from the Sumacs.  You can actually hear the bees when you get close to the bushes.

 

I love it when they bloom;  they are so pretty.  Look for them in your travels.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Have you seen the hanging baskets at Hughes?  There are 4 or 5 of them across the front of the store.  Beautiful!!!  The red flowers are begonias, and the green heart shaped leaves are sweet potato vines.  

 

I tried an unscientific experiment a few weeks ago.  I cut up organic sweet potatoes, and placed them cut side down in one of my seed flats.  After a couple weeks they started to sprout!!!!  So now I can plant them in my flower beds to creep along the ground.  It is too late this year to plant them for the tubers though, they take 90-120 days.  But now that I know how to propagate them, I will start them in early spring.

 

That way we will have some to plant in the garden, and some to put in hanging baskets.  I love these.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!