Creating New Beds

This morning garden question I go was how to create a mulched area bed?   Beings that we have done
this many times it's really nice to have less grass!!

We have done the tilling, the card board, the newspaper and the landscaping material routes and find the best is the newspaper route.  We have learned the landscaping material works best for pathways and driveways with rocks.  If you aren't planting in the area, use the landscaping material to suppress the weeds.

First you want to take a look at the area, decided if you are going to plant in this area and then remove all plant material if you want to keep it.  Then Yes, spray round up or any plant material killer that you might have on hand.   Any homemade killer with vinegar shouldn't be used if you plan on planting in this area.   If you are just going to put down a path or gravel then yes, use vinegar.   We use vinegar in all the driveways and walkways that have gravel as we know we will not plant in them.   Next is to allow the area to die, when you see it yellowing, you know you have got it.  If you are in a hurry then just cover with newspaper. 

Fall is a great time to put in raised garden beds or to do landscaping, which gives you time to plant
in the spring!!

We just put in a new pathway and will share the photos:

 Here is the area where the new path was going in.  First I sprayed round up to kill the grass.

  We decided to remove the edgers by the pavers to use
in the yard to make the area look clearly divided.  But left the edgers to keep the gravel in the area. Once the grass was yellow we took a flat shovel and removed the yellowing grass.

As you can see we used landscape material on some of the area as we laid the pavers down.   I recommend sand next but in this area we chose not to do the sand as it was
really flat.  I really wanted to do a row of three pavers but this works for the other party helping whom decided to cut the pavers we needed.   So since we didn't do the whole area in pavers mulch was the choice to fill in the area.  We also topped the pavers with sand to fill in the cracks between the pavers.

Let's talk mulch now, when we do the whole yard it takes two
truck full to get the whole area mulched.  It can get pretty spendy if you use a lot of much.  For smaller areas I would do the Lowe's of Home Depo bags of mulch.  Make sure it's a wood product not the rubberized stuff.   You will understand when you start to plant the area.  If you have questions let me know and I'll help!

Brugmansia

Brugmansia and Datura 
Angel's Trumpets and Thorn Apples

By Ulrike and Hans Georg Preissel

Is the best reference book!!  There are groups out there to join if you think you want to.
There is information online at these groups and one should know the top growers if one
really wants to grow these.   I don't do the political things when it comes to plants.    Yes,
I have joined some of these groups but feel it's not for me.   Each gardener is different and
one needs to find what works for you.

Be forewarned these are toxic!!  Respect them and you will be safe.  They can cause death!! 

I have been asked this past week to do a step by step detail of growing Brugmansias
as some folks are needing some advice.   We have covered a lot of what we do here
in the past posts and hope folks will take some time to read old posts.  We do not have a degree in hort and do things that are frowned upon by some, but they work!!   So as time permits after
I get the plants put away I'll try to do a month by month what we do here to help new
growers.

Right now one shouldn't be fertilizing and allowing the plants to get ready for a restful winter!!
Sept 1 to Sept. 15 is cut off time for fertilizing.  Oct. 1 to 15th is time to bring them in.

More to come...........

Lawn Care!

There has been so many requests for what we do with our lawn this past month as
folks have been impressed with our lawn.  It's not perfect and yes you may walk on it!!

We have to use chemicals to get it the way it looks!  Shocked???   Just look around us and you
will see brown yards.  Yes, the birds bring in seeds so it's been a huge challenge.  It's about the
care you give your lawn and working on it to keep it green! 

We use JB Perennial Rye seeds, which you can find at Home Depo.  The key is to over seed the grass area, which I will hand seed the area.  Second is Fertilizing, Scotts is our choice.  If money is an issue
the best time to feed is in the fall, with then a spring feeding of golf course lime (Calpril which Wilco carries, but check feed stores in your area ) due to the acid soil we have here in the Pacific Northwest lime will sweeten the soil for the grass to grow.  We also put down the weed and feed fertilizer and keep on hand,  the anytime fertilizer, Watch your grass for signs that it needs some extra TLC, when the grass yellows is one sign you should note.  Another is the blueing of the grass, which is a signal of it's in need of water.

Also do not cut it short!!  Raise that mower up!!   Dandelions and clover are not a lawn!  I have heard folks that a natural lawn, okay you deal with the bugs it brings!!  Got ants??  They love a brown lawn and decaying plant material.  Also by watering you will keep your property cooler.  Depends on the area as to how much water it will take, some folks say 1/2 inch a week.  I watch the animals and the plants to know if one should water more.  Yes, green is in!!  With climate change one really has to pay attention!

I have also been asked how do I keep the gravel area so weed free.  Only in a gravel area should you use vinegar,  half vinegar and half water in a sprayer.  If the area is full of weeds, roundup should be used to kill them first, then apply the vinegar water as I found that this alone will not get them all.

Hope this helps, ask questions if you have a problem.


We plan on killing the yard mid July of 2020 so watch for that post.

Check Out These Tendrils!!

When she first opened we had a few storms roll
though so I had to move her to the garage.  Here is
a photo taken before she went inside.

While inside her tendrils spread out.  The fragrance was sweet but not over powering.


The tendrils are 4 and 1/2 inches long!!  The next day she went out and she is a nice shade of pink.

Here they are in the greenhouse in full bloom and a lovely shade of lite pink.  It smells heavenly in the brug house!!

A Big Thank You!!

Sept. 13 and 14th  Garage and Plant Sale

A big thank you to everyone that stopped by and shared their stories with us.  It was
great to share our gardens with so many folks!  It was great to visit with so many folks
that enjoyed what we do here.  Glad to share some of our plants.  We hope to see many of
you next spring!   It was also great to have some of our long time neighbors stop in to visit
also.  Many of you are really special to take time to come down and visit.

Remember if you plan to come do our garden tour, everything will be gone by Oct. 1.

Watch CL for our seed sale in a couple weeks!!

Thank you all again!!

Wisteria Black Dragon

I am posting a photo for those folks that stopped by the sale this weekend so they can
see the bloom.

Seeds For Sale

List to come......Posted 1/29/2022

As many of you know we grow a lot of

different plants here, from perennials, 

annuals to tropical.   Saving seeds is 

just a part of growing and seeing 

what new can be created. 

As you have seen above we have Brugmansia

Seeds, mainly suaveolens and versicolor 

due to global warming.  Our Sanguinea are 

gone due to the extreme heat we have had 

for the past couple years.  Our focus is 

using B. Shorty's due to she thrives in the heat
and blooms like crazy when placed by the 

driveway in the huge cement pot out front.  

We have a couple we have hybridized from 

B. Shorty's of which we play with.  We have

 a non released reverse variegated from TNN, 

our favorite B. Frosty Pink and B. Charles G 

besides a few other crosses that we have 

really gotten attached to.    We are not seeking

other Brugmansias at this time due to health 

issues and a possibility it won't be feasible to 

continue growing them due to the need to moving 

them.  Currently we have close to 35 large 

5 gallon bucket trees, which is the main
part of the collection and many smaller ones

 besides each year we start new seedlings.  

Yes, we have seeds of these!

We currently have lots of Datura seeds which 

were from our research and hybridizing in the

 early 2000.   We currently just harvested D. 

metel var fastuosa which it the  purple one 

with the black stalks.   The Datura seeds have

a 30 year shelf life.

We do have Columbines seeds, a friend calls

them karma's kolumbines!   We collect
by colors or locations in the yard.  We are 

currently are allowing for open pollinations
so you never know what the bees will create. 

We are moving more towards the perennial 

Hibiscus, which is a late fall bloomer here. 

A big hit with those that came to our fall 

sales as they were in full bloom!
I have set aside a couple flats of seed that

 were started outside last fall as these

need the cold chill to start.    We will see

 what comes up in the spring,  I do have some
seeds left, they are collected by color or plant.  

We currently have lots of the H. TX Star Alba,
white variety.  Ours grows upward to over 8 foot

 tall with the pretties white star flowers. The H. 

TX Star, red variety doesn't set seedpods as 

it's a late fall bloomer. 

Another favorite is the HollyHock with we use 

along the fence line to cut down the white glare

from the PVC fence.  It is a child hood favorite 

as we used to make doll from the blooms.

One never knows what we have in our seed collection.