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Recent Entries to this Blog
Subject: Wasp Spray
Posted: 29 Jun 2010 Posted: 15 Jun 2010 Posted: 04 Jun 2010 Posted: 24 May 2010 Posted: 24 May 2010 All Entries |
Accidental Gardener's Blog
House plants: beautiful but some can be toxic.
Category: Gardening Remembrances | Posted: Thu Dec 10, 2009 8:33 pm Now that the winter winds and cold are taking their toll on our gardens, most of us are turning more of our attention to our house plants. I was taken by some things I have read on this web site and others regarding some of our favorite house plants. These comments revolved around the fact that many people are not aware that many of our favorite house plants are toxic and can cause real damage if not handled properly. 
( photo / image / picture from Accidental Gardener's Garden ) While none of these 14 plants are a problem if handled properly it is important to know which ones need special handling. This is NOT a complete list of 'toxic' house plants but these are very popular plants and were pointed out in a recent BH&G newsletter. Remember we have had these plants in our homes for years on end without any problems but it is good to know the hidden dangers these plants can cause if we do not handle them properly. SNAKE PLANT Sansevieria trifasciata 'Laurentili' This plant can cause skin irritation to individuals with sensitive skin. POTHOS - Epipremnum aureum 'Marble Queen' All parts of this plant are poisonous and can cause severe irritation of the lips, tongue and throat if eaten or chewed by pets or children. PHILODENDRON - hederacaum oxycardium. All parts of this plant are poisonous and can cause severe irritation of the lips, tongue, and throat if eaten or chewed by pets or children. ENGLISH IVY - Hedera Helix. All parts of this plant are poisonous if eaten or chewed by pets or children. ZEEZEE PLANT - Zamioulcas Zamiifolia. This plant is poisonous if eaten or chewed on by children or pets. ARROWHEAD VINE - Syngonium podophyllum. All parts of this plant can cause irritation of the lips, tongue, and throat if eaten or chewed by pets or children. CORN PLANT - Draaena Fragrans 'Massangeana'. Corn plant is poisonous if eaten or chewed on by dogs. RUBBER TREE - Ficus elastic. The milky white sap may cause irritation to people with sensitive skin. GREEN DRACAENA - Dracaena deremensis. This plant is poisonous if eaten or chewed on by dogs. CHINESE EVERGREEN - Aglaonema commutatum. All parts of this plant are poisonous and can cause severe irritation of the lips, tongue, and throat if eaten or chewed by pets or children. CROTON - Codiaeum variegatum pictum. This plant is poisonous and can make children or pets sick if they chew on it or eat it. DIEFFENBACHIA - Dieffenbachia spp. All parts of this plant are poisonous and can cause severe irritation of the lips, tongue, and throat if eaten or chewed by pets or children. DRACAENA - Dracaena marginata. This tree is poisonous if eaten or chewed on by dogs. PEPEROMIA - Peperromia spp. This plant is poisonous if eaten or chewed on by dogs or cats. 
( photo / image / picture from Accidental Gardener's Garden ) Last edited: Thu Dec 10, 2009 8:34 pm This blog entry has been viewed 5420 times
There is No Such Thing as Cheap Birdseed!
Category: Gardening Remembrances | Posted: Tue Dec 08, 2009 2:04 am I wish I could buy cheap birdseed but the cost is just too prohibitive When we moved to Pike Road and began building our garden one of the first things we purchased was a bird feeder. Not knowing any better, I bought the cheapest bird seed I could find. Not only did this cheap seed attract all the wrong birds; birds who would scatter seeds all over the garden, but these spilled seeds would quickly germinate and we would have to constantly pull the 'weeds' from our beds. 
( photo / image / picture from Accidental Gardener's Garden ) After seeing this, a neighbor, who is a landscaper, told me about a store in Montgomery where they sold all kinds of bird seed and maybe they could help. So off I went to find Wild Birds Unlimited. I met the owner, a delightful woman who just seemed to light up the room as she scurried about the store taking care of customers. I explained my dilemma that I wanted to feed the birds but I did not want to create more weeds. She claimed she had just the answer and it was called 'No Mess' a non-germinating bird seed and was guaranteed not to sprout if it landed in my garden. Paula went on to explained her procedure at WBU. If you purchased 10 bags you got 2 more for free and you did not have to take it all with you. They would keep a record and you could pull from your inventory as needed. However, this was not 'cheap' bird seed as the 10 twenty lb. bags were $200.00 and change. But I bought it and more importantly started using it. Within a few days the sparrows and starlings decided they did not like the new menu and flew off. They were quickly replaced by cardinals, blue jays and representatives of almost every songbird in Alabama. All were dining at our feeder. We even had a red headed woodpecker that would join us for lunch occasionally. Along with the finches and the many hummingbirds that had their own feeders, it was so nice watching them all feed, use the birdbaths and just chirp and sing. Of course Bearcat my Maine Coon thought she had died and gone to kitty Disneyland but all she ever did was stalk, there were too many birds for her to be able to sneak up on any one of them. Her chief nemesis a dive bombing mockingbird always let out a screeching warning if Bear ever did manage to get close. And the best part of this entire situation was there were no sprouting seeds in the garden - it was truly the best of both worlds. That was four years ago and as time went on the memory of the weeds faded while the price of No-Mess went from $20 a bag to over $30 and every time I plopped down $300.00 for bird seed a little voice in my head would whisper in my ear, 'You can't be this stupid, you can buy a 20 lbs bag of seed at Publix for $8.50. But, by then Paula and Audrey and everyone else who worked there had become friends and I enjoyed stopping in and just talking with them, so I continued to buy the 'good stuff'. It came to pass that one day I went in to purchase another order of seed when Paula announced that her husband was being transferred up north and she would be closing her store and joining him. So in a sad and unexpected way I got my wish. After the store closed last fall, I started buying a 40 lb box of bird seed from our local Costco Warehouse for $14.99. Through the fall and winter the sparrows, starlings and doves returned and I was holding out hope that the songbirds would return with the spring. But that never happened. There were days when so many blackbirds were covering the trees and the fence that I expected to see Tippy Hedren and Alfred Hitchcock walk by at any moment. 
( photo / image / picture from Accidental Gardener's Garden ) Then in April we got 10" of rain in 6 hrs. and our lake quickly rose and ended up flooding our flower beds. They were actually under water for almost 24 hrs. When the water receded it took most of my new mulch with it. While we were taking inventory of what we lost I noticed a short but full carpet of green sprouts coming up in the newly planted annual section that is under our feeder. It had formed on top of the old mulch and is probably why that mulch did not end up in the lake too. I made a mental note to pull them and went about doing whatever it was I was doing. Three days later my annual section was buried by a huge 3" thick and 10' around carpet of sprouts. It was a vegan's food fest but a gardener's nightmare. They were everywhere around the bird feeder. We were literally pulling them out by the handfuls until I finally got a spade and began lifting them out by the shovel full. We lost more annuals to the sprouts than we did to the flood. It was then that my wife looked at me and declared there will be no more bird feeding in our garden. So that old adage is true; be careful of what you wish for because you just might get it. Oh, to have access to another Wild Birds Unlimited Store because price is not an issue anymore. A post script to this blog which I posted last April on another garden site: Two people contacted me after reading it. A friend in Ohio who was going to Florida for a wedding volunteered to drop off a supply of No-Mess from her local WBU store on her way through town. I readily accepted the offer and we had a very enjoyable lunch and visit. And Audrey, who is also a Master Gardener, was now working at a local garden center let me know that she was bringing in an equivalent of WBU's No-Mess. So I have been able to keep the birds coming around and will be able to do so well into the future. This blog entry has been viewed 5567 times
A Great Free Website for Garden Tips and Ideas
Category: Garden History | Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2009 10:11 pm I have been a subscriber to Better Homes & Gardens for a number of years. They have a free website that offers so much relevant garden information. They have a number of free newsletters on many topics. I recommend that you check out their site because there is something there that will appeal to everyone. Today I received their latest Garden Notes Newsletter and viewed some remarkable bird and butterfly pictures submitted by their subscribers. There also is a fun and informative quiz on what birds eat what food and how to attract them to your garden. Just a lot of fun things and it is all free. I love BH&G's garden plans that give a wealth of ideas of how and what to plant in areas around your garden. The plans are Zone appropriate and they offer a number of plant suggestions for each area. They are very detailed with how to prepare the land, when to plant, how to plant, and how to care for and maintain the plants. It is Landscaping & Gardening 101. This blog entry has been viewed 437 times
November Ends on a Dreary Day.
Category: Gardening Remembrances | Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2009 11:11 pm November is ending on a cold, rainy, misty day. My garden has lost most of its luster; I can once again see my fountain as the Elephant Ears, that had completely surrounded it, are drooping and have begun their inevitable surrender to the seasonal change. My knockouts are holding out and are still red and bright and will continue to do so for a few more weeks. All will return in March and April but right now it is a little dreary just like the day. However, I did find one new bloom on my climbing rose bush that is growing on my new gazebo. By next June the gazebo should be completely covered in blooming roses. So much to look forward to but I still take pause to see what it is today and what it was this summer. 
( photo / image / picture from Accidental Gardener's Garden ) Tomorrow ushers in the final month of the year and consequently the Winter Season too. The following month brings us a new year and soon a new growing season. Our winters here are nothing close to what I remember in Ohio and New Jersey but that said it still is not a very good growing time either. It is time to finish the work needed to welcome in the Spring. I still have a number of plants to move,a whole lot of Bermuda grass to remove from my daylily beds and about 80 bags of cypress mulch to put down. While flowers may get a rest from growing, gardeners do not. This blog entry has been viewed 418 times
There Is Always Something To Do In The Garden
Category: Garden History | Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 10:05 pm 
Gazebo with climbing rose bushes ( photo / image / picture from Accidental Gardener's Garden ) When you have a garden you are never at a loss for something to do. You may be questioning what to do next but there is always something else that needs done. You build small areas around the garden where you can just sit and enjoy the view. Once seated something catches your attention out of the corner of your eye. Is that a weed sticking out behind that bush? So up you go and sure enough you dispose of the intruding unwanted plant. If you dare look around you will surely find another and another and another. 'Honey, when you bring the beer, bring me my knee pads and my weeding tool'. You no sooner sit back down with a cold beer in your hand when, 'Did one of the dogs knock over that planter'? And you're up again to do a little more maintenance. By the time you sit down for the third or fourth time you tell yourself you are going to just sit here and enjoy your beer and anything else you see can wait until you are done. Unfortunately, we reach a certain age or stage in our lives where if we do not do something as soon as we think about it, we never think about it again; until the next time we sit down in a cozy corner of the garden with a cold beer. And out of the corner of our eye . . . This blog entry has been viewed 456 times
Elaeagnus - Not the Best Plant If You Like Neat & Orderly.
Category: Things That Grow In My Garden | Posted: Sat Nov 21, 2009 8:32 pm Elaeagnus by definition is used to: Enhance an evergreen scene with a single silvery specimen or plant in mass for a windbreak, bank cover, barrier hedge or fast growing 'wall' to screen unsightly views. Can be groomed into formal hedging, but will contribute an elegant uncultivated feel to naturalistic gardens if grown without shearing. When we moved in this plant along our front privacy fence was already out of control. The previous owners never touched it as it grew to heights of 20 feet along this 60' fence. By this summer it looked like this. 
( photo / image / picture from Accidental Gardener's Garden ) I want to get it under control this spring but had to wait until the hundreds of birds that found summer roosts in its dense branches had moved on. Last week I hired a yardman to cut it back and cart off the severed branches and that was not an easy task to say the least. Today that same area looks like this: 
( photo / image / picture from Accidental Gardener's Garden ) I like the new clean look of my front yard and will be working on additional landscaping this spring. My challenge now is to keep these prolific growing shrubs under control so they will look like this: 
( photo / image / picture from Accidental Gardener's Garden ) This blog entry has been viewed 438 times
Crepe Myrtles: You Can't Be A Tree So You Must Be A Weed!
Category: Things That Grow In My Garden | Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 5:03 am 
Crepe Myrtle Weed :-) ( photo / image / picture from Accidental Gardener's Garden ) If you are a tree that blooms and then dump your billions of rotting petals upon the ground and cover everything and anything below you - you just may be a weed. If someone actually has to keep peeling off your bark on a regular basis and you do not die - you just may be a weed. If someone can cut off ALL your limbs in February and not only don't you die but you actually grow them back by June - you just may be a weed. If you keep sprouting suckers and branches where suckers and branches are not suppose to grow - you just may be a weed. If you cannot be removed cut down or dug out of the ground and burned and you still send up new replacement shoots in the spring - you just may be a weed. I know that up North we would have no problem classifying you as an undesirable plant - thus a weed. A real tree cannot survive what is done to you day in and day out. What you are is the luckiest weed in the yard because you actually have these good people fooled into thinking you are a real tree. And they are very willing to pay good money at an expensive nursery to purchase you; when all they have to do is remove a sucker that is growing below ground level and plant you wherever they want you to grow. Full sun, shade, good soil, bad soil it just does not matter. My Southern belle wife does it all the time. We have three of you growing right now. I have never watered, fed or nurtured any of you. While many real plants around you that were watered, fed and nurtured have died and are long forgotten, all three of you crepe myrtles are just thriving. Go figure! Now, repeat after me, I am not a real tree, I am a weed. Albeit a beautiful weed seven to ten days out of the year. This blog entry has been viewed 714 times
The Legend of the Confederate Rose
Category: Garden History | Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 2:39 am  Confederate Rose, Day One ( photo / image / picture from Accidental Gardener's Garden )
A few years ago my wife's best friend gave me a cutting and said that every Southern garden needed a Confederate Rose. She added that it was easy to grow, requires no expertise and loves the conditions in our area. Well, Sallye could not have been more correct as that little cutting is now a full grown bush that keeps coming back year after year. I did not give much thought to this plant until I read an article in the Alabama Master Gardener Assn. newsletter. The article was titled 'The Legend of the Confederate Rose'. I am not a Master Gardner even though I play one in my garden, but a number of my friends are and I appreciate receiving the email newsletters. They are so full of interesting articles and ideas. Below is the Legend of the Confederate Rose. Once the Confederate Rose was pure white. During the Civil War, a soldier was fatally wounded in battle. He fell upon the rose as he lay dying. During the course of the two days he took to die, he bled more and more on the flower, till at last bloom was covered with his blood. When he died, the flower died with him. Thereafter, the Confederate Rose (or Cotton Rose), opens white, and over the course of the two days the bloom lasts, they turn gradually from white to pink to almost red, when the flower finally falls from the bush. The Confederate Rose or hibiscus mutablis is actually a Chinese import. Brought into English gardens in the 1600's, it is said to have gained favor in the South due to its ease of cultivation during the hard financial times after the Civil War. The hibiscus mutablis is a member of the hibiscus family which includes both the tropical hibiscus and the hardier Rose of Sharon. It is considered a large bush or a small multi-stemmed tree. The plant roots easily from cuttings, has few pests and roots easily from cuttings, has few pests and grows vigorously during the summer. Once established it is drought resistant. The blooms appear in the fall. Again my thanks and recognition to the AMGA Newsletter for 85% of the content of this blog.  Confederate Rose, Day Two ( photo / image / picture from Accidental Gardener's Garden )
Last edited: Tue Nov 17, 2009 2:41 am This blog entry has been viewed 18794 times
My Grandfather's Garden
Category: Gardening Remembrances | Posted: Tue Nov 17, 2009 1:14 am I remember my Grandpa as if he was still here and not gone these 45 years; my loving memory of him is one I will take to my grave. A few months ago I was in my garden and my mind was wandering as it is prone to do in the garden. I thought about my Grandfather and a memory long placed in that unconscious section of our brains opened up like a fog lifting from the water surface on a cool autumn morning. I remembered that I use to garden with my grandpa. I was Grandpa's assistant. I had completely suppressed those memories of Walnut Street and as a five year old, helping him plant the seeds that grew into such beautiful pansies, violets and morning glories. I would get down on my knees right beside him as he tended to his irises and watched in amazement as he would cut the three rose bushes down and thinking he had killed them only to watch them bloom in all their glory later that spring and summer. He had a number of peony and lilac bushes that bloomed into such magnificent eye candy. I used to watch the ants that crawled in the peonies and wondered why they were always on the bulbs. Grandpa said that they liked the 'juice' that the flowers gave off and that was a good enough explanation for me. My Grandpa knew everything there was to know about gardening. Grandpa had not always been the gardener in the family that job had been my grandmothers and these were really her flowers. He took over the gardening when she died and I guess by keeping her flowers growing it was his way to keep something of her with him. He nurtured his/her garden for many years even without his assistant who was busy with teenaged endeavors and too busy to help him. When age finally caught up with him, he reluctantly accepted the fact that the flowers would now only grow in his memories and somehow I think he was content with that. His flowers and my grandmother and soon he, himself, were all together again and maybe that was how it was meant to be all along. There is nothing better a grandparent can do for their grandchildren than introduce them to gardening. They will remember you and the garden forever and be very thankful that you included them in your gardening. Last edited: Tue Nov 17, 2009 1:24 am This blog entry has been viewed 507 times
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