Author: Lilac

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People Enjoy Peonies in TheGardenLady’s Garden

“Peony Pink,” Explore #444, January 11, 2012 by Puzzler4879

In the last post, TheGardenLady talked about the hellebores in her garden that make people stop and compliment.  Today she will talk about another flower in her garden that has the WOW factor.   These flowers are peonies.

Paeonia lactiflora-sinensis ✽ Pivoine herbacée “Bossuet” ✽ Herbaceous peony “Bossuet” ✽ Pivoine de Chine ✽ Chinese Peony. by ✿ nicolas_gent ✿

People are especially complimentary when the Chinese tree peonies are in bloom. It is hard not to admire the gorgeous 8 inch flowers These shrub like plants can produce almost a hundred plate-sized flowers when the shrub is mature.  The Chinese tree peony, either because it blooms earlier and is sturdier, does not seem to have the flower stems knocked over as readily as the herbaceous peonies. Still when the herbaceous peonies are in flower, they, too, are magnificent.

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People Enjoy the Hellebores in TheGardenLady’s Garden

Pretty in pink by fotovision47

As people compliment my garden when they walk by, I take mental notes of which flowers have the WOW factor that encourage these compliments. Even though everyone loves lilacs, for example, they do not elicit compliments. Nor do showy plants like canna lilies, salvias or zinnias. Of course, flowers planted in large groups, like evening primroses or the overall effect of a plant situated in the  lovely landscaping elicits compliments.  However, in the next several weeks I will be listing 9 plants that make people stop in their tracks or in their cars to tell me how impressed they are or to take photos. Almost all the plants chosen do have huge, showy flowers- nothing subtle about them. To me they are the fireworks that are the big grand finale in a fireworks show.

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Two Books and a Musical about Tulipmania

Tulipmania by The Great Photographicon

Almost all the gardeners that I know love getting new plants for their garden. But this compulsion to buy more unusual plants is nothing when compared to what happened in Holland in the 1600s.

Tulip mania was what they called what was happening in Holland. The Dutch had recently learned about the beautiful tulip flower which was unlike anything they had ever seen before.The Dutch were not the first to be smitten by the tulip. Long before the tulip was introduced in Europe, in Bavaria in 1559, the flower had enchanted the Persians and bewitched the rulers of the Ottoman Empire. But the Dutch reaction was so much more intense. Flower paintings became extremely popular in the 1630s and 1640s. Such paintings were cheaper than real bouquets – and kept longer!  See here.  They were so enamored with the tulip flower that the Dutch were bidding extraordinarily high levels for the bulbs and speculating on them. Prices of bulbs sold for more than 10 times the annual income of a skilled craftsman.  One person was reputed to have sold his house for 3 bulbs.

And then the market suddenly collapsed.

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Yellow Jacket Wasps

The New 2007 Model by Mr. Greenjeans

TheGardenLady recently attended a lecture about yellow jacket wasps, or simply known as wasps in other  English speaking countries. In England there is a wasp watch. Most of the yellow jacket wasps are black and yellow. But don’t confuse them with the black and yellow honey bee. Yellow Jackets are wasps not bees and are NOT covered with the tan-brown dense hair that is on the honey bee worker. A very good article on yellow jacket wasps can be found on the bug info site.

Thirst by Jason A. Samfield

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Birds that Visit TheGardenLady’s Garden

Early bird gets the worm…. by . : : v i S H a l : : .

TheGardenLady loves all the visitors to her garden. I love when family and friends and strangers come to see what is growing in my yard. I love to see and try to count the bees that are engrossed in sipping the nectar and are pollinating my flowers. I love seeing the butterflies flitting from flower to flower and sometimes sitting so long on a flower and drinking  so intently that one could pick the butterfly up. Though I prefer just to stand and watch, entranced.

But other visitors are very important to this Garden Lady. These visitors are the birds. At the break of dawn, they are all singing in the garden so that their voices blend in an orchestral symphony. I always want to see if I can pick out the individual bird by its song as well as its plumage.  Do my readers know the sounds of the birds in their garden?

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World Naked Gardening Day

through the flowers. by Casey David

Sometimes I wonder if this Garden Lady is always on top of what is happening in the world. I guess I am too busy in my own garden, weeding, planting or just plain enjoying the results of my labor to keep up with everything that is going on. Or I am enjoying the beauty of other people’s gardens.

So I missed telling my readership about a gardening event that happened, around the world, on Sat. May 5th. Now this is not a gardening event that I would ever attend, nor do I know anyone who would attend it. I am too modest to be part of such an event – I was born modest and grew up believing in modesty. And I don’t know how many of the readers of TheGardenLady would want to participate.  But, still, I feel duty bound to write about gardening events that are happening, even if I think these events are humorously odd.

Now though the event happened on Sat. May 5th, I just learned about it on Monday, May 21st. So I apologize to those of you who depend on TheGardenLady to keep you informed of world gardening events. Though I apologize, I had never heard about this event even though this was the 8th year it was being held. It is thanks to reading the Irish Times online that I became informed of this event.

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Harvesting Maize in Botswana

The following post is from my friend Pai (aka Lynne) who joined the Peace Corp and was sent to work in a town called Mmathethe.

I’m visiting the town of Kanye in Botswana today, so I’m taking this opportunity to send you these pics of what I saw on my walk the other night. It’s harvesting time for the maize, and unfortunately, people did not do well because of the lack of rains this year, but I thought this was really cool. These people are spending the next several days carving off every little piece of maize to sell to the other villagers. I tasted it last week at my host mom’s house, but it is not sweet like our corn. In fact, it tastes so very bland. But the people in Botswana enjoy it.

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Planting in Wind Swept Areas

Wind Swept by druss101

TheGardenLady received this question from Joyce.

I have a small garden bed at the front of my house. It gets the sun in the morning only, and it’s very opened to the wind.  Could you recommend any plants I could get to make it nice and colorful.

Wind swept areas are difficult planting areas. The wind not only batters many plants but windy areas will experience drier soil conditions. But for anyone to give you answers to what might grow in your garden, you really have to provide more information.

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FreshPaper – A Product that Might Keep Refrigerated Produce Fresh for Longer

Fridge (before) by pat+sarah

Yesterday when reading one of my favorite newspapers, I found out about a new product that I want my readers to know about.  The new product is manufactured by a company I do not know; nor do they know TheGardenLady when I tell you about this product. So this is NOT an advertisement.But let me digress.

I have to clean out the vegetable bins in my refrigerator. This is a job I hate doing. And one of the reasons I hate doing this job is that I feel sick to my stomach when food goes bad on me. Growing up poor, on a farm, we never wasted anything. So it is difficult for me to see waste. Yes, I compost any rotting food, so it is not a complete waste. However, I believe in the adage, ” Waste not, want not.”  But sometimes, when company is coming, I buy more produce than I can consume in a short time or sometimes the produce is sold in larger packages than I can use. So the produce in my refrigerator spoils waiting to be used. I understand that one quarter to one third of the world’s produce is wasted each year. “American and European consumers toss out between 210 to 250 pounds of food per person each year. A study at the University of Arizona at Tucson in 2004 estimated that household food waste in the United States alone adds up to $43 billion each year.” I feel guilty of wasting my share.

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How to Prevent Thrips From Distorting Rose Flowers

Teeming with life by elizabethdonoghue

My roses are in bloom already. It is amazing to see roses in bloom two to four weeks early. But since all the other flowers opened early, why shouldn’t the roses?

One dreams that insects wouldn’t enjoy the roses as much as I do; but unfortunately roses are one of the most beloved flowers for all sorts of nasty insects.  I had been lucky, except for Japanese beetles, I had not had many insect problems on my roses in past years. But all good things must come to an end.

It was such a warm winter where I live with so few hard frosts and so little deep snow, I worried that this year I might see more insect problems than I have had in the past. And this year my roses have proven that I did not worry in vain. I have an extraordinary amount of buds on the rose bushes and the leaves looked so beautiful and healthy: but in the last few days I have never seen so many chewed leaves and damaged flowers as they open. From the looks of the rose flowers, I suspect I have thrips in my roses.

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