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Garden Update

I have to do a garden update for the memory archive. It was exciting to see the changes that came from just a week of being gone. Everything is coming along nicely, but I will only highlight a few items.

The hesperaloe parviflora is blooming. I think it might be my favorite latin name from my garden. Go ahead. Say it a few times. Hesperaloe parviflorahesperaloe parviflora… It’s fun, isn’t it? This has bloomed only once before. That was two years ago. I’m very excited to see the blooms again. They’re magnificent! The bloom spikes are about nine feet tall and they last forever. I’ll try to remember to document when they’re done. I’m guessing August.

Say it again.  You know you want to.  Hesperaloe parviflora...

I tried to grow special varieties of bee balm (monarda) from seed this year. Out of the hundred plus seeds I planted, I got two plants. One monarda bergamo and one monarda lambada. If they make it to adulthood, I’ll see if it’s worth trying again next year.

The bergamo is only an annual, so it's a lot of work for a short reward.

I’m very excited about developments in my pond. I’m slowly training my goldfish to take prepared food. Up ’til now they’ve just been living on whatever they could find in the pond. If they get used to me feeding them, they will come to the surface whenever anyone approaches.

Next I will train them to fight for the allied cause by sinking Nazi submarines.

And my little tadpoles are growing up. They’re miniature frogs now. It’s hard to catch a glimpse of them because they are very shy.

He's about the size of a chicken nugget.

The single cherry in my cherry tree is gone. Stupid squirrels.

14 Comments

  1. Lauren

    Chicken Nugget – Ha!! I almost couldn’t see your frog – he has excellent hiding skilz.

    I have a better appreciation for your garden now, and I’m most envious of your strawberries. (That’s what they are, right?) I like growing things in the garden that you can eat – like frogs and fish.

  2. Carol

    …so one new plant is named after a Brazilian dance, and the other after a town of about 144,000 people somewhere in Italy. Bet someone has fun thinking up those species names for new fauna, eh? You would tell us if a plant just got up and started dancing, or began making pasta or wine in your garden, wouldn’t you?

    Indeed – hesperaloe parviflora – does sound more elegant than “Red Yucca”. But is this one a parviflora or a parvifolia? What’s the “tiny” part – leaves or flowers? We have nothing so glorious here in Rosedale, Hon. From the Frey gardens I’ve been pulling out of the small bed lining the driveway just a ton of tallerthantherosebushesalready annoyingstickerensis – not to be confused with the pile of isthisaweedordidweplantit Ican’ttellanymores. Every annual (!) weeding is an adventure – particularly when the little girls across the street come over and ask to help…………….. (insert thoughts from my head here).

  3. Beth

    I love frogs.

  4. Deanne

    How can I get rid of my weeds without doing any hard work? Should I just pour a bunch of concrete? No, wait, it’s Lauren who needs to pour a bunch of concrete… I’m so confused.

    • Karla

      No, Lauren just sets fire to everything.

      • Deanne

        fire, eh? I wonder what my insurance company would think of that, for the sake of curb appeal…

  5. Karla

    Are you going to attach “lasers beams” to the heads of your fish?

    • Beth

      That would make a pretty light show.

      • Lloyd

        Then you probably don’t want them to come up when you approach the pond.

    • Brad

      Ha, Karla!

  6. Peggy

    I love the frogs too! How cool! And what a good shot that is…perfectly taken thru the plants, beautiful sunlit rock, adorable frog looking so cute…excellent work! It could be a National Geographic cover. ‘Shy frog photgraphed at last!’

  7. Peggy

    Oh & the plant with the huge blooms…is that the same plant as the one next to it…that’s purple. I really like that purple one & I’ve been meaning to ask what it is & if I could grow one. Does it stay purple all summer?
    And are you sure those blooms are blooms? If something like that suddenly grew out of my plants, I’d cut them off.

    • Brad

      The purple plant is lavender. It’s very easy to grow in full sun. The blooms stay for quite a while. Sometimes there’s a second flush of them in late summer.

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