...And You Actually Wonder Why I Love Gardening? Seriously?

Amour In The Garden

Today, my wedding anniversary, got me thinking about several plants (or cultivars) i have in which the names involve "love" themes. These are a few i have:

i grew Cardiospermum halicacabum, AKA Love In A Puff or Heartseed Vine, for the first time last season, thinking it was perennial. Well, it didn't come back, but the seeds i saved sprouted slowly but easily for me, so i do still have it. I was impressed by this little (up to 8 feet) vine.The leaves are a very elegant shape, and the seedpods are three sided puffballs.

The flowers are not so great - tiny, delicate, and white, but it didn't really bother me. Then when i saw the seeds! - well, i didn't research this one well, i figured the name came about because of the seedpods' shape, but that wasn't all! The seeds are about 4mm in diameter, very dark, nearly black, except for a white HEART shaped mark on each one!

That clinched it - i will be growing this one for a long time!

Then there's Love In A Mist (Nigella), which has that elusive sky blue color of blossoms seldom seen in the garden. (There are also pinks and whites available, but the blue is all i want!) This is what i call a "perennial annual" because, even though each plant is annual, it seeds itself so enthusiastically that you'll never be without it again! This, like Perilla, doesn't bother me with its reseeding. It is easy to pull out and shows up in places like pots and flower beds where i leave it until after it blooms.

The foliage is so ferny that it does look like mist, and then when the seedpods form, they look like little striped hot air balloons, thus the reason it is also sometimes called "Love In A Puff". The dried seedpods are used a lot in floral arrangements.

First grown in the United States by Thomas Jefferson, Kiss-Me-Over-The-Garden-Gate,(Polygonum orientale), is also an annual old cottage garden favorite, but the plant is not found in cultivation very often.

Of course, when i first heard the name, i had to find it! It is, of course, growing by the garden gate, where it reaches heights of around 8 feet, and droops its long clusters of bright pink flowers above my head. It also reseeds, though in my experience not a whole lot, just enough to keep it going.

i also want, though have not been able to find, the Hosta cultivar "Illicit Affair". Is it an outstanding variety? Not so much - just want to tell visitors, "I wanted to have an Illicit Affair in the garden, and all I got was this stupid Hosta!"

Nature's Fury

i was very frightened of storms and tornadoes when i was young. In fact, in my area in the 70's, we had tornadoes every spring for a period of 6-7 years or so. We have been very fortunate since then (for the most part) and my fears have long subsided. And after i became an avid gardener, you could still find me outside when the sirens went off and the sky was turning black, trying to plant the last few seedlings before the rain! Gardeners don't care!

But for some odd reason, I WAS worried this time, i guess for good reason...

We were not fortunate Saturday night.

 

Well, WE were fine (Toledo), but the line of storms that went right over us spawned several tornadoes to our east, after it passed us. Since it was nighttime, it was hard for even the newspeople to determine what had really happened. At daybreak and during the day Sunday, we found out that the police station in Millbury (20 minutes and 15 miles from my house) was hit along with half their police vehicles ( killing two people ), and a short distance away from there, Lake High School was almost completely destroyed!

 

 

They were to have held graduation ceremonies there on Sunday, only a few hours later! About 100 houses were either destroyed or damaged, killing five more people (one of whom was the valedictorian's father!). Very, very sad...

We forget sometimes that we cannot control everything (if we haven't figured that out yet from the current disaster in the Gulf!). Yes, we can control a lot in our lives, but only by the grace of God (or Fate or whatever you believe in) are we here in the first place!

I hope today finds you all safe and happy...

pLANT dAY! ~ !***(a running commentary on the most interesting collector's plants I own) ~ *Perilla*

Perilla frutescens has been a part of my gardens for so many years now that i take it for granted, but i would hate to be without it! i knew absolutely nothing about it when i acquired it thru a Master Gardener plant swap (but, of course, that has never stopped me!). Also known as False Coleus and Beefsteak Plant (?), it's an annual in my area, but reseeds vigorously, so i always have it. Some people claim it is very invasive but, although it is in the Mint family (and most of that family is horribly invasive!) and it is all over my garden, it is easy to pull out and throw in the compost or move to containers, (in which it does very well). It comes in a green form, a purple form, and a couple of fairly new cultivars (Vanilla Perilla and Magilla Perilla - oh, those wacky plant people!). i have the common purple form, it looks very similar to purple Basil, but it keeps its deep purple color in sun, in shade, moist, dry - it doesn't care! Bugs leave it alone. Some leaves turn out with ruffled edges, and some do not. The leaves are not large, but you may have seen some of my Perilla leaf jewelry - they look very nice cast into pendants!

This time of year, when we see some bare spots in the beds, and my spousal unit complains, "We need to put something there", - i just point at the purple haze (ooo, Hendrix!) covering the ground, shake my head, and say "Perilla". In two weeks, the space will be bare no more! It can grow to a height of 1 to 3 ft., depending on location and/or the flower spikes.

There is conflicting information about using Perilla in food - some say it can be used as a substitute for Basil, but i have also heard it can be poisonous in any sort of quantities. i was told by a Vietnamese lady that it is frequently used as an herb in her country, so i'm not advising you either way. It has a fairly nice Basil-ly scent when the leaves are bruised, but i honestly don't like Basil flavor very well, or i think i'd try it.

The decorative factor and ease of growing it is good enough for me!