WINTER FLOWERS THAT BRING JOY

We send flowers to friends in hospital, on their birthday, Valentine's Day, when they lose someone dear and we celebrate weddings with flowers, the bride carrying her favorite flowers in her wedding bouquet. Flowers bring joy to everyone. These days we can enjoy flowers year round with winter no longer a problem because flowers can be grown in glass houses and from there transported to flower shops and grocery stores. 

For the gardener flowers that bloom during the winter season are special. Yesterday when I went into my greenhouse I was thrilled to see flowers blooming on the Mammillaria compressa. This is the best flowering I have seen in many years.

The original plant was bought many years ago at the Austin Cactus show, a gift from friends who were staying with us. It was cluster of about 7 growing closely together. When I tried to repot into a larger pot the individual plants, which had been growing very close together collapsed. They never regained their original form.

There was only one thing to do and that was to cut off the individual plants, let the cut dry and pot up in some really good succulent mix. The only one I have found, which in my opinion is the best, is from East Side Succulents and is called Cactus Gold. I made up several pots, this one with three and several singles. This time I would really take care of them. As you can see I was rewarded. 

Over the late fall and early winter tufts of white fiber began to fill the spaces between the tubercles and it was from these that the flowers burst. Furthermore new branches have begun to sprout from the sides which means that it will eventually make another clump. It is for this reason that it has often been called Mother of Hundreds. This cactus comes from Central Mexico and is supposed to be hardy down to -5°C or 23°F if kept dry.

 

Other mammillarias are flowering too. This pink flowered variety.

 

And recently a much larger one which is also starting to make off-sets. This one blooms multiple times throughout the year.

They seem to favor having a cold dry spell during the winter and although in my greenhouse they are not in full sun. A sunny window ledge in the house might suffice.

In the garden there are a few early bloomers. The Mahonia is one.

 It grows in the shadiest spot I have in the garden never receiving any sun. For this reason it blooms later than most in the area.

Yesterday I was thrilled to see several bees had managed to find the flowers.

And sweet alyssum, Lobularia maritima, is of the early bloomers. It re-seeds around the garden and is  loved by bees.

 

Plant it now and you will never have to plant it again and at the same time you will enjoy its sweet honey fragrance for months.

MY GARDEN HAS INSOMNIA

When I lived in Eastern Canada gardeners were well assured of having a respite during the winter. It was a time when browsing through seed catalogues and placing an order was the highlight of winter gardening. Seed starting came next, geared towards being able to plant frost sensitive flowers and vegetables outside by May 24th. The garden slumbered under a thick layer of snow.

Now here I am in Texas with its unpredictable climate and often mild winters. Because I knew there was to be no winter travel this year it gave me the opportunity to be more diligent about planting a winter vegetable garden. It has been a great success.

 

 

We have had an unusually mild fall, although frost has made an appearance on several occasions necessitating the covering of my peas.  I was  determined to keep them going in order to get an early spring crop, but because of mild weather was rewarded with a winter crop. 

 

We have already devoured two crops of broccoli, pak choi and a succession of chard and kale not to mention peas, carrots and beets. All these plants are contained in beds in my vegetable garden. Even so there are many intruders in those beds chiefly larkspur, California poppies and the most successful seeder of all Love-in-a-mist. Known as hardy annuals this is their time to germinate, growing over the winter in time to flower in the early spring. I regret I have allowed them to take over. 

Those spaces between the pavers create an ideal spot in which seeds from last years flowers settle and particularly with Love-in-a-mist it seems every one germinates.  

And they found an even better home in the vegetable beds among the cilantro.

And poppies too.
 

And bluebonnets. Knowing how they can cover a diameter of 3' I may need to remove the one in the center of the path.

Every year I vow to keep those paths free of these opportunists and every year I relent which means even more will arrive every year. 

Blanket flowers, Gaillardia pulchella give me great difficulty. That is because they behave like perennials and these rather shop-worn plants are beginning to flower again. Soon they will have to go because they make a tripping hazard but I will leave them in case the bees come by looking for nectar or pollen. There are hundreds of seedlings just getting going.

It is my firm intention this year to reduce their numbers before they make it impossible to walk down the paths. 

Some plants don't seed quite so prolifically  so I am happy to see a few rose campion, Lychnis coronaria, just beginning to develop. I plan to remove them from where they are growing at the edge of the path to a more prominent position.

 Those that are a little larger will have to stay. A happy trio of rose campion, Lychnis coronaria, Gulf coast penstemon Penstemon tennuis,  and alyssum, Lobularia maritima. They are in the herb garden and will stay there.

Verbena bonariensis by the hundreds! I have already shared many and have potted some up in case of a some weather mishap. Last year's plants are looking strong and healthy but there is much winter to come yet. 

 Larkspur seedlings in the sunken garden. A little thinning required. They won't grow as large as the ones in the beds because the soil is poor. The same being true of love-in-a-mist.

Here is a plant that hasn't slept in 2 years, Scabiosa. One of my favorites in the rock garden becaseu its foliage is never touched by insects.

Someone once said my weeds were a lot different from theirs. The fact is a weed remains something that is growing in the wrong place and I have plenty of those.

OH, NO! SCALE

 If there is one advantage to being short-sighted it is that as you grow older your close-up vision becomes even more acute bringing with it an added bonus. This makes you capable of reading the tiniest print, taking out splinters and spines from cactus and you can see when scale develops on one of your cactus. Albeit, a little late but not too late this time. Certainly worth getting out the fine paint brush and the bottle of 70% alcohol. 

How could this have happened? I am normally very observant when it comes to any kind of change. But this was the problem that I discovered this morning when I went into the greenhouse. It almost seemed that the multiplication of the insidious scale had happened overnight, although it had probably been going on for a while. I have scoured the Internet for an identification on the cigar shaped invaders. The only photo I came up with was Eunoymus scale. Yes, there are one or two of the adult tortoise-shell type scales but what are these others? Are they a different type of scale or the young? I think they maybe what are known as the crawlers which is a time at which the insect is most vulnerable. I spent about 30 minutes painting them with alcohol and finding that many of them just seemed to be easily removed by the treatment.I will repeat the application in a weeks time keeping them in isolation until clear.

This is not the first time scale has visited my cactus and succulent garden. Outdoors, the prickly pears ( Opuntia) also get scale, the kind that look like little tortoise shells or limpets. They also seem to appear overnight soon turning the whole pad white if you don't catch early and sucking the juices from the pads. When a pad becomes extremely infested it is simpler to remove rather than treat. So far no cochineal scale (Dactylopius spp) have visited my prickly pear This scale, in the adult stage, has the white fluffy coating that is hard to penetrate with oils and soapy sprays. If there is one reason for liking the cochineal scale it is because it carries with it a great story. When I give tours at the Wildflower Center I delight in finding the scale and telling people how it was discovered by the Spanish when they arrived in  Mexico and became so prized by them that its value was second only to silver.  I usually scrape off a scale with my finger and squash it to reveal this bright red color. The Aztecs used this carmine red to dye cloth producing vibrant red color. Europe had nothing like it and the Spanish were successful in keeping their source secret for many years. They managed to do this until 1777 when a French explorer discovered their secret source in Oaxaca.

When I first heard the story it jogged my memory of the little bottle of cochineal in the pantry at home which was used for dying cakes pink. At first I was a little horrified but then I learnt about the later substitutes for cochineal, which had almost killed the industry. Many of the artificial dyes that had been created were found to be carcinogenic. Today cochineal is used less but still found in candy and lipsticks although the cry from vegetarians has led to discovery of vegetable dyes being used. And yes, all those red Smarties I ate as a little girl and used to paint my lips were dyed with cochineal.

PARSLEY, SAGE, ROSEMARY, AND THYME

Very shortly after we moved into the house, and with a clean slate, I began work on designing the herb and vegetable garden. The good growing season was coming up and I wanted to be able to plant a fall/winter crop. There is rarely a day goes by when I do not go into the garden to pick some herbs to enhance my dinners.

And like many herb gardens there is a sprinkling of flowers, some of them edible, and a few grasses to soften the paving made by David. (Today it is easier to find larger pavers but 20years ago it was impossible.)

Whether fresh or dried, herbs are plants that I could never do without and they are so easy to grow. Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme plus chives, oregano, marjoram, mint, cilantro, and lemon grass all have found a home in my garden. And for those who do not have a garden many of these can be grown together in a single pot placed outside the kitchen door or on a sunny kitchen window ledge in the house.

This is a herb garden I made for my son for Christmas. Unfortunately it never reached him as we had to cancel our plans to go visit. Notice the addition of edible flowers. Among the herbs I planted are chive (onion and garlic) parsley, cilantro, marjoram and mint. If grown organically, flowers of violas can be added to your salads. 

Below I have picked thyme and rosemary which are the only herbs needed to flavor  my slow cooker pot of white beans. 

I also use rosemary chopped with garlic, salt and olive oils as a marinade for rack of lamb.

A sprinkle of dried thyme leaves, olive oil and salt is all you need to enhance the taste of roast tomatoes.

I grow two different kinds of sage. The first, Salvia officinalis, is the culinary sage. It grows year round in my garden. In early spring it flowers with the most amazing blue flowers worthy of any garden setting. It is easily propagated in the fall by bending a stem and pinning it to the ground ( the technique of layering)..

The second one is more ornamental, although it can be used in the kitchen. It has more rounded leaves Salvia officinalis 'Berggarten'

I use sage in stuffings and fried in butter or oil as a delicious finishing touch on the top of Italian dishes such as risotto..

Mint has been given a dedicated place alongside the potting shed and beneath the window box where I can

control it. It does need continual cut back to prevent it taking over the path but has found a happy home in this spot. This year I started using in in lamb burgers along with cumin and feta cheese. So delicious. Also, in mint sauce which we have with lamb, although I still prefer redcurrant jelly. It is great in a water melon salad with feta cheese and arugula. 

 I also use mint chopped with feta cheese and cumin in lamb burgers. 

It is impossible in our climate to successfully grow French tarragon but a good substitute in Mexican mint marigold, seen below with yellow flowers. I grow it mainly as a late-flowering ornamental.  

I grow 2 varieties of chive, onion chives and garlic chive. I prefer the former but it is more difficult to grow because the snails seem to really like it and frequently sever the plant at the base. It grows best throughout the winter blooming with beautiful balls of lilac flowers, which can also be used in salads. It is distinguished from garlic chives by its hollow round stems. Garlic chives have flat stems and have the typical allium white flower heads. 

Onion chive.

I also grow society garlic but only for its flowers and performance in our Texas climate. I have been told that the leaves can be used as a flavoring and the reason it was called society garlic was because it did not cause the same breathy problem that garlic does. I'm not sure this is really true!

                                                                                dill

The feathery fronds of dill are wonderful with fish and eggs. 

Cilantro I always allow to flower and go to seed so every year, in the fall,  cilantro pops up all over the garden. It is growing in among beets and carrots this year as well as in the herb garden path.

I grow Italian parsley, another herb I permit to go to seed, and find it popping up in many places. 

And finally oregano. I try to pick the stems early in the morning to hang in bunches to dry. I then crumble the leaves into a jar to use in many Italian dishes. Mixed chopped herbs are delicious in polenta. Oregano grows throughout the year and must be cut back frequently if you want to prevent it going to seed and keep it nicely shaped. It makes a useful small evergreen shrub for the garden. 

Basil is a summer herb which grows well for us in Texas. It dies over the winter and must be replaced every spring when temperatures are well about 50°

If you don't have a specific place for growing herbs then plants them in among garden plants. They will reward you by flavoring your food year round as well as saving you money at the grocery store.