Category: Gardening

This time of year the Bradford Pears look so pretty, though they also remind me of what an invasive pest they have become. Just drive along the highways during the early spring and you can easily spot where they are taking over.

Ornamental pears were introduced to the United States in the early 1960s and came from China. All ornamental pears originate from Pyrus calleryana, or callery pear, commonly referred to as Bradford Pear. Ornamental pears were originally very popular trees due to their prolific spring flowers, dark glossy leaves and ability to thrive in almost any kind of soil—and because people thought they were sterile and therefore had no messy fruits to contend with.  Continue reading “Stop the Spread of Bradford Pears | Missouri Department of Conservation”

From core77:

In West Pomerania, Poland, stands a rather odd grove of pine trees. Some 400 of the trees have taken the peculiar shapes you see pictured, while the surrounding forest is filled with pines that have grown the ordinary way, true and straight.

The trees, collectively called “The Crooked Forest,” were estimated to have been planted from 1930 to 1934, when Pomerania was still a German possession. And while nature-driven theories have been put forth as to why the trees are shaped this way—some think heavy snowfall caused the bends when the trees were sapling-aged—what seems more likely is that this is man-made intervention.

The prevailing theory is that the trees were deliberately shaped, when seven to ten years old, for the purpose of eventually harvesting the naturally bent wood to construct something. Boats, furniture or some type of structure are the best guesses. On the nautical side, IFLScience’sJustine Alford dug up this quote from a Navy & Marine article on 19th Century shipbuilding called “Wooden Vessel Ship Construction:”

Oaks from the areas of Northern Europe were fine for the development of long straight planking, but the gnarled English “Hedgerow” Oak was the best for the natural curved timbers used to strengthen the ship internally. Trees were even deliberately bent in certain ways so as to ‘grow’ a needed set of curved timbers. These curved timbers were known as ‘compass’ timbers.

The link to the Polish tourism board’s website for the Crooked Forest is here.

 

My Garden is at its peak!

This is the time of the year that my garden containers are at their peak.  With all of the rain, they have had a good year! The secret to good performance is starting the container with new potting soil each year….and a little fertilizer. Dragon-wing Begonias, Persian Shield, Bloodlust & Coleus are my favorites. That is my mom’s Westie pup, Lilly in the last pic.

We are past the Summer Solstice and at the peak of the perennial garden’s showtime!

The last picture to the right shows the first year for my daylilies along Litzsinger Rd.  I did have one deer attack though have been spraying them with deer repellant religiously every night.  Next year they will have a bigger show. I had to plant about 300.

The garden has enjoyed the recent warm days and is growing quickly…weeds also!

Spring is my favorite time of the year, though it is a little stressful. Of course the real estate market is going crazy and my staff and I are scurrying from early morning until night. I also get a little overwhelmed by what I need to do in my garden. Mother’s Day is next Sunday and I have to get zinnia seeds planted, containers filled with soil and plants & get some new bushes planted. Then I have to worry about my farm gardens which I am going to need to tend to this week. I am sure the weeds are knee-high. Everything will get done and the gardens will be splendid.

I did a quick walk in the garden this morning with my coffee and could hear the turkey gobbling in the woods. They come up to greet me periodically which I really enjoy. The deer also come up to greet me….I enjoy looking at them, though wish they would be happy with just eating grass.  I put a pot with a new Split-leaved Japanese Maple in the yard to see if I would be happy with the location. Of course, a friendly deer enjoyed eating it overnight. It would have been less expensive to get the deer a table at Tony’s!

Red Horse Chestnut

Woodland Hyacinths

Sedum and Coral Bells- Light and Dark