herbaltea's Blog
Herbaltea's Blog
Last Post 24 days, 1 hour Ago
Aug 11, 2008 | 7:59 PM PST
Tag: Hummers in H-Town
The first one was spotted buzzing around my Orange Cape Honey Suckle yesterday afternoon.....I had taken advantage of an end of season plant sale last week when I purchased the honey suckle, a butterfly bush, a couple small pots of butterfly weed, a zinnia, and a Lantana.
The second hummer was spotted this evening feasting on my "bleeding heart". In the next few days, I will be the finishing touches on my butterfly garden. For now, I am still sticking to container gardening.
The official humming bird feeder is now hanging on a suction cup attached to the patio window. That is a complete experiment. We'll see how it goes. I am just excited to see them.
Aug 5, 2008 | 8:06 AM PST
Tag: What to plant between a pecan tree and a cypress
My husband and I moved into the house that I was raised in earlier this summer. There's a front flowerbed that is sandwiched between two trees-a pecan on one side and a cypress (that drinks a lot) on the other. There are various bulbs (lilies-different ones) that bloom in the spring. Right now, the bed is pretty empty. Looking for ideas. The bed is right on the property line between us and a house that is up for sale. I want to have a pretty spot there this fall that a) looks good for the hopeful new neighbors b) lets me mark my territory. It's a space with funny memories. There once was a huge hedge....My neighbor and I (we were like 7) got a hold of a pair of hedge clippers and created a great "house" in the hedge.....so....while I have outgrown the desire to make a house out of a hedge, I do want it to be a great spot.
Feb 25, 2008 | 6:20 PM PST
Tag: Weed free Mulches?
It's a warm end to February here in town and I need something to keep my herbs from getting parched.....Any natural mulch suggestions? I want something "weed free" of course....
Feb 25, 2008 | 6:17 PM PST
Tags: My affair....with Herb , Veggies in pots and planters
It's a warm end to February here in Houston, TX. I spent my Sunday running back and forth between my "potted garden" and Wal-Mart. My husband and I live in a town home (for now) so....potted plants it is. I have found a wonderful organic nursery in Tomball, TX....Arbor Gate Nursery.....It's as much of a treat to just spend the day looking around at all of their cool garden spots as it is to spend the day....."spending",,,,,This weekend....it was time for some new roses. I got one climbing rose.....for 5.99....pot luck....I'll let you know how that turns out....I got two more roses.....A "Spice" rose and a "Honey-Sweet"....The spice rose shares it residential pot with Garlic chives and rue (I'm still working on companion planting"....."The Honey Sweet" shares its resident pot with Thyme and Garlic chives.
I transplanted my 290 Button Rose into a larger pot. The 290 Button was started from a clipping that I pinched off a rose in an old church Garden.....Two years ago now.
Along with a weekend for roses, it was an "herbal" weekend.....The joke with my hubby is that I'm having an "affair" with a mysterious gentleman.....named Herb. Herb's cousins consist of Curley parsley, flat leafed parsley, Cilantro, pineapple sage, Thyme (English and verigated), Sweet Basil, Onion Chives, Spinach, a "nutmeg" Geranium (not sure how to use this one), Italian Oregano, Greek Oregano, Fern Leaf Dill, a couple of banana pepper plants, A couple grape tomatos, some spinach.....I'm also trying a climbing spinach variety.....I'm starting these from "pups"....also brocoli from pups.....These are in a separate pot......There's something I've left out, I'm sure.....but those are the high-lights.....Oh, there's a German chamomile too.....Anyway, that's enough for now.....
Jul 26, 2007 | 8:17 PM PST
Tag: Patio-scaping
Well, from the looks of it, I'm not the only one who is sick of the rain. My impasiens....look....puny....a
lthough, I have mounds of mint and lemon balm. Went herb shopping today. Dreaming. Also want to go get me a climbing rose very soon. Guess that's all for today. Will be able to write more when it stops raining. I dream about hanging pots and patio-scaping. Can't wait to go home next week and start arranging all the plants....
Jul 18, 2007 | 10:31 AM PST
Tag: My Links for Companion planting
http://gardenersnet.com/atoz
/compan.htm
http://www.gardenersnet.com
//flower/nasturt.htm
http://www.tomatogardeningt
ips.com/
I e-mailed this one to my mom. She just had a small "bumper crop" of tomatoes at the farm, but I knew she also struggled with little worms that mis-took some of her tomatoes for a buffet. The salsa my mom made from the surviivor tomatoes.....Yummy:)
Yes, I can get the recipe if you like a sweeter salsa.
http://gardening.about.com/
od/naturalorganiccontrol/a/Com
panion_2.htm
http://www.sturmsoft.com/Wri
ting/guide_to-gardening/compan
ion_planting.htm
http://www.info-galaxy.com/
Herbs/Companion_Planting/compa
nion_planting.html
Jul 18, 2007 | 9:54 AM PST
Tag: Starting roses from clippings
I will not claim to be an expert on this subject......I think it is more just dumb luck....and the fact that God knew that a year later I was going to be bored to tears and Gardening would make a huge distraction.....:)
But here goes. From what I've read, and from the people I have talked to (and yes, this is what I did)
.First, get a root stimulator.....
Next....the "cutting" or in my case the "pluck" was from a rose bush of the garden at an old Catholic church. I think the one thing that made the cutting or "pluck" take.....was.....I pinched a "limb" or whatever you would call that.....but I went really close to the "woody" part of the rose.....but was able to get some of that "woody" part with my "pinch".....I dipped the little "limbs" or branches in the root stimulator. I had bought just a bag of soil from Wal-mart....poured some in a pot.....stuck my little clipplngs in after having dipped them.....
The thing I don't remember.....is whether I soaked them in water for a few days to try to get a root. My mother will also do that. I don't think I had the patience, though.
I put three in the same little pot....I had done this like Octoberish.....That spring.....I noticed I had a sprig coming up.....a few months later....that little sprig had grown.....had leaves.....and then a bud.
My challenge now.....is to feed it.....because it is very spindly.....but it gets a good number of little roses on it....I think it's a 290 button rose....an antique floribunda. So, that....would be my Magnum Opus.
Oh, one thing my mom also told me.....My grandmother (actually my dad's mom)....if she was going to clip her roses back, or do any kind of major work to her roses for the year....She did it as close to Valentine's day as possible. I don't know if my Mom had learned that from her, or if she had known it before, but we are working on rooting a grandchild from a rose bush that had been in the rose garden at my grandmother's house. Even though, my grandmother passed away many years ago, like when I was 2, I will still be able to have a rose from her garden....a living memory:) (Sorry, I digress)
I had pruned my rose back like a week after Valentine's day.....I was a week late....because I didn't even own a clipper at the time. Anyway, the rose filled out nicely this spring with tons of blooms. By this next Valentine's, it will be ready for a transpant into a bigger pot, and another pruning.
Jul 17, 2007 | 7:15 AM PST
Tags: Organic gardening , companion gardening
Two days ago, I was reading on line about companion gardening. My mother has started her "retirement garden" on the family farm. After sharing one of the "cool things" that I had learned about the concept of companion gardening, I realized how much it could benefit my mother's garden....and eventually my own. For now, I am mostly a "patio gardener". I have been at it for.....less than a month now. I realized, though, how beneficial the concept could be if you are an organic gardener. The concept of "organic gardening" is something that my mother and I are having a chance to share in "my old age". Now that my husband and I go and help them on the farm during their own weekend trips to the farm, I am getting to see all the trouble my mother goes to in order to keep her garden an organic one. My appreciation for this is helped by my best friend who is a mother of four, and doing everything she can to keep the "chemical crap" that our society puts in foods and everything else out of her sons' lives.
