I went out the other day to get a little rosemary for our chicken, and I thought the rosemary was blooming!!!  In May?  Not hardly.  Rosemary usually blooms later in the summer.

 

All these little purple “flowers” are dead flowers that have fallen off the Wisteria.  When the wind is blowing, it looks like it’s snowing!  Snowing Wisteria flowers.  There were so many blooms on the wisteria this year, that everything is covered in dead wisteria flowers.  

 

My world is covered in Wisteria flowers right now.  I guess it could be worse.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

And can you ever have too much cilantro?  We cannot.

 

I sowed coriander seeds in February, and this is what we have now.  There are enough good size leaves to start harvesting daily, and enough baby plants to keep us going for a couple months.

 

Psst…this section of cilantro is about 5 feet long.  It is gorgeous.  I will show you again when it gets taller.

 

Growing cilantro is a two-fold pleasure.  The fresh leaves are called cilantro, and are delicious in everything, and the seeds are called coriander.  Coriander seeds can be ground and used as a spice (also delicious in just about everything) or saved and replanted to grow more cilantro.  

 

I haven’t bought seeds for cilantro in years.  I just keep replanting the seeds that my plants give me.  

 

 

I AM A HAPPY GARDENER!!!

 

 

 

And growing near the tomatoes:  Borage.  These are baby Borage plants that planted themselves from last year’s seeds.  Fortunately, lots of them are in the tomato rows.  And where there aren’t any, I transplanted them near tomatoes.

 

Borage is a good companion plant for tomatoes.  They deter tomato hornworms.  Not sure why.  Maybe the hornworms like the Borage better than the tomatoes, or maybe they hate the Borage and go someplace else.  Don’t really care.  All I know is that Borage keeps the tomatoes safe from hornworms.  

 

I will show you the Borage again when it blooms.  It is delightful as well as useful.  Can’t beat that.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Yay!!!  We got our tomato plants planted into the garden.  It seems like a small project, but it took us two days.

 

The soil was already prepped with mushroom compost and eggshells.  But then we had to dig deep holes, plant the two-liter bottles, plant the tomato plants, then secure the cages.  

 

I know I’ve told you this before, but it is such a cool system that I learned about 40 years ago from our friend Alma Barrett, that I’m going to tell you again. 

 

The two-liter bottle is planted upside down with the small opening deep in the soil.  We add a little gravel to keep the opening from getting clogged.  Then the tomato rootball is placed next to the opening of the bottle.  Tomatoes can be planted up to their top two sets of leaves.  That way all those tiny hairs on the stem grow roots.  And the rootball is deep, getting watered through the bottle.  We don’t get water on the leaves (which tomatoes hate) and the roots get deep watered (which they love.)

 

And all those brown leaves?  Free mulch.  What’s not to love?

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Here’s another neat plant we saw in the park.  I had never seen it before, so I used the Seek app.

 

This is what I learned from Seek:  Sedum ternatum is the most widespread native Sedum species in eastern North America, commonly known as woodland stonecrop.  It has white flowers, blooming April to May.  This shade-tolerant species is often found in the forest understory, although it can also grow in sunnier locations when sufficient moisture is present.  Its common name of “stonecrop” evokes its ability to thrive atop boulders, where its succulent leaves help it to retain moisture in shallow soil.

 

That’s pretty cool, huh?  We all learned something new.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

We noticed last week that the Fringe trees are starting to bloom.  The ones in the park are way up high.  But I always look for them when we are on our walk.  

 

Since we knew that they are blooming, we took a spin through the Methodist Church parking lot to see theirs.  There are two on either side of the entrance to the church, and they are low enough to see and smell.  

 

I just wanted to let you know, in case there are some near you.  I always loved seeing the ones on Fort Eustis Boulevard in Yorktown.  It’s time to take a little trip to see them in bloom.  

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

I already knew that this is Carolina Sweetshrub, but I thought it would be fun to show you how the Seek app works.

 

All you have to do is load the free app on your phone, and then when you want to identify a species of mammal, plant, fungi, insect, and lots more, you point your phone at it, and Seek will tell you what you’re looking at.

 

It doesn’t always know, but from what I’ve experienced, it is pretty accurate.  

 

Try it;  Seek is created by the iNaturalist team.  iNaturalist is a joint initiative of the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society.  It’s fun, and it’s free.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

I hope you got to see the Kwanzan Cherry Tree in bloom.  Because this is how it looks now.

 

See all the blossoms underneath it?  Here yesterday, gone today.  

 

Don’t worry if you missed it.  It will bloom again next year;  and the cool thing about trees is that they don’t move.  They will be in the same spot next year.  

 

Hope you are having a happy spring.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Early in March I sowed seeds for lots of things, and basil was one of them.  A couple weeks ago, I separated the seedlings into 6-packs,  And look how much they’ve grown.  

 

Who needs this much basil?  Everybody!  I will plant some in the garden near the tomatoes, because it enhances the flavor of the tomatoes.  And I will plant several into a big pot that I will put near the front door.  That way we can just step outside and get snips of basil for everything.  We had a pot on the porch last summer, and it was GREAT!!!  

 

And if there are any leftover, I’m sure I can find a home for them.

 

They have a way to go before transplanting, but I thought you’d like to see their progress from seeds to plants.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

The trilliums are starting to bloom in the park and in our yard.

 

This one is at the park; its name is Trillium cuneatum, and is called Little Sweet Betsy.  It is also called Toad Shade, but I thought you’d like the Betsy reference today.

 

I hope you get to see some trilliums in your travels.  You probably won’t see them traveling by car, but you might see them on a walk in the woods or in the park.

 

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BETSY!!!

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!