Wisteria Garden Circle

I don’t know about you, but I’m super excited about our program this year featuring Julanne’s raised bed garden. From what I’ve heard raised beds offer a really productive approach to gardening. Unfortunately, the program doesn’t occur until the spring. In the meantime, I’m compulsively looking at the pictures on this website: http://www.mastergardenproducts.com/raisedbed.htm

I love the willow fencing, but am not sure how it will hold up in our humid climate. There’s lots of other wonderful products on this website too, so check it out.

I am certainly a proponent of recycling and reuse. I use cloth shopping bags, have not one but two recycling bins, and earnestly do my part to take care of our fragile earth. In my zeal to do the right thing, however, I recently learned a valuable life lesson which I feel duty bound to share. Do not use full strength, week-old, turtle tank water to water your house plants.

Anybody know what these things are? They are munching my azaleas like crazy. They came around last year about this time too and did the same thing. I sprayed them with soapy water yesterday, but that didn’t phase them. Today I knocked them off into a cup of water and after about 15 minutes they still weren’t drowned (how does that work?). I don’t mind plucking them off to save my plants, but I’d like to know what they are (in case I’m killing some endangered moth).

Meanwhile, gulf fritilary caterpillars have almost completely defoliated my passion vine and I’m ok with that cause they are butterfly caterpillars. I think this double standard bears some examination but as I have about 150 forms to fill out (this being the first day of school) it will have to wait until tomorrow.

Back-to-school means back to Garden Club! We’ve finally completed the arrangements for our meeting schedule this year. We’ve got parties (can you say Jingle Juice?), worms, orchids, flower arranging, raised beds and much more planned for the year. We will have the full calendar available here very shortly. In the meantime, our first meeting will be September 16th. So save the date, and check back regularly for the full schedule.

Taking cues from several African countries, the City of Los Angeles passed a law on July 23, 2008 banning all plastic grocery and take out bags as of 2010. Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania have also passed laws banning or restricting the use of plastic bags. In Kenya, where only about 10% of waste makes it to garbage dumps, plastic bags spread disease by clogging sewers and providing breeding pools for malaria-infected mosquitoes.

Hopefully, this will provide a trend in legislation in cities across the country. Since “going green” became hip, I’ve seen a lot more people using reusable bags at the grocery store. And, it’s a nice little cheap and easy way for us all to make a difference for our environment.

These days, there’s a lot of great choices when it comes to reusable shopping bags. Envirosax makes a line of super-cute grocery shoppers in retro and modern patterns. And, you don’t have to break the bank, either. The Flora Bag below goes for just $8.50.

If you’re looking for something a little cheaper, Target has great foldable shoppers for only $.99! I keep them in my purse so I never have to get a plastic bag.

My trip to Lake Dillon and Breckenridge this week was beautiful, and thought I’d share some photos. Particularly beautiful are the California Poppies and native Columbine. The arid climate with extreme heat and extreme cold isn’t easy for most plants, but those that are native are certainly beautiful. Pine beetles have left much of the mountainside a shade of  brown, and much has been clearcut, but the wildflowers are spectacular. It doesn’t hurt that it’s not as hot and humid as Tallahassee.

 

 

In my perusing of numerous online blogs and news stories, I ran into this interesting site: Locavore Nation.

Locavore Nation a website dedicated to a year-long experiment in which 15 folks from across the US try to base at least 80% of their diet from local food sources. You can read about their struggles and sucesses in the blog section of the site.

Check it out!

(Added July 22): Also, check out the 100 Mile Diet: Local Eating for a Global Change.

The pink guara (Onagraceae Guara lindheimen), a native of Texas, is a great perennial for a butterfly garden. Hardy and drought tolerant, this bushy shrub has small pink flowers shaped like butterflies.

The one shown below was about 2 feet tall at the time of planting (March 2008). Now, it’s taller than me!

This plant can be slightly invasive so be careful where you plant it. It spreads through rhizomes, so plan well. Once in place, it does not like to be moved.

Sun or part sun/blooms spring through fall