APRIL IN THE ALABAMA FLOWER GARDEN     PEONIES– One of the prettiest flowers in my gardens is the Peony.  This year I have planted another “Sarah Bernhardt” and I am so excited to see that it is already sending up shoots.  I have 5 peonies already established in our different flowerbeds and they are all covered in buds.  Some may bloom before the end of the month – but that is not certain.  This is one plant that I watch each day.  The blooms are magnificent and well worth the effort.  They need full sun and good soil.  I amend with a little compost each spring.  There is never much need to water because here in Alabama we have abundant spring rains usually.  One thing I did learn was not to plant … Read entire article »

The Flower Garden   When we first came to view this property with the real estate agent, the first thing to catch my eye was a little area between the back porch and the workshop.  It is a space about 40 feet by 30 feet.  It runs the full length of the back porch and is bordered on the north side by the deck and on the south side by the drive way.  The west side is where the shop and carport is.  EventuallyPaulwill enclose that entire area for his workshop and there will be a wall on that end of the flower garden.  I am looking forward to that because I am going to make an espalier there.  J  Of course,Paulis looking forward to it for different reasons.   When we knew that we … Read entire article »

  The Herb Garden Let’s get started! Doesn’t look like much but just wait -   The beginning of our new Herb Garden   May 29 – Making progress   The Herb Garden – June 27, 07 The Herb Garden       Those of you who know me know that one of my first priorities when we moved was to get my herb garden going.  I do love gardening and I especially enjoy herbs.  So from Day 1 I was outside trying to determine its future home.  I wanted the location to be in full sun, close to the house and not too far from a water faucet.  So, with this criteria there was only one choice and that, as you can see by the pictures, is at the curves end of our larger garden.   I had a very freeform herb bed before which … Read entire article »

  Heirloom or Hybrid – an explanation        There are two types of seed: Heirloom and Hybrid.  Heirloom is a pure seed and will reproduce its parent plant identical.  A Hybrid has been developed from multiple plants cross pollinating.  Hybridized plants are usually more disease resistant, drought resistant, larger size, etc.  But the seed from a hybrid will not reproduce that same plant.  It will reproduce one of the parent plants that it originally came from – you never know what you will get in other words.  There is also the possibility that the seeds from hybrids will be sterile and produce nothing.  So, my best suggestion is to have some Heirloom plants (they are usually the most flavorsome too) so that you can collect their seeds.  But you may want to include … Read entire article »