Summer Time

I am going to enjoy this sultry summer evening and quench my thirst with a Mint Julep using mint from my herb garden.  For the Mint Julep, I need to make a simple but very sweet syrup by boiling one (1) cup of water, one (1) cup of sugar, and 1/2 cup of chopped mint.  Let it cool and then strain it.

In the meantime I will crush the ice, pull out the prettiest glasses, and pick more mint for garnish.  How about small umbrellas for decoration?  For a true Southern taste, I use fine Kentucky bourbon for the Mint Julep.

I pour one part of the cooled syrup and one part of bourbon over the crushed ice in the handsome glasses, and garnish with sprigs of mint.

I kick off my shoes, lean back in my chair, listen to good music, sip and enjoy the sweet Mint Julep.  I am blessed to have somebody who will enjoy the drink with me.

It is summer time.  

Enjoy the weekend!

Painting Flower Pots

Painting a terra cotta flower pot is a fun project to do for yourself or with your children.  It brings out the artist in you and your child.  It's time well spent with your child while sipping lemonade and thinking about a fall garden.

Terra cotta pots are beautiful and interesting as they are, especially when they have aged and have been exposed to the elements.  For this project, we need to head out to the arts and crafts store to pick up new pots in different sizes.

I checked to see what kind of paint I already had that could easily be used for this project.  Somehow I always have paint left over from other projects and stored in the shed so I had plenty of paint to do several pots.

It doesn't take much to paint a pot inside and out.  I only painted one pot to see how it would work and I used a small spongy paintbrush.  I also had a lot of acrylic paint in tubes that I used to paint my motif.  A small dab of acrylic paint goes a long way and it's easy to clean the brush in water.

It is an inexpensive but fun project to do and it is quality time spent with your child.  I am looking forward to doing this project with my granddaughter.

Thank you for visiting my blog.

The Seed Store

The Sports Complex with the Arena is located in the heart of Jacksonville, Florida, along with churches and banks.  The jail and the court house are also located down town and so are insurance companies, hotels, and many office buildings.  A few blocks from all this glitter and high rise is our seed store.  It's really known by another name but we refer to it as "the seed store."

Small home gardeners and farmers alike come to this store for their feed and seed.  It's an interesting place because it has everything a serious gardener may need.  As you walk in, you are met with a lot of twitter by beautiful chicks and some of the guinea pigs will also make some noise that reminds you about the guinea pigs that you once had for your children.

If your pets and farm animals are sick, this is the place for over the counter medication and free advice.  There is an assortment of  flea powders and dips lining the shelves against one wall.  There are sprays to terminate ants, roaches, and mice.  Other potions may stimulate growth for greener grass or "take out" the dollar weed.

How about a few canaries or how about yellow, green, and blue parakeets?  There are several cages filled with these seemingly happy birds located in the middle of the floor amid stacks of fertilizers, seeds, and salts.  Have you ever seen a 100 pound sack of mustard seeds?

This is the only feed and seed store in this area where you can buy vegetables in bulk.  Although the seeds are already packaged, you may buy the vegetables of your choice in bulk.  Barrels are filled with seeds and small packages are placed above with a short description of the vegetable.

If you can't find what you are looking for, ask this very nice and helpful lady who is growing Romaine lettuce under bright lights and in a soil free nutritional solution.  I have not paid too much attention to it: I don't want to start anything new such as hydroponic gardening.  Oh, don't get me started!

Now that the seeds are taken care of, we'll go outside for a look at the vegetable plants.  It is impossible to leave this area without plants.  However, since it is the middle of July, the shelves are bare.  In this area are also fruit trees, berry bushes, azalea and rose bushes.  My husband couldn't resist getting two each of Muscadine and Scuppernong grapes earlier this summer.

Before we leave our seed store, we check out the garden tools, different types of wires including roles of chicken wires.  We don't leave empty-handed; we picked up a planting calendar.  For the month of July, the following vegetables may be planted in Northern Florida:

Beans (pole and Lima)

Eggplant, Okra

Southern Peas, Peppers

Watermelon

Cherry Tomatoes

Thank you for visiting my blog.  I would enjoy your comments.

Banana Trees

I am amazed that the banana trees we planted about 30 years ago are still standing and producing.  We planted them in a protected area in the woods among other trees and on the north border of our Back Forty. In this area, the banana trees are protected from the winds and the weather.  The wind will blow right through the leaves and tear them into strips but they will remain green.

The leaves will reach a length of about 9 feet and about 2 feet wide.  The banana trees are susceptible to cold weather and frost, not to mention a freeze.  We know that we've had frost when the leaves turn brown and brittle; however, the rhizomes will survive and put out new shoots.

The banana trees require a lot of fertilizer; we didn't know.  They have received food from mulching that have occurred naturally and thus obtained their nutrients.  Occasionally we add more mulch.  Mostly, they have been left to fend for themselves and they have done fairly well.

They say that the banana trees need little water.  We've been putting the outfall of the water from our heating/cooling system into the area where the bananas grow.  Was that a wrong thing to do! At the most, they need a good soak a couple of times a year.  I'm going to leave the banana trees alone and let Mother Nature take care of them.  She knows best.

The long showy purple flower is the male part and it is called the "tail."  When you actually see the bananas, the tail may be chopped off:  it is no longer needed.  We have left it because it is rather unusual and quite handsome.

After the harvest, the stalk is supposed to be cut down to the ground to grow new suckers.  The stalk will eventually topple over and fall if left alone.  The banana trees have few pest problems but it is recommended that you choose a plant bred for your climate.  The Musa hybrid, another name for our banana tree, does provide ornamental appeal and the fruit is an added delight.  The fruit is stubby but oh! so sweet.

Thank you for visiting my blog.  Please, leave a message or a comment. 

Celebrating Independence Day

I love camping:  to sleep under the stars in my Mother's bosom, even if her bed is uneven, lumpy, and rocky.  I love cooking on an open fire and sitting around poking the ambers until I am the only one awake at the camp ground.

I recently found a journal and for 4th of July 2002, I wrote the following in Greenbrier State Park, Maryland:

Majestic oaks are reaching proudly to the blue heaven but kind enough to let the sun in at high noon.  At night, the sky is bursting with fireworks that soon fill the air with pungent smoke and mingling and lingering with the campfire smoke.

Children are playing. Woodpeckers are pecking. Shy squirrels are searching for nuts.  The traffic from the Interstate is constant.  The wind in the tree tops sings its lullabies.  A crow is crowing on occasion.  There are flies and mosquitoes. There is daddy long leg making his way through my camp.  A solitary frog is heard. Night is falling.  There is peace and harmony.

During the days, I paint and read, make coffee on the fire, go for walks, and pick wild flowers.  I am alone but for dinners with Mike.

Be careful and be courteous.  

Hold on to your children and be kind to the elderly.  

Be kind to each other.

Thank you for visiting my blog and leaving comments.  I'll be back on Tuesday

Plumbago Blues

The shelves at the garden centers are bare, with the exception of a few wilted cherry tomatoes and some tenacious herbs that are refusing to give in to the summer heat.  The gardening on the Back Forty has come to a stand still with the exception of the weeds that are growing under any weather condition.

Then there is the bright blue Plumbago that is braving the hot Florida sun and is just beginning to bloom depending on its location.  I have one Plumbago that is blooming profusely at the end of the garden near the scenic creek.  Others are more sheltered from the sun and are leaning and climbing up a wall on the shed.  I am waiting for those plants to break out in a profusion of blue blooms.

The Plumbagos fit in very nicely in the landscape on the Back Forty because they are so informal.

Left without discipline these evergreen plants will grow up to three or four feet high and just as wide.  They grow in cascades or ramble on and enjoy themselves.  I enjoy them, too.  

The Plumbagos are so forgiving.  They will recover without much ado if I should run over some of their branches with the lawn mower.  They will forgive me and recover if I should trim them too severely.  They are disease resistant and they do well during dry spells.

Dry spell?  Yesterday, we had over 2 inches of rain.  The Plumbago may enjoy a bath once in a while.  You be the judge and tell from this morning's picture.  The rain is still coming down and it is going to stay with us for a while according to the weathermen.

I like this plant because it's evergreen and it survives the winters in Florida.  It can weather a frost but I am not sure that it will recover from a prolonged freeze.  The Plumbagos come in many different hues of blue but I opted to go with only one color.  Bees and butterflies seem to enjoy the Plumbagos, too.  Another reason for liking the Plumbagos is that they do chase away the summer blues.

Lucky Bamboo

When was the last time you gave someone a flower or a plant?  Don't you think it's about time that you surprised someone dear to you with a lucky bamboo?  In feng shui, it is said that bamboo plants bring good luck and fortune, especially if the plants were given as gifts.  What a nice surprise if would be to receive a lucky bamboo as a gift.  We sure could use some good luck and good fortune.

Don't tell the recipient that the bamboo is nearly indestructible. It will live well in a vase of pure water, in soil, and in a variety of light conditions, particularly in filtered light.  It thrives in hot weather, too.

The lucky bamboo is actually not  bamboo.  It belongs to the Dracaena family and does not grow outside.

The vast majority of the lucky bamboos are shipped from Taiwan or China where professional growers braid, twist, and turn the stalks into intricate shapes.  They also come with a hefty price but there are many beautiful bamboos at more reasonable prices, too.

The bamboo require little care, but it is recommended that the water be changed once a week and that chlorinated water not be used.  Healthy bamboos have red roots.  It is important to trim the bamboo plant by cutting shoots within an inch or two from the stalk.  Yellow leaves indicate too much sun or too much water.  Move the plant to another location and hold off on the feeding for a while.

Bamboo is a sacred plant in most Asian cultures.  The bamboo stalk symbolizes the wood element and a red ribbon tied around the plant enhances the fire element.  Elizabeth Murrow writes in Cultivating Sacred Space that the bamboo "is a symbol of graceful aging because it remains evergreen, unchanging with the seasons, and grows more beautiful with maturity."  Why not give someone a special gift today?  It may bring good luck and good fortune to both of you.

Thank you for visiting my blog.  

Please, leave a comment or a message.