Autumn Marigolds

  Maybe I am the only one but I do believe that marigolds are some of the prettiest fall flowers.  Nothing says "autumn" as much as marigolds when you are out strolling the gardens.  Perhaps this is a throwback to growing up on the farm and seeing the masses of marigolds that Pop used to grow or maybe to Mom using them to decorate for her "ladies' meetings" held at the house.  Either way, memories are tied to these blooms.  While others rush to buy mums, I merely toss out a few saved marigold seeds and let them fend for themselves.  The plants do well with little care, bugs don't munch on them and they are drought tolerant (or, in the case of this year, do well with much rain).

  Now throw in a couple of butterflies and all seems right with the world...at least, in the Small Gardens.  Back last year, I spent so much time in the Small Gardens that I crowned myself as "Queen".  It still holds true as I am still, more or less, tied here.  It is in these gardens and on the Bayou where good is still good, bad is still bad and the gators solve many problems...hehe...little joke there, folks.  That idea does make for some mighty good tales, however.  Autumn on, folks.  Look forward to brighter days ahead...hopefully.

How Many Seeds??

   Dotted here and there throughout the gardens, a bright patch of marigolds can be found every year during the fall.  I do not plant the seeds.  These are volunteers from the original plants.  Nigh on ten years ago, I bought a little box of marigold seeds from DollarTree not knowing if they would even sprout.  Well, every last seed sprouted!  Marigolds were everywhere!  Knowing I should dead-head plants to prolong blooms, I decided on a whim to save a few seeds.  My thinking was that if I saved the seeds from year to year, I would never have to spend that big dollar again. I saved seeds.  I saved pint jars of seeds.  That grew into quart jars of seeds that very first year.  Finally, I just gave up and let the plants do their own thing.

  The next summer, what do I see?  Hundreds of tiny marigold plants popping up in the gardens...and in the lawn...and even on the gravel path.  Marigolds were everywhere!  Now...what was I supposed to do with quart jars of seeds?  I definitely did not need to plant them so I gave seeds to everyone...the neighbors, friends, family members, complete strangers...anyone who would take them.  

  Fast forward here ten years and marigolds come up in the most surprising places. They are like little drops of sunshine that pop up to bring smiles. I still do the same thing about seeds. I dead-head the plants to encourage new buds and save the seeds.  So far this year, I have at least a quart of the tiny seeds and the plants show no sign of stopping any time soon.  Who knew that cheap seeds would give such lasting results?  I am seriously thinking of broadcasting the seeds over the entire yard and letting them grow where they wish.  No more cutting grass!  After all, I cannot cut down flowers, can I?  In all reality, I probably will collect enough seeds to do at least 5 acres!  These things are relentless!  This is perhaps the  best dollar ever spent!

Mother Nature Knows Best

   If you ever check the so-called garden experts, they have many, many ideas about how to keep insect pests from the plants.  Trust me when I say that I have tried hundreds of "natural" methods.  Any time something new hits the gardening grapevine, I pounce on it because I guess I fall into one of two categories.  Either I am a "hardcore green gardener" or I am gullible..maybe both.  I have gone the whole route of spraying with dish soap, misting with diluted mouthwash, grating a bar of soap down the rows, using my sifter to "flour" the plants and doing companion planting.  All of the first methods were pretty much a bust  but but the last one was just pretty.  Planting flowers in the vegetable patch may not do much for keeping the bugs at bay but you do not get as frustrated at them when you have bright flowers bobbing their heads in the breeze.  Flowers for the win!

  The insect pests pretty much ruled the gardens.  Without the aid of chemical sprays and powders, the critters multiplied like crazy and soon outnumbered the plants!  They flourished whereas the plants, well, looked terrible.  It finally came to the point that I was literally growing "green lace".  The bugs chewed holes in every leaf!  

  Mother Nature always knows what is to be done when things get to a breaking point.  She sent in the frogs, toads and lizards with a couple of snakes thrown in for good measure.  It did not take long before the plants looked better and the reptiles and amphibians were fat and happy.  

  All in all, I am ok with having critters in the gardens as long as they do a service.  Having frogs squirm out from underfoot or skinks pouncing on the shoulder from tall plants may be unnerving to some but I look at it as a job well done.  They can stay.

Poor, Sad Flowers

  Fall was here!  Fall came.  Fall went.  Winter pushed it away.  That is ok.  I am good with winter but I do not like the idea of Old Man Winter killing my plants!  He just has no right to do that, if you ask me.  Actually, I was tickled to see that my struggling marigolds took off into a wild growth spurt in October.  The gardens look at least somewhat presentable for the clue hunt teams that trotted themselves about the yard.  Each plant shot out dozens and dozens of blossoms giving that perfect "Halloween" orange to brighten the otherwise drab garden.  Splotches of orange dotted not only the gardens but wherever the seeds decided to grow.  It made me happy.  Then winter happened in just one night.  ONE NIGHT!!!

 Now the pretty blossoms have bowed their heads and look dismal.  The marigolds, along with my once thriving bell peppers, are wilted and dying.  I knew this was inevitable but had high hopes that fall would be prolonged into more than a week!  Oh, fall, where did you go?  

  Nah, I am ok with it.  The gardens will be cleared and readied for a winter garden.   I was just pondering the planting of broccoli, cabbage and mustard greens.  I suppose this plan will be put into effect a lot sooner than I had expected.  Oh, well...broccoli is good...cabbage and mustard greens...good.  So long peppers and marigolds!

Flowers in the Veggie Patch!

  Much to Son's vexation, I came across about a billion things that made me smile.  While I am one who loves flowers, he thinks plants should provide foodstuffs.  According to him, plants that cannot go to the dining table have no place in the vegetable plot.  When I showed him the delightful find of a clump of tiny marigold seedlings, he just grunted and mumbled "Great."  (Which in Son-speak does not mean the "fantastic" sort of great but rather the "things I have to tolerate" sort of great.)  He knows that I am going to try to salvage each and every one of the plants and I know he really does not mind.  We have a mutual understanding of how things work in the garden plot.

  Personally, it does seem to me that the marigolds should be in the veggie garden as they do a grand job of keeping certain pests from creepy-crawling on the other plants.  It is not a bad idea to plant a row of the flowers then intersperse things such as cabbage among them.  The marigolds are happy to share the space and, when I tried this, kept my cabbages worm-free!  Apparently, cabbage moths think twice before infiltrating the marigold patch.  

  Another couple of grand thing about these plants is the fact that down here with our mild winters, marigolds have a tendency to bloom year round and they reseed themselves.  Only the harshest of freezes seem to bother them.  When kept pruned of spent blooms, they just keep on growing.  Tossing those spent blooms in the garden provides a new batch of plants in a few weeks!  To me, the marigold blooms give a welcome splash of color in an otherwise drab winter garden space.

  So, Son!  I beg to differ with your opinion of my happy, little plants.  Their presence will enhance the veggie plot and allow us to harvest more yummy foodstuffs for our table.  (And! They are pretty!)  

Golden Days of Fall

  I love fall. Fall comes before winter which is my favorite time of year so fall is the harbinger of something grand.  To be fair, I love fall just because it is it is so jammed pack full of things to do.  Since the clue hunt is over for another year, tomorrow will find me out in the garden.  It is past time to rid the plot of the waning summer plants and put in the fall/winter garden of greens, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, beets, spinach, mustard greens and any other cold hardy plants.  These will tide us over until the weather warms in spring.  Personally, I enjoy the winter crops just as much as the summer ones.  Perhaps this is only due to the lack of fresh summer veggies but greens are mighty tasty and do provide wonderful nutrients for the body!

  For the past twenty-four hours, rain has pounded the hillside.  This was much needed so is greatly appreciated.  I braved the showers to check the gauges and found that we received well over two inches. While out, I found that the marigolds were thriving in the wetness of the day.  The blooms spilled over out of the box and ran amok on the walkway making for a wonderful golden pathway.

  Marigolds are some of my favorite garden flowers for so many reasons. Their lovely gold, orange and yellow hues stand to depict fall perfectly. The brightness is not only present during the warmer months but extends its stay well into our winters.  Grey days require a bit of brightness and marigolds fit the bill well.  Also, when planted in among the vegetables, the heady scent of the leaves is great at keeping critters at bay.  Very few plant-munching varmints desire a mouthful of marigold leaves!  Then there is the wonderful fact that once you buy your initial pack of seeds (and you can get the cheapest ones at a dollar store...they grow just as well.), the plants reseed themselves.  When the blooms start to fade, they can be harvested and dried.  If you break open the dried flower, nigh on a hundred stick-like seeds can be found inside.  Other seeds will drop to the ground and surprise you in the spring by sprouting and filling the garden with tiny plants.  Marigolds are like a perpetual garden! They never seem to end!  So plant a few in the spring and have bright flowers all summer.  Those same plants can add a bit of golden glow to your fall days (maybe on into winter!).

 

Dreaming of Gold!

  Have you ever wondered just why some things are better than others?  Perhaps not "better" in the sense that one outdoes the other but "better" because they are favorites.  Take for instance, marigolds and chrysanthemums.  The mums seem to far outweigh marigolds when it comes to choosing flowers to fill a fall garden.  The stores are filled with the potted plants that are simply covered with buds all waiting to burst forth with an explosion of color.  Or not.  Mark bought me four chrysanthemums earlier this month.  They were nice, healthy plants that sported about ten thousand buds.  I was excited to have them as I love flowers.  Things did not go so well with the mums as nary a bud opened into a bloom.  The buds stayed as little hard knots until finally the plants just gave up hope.  Three of the mum plants promptly died. One lives on but still has not had the strength to push any petals out of those tight buds.  I am disappointed to say the least.  He was so sweet to think of me by buying the plants and to have them wither and wilt was a most horrible feeling.

  Fast forward until today.  In the garden, there are some die-hard marigolds.  These are volunteer plants that come up year after year. Long ago, I had bought a packet of seeds from the local dollar store. Thinking that they probably were old seeds, I dumped the entire packet into one garden and promptly forgot about them.  I mean, my goodness, the whole box of seeds was a buck and there were most likely five thousand seeds in there!  Needless to say, the seeds sprouted, grew, bloomed and made more seeds.  I picked seeds.  Thousands upon thousands of seeds were dried and stored.  Gallons and gallons of seeds.  Geez!  Those things did not give up easily!  Winter came and the long lives of the marigolds soon ended.  I was not too worried as I had seeds!  Tons of seeds!  I would just replant in the spring.  Nope. I did not need to replant.  Seeds that were dropped sprouted in every nook and cranny of the garden.  I was happy but confused as to what to do with about four gallons of seeds.  I gave them to everyone who would take any.  

  That was years ago.  I still have two gallon bags of seeds in my seed bin.  There is no need to ever replant.  Marigolds just keep sprouting and keep blooming and keep making seeds.  Now, I have a mixture of colors and types but they still fill the gardens with their delightful golden blooms.  (And I keep picking seeds each year as this helps them to keep blooming.)

  So, what makes those chrysanthemums any better than my marigolds?  I guess it is all about that elusive splash of color that they would bring.  Marigolds are just that...gold.  Chrysanthemums come in a range of colors that rival the rainbow.  For those who love a variety of hues...go for it.  I will stick with my marigolds.  They do all the work by themselves!  

Flowers, Flowers, Everywhere!

A few years ago, I was in the local dollar store when I spied the flower seeds! Not being one that can ever pass up the seed rack without at least browsing a bit, I immediately started planning a wonderful flower garden for the back yard. I gathered moonflowers, zinnias, daisies, cosmos and....marigolds. The garden did well that spring and on into summer. All of my cheap seeds grew into lush plants and provided copious amounts of brilliant color to the yard! I was elated and decided from that day on, I would buy most of my seeds from the dollar store! There was no need to spend dollars upon dollars for expensive seeds when here I could get three packs for a single buck! This was great! I could save tons of money and still have a gorgeous garden!

Well as I said, the garden did well. The next year, a few of the daisies had seeded themselves along with a couple of the moonflowers but no zinnias or cosmos made an appearance. That was ok since I could run to the store and replace those! But...those marigolds! The marigolds made an appearance alright! Hundreds of tiny plants grew wherever the seeds fell. I had marigolds in the squash garden, in the blackberries and in the pathway, not just in the original flower garden! Each year afterwards, more marigolds would sprout and flourish! The blooms were beautiful and the plants rampant! My garden soon became a marigold garden as they sort of blocked out all other plants! The third year after planting, I picked seeds as I did not want marigolds in all the other gardens. I thought that if I picked all of the old flower heads, I would not have unwanted plants the following year. Ha! I picked three gallons of marigold seeds before I grew tired of being hunched over in the hot sun! I gave marigold seeds to everyone I knew! All of this was to no avail, though. The next spring..marigolds.....everywhere!

Son has taken to mowing my marigolds to the ground each time he cuts grass. He hoes them out of the vegetable gardens and weeds them from the mulched paths. I cringe each time I see him ripping another of my beautiful flowers from the ground. I like marigolds! I do not want to just discard them like rubbish! He does not like marigolds as much..he does toss them on the trash heap. I do have to admit that perhaps I have too many. The marigolds are in every nook and cranny of the gardens..every garden. About mid-summer or early fall, the yard will be a sea of orange and gold!

Each time I walk through the garden, I have to wonder just why these did so well. Why can't my potatoes or green beans be as prolific as the marigolds? Why aren't the cucumbers and peas covered with as many blossoms as these plants? Why don't marigolds make a fruit or vegetable that would be a tasty addition to my dinner table? Lots of questions and lots of plants! Hmmmm..does anybody want some marigolds? I have them! Come dig up a few!!!

A Wild Morning on the Bayou!

I was enjoying the morning..it was raining and I thought it was the perfect morning to sleep in..then the alarm went off and ruined that good feeling. Don't get me wrong here..I do not use an alarm clock as I never have a problem waking in the morning..this was the tornado alarm at the Air Base on the other side of the Bay. With the south wind, the siren was loud and clear. I jumped up and stared out the window..the sky was a lovely shade of green..lime green. Skies are not green...grass is green. I learned that when I was a toddler..grass is green and skies are blue..not so this morning. Things were slamming against the side of the house and pelting the rooftop. Uh-oh..this was not good! Ok now! Tornado mode! What to do?? Ahh yes! When I was a child, I was told to put my shoes by the door! I grabbed the only shoes that I could find..a pair of rubber garden clogs. I looked at them..this makes no sense whatsoever! Why??? Why would I want my shoes by the door??? Ok..ok..hmm..boil water! Gather towels! No..no..no!!!! No babies being born here. I hurried into the kitchen.."Son..get downstairs..NOW! " Son staggered down the stairs and flopped on the bed in his sister's vacant room. He immediately fell back to sleep..Hubby and I stared out the window at the weather..Ms. Put, the cat, raced down the stairs and hid under the table cloth and Ezzy, the Wonder Dog.....sat in the hall. Sit in the hall! That is it! Good dog! By that time, the tornado had passed and all was clear..for a few minutes until the alarm sounded again..this went on for the better part of the morning. After the fourth alarm, Son was back upstairs..sleeping.. Hubby and I were each enjoying our third cup of coffee, Ms Put wanted out and the Wonder Dog was staring out the window at a squirrel. Our little hill had been spared the brunt of storm. The neighbors to the west of us..not so fortunate. My cousin and Uncle both received damage to their places..nothing major..but still too close for comfort. And life goes on......

After all cleared and the sun was trying to break through the clouds, I had to escape the confines of these walls. I slipped into the gardens to breathe in the fresh air. There is something so refreshing right after a storm. The gardens had survived the severe winds and pelting rains. Nothing was damaged and for that matter..new life had begun. There in the mulch, thousands upon thousands of tiny Marigold seedlings had sprouted. They were everywhere!! I have never seen so many "volunteer" plants in all my life! I suppose I will have to transplant them into the beds as soon as they are big enough, I am just not sure that I will have that much space! A new garden might be in the works!

Also, I noticed that the Blueberry Bushes were in bloom! These bushes were planted several years ago but have never grown to their full potential. I am sad to say that in the five years that they have been in the garden, I have yet to get a cup full of berries. My dear sister-in-law has kindly offered me a start from her bushes and my brother has donated me a few of his. Now if I can only get mine to grow like theirs, I will be happy! I love blueberries! Yum..blueberry muffins..blueberry pie..blueberry jam..oh yeah..I love blueberries!

By the late evening, all was peaceful on the Bayou. The Bay was calm, the sun was setting and the gnats were horrible. Time to hurry back inside. Perfect timing..for as we were heading up the hill to the house, my oldest son was heading down the hill to greet us. He had just arrived for an overnight stay! This..the nicest end to an eventful day!

Fall is here!

Today is the first day of Fall! Cooler weather..brilliant leaves..pumpkins! Yeah..right! I wish someone would have reminded Mother Nature of this..the temperature here on the Bayou was in the high 90's today making it more like midsummer! I have been looking forward to this season for some time now. We have had a seemingly very hot summer and the promise of cool, crisp evenings sounds Heavenly! I understand that this will not happen overnight but..Fall is here and this makes me happy.

Another thing made me happy today. My sweet daughter bought me two new hummingbird feeders and today there were hummers flitting all about them. These are really very pretty feeders unlike the cheap, plastic ones that I usually have hanging around the garden. The bottle part of this one is a gorgeous soft green glass and it has a coppery-tone base to it. I filled them with fresh nectar and carried them to the rose garden. I needed to install new hanging brackets on the posts as the old ones had rusted and I did not trust them to hold my new feeders. The little hummers could hardly wait until I hung them and as a matter of fact..one did not. I placed the feeder on a garden bench as I installed the new brackets. My skills using a screwdriver are

lacking so it took this took a few minutes. I guess one hummer was really hungry because when I turned to pick up the feeder, it was sipping the nectar while the feeder was still on the bench! I had to wait before hanging the feeder as to not scare it. They are such tiny birds and are really quite fearless. Eventually, it flew to the rose arbor and waited patiently for me to finish. After hanging both feeders, I sat on the bench and watched. Within minutes of hanging them, I counted seven hummers hovering about waiting their turn! This hot weather must have them very thirsty, too!

While out in the back, I noticed the grapefruit tree is well laden again this year. The higher limbs are starting to sag with the weight of the fruit making me wonder about the strength of the limbs. Grapefruit trees must have a very strong wood as these fruits are all hanging on a tiny twig of a limb about the size of a lead pencil. When you consider that each fruit weighs in a more than a pound and there are about twenty-five of them clustered on each limb..well???? I just hope they can hold on for another two months. Sometime in November, they will ripen enough for us to pick. It does appear that we will have a good crop this year!

Wishful thinking...

Today when I was taking my late afternoon walk around the yard trying to decide what jobs could be put off until things are a bit cooler, I came across something that lifted the spirits tremendously. There in the grass was a bright red leaf. The artist in me immediately saw the amazing colors, hues that paint cannot reproduce. Yes, I know that this was just one leaf plopped in the middle of green grass, but it is my first hint of Fall. And yes, before anyone scratches their head and thinks I have totally lost all of my marbles, I know Fall is quite some time off, yet. Still, it made me happy to see this leaf there just waiting to tell me that this summer heat will pass. I had the same reaction early this spring seeing the tiny swellings on the trees that soon became new leaves. The changing of seasons excites me..it is not that I do not like each season, I just like the newness of any season. I am ready for a change. This particular leaf is from the Black Tupelo Tree, one we have always called the Black Gum Tree. It is always the first tree in my yard that starts to change colors from the springtime coat of shiny green to the autumn coat of brilliant reds and oranges. Ones that I still (like I did in my childhood) cannot resist gathering to bring inside and place in a bowl or basket just to be admired for a few days. Eventually they turn brown and crispy and I ponder my sanity in gathering what should have been raked.

As I meandered further in the yard, I started noticing other things that reminded me of Fall such as the Marigold blossoms in their ruffles of orange and yellow, the Blackeyed Susans with their sun gold petals and the Scarlet Wisteria dripping with orange clusters of flowers. ( And before anyone informs me that Scarlet Wisteria is an invasive plant, rest assured that I carefully pick all the seed pods. True, I pick them to plant them, but I do pick them!) Surely though, with all this color, Fall cannot be hiding for long! My son just shook his head with disbelief when I informed him that he needed to get my decorations out of the closet for me. I want to bring Fall inside..I want to decorate my stairs with garlands of leaves..I want to bring out the scarecrows and pumpkins! I know, I know..it is still July. Sigh, but I can dream..can't I?

Ham and Eggs!

Ahh, Ham and Eggs..sounds like breakfast! Not so fast, I was not referring to food but rather another plant in the garden. "Ham and Eggs" is the common name for Lantana, a shrub that is easily grown and blooms almost all summer. Sometimes it is also called by "Bacon and Eggs" or "Butter and Eggs". It gets these common names because of the colors in the blooms. It is almost like the crayon box of the garden! One plant will have blooms of several different colors..orange, red, yellow, white, pink and some lavender thrown in for good measure! Personally, I like Lantana. It brings back a lot of memories. Growing up these blooms served as wedding bouquets for dolls, decorated faerie houses and served as "gifts" for Grandmother! (She was such a patient lady!)

Now, I am told that my beloved "Ham and Eggs" is considered an invasive plant and I should take all efforts to keep it from spreading. Surely this is a misunderstanding! Maybe there is a "look-alike" plant out there mimicking my Lantana! It does grow quite easily and does have bad manners about hanging its limbs over onto the gardenias, but I cannot understand it being labeled "invasive". It has yet to prove to me that it is trying to conquer the world or even my small part of the world. There are perhaps a dozen lantanas on our place. There have always been approximately a dozen lantanas on our place. It has not spread rampantly throughout the woods nor into neighboring properties. I think I will allow my "Ham and Eggs" to still have its small corner of the garden to live in peace.

Now Marigolds on the other hand, might just have to be labeled invasive in my yard! I started out four years ago with one small packet of seeds from the local dollar store and now have them growing everywhere. I have not replanted since and this past fall, I picked over a gallon of seeds to give to any who wanted them. Not only are they reseeding themselves in the spot where they were originally planted but have found any open ground to call their home. Marigolds are in the beans, peppers and tomatoes. They are in the peas, squash and okra. Some are in with the roses and others are mixed among the Blackeyed Susans. I am thinking this is an invasive plant! Not that I mind them anywhere, they are great. Not only pretty, these are wonderful insecticidal plants. They keep the millions of bugs out of the garden!