***plAnt dAy!****SILVER LACE VINE Aureum (a running commentary on the most interesting collector's plants I own)

This was my top plant last year. Acquired it in 2009, and a year later it really popped! From the chartreuse leaves all season, to the pink stems, to the foamy white flowers that lasted thru several hard frosts, this vine was totally amazing!

Here is the "official" description~

Polygonum aubertii 'Aureum' Silver Lace Vine Z: 4-8


The gold leaf form. PROFUSE, FRAGRANT white flowers in late summer on a 'Polygonum' that is nothing like it's cousins. It's a VINE, not a ground cover. It is vigorous and excellent for covering fences and buildings. Blooms for a long, long time! Soil: Most any, Well-drained best H: 20-30'

 Midsummer

 Detail of the blossoms ~ actually, I liked it better before it bloomed, but the flowers grew on me (heh)

This was taken on August 30. I'm looking forward to this year!

My Garden Interview - Part 1

***i'm currently reading an older garden book titled, "Gardening From The Heart - Why Gardeners Garden" by Carol Olwell. The reason for this book is interesting, because, as she points out, gardening is hard work,

considered pretty much low grade manual labor, and is rarely lucrative -

so why do we do it? She compiles the story of many gardeners who were interviewed for this book. i am barely past the introduction, but i feel compelled to put into words how i myself came to be a gardener, and why....***

Q: How did you become a gardener?

N: First of all, i need to point out that it was never really a conscious decision to "go forth and garden!"

i never knew my grandparents on my father's side, but i do know they were avid gardeners, so i'm thinking i had it "in my blood", since i sure as heck know it wasn't thru my parents! They didn't even like to be outside! i think Mom took me to the park several times when i was young,

and they liked to sit out on the porch in the evenings in warm weather, and THAT was probably only because we didn't have air conditioning back then, and it was the only way to stay cool! We had a fairly large and swampy back yard- (this is the Black Swamp area, after all) , but except

for some hideous foundation plantings of evergreens, one Poplar tree, one rose bush and one white Spirea, that's all there was in the whole area! Being an only child with few neighbor children, i spent many long

days in that backyard on my own, getting hundreds of mosquito bites and black bare feet from the muddy yard - how i didn't end up with Hepatitis or some '60's equivalent of the West Nile virus is beyond me.

Anyway, we were visiting my uncle's house one summer day, and my cousin and i walked into one of the farm fields surrounding their property. She told me that they knew the owners of the fields, and that they were

allowed to pick some of the produce out of the fields if they wanted (whether that was true or not, i never really knew...Being 12 and very naive, i didn't question it ). She picked a tomato right off the vine

and handed it to me, and actually had to instruct me to eat it right there, as i just looked at it for a second - i had only seen tomatoes in salads before that (yes, i had an extremely sheltered childhood!). When i bit into that beautifully ripe, warm tomato, standing in the middle of

that field, that experience it was so awesome that i had an epiphany of sorts - and actually changed the course of my life! i did not immediately know what to do about this new feeling, but within about 2 years, i had a small vegetable garden plot in our backyard.

i did have somewhat of a social life in my late teens, so of course with other things on my mind, i didn't have as much time to garden. Until after i was married - and for a few years we lived in an apartment, so except for the 40 or so houseplants i acquired, i did not do much gardening. i tried to keep my plot going at my parents' house, but they wanted to stay inside when i was there and expected me to sit inside and visit with them! So that was not feasible for very long.

CONTINUED SOON

What The Heck IS It?

i have quite a few plants that i never planted - through the magic of Nature, they just appear, and of course, i, being a "plant maniac", would never think to pull it out until i find out A) what it is or B) if i like it. Some i end up liking, but still have no idea what i have. Some i believe i may have planted or grown from a seed, and in the ensuing years forgot i had it (yes, i have THAT many plants!). Here is one that just popped up behind my variegated horseradish, it has pretty red stems and nice textured leaves, and since i am a nature artist and constantly look for new leaves to cast in cement, i certainly will keep it for now. But...what the heck IS it?

I Love The Tropics

...which is funny, cause i've never BEEN to the tropics! i have palm tree jewelry, palm tree clothing, palm tree screen savers, even growing a hardy palm in my Z5b climate. It's an obsession with me- i was born in this area, but i still hate wintertime - hate the cold and the dark (while it still may be dark in the winter in the warm zones, it would still be WARM!). Plus my Tillies could stay outside, where they belong!

i complain every winter, and everyone tells me, "Oh, then you'll complain when it's hot". Not hardly. Yes, in the summer, there are times when i am really hot and sweaty and worn out from the heat, but no one ever hears me complain. Now, when i was a little girl, a lot fewer people had air conditioning, and summer was sometimes miserable without it! i'm not crazy - i'd love to live in a warmer climate, but i still want air conditioning for a little relief occasionally. But only occasionally. In fact, in our hot, humid summers, we don't use the air a lot - we're happy when we can finally open the windows and get fresh air. i recall our first apartment- the air conditioning was included with the rent, so it was on all summer. i realized at the end of the season that i hardly knew it had been summer! Oh, we were comfortable, but we never heard birds singing or frogs croaking, never smelled fresh mown grass or felt warm evening breezes coming in the windows. So while i'm all for air conditioning, i think there's a point where it's overused.

Did have about 40 houseplants, though :o)....

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