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!!!

 

I just went out to take a picture of the Lemongrass because I wanted to tell you about it, and there was a praying mantis right in the middle of it.  See?  The lemongrass is just across the driveway from the Rosemary and that egg case I wrote about the other day. So, I guess they have emerged, and grown.

 

I love how praying mantises camouflage themselves.  If they are against something brown, they are more brown than green.  Beautiful!!!

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Remember when I showed you the mole in the wheelbarrow?

 

This is that same mole tunneling for his life under the watchful eyes of Gizmo.  The mole did get back to his home underground, but Gizmo knows where it lives, and checks that spot every day when he's making his rounds of our yard.  Sometimes he just parks himself on the spot, listening.  

 

Talk about an ambush predator!!!

 

HAPPY HUNTING!!!

 

 

 

It is a Praying Mantis egg case.  You can easily see it on this branch of Rosemary.  It is about 1 1/2 inches in diameter.  

 

I don't know if the mantids have emerged yet, but this egg case holds about 100 babies.  You can read all about Praying Mantises at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantis?wprov=sfti1  and learn more than you can possibly remember.  

 

My favorite part of the article describes Praying Mantises as "ambush predators."  That paints a pretty picture!!

 

It reminds me of our cat, Gizmo.  He loves to ambush critters, including US!!!

 

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!!!

 

 

 

 

We were walking in the Park last Wednesday and saw this guy just off the trail.  I jumped a bit when I spotted him, but he was so calm I didn't panic.  He didn't move a muscle when we walked by.  Look how he is in the sunspot, probably just warming himself.  

 

It was about lunchtime;  maybe he was just waiting for his lunch to happen by, and he considered us a little too big to swallow alive.  Good!  

 

My reference book:  Snakes of the Southeast  says that Southern Black Racers have white chins.  You can see that in the picture.  The book also told us that they are non poisonous.  We hung around only long enough to take a couple pix.  That was enough for me.  Then back to our walk.

 

There are other snakes out and about these days, and some ARE poisonous, so be careful when you are out walking in the woods.

 

HAPPY HIKING!!!

 

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!!!