Don't throw away your Aliums when you deadhead them, they make nice dried arrangements. Here we have a couple Globe Aliums, the smaller ones are Gladiators, and the short one is a Shubertii, along with some Pussy Willows. Nice arrangement.

Intentionally placed limestone steps leading to nowhere at Murdock Park. I haven't seen any ghosts, but the mere sight is kind of ghostly.

Hey!

lets have a fire! Can't really roast hot dogs on this one. This is for all you pyro's out there.

A rose by any other name

Rose Of Sharon is certainly not a rose, but they have been a fascination of mine for years. They belong to the genus hibiscus, in the plant family Malvaceae. So I say the flower is mallow like, like hibiscus, hollyhock.

I didn't actually understand just how variable they were till I raised them from seed. You'd think that you would get a white flower from seed from a white flowered tree/shrub, but those seeds will produce a rainbow of colors. You'll never get a doubled flowered bloom from a single flowered plant.

The thing is that it takes 3 to 4 years to bloom, you can grow them as a tree or a bush. I like them as a tree, small in size 10-15 ft. It's easy, just don't let them sucker. Keep lower limbs from growing on the trunk. No matter how you grow them, the secret is pruning. Want just a few flowers on a unruly shrub? Don't prune it. People complain about fruit trees, wisteria, and such, but won't take the effort to prune. Get in the habit and the knack will come to you.

The pictures here are just from around the neighborhood, if I was to start pruning everybodies shrubs, they'd probably get mad. So the ugly shrub whose name has biblical connotations, remains common place and relatively unnoticed.

My new orchid

I've had a fascination with orchids for about 20 yrs. now. They've come and gone, I.ve given some away as Christmas presents, lost some to disease, power losses in winter, and as with all perennials, they come back from year to year, but they are not immortal. Rebuilding my collection I came across one that I've wanted for a long time. The right place (EBay) and the right price, and a little bit of luck, I obtained this little jewel. Supposedly near blooming size, it started spiking a week after I received it. I remember being invited to dinner at a neighbors house way back when, after dinner we went into his greenhouse and he showed me his orchids, mostly Catleyas, they were breath taking. I got to get me one of those. Of course one led into an another.

This one happens to be a paphoipedilum, Paph Sanderianum 'Show Shan' x Philippinese '9F'.  I always  got a kick from the way R.J. Rands would describe paphs; "The bees aren't as busy as you think, that they would often crawl into the pouch of the phaph and take a snooze," lol.

The long peddles are truly exotic. Ten years ago these were difficult to get. They do make a nice center piece for the dinner table.

If I could only have one orchid, I believe this would be it.

Just for me

Walking in a wooded park north here in Lafayette (Murdock Park) as I have for many years, found, as usual, an assortment of mushrooms. Which is a relief in that I haven't seen them in a number of years, and I thought it might be because of the bike trails that have been made. There are a lot of hills and the trails weave rather tightly all through out the woods and has affected much of the flora here. ( Trillium, Jack In The Pulpits )  

 I kicked over some leaves and found this milky.

 This An American Ceasers Mushroom

 Boletes are my main interest because They don't have gills.

 Instead of gills they have sponge like pores, very distinctive, which is crucial for identification. There are few poisonous look a likes for boletes so I feel more confident eating them. Although this one isn't very appetizing, I like Boletes as much as sponge mushrooms, although they are very different. Boletes don't ordinarily come up till the second week in August here, after a good rain of course. My rule is harvest if only sure of it's identity, and only take enough for a side dish, and this is true for any wild edible.

 This one has a number of look a likes, the bulb at the base is a bad sign.

 Here's a Cokers Amanita with a couple of small milkies in back.

 Don't know what these are but they look so cute. And by the way, how does your hedge apple grow??????????

Like this! real close to the stem. Don't be under one of these trees when they let lose. 

They say you can't take it with you when you die. Is that true with memories? I wonder--- and sometimes I think that mushrooms come up only for me to see.                                                                         

Rock garden help?

A little somewhat neglected rock garden I've adopted for friend. I stuck some petunias and nasturtiums, but it seems so blah. So I'm thinking of perhaps some Euphorbia myrsinites (Myrtle Spurge)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphorbia_myrsinites, and I guess I really need to get familiar with some cute alpine plants, being German, the one that comes to mind is Edelweiss http://www.treknature.com/gallery/photo20634.htm, but I'm not sure if it would work here. So! Got any suggestions???

While walking in my favorite woods I found something that might make a good walking stick. It happens to be what I used to call Ironwood, but apparently it has other names like muscle wood or blue beech. It's actually American Hornbeam - Carpinus caroliniana http://www.mntca.org/resources/treeid/tree_dec_alt_bir_hornbean.html, It's not seen too often and is an undergrowth type of tree, so it doesn't get real large, extremely hard and with its muscular growth makes for a good cane.

All chopped up

Well, there it is. Right there with the tomatoes. The leaves look as though it could be a melon of some sort, doesn't it? Thank goodness for the search engine online, just punch in little white flower and you find it eventually. This thing is only an inch across and it's part of the Hibiscus family? Hibiscus Trionum to be exact. The common name is Flower an Hour, because the flowers only last that long, lol. Here's some better pics of it; http://www.missouriplants.com/Others/Hibiscus_trionum_page.html. Some say (on other blogs) that it's very invasive. Still other people like it and you can buy seed at online nurseries and on EBay. I don't know what to do about it. I'll save some of the seed for prosperity and pull it.

I love Swiss Chard, easy to grow, beautiful and nutritious. Tastes different than greens in the Brassica family (kale, collard greens), and no Cabbage worms. I think it grows and matures quicker too.  I started using it last week, for here in Indiana, that's pretty early.

I like Fennel, do you? This guy has it all over his front yard here in Lafayette, near Colombian Park, lol. Just had to show you, I wish more people were like that, but I imagine city ordinance would have something to say about that. That's what happens when you don't post often, the post gets all chopped up. By the way, don't you just love the hydrangeas this year? We've had some good rain so far this year, but here is a wild Hydrangea I found in my favorite woods.

Dirt Cheap

Growing orchids for some years made me aware of so called growing mediums. The trial and error and reading and research has all been an education. And knowing what plants need and why they need it makes having a green thumb a bit easier.  This has become obvious to me with the most basic growing media there is, dirt. Dirt is dirt isn't it? Yep! No argument there. It's that easy, or it could be a thesis for a degree at a university. I think most serious gardeners know where I'm going with this, but still it can be confusing for the most experienced. Of NPK (nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium), nitrogen has been a concern to me, and I had my misconceptions about it. Like what source of nitrogen to use, Urea? Ammonium? Synthetic? Organic? Oh good! There's lightning, that puts nitrogen in the air, and it does, but the atmosphere is already 78% nitrogen. It would be nice if it rained. Rain brings nitrogen to the soil. But that don't help much if the soil doesn't have the bacteria to convert it so it can be used by the plants. Dry, liquid, and organic fertilizers are all good. Certain plants are nitrogen fixing. Hence, the ornamental clover picture above are nitrogen fixing as well as alfalfa and legumes like beans and peas. So  why not? With the vegetables and every place else. Then there's the loam, and the PH, and the acidity. Did you know that clay is a good source of potassium? Truly, you can do no wrong by adding organic material to the soil, but that can get awfully expensive if your not careful. My pitch here is to get you to do a little research and educate yourself so to know how it works. Got mushrooms growing in your soil? Sounds Bad, but look up something called Bio remediation, or Mycoreremediation. To pass on some of my research for nitrogen , this is a good place;
http://www.ces.purdue.edu/extmedia/AY/AY-204.html
Basic soil knowledge you might try this link;  http://soil.gsfc.nasa.gov/soilfert/npk.htm
Then there is a neat infomercial for a book about a secret about tomatoes that I won't issue unless requested via comment, I got from Off The Grid Website. It's OK! I'm a Ham, and I'm immune to propaganda. Hi Hi.

Got this picture from Wikipedia.

The Petunia I didn't buy

Ahh! The black petunia. Black Velvet to be exact. I like it, but you'd think black being a neutral color, it would go anywhere and with anything. But I really don't have a place to put it, so I'm not buying it--- this year. I am curious to see if it would come true from its own seed, but F1 hybrids rarely do. Petunias used to be reliably cheap until the hybrids like "The Wave " petunia arrived. Heirloom petunias will reseed and come back year after year if a happy place is found, although, not as spectacular, still elegant.

Emily

When I first read this poem it went "I felt a Cleavage in my Mind". It was some time ago, but I remember because it led me to think-- Why Emily! Just where is your mind at? And it's no wonder there's some variation given her handwriting. But "cleft" is a word not heard much these days, and  I doubt that the Rock of Ages was split for me, cleft, being the past tense for cleave. I would be cleaving to that Rock, but cleavage would indicate a crevasse or a split. But these sort of discussions are what brings all the social/political discourse we have today. Besides I tend to start thinking in prose and people get short. Fortunately, a prosaic mind easily flips to flowers.

Some slob has let these awful Chicory weeds grow, quick! chop them down, stomp on them! Some people are simply untidy!

This day's appreciation

I took time today to appreciate this sculpture here in Lafayette's Riehle Plaza.

Then I went out to play.

Nothing like doing a little amateur radio in the middle of nowhere. With a fishing pole a friend was able to get a wire up in the trees about 70 ft. for an antenna. Ya! They were big trees. Found a gooseberry bush but the gooseberries weren't ripe yet.

Garden Bloopers

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rhubarb_Flower.jpg

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

A dear friend and I are driving down the road and my eyes pop out of my head and I say Wow! whats that! It had huge leaves and tall flower stalk and a big plume of white flowers on it. You'd think I would know because I think I know everything, but  I wasn't familiar with it. Her friend has one in her back yard and said it was Rhubarb. I'll be darned! You'd think I'd know that! I guess your suppose to cut the spike off to keep the plants vitality.  I'm probably the only one who sees beauty in it. I went over to a ladies house to see if I could do some landscaping for her, and she complained of a vine she couldn't get rid of, and I didn't recognise it. It turned out to be kudzu --- Kudzu! Here in Indiana! I must be getting old, lol.

Well, those may not be bloopers, but you got to laugh. Is it just me? Or are a lot of things getting mislabeled. I think the funniest one last year was a gal planted a couple of cantaloupe plants, but they turned out to be pumpkins. We thought they mislabeled melons till they turned orange, lol. People decide that they don't want something and put it back in the wrong space, that happens in the plumbing dept. all the time. Sometimes bloopers can go right, like a clematis that has flowers bigger than my hand. Yum! So! Got any garden bloopers you care to share?

Blue Orchid

According to my horoscope my favorite color is suppose to be yellow, but it's blue. I've had Phalaenopsis before and they're suppose to be one of the easiest orchids to grow, but they don't last very long for me. The big sign for these Phalaenopsis was a new breakthrough in orchids. It's true that there are no true blue Phalaenopsis, and they do catch your eye. So I visited the website on the tag and read their faq they answer one question "will my orchid re bloom blue?" not with a yes or no, but but an explanation that they were white orchids grown in a special medium that took tears to develop (food coloring? lol) and the color may fade. Well, that's what they look like, they don't look natural. Now, there are blue orchids, they're just not Phalaenopsis. Take a Vanda coerulea is naturally blue, Vanda's are more difficult to grow if you don't have the conditions for them. Anyway, this Phalaenopsis is called Blue Mystique from Silver Vase Nursery. They are wholesale only, and they don't sell the special medium. I guess they're alright if you plan to throw away the plant after its done flowering, but it's not for me.

I Covet

                                          www.ranger146.com/.../Flower_Gardens.html




Or perhaps the better title should be The Controversy Never Ends, but there seems to be a dichotomy of what I have compared to what I have not. When at the local greenhouse/nursery, I find myself always putting things back that I realise I don't need, or have a place for. Weather to upgrade to something bigger and better  than what I already have. I see other peoples gardens and want what they have. How much money do I spend on any one of my many hobbies? Is a vegetable garden suppose to save money? My most recent dilemma is which fertilizer to use. Bone meal can't hurt and fish emulsion is expensive, as is any premium fertilizer such as Miracle Grow. Chemical or organic, kelp seems to the rage right now. They say it won't burn because it's organic, but it comes from the sea and the sea has salts. Just thinking. I'm always open to something new, but I'm suspicious of any "super food" for anything. I remember my first spirulina was as big a leap of faith as my first split pea soup, and I'm still not sure about spirulina. As for kelp and a leap of Faith , there was the sushi bar. I went from bags of mulch to truck loads, and by all means one should compost, but I can only compost a fraction of what I need. It could very well be that I like to cheap out on things, but I get the feeling that acquired happiness is a learned thing.

Another Jack


Well, if you don't believe I like Ariseamas just look at my profile picture, that one happens to be Ariseama Fargessii. So it's no wonder I delight in seeing one of our very own (indiginous to this area), Ariseama Trifolia. This one towers above the May Apples to get an idea of the size. A three for one ornamental in that it has huge beautiful tropical looking leaves (of Hosta quality), a one of a kind florescence (Arum Lilly like), that turns to a spike of bright red berries in the fall. Wow! Need I say more? And I was happy with that, knowing I've been a woodsman all my life, and never seeing any other species here in Indiana, to my suprise was just a few feet away, another Ariseama looking leaf.

 I had to look  it up when I got home, but its an Ariseama Dracontium ( Green Dragon). The spathe on this flower is like a long rat tail shooting up in the air. Apparently, I'm the only one who gets excited about this sort of thing, and it's no wonder why I'm constantly recharging my cell phone lol. The thing is that we have some very nice fill ins for a shady area if you care to go native ( Jack-in-the-pulpit, May Apple, Solomon seal). Be sure to plant nursery grown plants.

http://www.hcp4.net/mercer/inbloom/images/sept2003/arisaemaDracontium.lg.jpg is where I got this photo.

a spring outing

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. This was such a beautiful weekend, so a friend and I spent some time in the woods doing what a couple of middle aged men do, "cut wood", but ultimately I look at the plants. I like to make sure I can identify the plants I see. Case in point, A dear friend complained to me that none of the bulbs she planted last year came up. So I asked her what kind they were. Those fuzzy things we bought last fall. Oh ya, the hairy alliums, umm, uhh, ya don't think that they were those wild garlics we pulled up last week, do ya? She has them growing all over the place lol (she wasn't laughing). Ok! I screwed up there, but if you don't know what to pull up, you may pull up the wrong thing. A good reason to grow things from seed too, so you can recognise seedlings as they grow. On a different path you would think that animals would instinctively know what to eat and what not to eat, but that's not necessarily so. I remember my dog trying to drink antifreeze in a pan once, and of course antifreeze is poisonous. Still with me? So I'm out in the woods admiring all the woodland plants when a patch of yellow flowers pokes in the eye (well not literally). I honestly don't know what that plant is, so I take a picture and look it up when I get home, and my best guess by picture and description is Golden Ragwort (Senecio Aureus), which is very common around here. Research tells me that it was wildflower of the month for 2008 (Virginia Native Plant Society), and and from pet care and horse farm sites, toxic to animals, horses, dogs, and cats. There many poisonous plants in the garden as well. It' good to know or have reference of what plants are poisonous (it's the first rule when hunting mushrooms), here's a site you should at least look at. http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/lawn_garden/poison/poison.html Poison is a great conversation piece, so spread the word, heh heh!

seed? or nuts

Actually, here in Indiana, it's been a cool spring.  May 5 (is this a holiday?)and we've had a chance of frost for the past two nights. Soil is prepped, and I have some plants in the ground. Last year was a pretty good year for tomatoes. So I kept some seeds. I guess I keep my own seed for the same reason I make my own bread or grow my own garden. Heck! You can buy tomatoes and peppers in the store. You don't always see the varieties you want which is the case this year. I grew Italian Tree tomato last year and they grew some enormous fruits, so I kept some seed and I don't see them in the nursery this year, or at least they don't have them out yet. I can also keep a check on the popular conspiracies out there. You know, genetic engineering and germination and heirlooms and all. Saving tomato seed can be labor intensive isn't it? No! Many recipes call for seeding the tomatoes anyway. So cut the tomato in half and pull out the seed with all the tomato goo on a paper towel, you don't have to wash the seed, just smear it on the towel and let it dry. Once dry, fold the towel and put it in a labeled envelope. The towel absorbs moisture and aids in germination the next year. I got about 90% germination this year. So we'll see if they come true to form . Why am I concerned? I wonder about heirlooms. Who grows just one kind of tomato? Bees go from one plant to another and that's how hybridization happens isn't it? But then my Roma tomatoes came true last year and they were fantastic. It pays to feed your tomatoes. Maybe those bees know what they're doing! It would not be unlike me to pollinate the flowers myself with a q-tip, people already know I'm nuts. Sorry about the lousy pic.

Squirrely

Do you feed the squirrels? They are cute and all living things add to the landscape, but every time I plant something, they dig it up. There was a really dark purple tulip I was looking forward to seeing and the squirrel picked it, really! No! I didn't see him do it, but he's guilty by logical assumption. Do you think the bird did it? Birds can be destructive too. I've been into dark colored flowers lately. I bought an Iris that should be almost black last fall, so I hope it blooms this year and that the squirrel leaves it alone. I planted a Delphinium last week and it was dug up the next day. I'm trying to collect temperate, terrestrial orchids such as Cypripedium Acule and they came up to bloom (nursery grown), but the squirrel got it. I'm all for eating invasive species, if you have garlic mustards (alliaria petiolata) growing they are good to eat when young, bitter, but very nutritious. But squirrels are not worth the effort, despite what many hunters say. I'm not into poison like rats so I guess I'll just put up with them. I got the picture from google images.

The moral of being cheap

In general I'm a bum. A greenhouse bum, a grocery store bum, a home improvements store bum, and for any outing or showing I just hang out, take inventory, being a fixture and nuisance. In this case I went to the grocery store and saw these Cymbidium orchids they had for sale for Easter last year. A couple months later they're out of bloom and on sale ($2.00 ). I don't recall them being of any good color or substance when they were in bloom, and didn't think they were worth the price at the time ($34.00). But for a couple of bucks I grabbed them and kept them in the back yard of a friend for the summer. She has a small greenhouse at her place so we overwintered them there. Here it is May, and to our surprise they're in bloom. I can't believe how beautiful they are. It doesn't happen often, but sometimes it pays to be cheap!