All the Dirt on Gardening

Greenhouse Grower dot com has a page of Allan Armitage video clips online. In each clip, Armitage talks about and shows a great new plant he is enthusiastic about. Here's the link http://greenhousegrower.com/ggtv/?vid=298

Why Did My Plant Die? By Geoffrey B. Charlesworth from his book The Opinionated Gardener- Random Offshoots from an Alpine Garden You walked too close. You trod on it. You dropped a piece of sod on it. You hoed it down. You weeded it. You planted it the wrong way up. You grew it in a yogurt cup But you forgot to make a hole; The soggy compost took its toll. September storm. November drought. It heaved in March, the roots popped out. You watered it with herbicide. You scattered bone meal far and wide. Attracting local omnivores, Who ate your plant and stayed for more. You left it baking in the sun While you departed at a run To find a spade, perhaps a trowel, Meanwhile the plant threw in the towel. You planted it with crown too high; The soil washed off, that explains why. Too high pH. It hated lime. Alas it needs a gentler clime. You left the root ball wrapped in plastic. You broke the roots. They're not elastic. You walked too close. You trod on it. You dropped a piece of sod on i...

This beautiful evergreen fern in Anne Pinc's garden is just one of the wonderful treats she shared with us. Like many plant-smart people, Anne walks her garden spouting common and Latin names at the same rate of speed and no matter how many times I say "What?" I can't write them all down fast enough. Two white kittens roam the gardens and even allow visitors to pet them. This large foliage plant stands taller than a person behind the shade structure in the photo below. Chinese Rice Paper Plant seems to thrive here. I saw it all over Tulsa, too. Look at this elegantly simple structure. It provides a haven for shade loving perennials and breaks up the path to the pool and greenhouses. I saw bowtie vines at three Tulsa gardens last week. All 3 of them were from Bustani Plant Farm . Steve and Ruth Owens are getting the hot, new plants distributed to the best gardens. And, Anne. What a wonderful, generous person. Plant people are some of the best people we meet in ...

National Geographic Books released " The Field Guide to Fields : Hidden Treasures of Meadows, Prairies and Pastures" Fields is a fascinating read that provides a guide to the progression of fields over the course of human history. Flowers, grains, crops, flowers and creatures great and small are included. There are several full-page crop descriptions with an identification guide, uses, cultivation history and primary growing area. The illustrations are paintings that beautifully illustrate animals, crops and scenes from nature. I've enjoyed reading and learning how they interacted and changed each other over time. Fields is a 220 page paperback. $17.50 at the National Geographic link above.

Mid-August is the month of watering every plant we want to keep alive for next year or even for the cooler fall days that are coming. August is also a time to consider which pots, flower beds and areas would be ideal to convert to low water plantings. Good candidates for low water usage plants include: beds just past the reach of the garden hose, the hot dry area along a street, driveway, sidewalk curb, around the pool or at the base of a rural mailbox, gigantic ornamental pots, and on the edge of a hill in full sun. Xeriscape (pronounced zeer-eh-skape) does not mean zero landscape. The homeowners who adopt that definition, install a front yard composed of stones, rocks, driftwood, and plastic skulls. Keep Oklahoma Beautiful (keepoklahomabeautiful.com), states that, Plants are selected for a xeriscape based on their ability to grow and thrive with minimal watering and maintenance. Normal levels of watering during the first year establishment period are required since new plantings don’...

My method for seed starting is to fill the bottom half of the container with new potting soil and the top half with peat moss based seed starting soil. Redux - because the first planting of broccoli seeds because burned up during our 2 week relocation to the surface of the sun. Broccoli grows in 75 degree days and 50 degree nights. If temperatures sustain much hotter or colder, you can say bye bye. Make a hole in the center of each cell. Broccoli seeds are planted one-fourth to one-half inch deep. Drop a couple of seeds into each hole and cover with soil. Fill the tray under the seed starting container with water. A drop of seaweed fertilizer can be added to a gallon of water to get the soil ready to receive the roots. Seeds need soil contact points so press the soil down onto the seeds. This step is not necessary but I do it. Sprinkle the top with vermiculite. Spray the top of the soil with mister. I'm putting on diluted fungicide to reduce the possibility of damping off disease....

Summertime flowers that can take the sun and heat tend to have dusty colors and silvery leaves. Not all, but many. Wormwood is a good example of summertime beauty with cool, silvery, water-surface coloring. The drier the better. Here, the groundcover is gravel. Artimisia has been widely used as a medicinal herb , too. Sweet Annie can be started from seed in the spring. Agastache has come into its own with more colors than the familiar blues. Sunset Hyssop is sown from seed in the spring and blooms heavily in August's heat. Shades of Orange Agastache is available from High Country Gardens . Seseli elatum grown by Tom Clothier and gummiferum at Annie's Annuals are both August winners. Clothier's seed germination database says to sow seeds at 68-degrees and if they don't germinate in a month, chill them and try again. With all varieties of Oregano available, a gardener would be hard pressed to say there isn't a flower color to go with their scheme. This thorough a...