Take a break from fall garden cleanup and have some fun bringing a bit of the garden indoors. Here are some craft ideas to brighten your table, door, wall -...
reBlogged
to autumn whimsy
on Sep 20, 2007, 9:16PM
Posted by Reblogged by Old Roses to autumn, whimsy on 2007-09-22, 06:55:23
Nearly every morning I drink my coffee in front of the window and as a fun challenging game, I try to spot the mantids on the flowers. (Do you see the one on the sunflower above and on the verbena below?) I also do this so I can keep an eye on them during the day in case they catch their prey. . . .
Not a chance for the week to even take a picture of anything in the garden. Out early each day off to work and home in the evening when it is dark. Now I really know my vacation is done. At least I tried to get the most out of the two weeks off, getting some things to do out of the way but still some are left over. . . .
reBlogged
to gardening
Posted by Jade Reblogged by Old Roses to Gardening on 2007-09-22, 06:53:57
Use the pond to teach across the curriculum. Keep kids' interest and let them help build and maintain your school pond. If you are a homeschooler, there is no better teaching tool. I explain some great ideas for teaching in this article. Have a look.
reBlogged
to ponds
Posted by Jan Goldfield Reblogged by Old Roses to ponds on 2007-09-22, 06:53:29
I've had this Amorphophallus titanum for many years. It all started out with a table of plants out of tissue culture on a bench at Dewey Fisk's place in Florida many years ago, a time when nobody had any for sale anywhere. And for $65, I became the proud owner of a plant that I knew I had no hope of growing to maturity. But it was rare - and there was some attraction to it from the point of view that the petiole was smooth, splotched and beautiful. And at the time I figured I might get a bigger greenhouse one day. . . .
Boy, did I have big plans this fall. I was going to dig up my monster of a monarda, divide a whole bunch of overgrown hostas and start a boulevard garden. Guess I ran out of steam before I had a chance to run out of time.
Yes, I’m throwing in the trowel. But I haven’t given up on my garden. Oh, no. I’ve just entered a new phase of gardening: It’s called Next Year. . . .
Well, I've finally given in to common sense and reality, but it was a struggle. I've been enjoying vegetable gardening for over 30 years, but this year I had to admit it was not that enjoyable. When completely honest with myself, last year's garden wasn't all that much fun either.
The reality that I've had to face is that I'm biting off far more than I can chew having, what seems like just overnight, become 68 with a bad back, sore hip, and not a hell of a lot of energy. The big garden has to go. There are only two of us in the house and we can't even begin to eat all that I'm trying to grow. Talk about dumb. . . .
Here I am in Seattle, WA visiting my daughter and her family. Let me relate a funny story that happened many years ago when she first moved here and gardened for the first time. Being the Master Gardener, I, of course, got tons of questions as this was her first experience doing these things on her own. One of the first questions was about some shrubs she had in the front yard that looked pretty sad. . . .
We were under our first frost warning of the season last night. The town people were going to be fine, but we that live in the "outlying areas" were cautioned to cover our plants. I think it seems a little early for this, but I've not kept track over the years either. Victory Seeds says our average first frost date is September 25th, so it's coming, I guess. . .
reBlogged
to weather
Posted by Kylee Reblogged by Old Roses to weather on 2007-09-22, 06:49:55
I was on my own today. Mom had classes with the rest of the Master Gardeners so I took the car and headed to Franklin Park Conservatory. This was the second day of their annual Antiques and Gardens Fair. Vendors were located in various places throughout the conservatory and I spent an hour or so browsing what they had to offer.
What an exhausting week,we had to make sure all the gardens were pristine as far as the roos would let us,for the Art Exhibition and then set up and mark the field for the Annual Athletics as well.All was going well more than usual as we had some lovely people volunteered to mark up the track while we did the field!. . .
"Fall is a great time to take stock of what worked in the garden and what didnt," observes Marie Iannotti, and that includes asking yourself if you took sufficient time...
reBlogged
to design
on Sep 21, 2007, 3:45AM
Posted by Reblogged by Old Roses to design on 2007-09-22, 06:44:59
The Elderberry is often over looked or worse, unknown to many. But these clusters of juicy berries were a staple of the American Indians, who called them a medicine chest. Even our pioneer grandparents knew of their powers to heal. The small berries pack more vitiam A and C than blueberries and cranberries, making them a popular flu remedy by herbalists. . . .
reBlogged
to berries recipes
Posted by Sue Reblogged by Old Roses to berries, recipes on 2007-09-22, 06:44:41
Black Leaf Millet Pennisetum glaucum 'Purple Majesty' (pen-ih-SEE-tum) (GLAW-kum) Synonyms: Ornamental Millet, Pearl Millet
This is an interesting accent plant that I am seeing more of. I have grown it before from seed and purchased it in small pots in the spring. This year I cheated and bought some in August for planting with my mums. One thing I liked about getting it later in the season, the plants were a lot shorter. It grows to about 4 to 5 feet in the garden. As I said it is an interesting accent both for it’s color and vertical shape. I never knew the scientific name until I went to write this post. I see it is actually a grass and related to couple of my favorite Ornamental Grasses, Fountain Grass. I especially love Purple Fountain Grass even though it is closer to red. Since this plant is hardy to USDA Zone 8 I grow this as an annual. It last pretty late into the season. . .
The color of this flower immediately caught my attention. It is striking and not quite faithfully reproduced by my trusty camera. There is just something, to me, about rich purple flowers. I have grown the Princess Flower (Tibouchina urvilleana) before and seen it growing outdoors in warmer areas but I hadn’t seen this one before. I would characterize it was a smaller more intense Princess Flower. I don’t understand the scientific name of this plant. Grandiflora would indicate large flowers but they are actually smaller than most Tibouchina. That may need looking into and I did find a website that said this plant maybe a form of T. heteromalla. I guess it doesn’t matter because the flower and velvety dark green foliage are beautiful and that is what matters. . . .
This weekend you can do something for the environment — and your garage: Recycle your plastic plant pots.
You can drop off clean plastic pots between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at metro-area garden centers, including Linder’s, Highland, Gertens, Lotus, Mickman, Dundee and area Bachman’s. (For a complete list of participating garden centers, go to www.GardenMinnesota.com. . . .
Woo-hoo! My daffodil bulbs arrived the other day. I think the UPS guy probably sprained his back bringing them up to the door. The box weighed 50 pounds! That’s a LOT of daffodil bulbs (200, to be exact). Which means, I’d better get planting, because this is going to take awhile. . . .
We're creatures of comfort when it comes to growing vegetables in our gardens. The perennial favourites; tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuces and cabbage always get a guernsey and the only time we move outside of our preferences is when we experiment with a new variety.
Yet we rarely try a new species. Why is that? Is it because we have no idea what to do with some vegetables? Or, maybe we don't like eating them and therefore won't grow them in favour of our taste buds. Perhaps it has more to do with economics - limited space = demand = supply. . .
reBlogged
to kohlrabi
on Sep 20, 2007, 9:44PM
Posted by Reblogged by Old Roses to kohlrabi on 2007-09-22, 06:33:05
It is Thursday all day today! Here is an online link to this week's The List: Top Home & Garden Events on page 27 of today's print edition in the Washington Examiner. This image is courtesy of the Remodeling & Home Decor Show. I like this DIY painter as she reminds me of some outdoor decor paint projects I need to add to my ever-expanding To-Do list. . . .
I recently noticed my chard plants, red, white, and yellow, which have been growing since february, have been covered in a white, powdery, "dust." It doesn't neccessarily fit the description of "powery mildew" and the plant flesh underneath appears to be ok.
No, I don't think its playa dust...
From what I've read about actual powdery mildew, it doesn't usually show up on food crops, outside of fruit trees.
It does sort of wash off. But I am concerned as it appears to be spreading.
Any clues?
reBlogged
to pests
on Sep 20, 2007, 5:47PM
Posted by Peter
Reblogged by Old Roses to pests on 2007-09-22, 06:27:33
Or so my calender informs me. Autumn is approaching and there's a nip in the air, early in the morning and late at night, that wasn't there before. But today it is still Summer and as it is such a lovely day we'll do a spot of gardening. . . .
Really-Important,Major-Significant,Totally-RelevantSidewalk News The sweaty construction worker-types tidied up the new sidewalks and driveway aprons, yesterday.~ They scraped up all that grass they killed, and put down this nice, soft, talcum-powder type brown dirt, all around the clean, new, pretty sidewalks. Very tidy-looking, now!
I've been trying to clean up my computer files for the last several days. I have thousands upon thousands of pictures of flowers and nature related things that I have uploaded since I began blogging. I usually take pictures everyday and some days I will take about a hundred or more pictures, sometimes with more than one camera. So many of those are just taking up memory space on my computer. I mean, how many blurry pictures of pink tulips do I need to keep? Really, how many good pictures of pink tulips do I even need to keep? I think I might have a problem. I hope I'm not the only one who does this.
Update: Picture added below so you can see that the nest is hidden.
Yesterday I had my house inspected for termites or any other critters that might be trying to destroy it. Luckily, I had none of those. However, the pest control technician did notice that there were a lot of yellow jackets, specifically German yellow jackets, flying around the porch by the front door. . . .
reBlogged
to pests
Posted by Carol Reblogged by Old Roses to pests on 2007-09-22, 06:22:48
Once a level, dry and partially grass filled lawn has evolved rock by rock, plant by plant..It has thankfully been my hobby for 10 or more years. It. . .
reBlogged
to gardens
on Sep 20, 2007, 11:28AM
Posted by Reblogged by Old Roses to Gardens on 2007-09-22, 06:21:23
Our garden is a monarch waystation, and throughout the summer we've had numerous monarchs hatching. I caught this one just as the chrysalis split and. . .
reBlogged
to beneficials
on Sep 20, 2007, 11:20AM
Posted by Reblogged by Old Roses to beneficials on 2007-09-22, 06:20:31
Don't you think this is a nice picture. It's Biosphere2 in backlight (photographer is flickr alias ericvh, you find his profile and more of his photos here). Biosphere2 was meant to be a gigantic perpetum mobile, built as a selfsustaining eco system providing both water and oxygen to the inhabitants. Among other things you find in there is an ocean and a savanna. 1991 six persons moved in an the doors were sealed tight behind them. Nothing from the outside world were to be allowed inside, not a single molecule. The aim of the project was to... was to...
via Point Taken on 1969-12-31, 19:00:00
.JPG)
