Black-eyed Susan surprise

I forgot I planted this.

It's a Black-eyed Susan variety, native to Texas. A couple of years ago I bought a bunch of plants for my front yard garden, but the Black-eyed Susans were leggy and old and didn't make it. I let them dry up and didn't remove the stems until I cleaned up the bed in the winter.

It wasn't until about a month ago, I decided to leave some "weeds" alone that kept popping up in that flower bed. Boy was I surprised when it bloomed.

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Categories: lawns and flowers |

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The pecan problem

Wow, bad timing... really bad timing.

Last week, on a day totally free of rain or much wind, a limb on a huge tree in my yard broke. The neighbors, who were outside at the time, said they heard a "creak" and "crack," and the limb came tumbling down. It wasn't gigantic by any means, and fortunately it did not hit the house. But it prompted my husband and I to take action we had been putting off but were told months ago had to be done -- the tree had to be trimmed.

The tree is a pecan, and it is HUGE. I'm guessing it's at least 100 feet tall, because it just towers over the house. It was probably planted soon after the house was built in 1949. It is also right next to the house, thanks to the multiple additions that have been put on the house over the years.

Last winter, we hired a consulting arborist to take a look at the tree and other woody plants in our yard and advise us on the best ways to maintain them. We hired an arborist who does not actually trim trees, because I wanted someone to give us advice that would not be trying to make a buck off of us, depending on the advice he gave.

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Categories: trees and shrubs |

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The Waiting Game

I'm starting to get a little nervous about my second season garden. The seedlings are growing, but they're so small and tiny, it seems like they'll never be big enough to transplant to the garden. The tomato seedlings are only about 2 inches tall right now.
They seem to be strong, and it looks like I'll have enough seedlings... the question is -- will I be able to plant them on time?

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Categories: vegetables and fruits |

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My garden enemy #1

I'm about to spend another weekend attacking what I believe is my greatest nemesis in the garden -- Bermudagrass.
I hate the stuff.
It gets into my garden beds and spreads like fire, choking out every other plant in its way. Nothing seems to stop it.
It just laughed at the plastic garden edgers with which I surrounded my beds. Someone suggested I soak newspaper and suffocate it -- nope. That didn't work. So, I tried cardboard. The grass just started attaching itself to the cardboard and finding weaknesses in it to claw its way through.
Heavy-duty professional landscape fabric seems to help, but I've found Bermudagrass will send out rhizomes (underground stems) under the fabric, searching for a place to poke through.
I'm not the only gardener frustrated with Bermudagrass.

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Categories: lawns and flowers |

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