Yes, this website is for sale.  You too can be a blogger.  It’s easy!  And this site is really simple to use – you don’t need any special computer skills.  The main criteria would be 1) a love for gardening and 2) having something to say.

And it’s simple to change things around on the site.  For instance, the tabs above the heading can be easily changed to anything you want.   WordPress allows you to add pages or make as many posts as you want.

You can even make a little money with ads (notice the ads in the left and right hand columns?).  And of course, if you have things to sell, where better to sell them than on your own site?

If you worry about your computer skills, I’ll be glad to walk you through most of it and will be available to answer questions for a period after the sale.  And I’ll pull all of my blog entries off so that you can start fresh.

Interested?  Send me an email at agardeninthecity@triad.rr.com.

I’m giving the site up because I just have too much on me right now.  My aging father in law has just moved in with us and he has several health issues, so we’ve got our hands full.

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Dodder Vine "strangles" a tree.

Last week we asked if anyone knew what the string like plant was that showed up in our garden.  Here’s the answer.

Be Afraid… Be Very Afraid.    Hey, I’m not kidding… this plant is lethal and if you see it do everything you can to get rid of it.

Here are just of few of it’s many common names:  Dodder, Love Vine, Knot Weed, Strangleweed, Stranglevine, Angel’s Hair, Devil’s-Guts, Goldthread, Pull-Down,  Devil’s Ringlet, Hellbind, Hairweed, Devil’s Hair, Hailweed, Tangle Gut, and Witches Shoelaces.  See a common “thread”?   Danger.  Scientific  name:    Cuscuta spp. Witches Shoelaces seems to be the most apropos (and my personal favorite).

It starts from the ground, like most plants, where it can lay dormant for SIXTY YEARS.  But once it entwines itself around its selected host it lets go of the ground altogether and lives solely on its host.  It entwines and then bores in, sucking the life out of whatever it’s feeding on.  And it grows rapidly and can cover, as in the photo above whole trees.  Big trees.  Which it will eventually kill.  If you see it, get rid of it and keep checking back to make sure it hasn’t reappeared.

Imagine – no leaves or roots.  The USDA calls it one of the 10 most problematic plants in the country.  And it especially likes certain host plants: alfalfa, flax, clover, potato, blueberry, chrysanthemum, dahlia, petunia, salvia, coleus, and geranium and of course our vinca, tomato,  salvia, petunias and impatiens.  Although it is immune to most systemic plant diseases, it can still pass them along to other plants.   Union County College in Cranford NJ says “It is a weed in no danger of extinction that has the potential to be a gardener’s nightmare.”

“It’s probably one of the creepiest plants I know,” says Swarthmore College biology professor Colin Purrington.  And get this:  it locates its victims by smell.

Dodder sniffs out a victim

Check out this article on NPR.

Dodder on a tomato plant

There are well over 100 species (and maybe as many as 170) of Cuscuta spp.

So where did WE get it?  Who knows?  Maybe a bird brought a seed.  That’s entirely possible.  If you know our garden then you know that we have a kazillion birds.  More likely though is that it was in the soil when we bought the plant last fall at a local nursery.  They in turn probably bought it from a wholesaler who got it who knows where.

We think that is probably the case because none of our gardening friends (who are some of the best gardeners around) had a clue as to its identity. It was finally a friend who has been taking a Master Gardener’s Class at Reynolda Village – Cynthia Carter – who figured it out.  Cynthia, thank you so much.

Hopefully you won’t see it.   But if you do… kill it.  Don’t wait…. kill it immediately.

Filed under: Invasive Plants | 1 Comment »

Do you know what the string-looking plant is?

See the string in the photo, wrapped around the vinca?   It’s a plant and it’s got us stumped.  We have no idea what it is.  It just showed up one day and has just produced more and more of this string looking plant material.  No leaves, no flowers (at least not yet).

It’s in a place where it can’t spread too much – between the street and the sidewalk – so we aren’t overly concerned with it, even if it does look parasitic.  We thought we’d give it a while and see if anyone knows what the heck it is.  The vinca doesn’t seem to be any worse for wear – yet?   Any idea?  Let us know, please.

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Yesterday we had a visit from someone we like very much.  She brought her mother to tour our garden (we get that a lot).  During the course of the tour, our friend said that she didn’t have much of a “green thumb”.

• Dutch: groene vingers
• Italian: pollice verde
• Swedish: gröna fingrar
• UK:  green-fingered

We’re not really sure where the expression came from – other than from England, where it probably started as “green fingers”.  In any event, it’s not that old – probably originating in 1925 or later.

Do some people really have a “green thumb” (meaning a natural gift for growing things)?   Probably.  We joke that my wife’s grandmother would put an old broom handle in the ground as a support and that it would take root.  She was a terrific gardener.  People often tend to do those things which give them pleasure and for which they have some talent.  If you have a bit of an artistic bent as a child, you’re much more likely to follow an artistic path.  It’s sort of self rewarding – and becomes more so as your skill increases.   Gardening is probably the same way.

BUT… and it’s a big but….  just like everything else, gardening is mostly learned.  People say, “I don’t have a green thumb” as if to say “I’m hopeless; everything I touch in the garden dies”.   Some sort of curse.  Which is of course Silly.  If you put a plant in the proper soil, in the proper place at the proper time and take proper care of it, it will grow.  (Usually).  I was going to say that it isn’t rocket science, but in fact it’s a lot like rocket science .  Do the exact same thing in the exact same way and you’ll get the exact same result.  Gardening has the added element of some things being uncontrollable (like the weather), but other than that, it IS like rocket science (only without as much math).

So if you are a person with a Brown Thumb and you start small and immerse yourself in gardening – reading the literature, watching the shows, going to nurseries, talking to other gardeners – little by little your skills will develop.  You’ll learn the names of plants….. you’ll know what needs sun and what needs shade …. you’ll be able to tell plants from weeds (okay, maybe not that one).  In short, your Brown Thumb will turn into a Green Thumb.  And you’ll have people telling you that you are so lucky to be born with a Green Thumb.

And just to press the point, let me tell you about my wife’s green thumb.  Sometimes she plants something and it doesn’t thrive.  So she puts it in another location.  Then another.  Finally the “3 locations” rule kicks it (developed over many years of angst) – if it doesn’t thrive in three locations, out it goes.  This happens fairly often, actually, to most gardeners.  My wife is a wonderful gardener.  Very skilled.  And we have the garden to prove it.  Does she know the Latin names of the plants.  No.  (We have friends who do).   Does she even remember the common names of our plants.  Usually, but not every plant all the time. And sometimes we have a plant that is doing fine – until it isn’t, and we don’t know why.  But… my wife is a wonderful gardener and has the garden to prove it.  Does she have a “Green Thumb”?   Yeah…. sure.

“The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work.”  Emile Zola

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Last year we tried our hand at raised bed square foot gardening.   We just had a long low frame with a climbing fence at one end.  It went pretty well, actually.  We got quite a bit of food out of it for a fairly long time.   So this year we thought we would improve on the frame a bit.  For one thing, we want to rotate our crops.  We’ve been reading about how some plants, notably those from the nightshade family (tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, etc),  don’t do as well when they’re planted in the same soil year after year.  I know that most people probably DO plant theirs in the same spot simply because that’s the only spot they have.  And we certainly don’t have much room.  The frames you see here are really the only space we have that gets enough sunlight for vegetables – reliable all day sunshine.  So this is where we MUST plant.

That being said, we still want to rotate things.  The literature says that there should be three years before using the same soil again for tomatoes.  Hence, four beds.  We’ll simply move the nightshade plants down one frame each year, and then start over on the fifth year.   Stay tuned (for five years!)

The frames themselves are fairly simple.  Just regular lumber screwed together.  DO NOT USE TREATED LUMBER – the chemicals will leach into the soil and contaminate the plants.  The wood is sitting on TOP of the ground, so it should hold up for a long time.  The fencing posts ARE treated (we couldn’t find non treated ones), but they are 0n the OUTSIDE of the framing (and aren’t sunk into the ground) so leaching shouldn’t be a problem.

For the soil, we used a combination of the compost we’ve been making for years and some organic topsoil we bought from a local Dirt and Rock store.  Plus of course worm castings, etc.  It’s pretty good soil, and it’s on top of the dirt (which has been a flower garden for years, so even that dirt is fairly good).

We have Swiss Chard, peas, pak choy (not bok choy), lettuce, turnips, etc.  A wide variety.

Notice the fencing posts?  They’re in the middle of the frame instead of the usual way of being on the end.  Why?  For one thing, if it’s on the end, you can’t get to that end unless you make something elaborate like a gate.  And approximately 2′ is about what you can reach comfortably.  With a 5′ x 5′ frame with the fence in the middle, it’s easy to reach anywhere in the frame.  The second reason it’s in the middle is because some plants, although they want sunlight, don’t like too much sun.  So we’ve put plants that want hot hot hot on the sunny side, and plants that want less sun on the other side.  Will it work?  We’ll let you know.  Like all gardens, this one is a work in progress.

Let us know what you think.  Any questions?

Oh.  One more thing:  The words are “Garden, Jardín, Giardino and Garten”.  English, Spanish, Italian and German.  No, we aren’t rotating by nationality.  We were just playing around and thought it would add a little visual interest.

Filed under: container gardening, Our Garden, Square Foot Gardening, Vegetable, Water conservation | 1 Comment »

So many choices.   To paraphrase James Dean:  ”It’s Driving Me Insane!!!”    If you’ll remember, back before my mother got sick, I said that I was going to change direction with “A Garden in the City”.   Here’s what I wrote then:

“So what do I do? Well, I’ve decided that I am both narrowing and widening my focus. First, I’m ditching the global stuff. I’m going to concentrate on my home area, which is the Ardmore neighborhood of Winston Salem, Forsyth County, North Carolina USA. That’s the narrowing. As often as I can, I’m going to write about what we’re doing in our garden and in our neighborhood. I’m going to go to other gardens in this city and interview their gardeners. I’m going to write about garden shops, stores and greenhouses in our area as well. With photos.

The broadening is that I’m going to visit gardens that I can get to in a reasonable drive from home. Day trips only – no overnights. I think this would be of interest to my local readers. And it’s an interest of ours. Part of my retirement goal was to find something of interest to do. Key words: Of Interest. Frankly, the website was beginning to feel like work (and me no like work). I think that was because of the lack of focus and the too broad agenda. I enjoy gardens, gardeners and writing. I just need to find the path that both satisfies me and is of interest to others.”

So that’s what I’m going to do.  1) Our own garden.  2) Gardens in Winston Salem.  3) Gardens that can be reached in a day trip from WS.  4) Local shops, stores, greenhouses, etc.  5) WS garden clubs.  6)  And of course, plants.  7) and just to cover my backside – anything else I happen to have an interest in at the moment.

If you would like to have us visit your garden, send us an email at agardeninthecity@triad.rr.com.  The same for suggestions about stores, gardens, etc.

Hey…. I’m feeling enthused again.

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My mother died.  As you remember, I had stopped writing when we she was diagnosed with cancer.  She lived about 5 hours from us, and my work usually allowed only one day off at a time (Sunday and one other day), so we knew that we were going to be spending a lot of time away from home.  At first we drove back and forth at least once a week (my sister lives lived next door to Mom), but we soon realized that it was becoming more than my sister could handle alone.  The problem we faced – that every working person faces in this situation – is that you only get so much vacation time per year.  I knew this was coming and had saved up some leave time, but still…  A final  illness can last a long time.

That was not how it was in my mother’s case.  She declined rapidly.  So I requested that I be able to use all of my vacation hours (and some sick leave thanks to the Family Medical Leave Act – thank goodness for that) and we drove down for the duration.  We were able to be there when she died, for which I am so grateful.  She lived long enough to be able to tell everyone goodbye and to make her last wishes known, but not so long that she suffered for years, as many do.  I don’t think many people die quickly anymore – the blessing and curse of modern medicine.

At her funeral, people spoke of what a good friend, wife, etc. she was.  My sister spoke of the bond she had with Mom.  I just couldn’t say anything.  It was like I was frozen to my seat.  Not that I didn’t have anything to say – I just couldn’t say it without bursting into tears.

I would have said what a good mother she was…. I don’t say that lightly – or blindly.  She had her faults, some glaring.   But I had been thinking about what it meant to be a good mother.   As kids we were always clean and well fed, prepared for school, watched out for.  As a parent you’re supposed to do that.  But what I remember most was that I always felt loved.  Always.  Even when I screwed up.  And believe me some of my screw ups were spectacular.  It didn’t matter.  It didn’t matter how angry I made her.  If you could go back and freeze a moment when I was, say, 16 and had just crossed that line…. Her face was red, steam was coming out of her ears and I knew I was in for it.  But if you had pulled me aside and asked if, at that moment, she loved me…. “Of course”.  No doubt.  Ever.  I’ve felt that all my life.  I still feel it now.

After she died I fell into a mild depression.  Gained a little weight.  You know.  I decided to retire.  I hadn’t planned on retiring for a few years, but I was eligible and I just couldn’t work up any enthusiasm any more.   So I went back to work for a short time and then turned in my notice.  I had had all my “ducks in a row” for a few years already, so it’s not like this was an ill advised product of depression – it was just earlier that I had planned.

It’s working out okay.  I joined the YWCA, signed up for a yoga class (which I expected to hate, but love instead) and got the weight off.  I’m also taking guitar lessons at  a local music shop and I’m taking both Spanish and dulcimer lessons at the Community College.   And I’m starting to write again.  My life is good.  Very good.  In most ways, it’s even better than it was before.  And I guess I have my mother to thank for that.  But oh how I miss her.

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First the bad news (and then the rest of the bad news).   My mom has cancer.  It has spread very rapidly.  The doctor said 6 to 9 months, but she has lost ground so quickly that I don’t expect her to live to see Christmas.  She lives about 5 hours from us, and I work full time with rotating days off (meaning I rarely get two days in a row), so visiting has been difficult.  We’re trying to get down most weekends, which usually means down Saturday after work and back the following evening.  My sister lives next door to my mother, and Sis is taking the lion’s share of the burden.  I feel guilty about that (I feel guilty about a lot of things). 

Watching someone you love suffer and not being able to do anything about it is very difficult.  Not being able to be more “present” is also difficult. 

The rest of the bad news is that I’m taking a break from writing for a while.  Actually, this blog was my wife’s idea and I didn’t originally intend to be the “writer” – it just turned out that way.  So I’m taking a break, and it may be a few months, which I’m sure you’ll understand.  Thank you for your understanding, your patience and your thoughts and prayers.

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Filed under: Paths | Leave a Comment »

Wild roses cascade over a trellis dividing our yard from our neighbors.

We have several arbors and trellises in our garden.  There is the one in the photo above, for one.  There is also a rose trellis on the other side of the garden, running the length of the house, separating us from another neighbor.  The goal here is to provide privacy AND have greenery, scent, color and beauty.  We also have the “path to nowhere” which leads under a free standing arbor.  And along the entire width of the back of the house is an attached arbor that is covered with Confederate Jasmine.  The entire carport (well… two side) has walls of trellis with jessamine and crossvine.  And both ends of the front porch have wide spaced trellis, one side covered in moon flowers.  Can you tell we like arbors and trellises?

This was the large rose trellis before we covered it with bourbon roses and jessamine.

This trellis in now covered with moon flowers.

A trellis is a great place for "hidden" art.

Filed under: Arbors and Trellises | 3 Comments »