Another beautiful, edible plant that the deer don’t bother:   this is lemon grass.  

 

Lemon grass is an annual, so we have to get a new one every year, but it is a fabulous plant.  It’s pretty, the deer leave it alone, and we use the stems as a rack under our chicken when cooking on the grill.  It imparts a yummy lemon flavor to the chicken and accompanying gravy.

 

Lemon grass is also effective as an insect repellent.  That’s why it gets this spot near the front door.   

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

Sister Linda sent me this, with a note saying, “Gerry, you really should have posted it.”

 

 

Well, here we are circa 1958.  

 

You can’t tell from the picture, but the dresses really were white with blue satin sashes, and our hair really was red!!!  I am the big sister, and Julie is the cute little one.

 

 

THANKS LINDA, AND

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AGAIN JULIE!!!   

 

 

 

 

 

Flowers from my friend’s garden.  I told her that today is your birthday, and you need flowers.  

 

She said I could pick them for you. 

 

I was going to post that picture of “girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes,” but I figured we have grown up since then.  Well, a little.  

 

I hope your birthday is happy and healthy and full of love.  

 

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JULIE!!!

 

We still have basil on the front steps.  The deer can reach it, but haven’t eaten it.  There are three pots of it out there.  I love having it close to the kitchen, for easy access at lunch and dinner times.

 

Our theory is that the deer don’t like strong smelling and tasting plants.  OK.  Then that’s what we will plant, so that they won’t bother it.  I would really love to fill these pots with ornamental kale and pansies, but, we know that they wouldn’t last two days before they were discovered and devoured.  Oh, well.  

 

Basil and marigolds are cool, and pretty.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Our oregano is gorgeous right now.  It has bloomed, and now it is just covering up the weeds growing next to the Bee Balm.    

 

I harvested about 30 stems, bundled them, and hung them in the dining room window to dry.  The bundle will take a couple weeks to dry, then we strip the leaves from the stems and put them in a glass jar in the spice cabinet.  

 

And you thought oregano came from the grocery store.  Not necessarily.  It is really easy to grow;  you can even grow it in a pot on your patio.  And anything you grow yourself, tastes way better than anything you can buy.  

 

Grow oregano.  It is easy, fun, and tasty.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

Copied this from The Farmers Almanac:

 

 

You can get the rest of the story at:  https://www.farmersalmanac.com/when-labor-day-weekend  Sorry for the ads.

 

HAPPY LABOR DAY!!!

 

Have you noticed the Devil’s Walking Sticks in the neighborhood?  Some have gone from light green and yellow flowers to red stems with purple berries.  They are in varying stages right now.  

 

We have noticed that some are still in the green flower stage, and others with stems that are just starting to go red.  We have also seen several with dark purple berries, and other ones with red stems and no berries left.  Birds love them.

 

I hope you notice them on your walks and drives through the neighborhood.  I’ve even seen a few on the highway going toward Blairsville.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

Are you familiar with the Princess Tree, Paulownia tomentosa?  

 

You’ve probably seen them around;  they grow like weeds.  They are big, and have big heart shaped leaves.  And when they bloom in the spring, the flowers are strikingly purple, standing up above the leaves, in big clusters.  That’s when they are prettiest.  Well, this last spring we had an untimely freeze, and the Princess trees didn’t bloom at all.  

 

That’s why I got so excited when I saw this tree.  It is in the neighborhood, on Stonebriar near Clifford’s hill.  And it has set flower buds:  see the brownish buds standing up above the leaves?  Hopefully they will bloom next May.  I will show you again.

 

 

FINGERS CROSSED!!!

 

Here she is:  A cabbage white butterfly, flirting around my broccoli plants.  She is only about 2 inches across, but I thought you might like to see what all the hoo hah is about.  

There are no flowers (for nectar) on the broccoli, so I imagine her intent is to lay eggs.  The adult females lay the eggs under the edge of the leaves, and when the caterpillars emerge they eat the leaves.  See those holes in the lower leaves?

 

That’s what we DON’T want.  I don’t mind the butterflies, but the caterpillars do a lot of damage.  So all the Brassicas get Dipel dusted after every rain.  The butterfly isn’t poisoned, but the caterpillars die when they ingest the dust.  Sorry…

 

 

HAPPY SUCCESSFUL GARDENING!!!

 

Remember all that dill?  Well, I took it out a couple weeks ago.  And apparently some seeds dropped on the ground, because this is baby dill coming up in the same place as the other dill.

 

Cool!!!  A second crop of dill.  We love it.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!