Sir Graham

Grows more than 10 feet in the air...and oh so beautiful...sigh.

Carrots Going to Seed

Favorite Hydra

Hamburg Parsley Going to Seed

Heirloom Roses

An important element in our garden are heirloom roses. Recently, we purchased several roses and paid a premium price for the roses as well as the shipping. What we received was nothing less than a shock - rooted sticks...rooted sticks with big bugs. These so-called plants came from Ashdown Roses. Once they're out of quarantine, we'll make sure to take photos (as it's a rather surprising sight). At the moment they're sequestered in a separate area of the garden in hopes of ridding the massive aphids from the plants; hopefully, the sticks won't rot away.

Now, this was our third rose order of the season. What arrived from the first two orders were lovely, healthy plants - from two different companies.

Two out of three isn't too bad...we won't place another order from Ashdown Roses anytime soon after this initial experience.

UPDATE:
Ashdown FINALLY responded to our many, many inquiries and sent us a refund for the sticks which inevitably died.

People have also asked what the other company was that provided us with fabulous roses - the name of the company is Chamblee's Rose Nursery. We're planning to place another order with them in a few weeks (and yes, that statement was made with sheer glee!!!).

Beautiful Burgundy Sweet Peas

I am now convinced every home gardener should grow sweet peas. They are one of the most rewarding plants providing highly fragrant blooms. Blooms are durable, delicate and last for several days, making way for the next batch of cut stems.

Burgundy Sweet Pea are some of the most spectacular sweet peas grown in my garden. They’ve volunteered each of the past several years and are simply magnificent! Plants readily produce large, deep burgundy flowers on long stems which make gorgeous, distinctive bouquets. One cutting of six stems easily perfumed an entire room and is always a show stopper. Plants grow vigorously and easily reach 7 feet with support. Flowers are produced over an extensive period of time, particularly if cut frequently.

I hope to grow more varieties and make them available to other home gardeners. Available for those who wish to try them.

Bronze Fennel

This is a fairly easy plant to grow although our first year was a complete disaster due to our lack of watering when the plants were seedlings. However, once established they quickly became a prominent addition to the garden often turning the heads of all who entered. The plants are gorgeous, bronzy-brownish-burgundy with an intense fennel fragrance. We used it primarily as an ornamental filler for flower arrangements. The plants bulbous portion didn’t seem to grow nearly as fast as typical fennel, which was great for us, and maintained itself rather neatly in one area. It was extremely drought tolerant and not demanding of space. Plants lasted for a couple of years, with frequent cuttings, without any signs of going to seed. The leaves are lovely, feathery and light and are supported by strong bronze stems. We have found it to be a prolific re-seeder in our tropical environment. The plant is edible. Note, in 2008, we’ve ended up with Bronze Fennel throughout our entire yard. Taking nothing away from its intense beauty…it can be a bit of a nuisance because it’s so incredibly prolific. Since we only use it for salads, we are unable to eat it as quickly as it reproduces. Luckily, I’ve enlisted another neighbor to assist us since fennel is one of her favorites.

If you'd like to grow some in your garden, you're welcome to try it.

Mrs. Burns' Lemon Basil

I grew this plant several years ago as a trial and was simply stunned by the incredible taste of lemon. The leaves are small and more pointy than the lettuce-type varieties like Genovese and Ruffles but are extremely flavorful and highly fragrant. Slightly brush against the plant and you’re struck by the strong lemon aroma with an after effect of basil. And, it’s delicious! Pesto made from Mrs. Burn’s Lemon is great on pizza. This has a very distinctive lemony taste and fragrance. Frequently harvest the leaves. Plant will become woody if not cut on a regular basis. Plants only grew a few inches tall. Generally, we just grow one to two plants in the garden but this time we're going to make a border of at least eight plants and plant Envy zinnia in the center.

We have seed available for home gardeners who would like to try it.

Red Amaranth

Have you grown this variety of amaranth? It has gorgeous burgundy leaves make an excellent salad addition. Commonly used in Asian cuisine. Very ornamental, beautiful plant. Our plants readily self-seed. We have seed available for home gardeners wishing to try it. It would be great to get an opinion for someone living in a different climatic zone.

Tomatoes

I hate tomatoes...think I've said that before, probably too many times. But, it never fails we start more tomatoes than we could possibly ever plant or consume unless we lived on several hundred acres (okay, I'm exaggerating a bit). This year is no different. Over a week ago, after ordering 50 new tomato varieties, we planted 18 varieties and 54 seeds.

I'm considering counseling...

Spring is Springng

If I could express how incredibly happy I am to be able to get into the garden and work, I would but words don't express...what a joy.

Well, the garden is truly a mess but much great work was done clearing out weeds, grass and pulling up plants I'm just really tired of looking at: calendula, peppermint...and a few other things that are currently a blur.

I'll try to remember to take some pictures - which I find more interesting than my words. The colors and the spring blooms are incredible.

Heirloom Club Member Annual Gifts

Incredibly, it's March which means the heirloom seeds purchased a couple of months ago are starting to arrive and will be ready for distribution to members shortly. These annual gifts are available to members who requested packets in the past. The only request is that anyone receiving these heirlooms contact us back to let us know how well the plants grew on, what you thought of each packet you plant, if you'd grow them again and if it was worth the effort (along with any interesting information about the quality, color and size of the plants).

Packets of seeds will be available for shipping the second week of March 2008. Members should forward a self addressed stamped envelope before March 21, 2008 to receive their selections. Include a minimum of .85 cents in US postage. Be sure to send an email letting us know the envelope is on its way so we can notify you when it's received and when we subsequently return it to you.

If there's something in particular you would like to make sure you do not receive because of taste preferences or growing conditions (such as melons because they don't necessarily grow well in colder climates if you live in a colder climate) please send a note with your stamped envelope. International members should contact us and we'll send you a Paypal invoice for $2 for the shipping of the packets.

If you haven't requested seeds in the past then feel free to use the form included on the site to try out a few of the selections available. This annual gift is only available to those who've made a request previously.

Please forward your envelopes prior to April 10, 2008. No annual gifts will be sent after that time.

Feel free to contact us with any questions. Do let us know how they grow!

Stylish Peas?

While I can't believe it's February already, I'm placing several orders for new items to try and came across a reference in a catalog for a 'stylish' pea. Now, come on people. Stylish peas? Delicious peas, yummy peas, even strong peas...but 'stylish'? Good grief, who writes this stuff? Not to take away credit from anyone but 'stylish' isn't really what most home gardeners' look for in a pea. If it wasn't so silly, I'd actually have a good laugh.

Now, this pea is certainly 'interesting' to say the least. It's named 'Blondie' and it's a pale green pea with pale yellow pods. It's quite intriguing. But, since I can't imagine someone growing these to wear with the best shoes, I'd have to defer the 'stylish' for something a bit more fitting like a pair of chic leather garden gloves...

What are people doing in their gardens at the moment? I really need to get into the garden. Am having terrible gardening withdrawls.

What are you doing in your garden?

Recently I realized how incredibly spoiled I am...I've spent less time in the garden than standing by the heater because it's been a tad too cold for me to pick up a shovel. There's no excuse because it really hasn't been 'that' cold to justify my doing absolutely nothing but nevertheless, that's exactly what I've done.

Amused by the cloudless sky, I decided to go out and garden today. I found myself lingering in the only area that had sun, which was the pavement (standing at a far, gazing at the 2 foot celery I intended to cut back, about 7 feet from the sun). Finally, I gave up and retreated back inside to the heater.

The goal was to:

1. Cut the for-ever growing celery (request some on the seed list - it's amazing stuff - haven't planted celery in years because some part of the garden is always reproducing the stuff and tossing seeds in different areas - so it's absolutely unnecessary to start seedlings).

2. Plant out the Earl Grey Larkspur, Penn State Ballhead Cabbage, Bok Choi and Red Deer Tongue Lettuce.

3. Check the plum tree cuttings.

4. Plant the daffodils and remaining tulips.

5. Transplant the avocado tree.

NONE of these projects ever happened. Just too cold and there was little to no motivation.

Shameful, I know.

So tell me, what are you doing in your garden this time of the year?

...I dream about the day I'm blessed with a larger area of land to grow all of my wild ideas...but I've no idea what I'd do with it if it meant contending with the cold (even though it's really only been an inconvenience for a couple of weeks).

Remember, I started the thread by saying...'I'm spoiled'...

Do share what you're doing. I'm hopeful it will give me some motivation to get off my duff.

Gardening Resource Recommendations

I am frequently asked my opinion about which gardening resources are most interesting. I figure I'd ask your opinion. There might be some that should added to my list of recommendations.

Tell me what you think - which book or online resource do you recommend and what do you refer to most often?

Thanks!

Just Checking...

I seem to be waxing on alot lately about tomatoes but I wanted to check with someone else - tomatoes do NOT grow in the winter, right? The tomato plants from last spring are still producing fruit in enormous quantities: healthy leaves, rich-looking color in the tomatos and sprawling. One grew under another plant and I mistakenly assumed the plant was leaf-less. So, I pulled it out by the root, only to expose the fact that the plant had sprawled about two feet into some other plants and was filled with these gorgeous, not yet ripe, San Marzanos - with the most perfect form. There are Sweet Orange (little mini orange tomatoes) that we can't seem to keep up with and then there's this mystery tomato...produces these huge, beefsteak pinkish-red tomatoes that people sware by.

What a winter - and let me say in advance, sorry - friends who are experiencing 'real' winter.

A customary representative of Christmas in December...

one of the favorites for the holidays - white hydrangeas...

always nice to have a little color in the garden...

but peppers in December? It's shocking but true. Think the postman shakes his head everytime he walks by the plant.

This is Lemon Pepper which came up with some larkspur (a clear casualty of seed dropping into a pot that it didn't belong in). While the larkspur have been long gone (beautiful Earl Grey Larkspur) the peppers continue to grow and produce massive amounts of fruit.

Late Bloomer Tomato Plants

So, I previously mentioned we planted far more tomato plants than should have been permitted by law. They were green for a very long period of time and much to my surprise, the plants are producing pounds and pounds of fruit NOW. During the summer there was fruit, here and there. But now, there are fruit everywhere. All shapes, sizes and colors. There are tomatoes growing in areas where we didn't even plant them.

Let's see how long we can keep the plants through 'winter' (whatever that means this year).

Reconsidering Seed Distribution

So I was considering not providing seeds in 2008 (lots of work, small collection, limited number of inquiries except during certain times of the year - you get the picture) - then I received a very nice note from a lady named Christina...well gee...maybe I will consider saving seeds and distributing them to garden friends around the world after all.

For the most part, we are extremely busy through the year but make it a special point of doing what we enjoy which is gardening. And, as part of the gardening process, we've found it an essential part of gardening to save seeds. Of course, anyone who has ever saved seeds knows you can only save so many before it becomes an over-zealous hobby where you end up with far more than you need in one season...thus...this is how we've come up with the concept of providing them to garden friends from around the world. Strange but true.

We're not in the seed business...we're actually working professionals who have standard 9 to 5 jobs that always seem to last beyond 5 and into 10 in the night but that's another story. Seed, however, has become part of our wholistic process of organic gardening and we really are thrilled to be able to share with others of like-mind.

So, thank you to people like Christina for remind us why this is so important. Sometimes the unimportant stuff gets in the way and foreshadows our reality.

Seed List

After several requests, I've added the seed list to this site. It seems several people who are using browers other than Internet Explorer 7 were having difficulties accessing the list. Again, sorry about that. Hopefully this solves the problems from now on.

Let us know.

Adding to the Collection

Okay, we're taking suggestions - tell us the following either privately or on the blog:

1. What should we add to our collection?

2. What companies do you recommend, particularly for heirloom varieties but most importantly for varieties you deem worthy of growing out and sharing with others?

Thanks! We're adding to the collection and are most interested in your thoughts.

Delfino Cilantro

Let me state for the record - I think Delfino Cilantro is a bit of a finicky plant. We planted several and several have withered away.

So far, I'm not impressed.

Heirloom Tomatoes

Last year I said 64 tomato plants in the garden was ridiculous; one heirloom zucchini was plenty and one cucumber was more than sufficient. Shamefully, this year we have so many tomato plants I've lost count; 6 different heirloom varieties of zucchini and 4 different varieties of cucumber - at least 2 plants each.

...sigh

Forgot to Post

Pac Choi Destruction

...I should also reference the fact that my Pac Choi was abscounded, not entirely but in sufficient quantities in comparison to the number of plants previously planted out. I'd like to blame it on the heat - if we had any serious heat...honestly have no idea what happened other than the fact the majority are gone, simply gone. So, sad. Was looking forward to the consumption. Luckily, that was another one of the plants that was incredibly easy to germinate. I'll plant more and will probably provide them with a bit more security - like keeping them in a planter box that I can take inside each evening!

Oh, and I have lots of seeds in case you're interested. Send me an email and I'll gladly share. It's fairly tasty if you can get your share of the plants before the other creatures.

Too Much of a Good Thing

...it's hard to imagine you can have too much of a good thing. We setup a new greenhouse, in addition to the existing greenhouse and I quickly filled it up seeds. What was not anticipated was how quickly it would take in order to get the seeds to germinate. It's a very nice surprise but a shock nevertheless. From vegetables, flowers, herbs and cuttings, it's such a nice problem to have. I'll post some photos shortly. In the meantime, the tomatoes, basil and peppers will be provided to the neighbors. If you've sent a message asking for an updated list, please note we'll try to update the list within the next few weeks but depending on the immediate response for the tomatoes and peppers will depend on whether or not we include that with the main list or provide it a supplemental.

Sorry, we cannot ship plants internationally (outside the United States).

Pac and Broc

All work and no play make humans dull - so I finally had a chance to get into the garden. Surprisingly, things looked rather smashing. That Pac Choi listed below, it finally got planted today. Approximately 30 were planted, if not a tad more. Also planted some of the Broccoli Raab today, fast grower that Broccoli Raab...

Weekend Planting

This was an unusually busy weekend. At least 30 additional varieties were planted; 6 peonies, 30 gladiola and more than 10 varieties of dahlias.


Asian veggies are some of my favorite to grow. Above is Pac Choi which sprouted in only a couple of days.

Fragrant Garden

I go through an extraordinary effort to have beautiful flowers and lusciously fragrant flowers in the garden. I think I've been giving a bit too much credit to the flowers alone. Look at the blossoms on the sweet lemon. The tree is loaded with blossoms and adorable tiny, budding fruit. And yes, the fragrance is absolutely heavenly.

Today's update...

Beautiful, multi-petaled calendula, brightens up the garden.

Whether I want it or not, it continues to grow. Season after season - fennel.

A forest of yummy parsley.

This was the most unusual flower I'd seen in a long time, from a friend's garden. I call it the pre-historic flower.

Here's another interesting flower from a friend's garden.

Cavallo Cornsalad was grown from seed and with the dramatic weather seems to have disappeared. Just poof! Those dreaded critters probably munched on them.

My new favorite lettuce.

Valdor lettuce is tender, sweet, delicious and extremely easy to grow. Not temperamental at all and easy to grow in all sorts of variant weather conditions.