The Seed Pods Of Gymphocarpus Physocarpus

This is a riot of activity. I’ve done many a post about this Monkey Balls or Fur Balls plant that continues to drive curious folks to my blog. Some have even emailed me for seeds. At first, I was sending them over to Thompson and Morgan where I had purchased them but after reading a bit about them I’m hesitant.

I have reported they are poisonous to humans and animals. And in the same report I’ve given links to the medicinal value. But more recently it’s been brought to my attention that they are not welcome in our plains region because the range animals will eat them. So I have chosen to gather the seed pods and discontinue their lineage. Farewell my friends. I enjoyed the journey.

And what have I been up to——–!!!!!! The fans of Flowergardengirl can****** Watch me Sunday night on a show called ‘The Plantanista’—at  Garden World Report It always airs West Coast Time on Sunday evening around 9ish  so I usually watch it on Monday. Ya’ll tune in November 1st with Shirley Bovshow the host.  I’m talking about a certain garden thing I have an obsession about. Shirley Bovshow from Eden Makers Blog is the host and she’s always been my buddy. She’s really making a go of this online TV and ironing out the technical details. Last week was an interesting show about the Gen Y’ers.

( It is looking—hopefully—like we are on our way to reaching goal for our Operation Christmas Child for Garden Bloggers so please head over and give!!!! Thank you to everyone who is posting the widget! )

Ever thought of putting Fur Balls in an arrangement?

I did. I thought about putting my asclepias Fur Balls or Monkey Balls plant in an Autumn arrangement. I did it for Carol at May Dreams Gardens. She’s having her Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day of course. She host this event the 15th of each month and everyone is invited to showcase what’s blooming in the current garden.

For me, I’m harvesting the blooms, seed pods, and leafy colors to make Autumn arrangements. I thought you all might like to see what else can be done with my Fur Balls plant besides feed the Monarch butterflies.

You can use the search feature on my blog for asclepias and read more. I have featured them in several post.

This sunday around 9pm Pacific Coast Time, Shirley Bovshow at Eden Makers Blog is featuring many of the blotanical award winners on Garden World Report. Carol and I will be on there for certain. Hope you will tune in.

The Limelight is fading

Autumn is coming to this Limelight hydrangea.

Usually this hydrangea will turn a deep dark pink but this one is just a year old and our weather was very cool all summer. That probably has something to do with it’s lack of Autumn color. I still think it’s beautiful.

But look here—-there are a few tinges of pink…….it’s cause this bloom isn’t laying so close to the ground like the others. I look forward to seeing it next year. Do you have Autumn pictures of the Limelight? I’d love to see them. Post about it and I’ll link to it.

Invincibelle Hydrangea 2010

Proven Winners Plants A pink ‘Annabelle’ has come on the garden scene and is introduced by Proven Winners Plants. I am growing them and they bloom from Spring through frost. When the plant is young the blooms overwhelm the plant a bit but as the plant matures it grows into itself. The stems get strong and blooms are produced on the plant for several months. In my zone 7 garden the ‘Invincibelle’ hydrangea blooms in full sun untill frost. It has been blooming since I planted it in May. The blooms are huge and very showy. The photos in the post are from the new media information I recieved from Proven Winners. Wish I could take credit and aren’t they grand? I’m proud to tell you this ‘Invincibelle’ is a North Carolina native. Dr. Tom Ranney at the Mountain Hortaculture Crop Research and Development Center at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, NC and his talented students have brought us this repeat blooming hydrangea.

Richard Olsen, a graduate student, was hiking in the Appalachian mountains and discovered a pink lace cap. He brought a cutting back to the center where a team of students under the direction of Dr. Ranney grew this beautiful new variety. Proven Winners has teamed with the Breast Research Foundation on a campaign to help find the cure for breast cancer. For every plant sold, a dollar is donated to the cause.

The invincible spirit of this reblooming hydrangea is a reminder for us to continually hope and donate so a cure for this disease can be found. You all know I love Proven Winners Plants and this week I had the privilege of meeting Danielle Ernest and Janice Limbaugh from that company. Danielle, the public relations person for Proven Winners, discovered my blog about two years ago and contacted me about trialing the new cultivars and then writing about them. I had been growing their plants for the previous 5 years so I jumped at the chance.

This is me( after a day in the 100 humidity of a hot Sept. NC) and Danielle at the 2009 Garden Writers Symposium in Raleigh, North Carolina.  I was thrilled to finally meet the person behind all the phone and email conversations. Thank you Danielle and Janice for the nice PW gifts and plants over the years. I have and will continue to enjoy my journey with Proven Winners. This photo is a bit empty looking and I would love to showcase how pretty it was with the pink market bags and ‘Invincibelle Spirit’ hydrangea—-but people flocked to this site and wiped them clean. In fact, they were gone on both days within the first hour we were allowed on the floor. Everyone was carrying around a pink market bag.

To see how this booth was created and color choices made—visit Helen @ Gardening with Confidence. From flee markets to paint selection—-this is how it came together! HERE This booth was spectacular when the pink bags filled with the ‘Invincibelle’ hydrangeas were added.

Going to the Garden Writer’s Symposium in Raleigh NC

I’m going to be gone this week. I’ll be home on Sunday and if my house catches on fire–please put it out. Mr D will be here but I’m at the Garden Writer’s Symposium in Raleigh, NC. I am looking forward to meeting up with vendors, writers, bloggers, friends, and publishers. I promise to write about it when I get home. Maybe I’ll have a chance to check in and blog about the happenings. I am taking my camera and the computer but not sure how much time I’ll have.

I’m looking forward to learning about what’s important in the gardening world. I’ll be attending seminars on container gardening for the home and business, propagation rules, what is the future of gardening, and so much more. I’ll have mounds of information to share with you when I return.

See ya soon!

Stumble it!

Happy Autumn

Happy Autumn

Stumble it!

Monarch caterpillars on the Fur Balls plant

I’m running a Monarch caterpillar bed and breakfast. I’ve seen so many names for this plant. See what some have said below and I’ve seen the word Fur/Furr spelled both ways.

My Furr Balls plant is home to about 10 right now. This milkweed plant has been so interesting to grow. Follow the link to find out more. Also did a post HERE.

Darla at Family and Flowers has been on a Monarch adventure. She grew them inside from eggs to adult butterfly and blogged about it. Darla has photographed the different stages and written about it extensively so go check out her blog.

I guess this guy is trying to take a bite out of a Furr Ball. Warning—this plant is more often called Monkey Balls.

The blooms are interesting and beautiful. It has stayed in full bloom for months while producing more and more balls. I got the seeds from Thompson and Morgan. I planted them in the Spring and it’s such a big hit that I’ll do it again next year. They were directly sown in the beds.

The background for the above picture are caladiums. I’ve got red and white varieties growing in this bed. Furr Balls is a full sun plant but this bed gets good morning sun but is protected from our NC baking hot afternoon blazes. Anything grows back here from shade lovers to sun addicts. It’s the perfect light.

Also growing in this bed is Mexican Sage.

I love Mexican sage but it almost wasn’t hot or sunny enough for this plant. We had an unusually cool summer. This took forever to bloom.

From Furr Balls to furry sage——-

For a good read on another garden in NC that is following the Monarch migration,

Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel

Sat on the porch today and patted myself on the back

This is Apricot Fizz Lantana by Proven Winners Plants. This spot across my front porch is proving very hard to landscape. It only gets full sun at 2 hours a day and then it’s filtered light. Shade plants fry and sun plants get leggy. But did you know that lantana can take part shade and full sun? It will bloom more in full sun but I think this is doing grandly.

The lime green and black Ipomoeas are from Proven Winners Illusion cultivars and will be available in 2010. They aren’t as aggressive as most sweet potato vines and they are more disease and drought tolerant. I really am pleased with them. You can see an earlier article HERE that I wrote about them. The names are ‘Emerald Lace’ and ‘Midnight Lace’.

This is what happens when you combine back breaking leaf mulch spreading, manure applied at the right time in the Autumn, and mushroom compost in the Spring. I just sat back and patted myself on the back for making Mr D do all that work He’s happy now but wasn’t too happy as the loads and loads of compost arrived last year. It’s almost time to do it all over again. Won’t he be excited?

A few Autumn Mums with a poor little sweet potato vine wilting away. I had it in a vase and forgot to water it. I do root sweet potato vines to use in my garden but not these cultivars–it’s against the law. Any patented plant you purchase can not be rooted for any reason. But if it does not come with a patent–then you can use it as you wish. I cut my vines and use them in vases just as I would cut flowers. They make the best displays as the roots grow really fast and they look cool swirling around in the bottom of the vase.

My Scaevola and Diamond Frost Euphorbia are doing well.

You can bet I’ll be growing this yellow narrow leaf zinnia again. It has bloomed like this all summer. I have an organic flower garden so this has resisted pest and disease extremely well.

My Lo and Behold Blue Chip buddleia never stops blooming. It was an evergreen last winter but I suspect if we had a hard winter, It would lose its leaves. I did not cut it back last Autumn but will this year. I think it will do better if cut back. It’s a small butterfly bush that won’t take over the garden. It blooms more if you fertilize it once a month and will bloom early too. I give my gardens a good dose of Espoma Flower Tone in the Spring and then for those heavy feeders, I use a liquid fertilizer.

Flowering vinca, Victoria Blue Salvia, and Angelonia in the middle. The big orange butterfly magnet is Mexican Sunflower.

Lots to look at while I sit in my swing! I watch the birdies at the feeder and wave at the folks who walk by.

You can click on these pictures and enlarge them. No post about my front gardens is complete without showing this Senorita Rosalita Cleome. It does not set seed. I’ve grown it every year since Proven Winners released it. All I do is fertilize it once a month with a liquid fertilizer. I rave about mushroom compost making it big too.

The sweet folks at Front Porch Ideas and More have the prettiest picture showcasing a pumpkin and mum filled front porch. Front Porch Ideas and More is the best place on the web for everything you need to know about a porch. I love to go and browse for hours.