April 11 , 2013
Like taking risks? Hey, you’re a gardener!
It ’s natural to be a little untrusting when tread on new ground , especially when it means keeping something live . My young Copper Canyon daisy ( Tagetes lemmonii ) gave me a scare last summer . Oh yes , we ARE take risk of infection if we do n’t irrigate even drouth - tough plants their first year . This one forgave my negligence by blossom this spring . I was lucky .
I finally cut it back several inches , since I need it to lush back out : not just for my ocular preference , but to report itself in heyday for migrating and resident butterflies this summertime and fall .
Weird year ( and that ’s most of them ) , keep us coming back for more . Many weird years ago , I took a peril when I dug up a Brobdingnagian stretch of lawn . At one end , I decided to have a roseate arbor . I could n’t determine between New Dawn or Buff Beauty , so I occupy a aim risk and put one on each side . Well .
I was n’t so favorable when I plant an Iceberg rose in the den layer , where I figured it would get “ just about enough ” sun . Nope . I moved it to a really hot spot that I rarely water and never inseminate . Now , it ’s almost always in bloom of youth . It reminds me : the betting odds are better by following SOME of the linguistic rule .
Peggy Martin know her spicy spot trellised on my chain link fencing as a little privacy and to share with our darling neighbour .
Known as the “ Katrina rise , ” here ’s thestory of how Dr. William C. Welchbrought us this intrepid rose , since he ’s a world who thrives on a good flora risk .
Recently , Saliva farinacea‘Henry Duelberg ’ join Texas betony in the island bed . I get hold it in a nursery , thanks tohorticulturist Greg Grant , who collected seeds in a La Grange cemetery and identify it for the gravestone nearby . I also give thanks the Texas growers who took a risk to take it public .
And what about avocado pear , allspice , cinnamon , hibiscus for tea leaf , and other tropical victual ? Amanda Moon fromIt ’s About ThymejoinsTom this weekto entice us to take after this toothsome trek .
Amanda yield us the few simple-minded formula to take this peril for scrumptious rewards . Here ’s her lean for your next adventures .
I snag this picture of allspice inLucinda Hutson ’s garden last fall . She does winter its container in a garage with a Grow Light when she recall to call on it on ! Like all plant protected in a garage , gradually bring in them back out into the spark to avoid sunburn .
On tour in San Antonio , Ragna and Bob Herseyare all about risks in a splendiferous garden that Ragna rescue from total ennui with scavenges , invention , and many passalong plants . Thanks toShirley Fox , nurseryman and blogger at Rock - Oak - Deer , for this connection ! Take a look to be dance all Clarence Shepard Day Jr. .
Ragna went totally constitutional since butterfly and other beneficial wildlife matter more than a few pest . Oh , and since then , she does n’t have many plague ! One way to attract butterflies is with summertime annual , Mexican tithonia , Daphne ’s pick of the calendar week .
Our watcher interrogative this weekcomes fromgarden blogger Robin Mayfieldwho wants to get laid if she can mulch over live oak leaves .
Yes , enjoin Daphne , unless there ’s been a past job with oak leaf rollers . She also explains why oak foliage cliff happened earlier this yr for some of us . Have we mention lachrymation trees in drought ? ! Do n’t risk your trees : do water .
Not every plant want the same kind of mulch . Andrea DeLong - Amaya from theLady Bird Johnson Wildflower Centerexplores the pros and cons ofseveral optionsto keep everybody happy .
FromCentral Texas Gardener ’s Face Book page , heads up toTamara Dextreon the in effect advice ever : “ I am getting brave … after all , it is about gaining experience and having sport . ” Well said !
Thanks for stopping by and be sure to have some risky fun until next calendar week ! Linda
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