Gardening on the Moon ( GOTM )

Written by Jeff
Non-GOTM pictures credited by hover notes – move cursor over image

Follow Jeff on Twitter for daily garden tips and news!

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  Putting the garden away for winter – For an avid gardener, taking care of the garden in the Fall in preparation for winter may be an involved task, but here are some hints that might prove useful.

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  Succulent Bar - Succulents are so much fun. While they don’t always bring an abundance of flowers, their leaf forms and color varieties certainly add to the “textures” in the garden. In return, they don’t ask for much care. One garden center is capitalizing on the increasing popularity of succulents.

http://www.faroutflora.com/2011/10/29/diy-succulent-bar/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=diy-succulent-bar

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  Seed Savers Exchange Part I – Chiot’s Run website provides a visit to Seed Savers Exchange while describing their mission of saving heirloom seeds. We often use vegetable seeds that may have been hybridized from heirloom plants. Where will we be if we need to “strengthen” the genetic pool and these strong heirloom plants are gone?

  Don’t forget to click on the link for part II on the bottom of the post.

http://chiotsrun.com/2011/09/22/visiting-seed-savers-exchange-part-i/

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  Many of us choose several plants that have spent the summer outdoors to bring inside to hold over for next year or to brighten the home during the off-season months. Fern Richardson offers some quick hints to get those plants ready to go on vacation for winter.

http://www2.fiskars.com/Activities/Gardening/Articles/Container-Gardening/Prepping-Potted-Plants-for-an-Indoor-Winter-Vacation

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  Looking for Roses? Roses continue to be very popular plants. If you have any interest in selecting a rose for a garden, this is your chance to find the best choice. Here’s an article about a website that currently catalogues over 41,000 roses and has more than 130,000 photographs. Read about it by clicking on the link below!

http://www.finegardening.com/item/21240/help-me-find-roses-the-single-greatest-rose-resource-we-have-and-need-to-support

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  Ginny’s Garden reminds us that we should enjoy each season. Many would rather not have winter and be outside all of the time, but Fall and Winter have their personal charms. During the non-gardening months, it is time to recharge and to read books and CATALOGS!

  There is a nice quote by Thoreau to start the post!

Gardening on the Moon, www.gardeningonthemoon.com, originally published this post

Written by Jeff

Follow Jeff on Twitter for daily garden tips and news!

© Jeff Ross and www.gardeningonthemoon.com, 2000-2075. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts of 50 words or less and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Jeff Ross and www.gardeningonthemoon.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

You have probably heard the formula for a successful container garden: The Thrill, the Spill and the Fill. The objective is that you have some spectacular plants which usually are in the center or in the back of the container (Thrill), some plants flowing over the edge (Spill) and others that just fill in the blank spots to complement the composition.

I must confess, that even in the landscape, I love the spill. There is something about a vine trailing across the hardscape or dangling gracefully over planters that I truly love as long as they don’t overwhelm the space.

Here is a recently planted Agave with Snail Vine trailing around the raised planter:

Another shot from a higher angle

Sorry for the lighting, but the sun was very bright and caused some exposure problems.

We had some succulents in that particular planter, but the Javelina would visit our courtyard to dig them out and eat them so we decided to put in an Agave pup that was growing from one of our existing plants. The Javelina don’t like them at all!

Here is another “spill” type setting with our yellow and purple Lantana and the thrill is the large Saguaro in the background. There are times when there are no blooms on the Lantana and within a week, it is covered.

Now that the cooler weather is here, our Snail Vine has really picked up the pace and has begun to flower more. It is graceful as an individual specimen and provides plenty of the “spill” on its own.

Unfortunately, not everything is thriving in our desert garden. Do you remember those old Westerns where there seemed like they had fields of Golden Barrel cactus baking in the sun? Well, we have discovered that not all of the Golden Barrel cactus like to have full exposure. Here is one of our specimens that is dying from the bottom up even though I have given it supplemental water; too bad!

Gardening on the Moon, www.gardeningonthemoon.com, originally published this post

Written by Jeff
Non-GOTM pictures credited by hover notes – move cursor over image

Follow Jeff on Twitter for daily garden tips and news!

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  Leaf Magazine – Apparently a new offering with inspiration about gardening and outdoor design. The first issue is free to review online. I am not sure about the following issues. There are some interesting ideas within these pages and I think it is worth a look. Click the “Expand” button to see a readable view of the magazine!

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  The New York Times addresses the manageable fantasy of growing a tree indoors to make an oasis of spring in a Minnesota home. I think readers will find this an interesting and amusing article. What tree would you select to grow under these circumstances?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/20/garden/the-indoor-tree-a-tall-green-slip-of-summer.html

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  Martha Stewart offers some ideas for container gardening to keep the growing spirit all year long!

http://inthegarden.marthastewart.com/2011/10/19/container-strategies-for-any-time-of-year/

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  In the Sonoran Desert area, almost everyone has a strong opinion when it comes to Bougainvillea. Gardeners either love them or hate them. I do like them, but so do my critters and I have already gone through three. I don’t know if I will try another, but I think they offer great beauty for the money and the amount of gardening energy they require.

http://birdsandbloomsblog.com/2011/10/18/bright-colorful-bougainvillea/

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  Why a lack of perfection in the garden may not be a bad thing or how to avoid burn out and keep your gardening mojo!

http://www.gardeninggonewild.com/?p=18899

Gardening on the Moon, www.gardeningonthemoon.com, originally published this post

Follow Jeff on Twitter for daily garden tips and news!

© Jeff Ross and www.gardeningonthemoon.com, 2000-2011. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts of 50 words or less and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Jeff Ross and www.gardeningonthemoon.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

One of the more pleasant events in the life of a gardener is going out to the garden early in the morning which is much like every other morning in the garden except there is a SURPRISE!

So there it was. Can you see it in the photo above? Well, here is a better picture once I moved some leaves out of the way. This might be the sister plant to the one above, but it was still a surprise.

They are flowers on my dark sweet potato vine. Although these plants are grown primarily for their leaves, it is nice to see a flower and a pretty flower at that!

I first wrote about my Madagascar Palm in September of 2008 so I thought I would bring the readers up to date. It has done well. It spends the winter in the garage with very sparse watering. During the hottest part of the summer, it gets watered twice a week, but will soon be curtailed at once per week.

I was visiting a gardening friend a couple of weeks ago and she had a five foot tall Madagascar Palm with three heads. When I exclaimed that I had never seen one with three heads, she indicated that it was due to frost damage. The growing tip died and acted like a pinching back!

The weather has moderated a bit so I planted some Angelonia in with the coral bells which really do sufer during the hot part of the summer. It hangs in there, but struggles. Now the Angelonia shades the croal bells from the sun and provides a nice splash of color.

Sorry for the dust on the blue bottle. We use colored bottles to add additional color. When the sun hits, it provides a nice color profile on the patio!

I recently saw Agave Confederate Rose which reminded my much of my favorite; Agave parryi var (pictured here). truncata. It is a “miniature” or at least small agave and I wanted to get one. My friend allowed me to take some immature pups. Here they are and it has been nearly three weeks and they seem to be doing fine! I will follow up as they grow.

I hope your garden is doing well. We will be back in the triple digits as this is posted, but the major heat has gone and the second gardening season is under way. I send my wish for sunny and mild weather (at least for a while)!

Gardening on the Moon, www.gardeningonthemoon.com, originally published this post

Written by Jeff
Non-GOTM pictures credited by hover notes – move cursor over image

Follow Jeff on Twitter for daily garden tips and news!

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  Earth Kind Roses – The next big step. Read about them here – http://www.finegardening.com/item/20960/beyond-knockout-the-next-generation-of-garden-roses and at the Texas AgriLife Extension Service – http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/earthkind/roses/

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  Water When Dry talks about some triumphs and some tribulations in the Phoenix garden. My heart goes out to her since I live in the same area. What a summer even by desert standards!

http://waterwhendry.blogspot.com/2011/09/summers-almost-gone.html

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  They’ve got to be nuts – The World’s 10 Most Unusual Nuts!

http://webecoist.com/2011/10/04/crunch-time-the-worlds-10-most-unusual-nuts/

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  Low light houseplants – This might be a reprise for some readers; sorry!

http://www.hortmag.com/weekly-tips/qa/houseplants-for-low-light

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  Carrots can be a bit tricky to grow. Here are some hints for next year’s crop.

http://chiotsrun.com/2011/10/04/tips-for-growing-great-carrots/

Gardening on the Moon, www.gardeningonthemoon.com, originally published this post