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Odd Plants of the Garden
Watch out, we bite! These variegated milk thistles, Silybum marianum, have been an interesting addition to our garden. I know, I know, y’all are going, “You are growing thistle?? Isn’t that a weed?” Well, yes, lots of plants are weeds until you decide to make them part of your garden! And, it’s variegated. If you’ve known us, especially Chris, for any length of time in the garden you know that variegation is a plant trait that we are highly drawn to. If it is variegated and isn’t ugly (there’s some ugly variegation out there folks!), the plant usually ends up on our cart at a plant nursery. I think they…
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Japanese Honeysuckle | Wordless Wednesday
Shhh, I’m not actually typing here on Wordless Wednesday…but if you could scratch and sniff the computer, you’d get a wonderful whiff of the aroma I smell when around the potting bench. I’ll just pretend this isn’t an invasive plant for the moment.
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An Evening Garden Tour
Scarlet creeping thyme…but not very scarlet flowers. Could be mislabeled… Calendula Gaillardia Woodland painted petals While I love walking through our yard and garden at all times of the day, there’s always something different blooming, I think the evening walk throughs are my favorite. Particularly those when the sun is just down in a particular manner to the west, casting the right light through the trees. The birds are still active and the frogs are beginning to sing just a little bit. It’s soothing to go through and see new plants sprouting or growing and others blooming. I keep waiting for a few areas to fill in, to create the…
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Green Tree Frog
We’re lucky that the area where we live is packed with frogs and toads. As dusk settles in the frog song escalates to new heights and sometime deep in the summertime it’ll be a cacophony of noise that we can hear inside the house. Someday I need to record it to share with y’all. Some of the frogs we see most often are green tree frogs, Hyla cinerea, like this one here. They love to tuck themselves around in between various plants and it is always a treat to find one. Do you have any frogs or toads in your garden?
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Swampin’ in Fakahatchee | Part II
Old logging scars…what a shame, they cut the tree down but couldn’t haul it out. On our second day of swamp walking in Fakahatchee Strand we went to a completely different section of the central slough, coming in from Janes Scenic Drive, the main dirt road that winds up through the park. This would be a bushwhacking adventure instead of the easy walk like the previous day. We also did not end up hiking with Mike this day as he had a group of other volunteers and was leaving from a little bit further down the road than we were. Theorhetically our destinations were the same, a large and deep…
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Same View, Different Weeks | In The Garden: April 2014
April 2nd April 10th April 19th The view is rapidly changing here in the garden! Growth everywhere we turn!
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Clematis | Wordless Wednesday
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On The Potting Bench
The potting bench is a little crowded these days, and I still need to start some more seeds! We have a flat of these jack-in-the-pulpits as well as more in larger containers. Last spring Chris ordered a bunch of the bulbs and they didn’t come up. The dirt ended up being dumped in a big container with other soil and lo and behold they sprouted this spring! I think it’s time we get these in the ground, though. I started bottle gourd seeds to grow along the vegetable garden fence this summer, along with luffa seeds. I’m imagining a lush fence with vines covered in blooms! I can’t wait! Sweet…
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Swampin’ in Fakahatchee | Part I
Lots of photos in this post! Our first day in Fakahatchee for the yearly Central Slough Survey, we joined park biologist Mike Owen and several other botany and plant enthusiasts for a slow slog down Mink Slough. The best thing about walking through this slough was the generally it was fairly easy walking with little bushwhacking. The Central Slough Survey is conducted by Mike and some other trusted folks who are on the lookout for rare plants. Some plants on the radar are those that are thought to be extirpated from the park. Back in the 40s and 50s the swamp was logged and throughout the swamp logging trams were…
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Poison Ivy on Steroids
I first noticed this vine last year, which grows on a pine tree just on the other side of our fence on the neighbor’s property, and had identified it as poison ivy. Chris just noticed it this year and wants to cut the vine, which is within reach of our snippers. It’s a pretty magnificent vine despite its itchiness status! Either way, you’ve got to appreciate the tenacity of poison ivy!