One of the fun things about gardening is trying out new plants. It can be a real sickness. I remembered in my younger days when I was sewing most of my clothes, that I could not come home from the fabric store without another piece of fabric for something – who knows what. There are still some of those pieces in my closet.

Usually there is a collection of plants sitting on our back patio, eagerly awaiting the time when I finally decide where each plant should go. Most often, that happens when my husband gets tired of watering all of those pots. I am just finishing up on the latest batch, which includes many that were on sale at the latest Dallas Arboretum plant sale. I, too, want to see how they do in my yard. This is my second year growing Basil Pesto Perpetuo. I love its almost tricolor leaf – dark green, lime green with a white edge. It tastes great as well. Always fond of agastache because it attracts hummingbirds, I cannot wait to see how Acapulco Salmon/Pink does. I am attracted to the colors of the Alternanthera Brazilian Red Hots – that went in a pot. And in a bit of a shady spot I am trying out Sinningia tubiflora, hardy gloxinia. The flowers are supposed to be fragrant and are supposed to attract hummingbirds. Sounds great to me.

I did not know what we were going to have for dinner until this morning’s harvest. Lots of 1015Y onions, red potatoes and a few white made the decision an easy one. My husband loves steak. I love the foods that accompany the steak, so we are a good match. We will grill the onions – a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Potatoes will be boiled and tossed with a pesto made of parsley, chives and rosemary from our garden. I will make a salad with the last of the radicchio – probably with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing.

Meanwhile, I am trying to think of an interesting cocktail to start the evening, using the lemongrass syrup made this morning. The lemongrass has survived the past four or five years in the garden. It is now quite large.

At lunch, we had some the first of the cucumber harvested from the garden – there is nothing better. And all is organically grown!

The only way I can really relax (according to my husband) is to get out of town. So last week we spent four days in Beaufort, South Carolina. My husband is right about these things. I read almost two books (that’s how relaxed I was) and spent the rest of the time exploring the area around the town.

One of the spots we really enjoyed was the site of the old Seabrook Packing Plant. The climate there is much more moderate than ours is (and much more humid!). In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, this area became a prime source of fresh fruits and vegetables. Independent farmers grew lettuce, cabbages, peas, radishes, beans, potatoes, cucumbers, tomatoes, watermelons and cantaloupes. At the packing plants, locals and migrant workers readied the produce for shipping by rail and boat.

Today, the state has a program called “Fresh on the Menu”. Restaurants which participate promise to have at least twenty-five per cent South Carolina grown foods and products on their menu. The move to organic growing is afoot as well. This past weekend there was a tour of nineteen farms growing organically or very close to doing so. It included producers of pasture-raised meat, dairies, honey producers as well as vegetable and fruit growers.

Even “on holiday”, organic gardening is on my mind.

We are constantly being bombarded with the buzzwords “green” and “sustainable”. I can hardly imagine what our great grandmothers would think if they saw a list of ways to be “green”. For them it was a way of life. There was no thermostat to set. If they wanted to be cooler, they went outside on the porch or sat under a tree. Heating was automatically regulated – they just used less wood or coal in the stove. Hanging clothes out on the line was the only option (always a challenge up north – I can remember many times when a load of clothes on the line were frozen solid).

When it came time to garden, they knew that choosing plants that were native or well adapted assured them of success, since they would be much more drought-tolerant. In north Texas, that meant plants had to handle drought and heavy rain, extremely hot temperatures, sudden dramatic changes in temperature and lousy soil.

Turk’s cap, ruellia, tawny daylily, salvia and oxeye daisy, oakleaf hydrangea, prickly pear and flowering quince; desert willow, vitex and eastern red cedar were just some of great-grandmother’s plants. These tried and true plants are still available and still recommended for the same reasons they were popular more than a 100 years ago – they will survive!

For several years now, I have had a Meyer lemon in a container. For the past three years, I have harvested two dozen or more lemons towards the end of the year. The tree is brought in to a sunny spot at the time of the first freeze and comes out again in March at the latest. Our son is going to do the ultimate experiment this year – he has planted his in a protected courtyard. He plans to cover it when we have a hard freeze. I am anxious to see how this works out. Meanwhile, my harvest this year looks like it will be a record.

There is no room to plant any more trees in our yard. I have yearned to have a fig tree for years, so last fall I finally just planted one in a container. Already there are six figs on the tree – not bad for the first year. Next up will be a ‘Wonderful’ pomegranate. I know it may take a year or so to fruit, but it will definitely be worth the wait. If I can have pomegranates the size of the ones Carol, one of our employees, brought in to the store last fall, I will be thrilled. What is even better, the tree is a beautiful plant with its glossy leaves, and scarlet orange flowers – the best of both worlds.

My husband and I were just looking at photographs taken in our back yard only five years ago. We were astounded at how quickly the oak trees had grown. We wanted a privacy screen, but more importantly, we needed shade for our back patio area. We did have a minor setback early on. A couple of beavers decided they needed dinner one night. Two trees disappeared. We replanted them and protected all four with hogwire – we knew we needed the trees more than they did.

The trees were not large, so the garden underneath them originally had beds of miscanthus grass, Gulf muhly, Russian sage, Veronica ‘Sunny Border Blue’ and Rudbeckia goldstrum. They all thrived in the full sun, with very little care, providing color all summer long.

What a difference five years make…the trees have grown so much that I have had to transplant the Gulf muhly, Russian sage and most of the rudbeckia to other spots in the yard. Now I have an odd assortment of shade-loving plants in their place. Hardy ground orchids given to me by a friend, ferns, viola, varieties of heuchera, toad lily, butterfly ginger and viburnum have replaced the sun-loving plants. The tree branches are now strong enough to hang a birdfeeder filled with safflower to attract the neighborhood cardinals, chickadees and titmice.

It may not be instant gratification, but it is something close to it. Each year we have watched the line of shade slowly march across the back yard. Today as I am writing this it is 4:30 in the afternoon and half of our back yard is in the shade!

By early April, my cousin David (a member of the Shetland Horticultural Society) was using his newly constructed greenhouse to sow various vegetables and bedding plants, planning to use it for peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers and some lettuces afterwards.  Some plants, such as sweetcorn, courgettes (what we call zucchini) and beans would have to be grown inside as they do not do well outside there, even with windbreaks in place.  “I have acquired five lots of seed potatoes (an early, a second early and three maincrops) which are in place in seed trays to begin chitting any day now (hopefully). I was also gifted with 3 bags of Shetland Pony manure which is a first for me. I will probably use some of it for the potatoes and courgettes when they are planted out.”

David then sent me photos of him and his wife Fiona gathering seaweed on the local beach.  They were then going to lay it on their garden soil and then “rotavate” or dig it into the soil.  When I mentioned to him that we sell many cases of Maxicrop liquid seaweed each year, he reminded me that Norway, where Maxicrop is harvested, is only 225 miles due east of their islands!  He has even used it himself in the past. 

What a small world it is…

I give up – the Virginia creeper has won the battle. Several years ago, we took out all the grass in our front yard and planted a garden of drought tolerant understory trees, shrubs and perennials. I thought I had pulled up all of the Virginia creeper so that the more “preferable” perennials could take its place. In one corner, I planted a flat of 4″ lyre leaf sage. Three years later about a third of the yard was Virginia creeper and lyre leaf sage. This was not my plan! Through the years, I have managed to control the sage, but nothing I did could keep the creeper in check.

A couple of weeks ago I took some time to contemplate this year’s plan of attack. As I stood by the curb, I was suddenly struck by how lovely the blue blooms of the few remaining lyre leaf sage looked standing tall through the bright green lush growth of Virginia creeper. I loved it! Some Texas Gold columbines have reseeded themselves in the same area. They too look so pretty.  I have a great stand of cedar sage in my back yard. I am going to transplant them to the front. Their red blooms, too, will look great through the creeper. I cannot believe I am saying this – but I am also going to plant some more lyre leaf sage. I can hardly wait until next spring!

This past week I attended an event sponsored by REAL School Gardens  at an elementary school in Grand Prairie. Members of the school’s “Green Team” gave us tours of their garden. They were so proud of it, and rightfully so. Afterwards, we were inspired by author Jane Kirkland’s program “I saw a Bald Eagle Soaring over My Grocery Store.” In ten years, Jane has switched from being a computer book author to being a naturalist. It all began when she looked up one day and saw a bald eagle!

This morning I spent some time weeding and thinking about Jane’s program. In one short hour, I watched a ladybug looking for something to eat, and some very fat swallowtail larvae devouring the rest of what was just a week ago a very lush stand of fennel. Anoles were sunning themselves on a paddle plant; a large lizard was doing the same on a rock wall, as were the dozens of turtles on the banks of the lake. Cardinals, wrens and mockingbirds were singing and I heard briefly the sound of a purple martin overhead – they continue to ignore the house that has been ready and waiting for them for many years. A baby blue heron was “fishing”. I inadvertently found a mother duck and a nest of six eggs; no weeding in that part of the garden for a while. I found many worms in the soil, the result of years of organic gardening.

It was a great hour. Had I not been outside, I would not have noticed all that was just outside my back door.

Links:   www.realschoolgardens.org    www.takeawalk.com

Whenever we have family and friends for dinner, I take a few moments, walk through our garden and look for “flowers” for a few vases. Quite often, I use shoots of umbrella sedge to fill a set of 3 skinny vases. There is always a rose by the kitchen sink. I needed something for a side table the other day. Previously I had used a small stem of hellebores. I was impressed with how long it lasted. This time I tried columbine. It is a real winner – not only as a cut flower, but also as a garden plant.

There is no grass in our very shady front yard. We rely upon drought-tolerant plants that take care of themselves. Several years ago, I planted two or three Aquilegia hinckleyana “Texas Gold” columbines. Over time, there are now probably a dozen or more, standing about 18 to 24 inches tall. I love the lacy-looking bluish-green foliage. The butter yellow, long-spurred blooms last at least six weeks each spring. They even have a slightly, sweet fragrance.

No wonder we list this as one of our top ten plants for the shade…