Coral honeysuckle

Coral honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) is probably my favorite native vine.  It wants to go up, without popping up everywhere else (or being too rampant in its growth).  When it's happy, it's totally delightful.

We have a number of really nice looking plants now (put in at various times).  Some look better in wetter years; others flourish in hotter and drier years.

This one, next to the porch, is looking great, after a year with MORE than abundant rain (and I just noticed that it's jumped up to the porch railing, too!)  That's not necessarily where I want it, but it's striking none the less. 

Lonicera sempervirens

I'm sure "our" hummingbird was visiting it this afternoon in the rain. I saw him out my study window visiting Carolina Jessamine (Gelsimium sempervirens) flowers in a medium-heavy rain about 2 pm.  I'm thinking that nectar from coral honeysuckle would be much "tastier" than the alkaloid-rich nectar of Gelsimium!

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DIY - Celery Pinterest

Okay, so how many of you have a Pinterest account? Now if you do, be honest with yourself. How many times have you gone on Pinterest, spent hours looking at DIYs, getting off and doing nothing. Yet, you feel SO creative... and you have done nothing! Well I know I fall prey to this. So I actually did something with all of my pins. Have you seen the Grow Your Own Celery pin yet. You guessed it, I did it, and you know what?, it worked!

My celery grew! Celery is one of those plants that I have no interest in growing from seed (it just seems so hard). This was the perfect alternative. Celery loves warm weather, so this method also gives it a head start. Plant your celery in loose soil, as that it doesn't like to get its roots boggy.

Anyways, this pin worked for me, its time for me to get back on Pinterest and feed my addiction. Catch ya on the flip side! 

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A last flirt with cold weather?

The temperatures up in the mountains are predicted to get down to 27°F, as the Tuesday night low.  Brrr.  Happily, my mountain beds only have cool-season greens, lettuce, beets, and sugar snap peas! 

I'm hoping for a cool April and May so maybe I'll actually have something to harvest.

Here in the Piedmont, my fingerling potatoes are sprouting nicely (especially evident in the grow bag) and my flats of spinach, lettuce, and mixed greens look pretty decent, too. 

The garlic, leeks, and chives are all doing well, too, undeterred by a cool March, apparently. 

I've snagged tomatoes and peppers to plant, from our spring plant sale last weekend, so I'm set (I'd better bring them inside for Tuesday evening here, too;  the temperature is forecast for 36°F, not a warm-season friendly temperature.)

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Finally, the first hummingbird(s) of the season

Yesterday evening, eating dinner on the porch, my gardening companion said "there's a hummingbird"  -- woo-hoo!  I didn't see it, but heard the whirring wings.

This morning, out my study window, was perhaps the same hummingbird, visiting Carolina Jessamine flowers.

And we saw another one this evening.

There are certainly good nectar-producing plants (for hummingbirds) in flower now in our garden -- coral honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens), red buckeye (Aesculus pavia), columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) and crossvine (Bignonia capreolata).

The early arrivals don't always cross paths with these, but this year they have!

This image is from a lovely small pocket guide to Eastern birds: Early Birds, by Minnie Miller and Cyndi Nelson, Johnstone Books

And, of course, the feeder is out and ready, too.

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What's in the Garden

Hey kids, boy the weather has been nice here. So warm and sunny that put some of my tropicals outside for the day soak up the rays. I need to give you guys an update of my citrus trees, because my dwarf clementine has bloomed and is setting fruit!

So instead of studying for exams (like I should have been doing), I ventured outside to plant what really needed to be planted. 

Here's the run down of what I got down...

• Adirondack Blue Seed Potatoes
• White onions
• Red onions
• Peas
• Radishes
• Beets
• Lilies 

I wish I had gotten more done, but hey, that is at least something! Till next time, garden Hard!

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What to do with rogue onions?

A few of my onions have been blooming too early.

For some reason a number of our short-day onions have bloomed early this year. Once they bloom, it's time to pull them (unless you're collecting seed) because the energy stored in the bulb will be used up for the flowering.

In a normal onion crop the bulb is produced one year and then goes dormant when we harvest and dry it for storage. If it's not harvested, it will bloom the next season. The early blooming onions are not dormant and don't store well, so we needed to use them quickly. There is quite a bit of volume. While the bulb is relatively small, there are all those delicious leaves to use, too.

Stir the onions, barley, garlic, garlic chives and celery in olive oil
until the onions start to caramelize.

When our garden hands us too many rogue onions, I make rogue onion soup!

Here is the recipe for this delicious soup. You can serve it hot or cold--we had it cold.

Ingredients:
6 blooming onions, thinly sliced
1 store-bought onion, chopped
3 meadow garlic plants, chopped
1 shoot of garlic chives, chopped
1/2 cup celery, finely chopped 
1/3 cup dried barley
1/4 cup olive oil
1/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped
6 cups of water
2/3 cup of dried potato
1/2 cup plain, non-fat yogurt
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Fresh dill and a flower of wild garlic for garnish.

Directions:
Stir the onions, barley, meadow garlic, garlic chives, and celery in olive oil until the onions start to caramelize. Stir in the parsley until it wilts then add the water and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from heat. At this point you could run it through the food processor for a smooth soup, but I did not go through that step. While it's still hot, stir in the potatoes, yogurt, and cheese. Serve hot or cold. Garnish with chopped dill and the tops of the wild garlic. Serves 6.

When your garden provides too many rogue onions, make rogue onion soup.

How does this beautiful patch of moss survive in this dry sandhill ecosystem?

Mother Nature's Mysteries

No matter how much we study ecosystems and think we know the answers for which plants will grow where and under which circumstances, there are many instances when there is no obvious answer.

For instance, there is a 965-acre conservation area adjacent to our neighborhood that’s owned by the St. Johns Water Management District and maintained by the county. Most of it is a dry, sandy upland dominated by longleaf pines (Pinus palustris) and oaks (Quercus spp.). It’s been managed with fire over the years to maintain the open pine ecosystem. So how does this lovely patch of moss, clubmoss, and lichen survive here? Read my latest post over on Native Plants and Wildlife Gardens blog: Mother Nature's Mysteries.

In a rain garden at the edge of the front pond, rain lilies (Zephyranthes atamasca) and a lizard's tail (Saururus cernuus), which will bloom later in the season.

A rain lily sprouting from a damp spot in our freedom lawn.

Around the yard

I love our native rain lilies. They just seems so earnest. People ask me how can we stand having a lawn where anything that's green is mowed. If I showed them a photo of this cute volunteer rain lily in a damp spot in the yard, they'd understand. I'll dig it out and move it to one of my rain gardens where it won't be mowed.

I've been busy with spring clean up and have started some new projects. Stay tuned to find out what I've been working on. 

Spiderwort (Tradescantia ohiensis) after a rain.

At last year's gardenfest in St. Augustine.

Meet me in St. Augustine!

I'll be a vendor at the EPIC Spring Celebration Gardenfest on April 12th & 13th at St. Johns County Agricultural Center St. Augustine, FL 32092 (SW of the intersection of I-95 & Rt 16.). Hours are Saturday 9am to 5pm and Sunday 10am to 4pm. So come and talk to me about your gardens.

I will be giving away meadow garlic (Allium canadense) plants to anyone who buys a book and selling them to others-- $1 each as long as they last. It's an excellent perennial native crop. See Harvest-directed cooking to see a photo of the garlic.

If I don't see you this weekend, I hope you are enjoying spring wherever you are.

Green Gardening Matters,
Ginny Stibolt

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Seeds this Spring - Radishes

Okay Kids, lets talk about some radishes, some like them plain, some like them with a lil salt, I like mine right out of the garden with a little bit of dirt still on them.

Here are a couple of raishes that I am planting. I didn't realize that you could plant these so early. I always have a problem with flea beetles eating the fleaves. Maybe if I planted them early on I wouldn't have this big of a problem. 

Here are the two radishes that I will be growing. French Breakfast and Champion.

In my zone, Zone 5, you can plant in the ground between Feb 28 - Mar 22.


Update 4/6/14
   I planted my radishes, and of course the squirrels came around and dug into the freshly turned dirt. Hopefully the didn't completely ruin where I placed my radish seeds...WHY SQUIRRELS...WHY!?!?!?!?

Update 4/15/14
   They are up, and it snowed urgh

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