Growing peanuts

I can't claim that I've ever grown peanuts, even after living in the South for 3 decades.

I know it's possible. One of my younger colleagues grew giant Spanish peanuts with the kids in one of our after-school programs (at the botanical garden where I worked, and now volunteer) some years ago.

Peanuts need warmth and space. They flourish in the coastal plain of SC and GA.

So I found this article in the NY Times quite interesting; here's a fellow trying to grow peanuts in NYC.  Lovely!  And learning more about the history of peanuts -- fascinating.

Read More

Penstemon digitalis "Husker Red"

Penstemon digitalis in the pocket meadow

Penstemon digitalis (in the pocket meadow) is looking lovely now, in full flower. Its lovely clear white flowers are a great addition to the mix!

Penstemon digitalis

Read More

Neem - The organic insecticide

Neem is one of my favorite things to use when it comes to controlling disease and pests. Its Organic, and as you all know when growing your vegetables, why use anything that wasn't organic.

You want to get a 70% Neem Oil Like this one!

As Mike McGrawth, Host of "You Bet Your Garden" says,  "I like [to] use neem oil as the oil form of this plant seed is a very effective anti-fungal. (In another, harder-to-find form, neem acts as an anti-feedant; and if pest insects eat anyway, they die. You go, neem tree seed!) 

Anti-fungal! Do tell you say!

Neem oil can be used to treat a number of garden ailments, including:

• Insects: Neem oil kills or repels many harmful insects and mites, including aphids, whiteflies, snails, nematodes, mealybugs, cabbage worms, gnats, moths, cockroaches, flies, termites, mosquitoes, and scale. It kills some bugs outright, attacks the larvae of others, and repels plant munchers with its bitter taste.
• Fungus: Neem oil is also effective in preventing fungal diseases such as black spot, anthracnose, rust, and mildew.
• Disease: As if that wasn’t enough, neem oil also battles viruses that can harm plants.

Read More

Flame azalea and Eastern hemlocks

We've gardened in our neighbor's yards on both sides of our house in the mountains (with their permission - so not guerilla gardening, but shared landscaping).

It's been fun to replace weedy things with desirable native plants, ones that restore some mountain habitat to an old urban neighborhood (and the formerly weedy woodland ravine behind the house).  This has my gardening companion's major gardening focus (and a welcome break for him). I appreciate the results!

A flame azalea and a couple of Eastern hemlocks were additions to the "blue house side"-- along with a number of other things.

flame azalea and Eastern hemlocks

The flame azalea (Rhodendron calendulaceum) is beautiful right now.

Read More

Carolina rose

We've enjoyed our Carolina rose: we planted it last year and it's flourished.

This is how it looked this afternoon. Lovely.

Read More

"Pocket" meadow

The plants in the pocket meadow out front are such a nice mix, flowering sequentially throughout the growing season.  This is somewhat (although not entirely) by design.

It was heartening to see how many of them survived the exceptionally cold winter -- and the ones that didn't; well, their spot just gives me an opportunity to plant something else.

The hybrid Penstemons, even though they were western species, were casualties, probably from the wet summer more than the cold, but the species Penstemon now in flower (also western species, I think), are a lovely lavender.  An single P. hirsutus, planted last week, makes a nice contrast to the others and filled in a gap. And the white flowers of P. digitalis "Husker's Red" will be open soon; the purple foliage adds to the mix.

The yellow Golden Alexanders (Zizia aurea) have flourished - they're huge this year. Interestingly, I just read that the flowers and foliage were edible -- it wouldn't have occurred to me!

Read More

Native rhododendrons

This year has been kind to our evergreen Rhododendron catawbiense, if not to deciduous native azaleas (we lost one and another doesn't look robust).  Catawba rhododendrons (species) have been lovely here in the mountains as well as around town; their hybrid forms (often with Asian species) have done equally well.

Rhododendron catawbiense

Read More