Herb - Chives

Chives are one of my favorite herbs. They're trouble-free, easy to grow, have beautiful flowers, and it's oniony flavor taste so good in soups, baked potatoes, and cottage cheese to name a few. They do well in full sun with a well-drained and rich organic soil. The tops die down in winter, so there's no maintenance involved.

Chives are the smallest member of the onion family and are found growing in clumps in Asia, Europe and North America. The plant naturally repels insects in the garden, and the juice from the leaves can also be useful against fungal infections, mildew and scab. It's also been useful to lower blood pressure to a lesser extent than garlic.

Chives' culinary uses are with fish, potatoes and soups and are usually found in grocery stores year round. Gardeners can also dry-freeze the chive leaves with good success for winter use.

my glitter flowers garden

Hi friends; because I like the colours and like flowers; and since some of neat glitter graphics in messages.

Why are Honey Bees dying off?

Imagine a world without honey bees!

Have a look at this research article and see for yourself the reasons why we

as gardeners should be very concerned: Just click on the attached link below...

When Can We Water?

Due to the significant rainfall in the early weeks of September, Raleigh water customers may water their lawn and plants THREE days a week. Under the new rules residents with odd numbered addresses may water lawns on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Those with even numbered addresses may water on Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. Sprinkler systems may operate between midnight and 10 a.m. Sprinklers attached to garden hoses are allowed between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. and between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. Watering with a hand-held hose is not restricted. Although we have more access to water, it does not mean we should not do our best to conserve it.

Here are several tools available to help you do this:

Timers: These are a must have. They allow you to water whenever you need to, even if you are not at home. Just set the timer to water when and how long you need it. The timer will turn on and off automatically. This will allow you to take that well deserved vacation without stressing about your plants.

Drip Irrigation: This is the most efficient way to water your plantings. Water is applied directly to the base of the plants and drips into the soil. This eliminates runoff and delivers 100% of the water to the plant roots.

Soaker Hoses: Weave them around your plants and water weeps out the entire length of the hose. These are easy to install and are an excellent choice for plants that are close together.

Sprinklers: These are not the most efficient way to water, but are getting better. You can now choose from a ton of different styles that water in different shapes. You can also control the distance and width of the sprinkling path with some models.

Some other things to consider when looking for watering accessories:

Quick-connects: These allow for easy connecting and disconnecting of your watering tools.

Rain sensors: Hook these up to your water timer so your sprinkler does not run when it has recently rained.

Plant Nannies: Connect a drink bottle filled with water to these for extended watering of containers.

With the right combination of these water accessories and a little help from Mother Nature, protecting your green leaved investment should be no problem. For more information on the current water restrictions, visit http://www.raleighnc.gov

Ornamental Cabbage and Kale

Home gardeners who wish to have year-round color in their flower beds and borders are faced with a dilemma in attempting to locate appropriate plants for use in late autumn and winter. One group of plants that has been developed to fit in this time slot are the ornamental cabbages and kales. Both are classified as Brassica oleracea (the same as edible cabbages, broccoli, and cauliflower), but the ornamentals are better for coloring the garden than they are for eating. While these plants are listed as flowering cabbage and kale, they are grown for their colorful leaves, not for their flowers.

Growing ornamental cabbage, ornamental kale: Grow in large pots in a soil mix and feed weekly with a water-soluble fertilizer as recommended on the package. Transplant to the garden or display container in September. Before transplanting, remove tatty bottom leaves. Plant into the ground so that the crown of leaves is flush with the soil surface (roots will grow along the buried stem).

Propagating ornamental cabbage, ornamental kale: Start new plants from seeds. Sow 6 weeks in advance of outdoor planting at 65 degrees Fahrenheit. Do not cover the cabbage seeds since light aids germination, conversely, cover kale seeds with 1/4 inch of soil.

Uses for ornamental cabbage, ornamental kale: Kale or cabbage are best planted in areas where you can peer into the center-on slopes, doorsteps, decks, and patios. They're also successful in ground beds and in large plantings.

Ornamental cabbage, ornamental kale related varieties: Dynasty Series cabbage in link, red, or white have semi-waved leaves. Ornamental kale in red or white include: Chidori Series, Osaka Series, and Nagoya Series, which are all heavily fringed and especially uniform, and the Peacock Series, which is more compact than others.

Winter Daphne

The Winter Daphne (Daphne adora) is a native of China and Japan. It is a beautiful rounded, evergreen shrub with deep, glossy green leaves that is extremely fragrant with deep purple, pink and white flowers.

The Winter Daphne thrives in well-drained soil with morning and filtered sunlight. This plant is a wonderful gift or addition to your garden to brighten up grey late winter and early spring days. Ideal for use by an entry or beautiful against a wall or near a patio or deck where its fragrance can be appreciated.

To Reduce Global Warming....Plant a Tree!

If you have the means to plant a tree, start digging. During photosynthesis, trees and other plants absorb carbon dioxide and give off oxygen. They are an integral part of the natural atmospheric exchange cycle here on Earth, but there are too few of them to fully counter the increases in carbon dioxide caused by automobile traffic, manufacturing and other human activities. A single tree will absorb approximately one ton of carbon doxide during its lifetime!

Environmental Benefits of Trees

In addition to the aesthetic beauty a tree brings, there are many other benefits, one of which is an environmental one!

Trees alter the environment in which we live by moderating climate, improving air quality, conserving water, and harboring wildlife. Climate control is obtained by moderating the effects of sun, wind, and rain. Radiant energy from the sun is absorbed or deflected by leaves on deciduous trees in the summer and is only filtered by branches of deciduous trees in winter. We are cooler when we stand in the shade of trees and are not exposed to direct sunlight. In winter, we value the radiant energy of the sun. Therefore, we should plant only small or deciduous trees on the south side of homes.

Wind speed and direction can be affected by trees. The more compact the foliage on the tree or group of trees, the greater the influence of the windbreak. The downward fall of rain, sleet, and hail is initially absorbed or deflected by trees, which provides some protection for people, pets, and buildings. Trees intercept water, store some of it, and reduce storm runoff and the possibility of flooding. By planting trees and shrubs, we return to a more natural, less artificial environment.

Now in Stock: Over 250 Camellias (20 different Varieties)

Camellias have beguiled southern landscapes for over 100 years!

They can generally withstand winter temperatures as low as 10 degrees; they can be grown anywhere if you protect them and keep the roots from freezing. Camellias are shallow rooted, like the shade, and do the best in loose, fertile soil that is slightly acid. They do not like poor drainage. Fall is usually the best time for planting camellias. Select a planting site that provides alternate sunshine and shade in summer, some shade in winter, and protection from winter winds. Planting under a tall pine tree or on the north side of a building can provide these conditions.

lilies flowers

lily Dean Corey

lily Rose Fiesta

Culver Seedling - Rose Fiesta x Prince Of Thieves

This is a seedling that wasn't going to make the grade at Culver Farms and I couldn't let it get plowed under. Interesting colour coming from these parents but one of Rose Fiesta's parents is a cream self, so that must be what has influenced the colour of this seedling.

lily Cream Drop

lily Connect The Dots

CONNECT THE DOTS (McMullen, Jerabek 2002) Tet. 25" M, 5 ¾", Dor.

A unique 2002 introduction from Watson Park Daylilies. A near white covered with splashes of dots of different sizes and in shades of mauve purple. It has a grass green throat which turns into a light yellow watermark. The petals carry a touch of a gold edge. This is an unique break as it comes out of ELAN x YUMA, two Whatley intros one a white and the other a yellow with a bronze overlay. CONNECT THE DOTS is reported to be a good parent for speckled daylilies by the hybridizers and I used it quite a bit in my program this year. I will bloom my first seedlings from it in 2004.

lily Condilla

lily Come As You Are

COME AS YOU ARE (Valente, 1999) Tet, 28" ML, 5 ½" Sev.

3 way branching and 22 bud count.

Orange red with deeper red halo and wire gold edge above a green yellow throat. (Wild Mustang x Senegal). The late Ron Valente hybridized in his Maine garden so you know his stuff is hardy! New to the garden in 2003.

lily Colleen Amber Morrison

lily Clear Fork

lily Coral Majority

This is a difficult flower to accurately capture the colour. This was shot about 6:00 pm in the late day sun so it has lost a bit of the vibrancy the flower had earlier in the day. Coral Majority is out of Moldovan's South Seas so you know where the colour comes from. It is a late bloomer and puts up rebloom scapes as well. Nice way to finish the season!

lily Clean Water Act

Suggestions for planning a green, low-carbon wedding

Unless you have unlimited time and energy, don’t try to address every detail. Decide what is most important to you.

Getting started:

• Think about how you can incorporate basic ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’ principles into your event…for example, decline disposable options such as throw away flower vases and excess packaging like wrapping gift favours.
• It’s possible you won’t find florists or caterers who know much about greenhouse gas emissions, but view this as an opportunity to educate them. There’s no reason why you can’t be their first green client!
• Choose as many vendors as you can that are close in proximity, e.g., in your neighbourhood or near your place of work. This will be convenient for multiple trips during the planning phase and make logistics on the day of the event much more simple.

Some of the major greenhouse gas emission sources from an event like a wedding include travel, local transportation, waste and the transport and production of food, beverages, decorations and gifts. The suggestions below offer ways to reduce the emissions from these sources and to provide your event with many other environmental benefits.

Step 1: Picking the venue

• Consider how far you will have to travel, as you may need to visit the location a few times before the event.
• Consider how far your guests will have to travel to the site – are there hotels nearby, is it accessible by public transit, etc.
• Have the ceremony and reception at the same place to cut down on traveling.
• Does the venue offer non-disposable cutlery and linens?

Step 2: Your Menu

• Does the venue serve seasonal, local food, or can you have a caterer provide fresh local products?
• Consider organic food, which doesn’t rely on chemical fertilizers, which are a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions.
• Serve local wines and beer.
• Ask about shade grown, fair trade, organic coffee and teas.
• Ask about free-range chicken and sustainable seafood (check out the SeaChoice website, which lists sustainable seafood options).
• I had a bridal shower with all vegetarian food, no paper plates and no paper napkins. I also gave away ethical coffee as prizes for games.

Step 3: Invitations, Programs and Menus

• Try to avoid using paper – email invites instead. For those few guests without email, use paper invites out of materials you already have.
• Alternatively, for invites or for programs, you can look for 100 per cent post consumer recycled paper, and ask around for vendors who use vegetable-based inks.
• Print the measures you took to make this a “low-carbon, sustainable wedding” on the back of the programs. It’s an excellent opportunity to educate your guests.

Step 4: Rings and Bands

• It’s becoming more common to forgo the engagement ring and have only a wedding band. The money saved on the diamond can be put towards other expenses, like the honeymoon.
• For environmentally friendly rings check out www.greenkarat.com; they can even add on carbon offsets to the production of your rings.

Step 5: The Dress

• You could do organic cotton or hemp fabric, or buy a ‘recycled’ wedding dress.
• Also consider a store that’s close to work or home, particularly if you’ll be making multiple trips for fittings.
• If you order your dress and it arrives from a distant location, you could consider purchasing offsets for the trip your dress had to make.

Step 6: Guest Travel

• Ask guests that fly to consider buying their own offsets for their flights. The David Suzuki Foundation website lists many vendors of offsets (see the Resources section on our Go Carbon Neutral webpage for several vendors). For guests that do not purchase offsets, you can calculate and buy the offsets for them, as discussed above.
• Guests can be encouraged to rent hybrid cars, or you can purchase bus tickets and hand them out with a city map.
• Find a “green hotel” in your city where guests can stay close to the venue (do some web searching or call and ask questions about the environmentally friendly measures practiced by local hotels). Or consider Bed and Breakfasts as a nice alternative if the area does not have hotels.

Step 7: Photographer

• Again, pick someone who operates close to you, and close to the venue. This will cut down on their travel time.
• Instead of a stack of photos, consider getting a CD of photos and then printing out (or emailing) only the best ones.

Step 8: Flowers

• Purchase local and/or organically grown flowers, if possible, instead of something that is shipped from far away or grown with pesticides. Or use flowers grown by friends or families in their gardens, which can be even more special than flowers purchased from a florist.
• Consider using vases that can be reused or given away to guests instead of thrown away. Things like pumpkins and the like that you could compost afterward is another idea.

Step 9: Gift Favours

• The possibilities here are endless (organic chocolates, treats or coffee).
• I made two (male and female) bathroom baskets to hold toiletries for the venue bathrooms. They are filled with environmentally friendly products, such as gum, mints, hair gel, hand lotion, etc.
• Consider giving out prizes to the guests who took the most environmentally sustainable form of transportation (e.g., walked, carpooled, rode the train, etc.).

Step 10: Decorations

• Reuse items that your friends may have had at their weddings. I asked around for simple tea light holders and succeeded.
• Candles – you can get pure beeswax candles, which are all natural and don’t contain suspicious ingredients or perfumes.
• If you’re considering nametags on tables, use recycled paper, and find a way to re-use them: for example, guests could leave you a special message on the tag at the end of the celebration and place it in a box or insert it into a photo album.

Step 11: Honeymoon

• Start by thinking about exploring a place close to home that you’ve always wanted to visit.
• If you fly, buy offsets for your flight. Find carbon offset vendors here.
• Stay at an eco-friendly lodge or accommodation.
• Don’t rent a car, or consider renting a hybrid.

Taking steps like these is easier than it sounds and fairly inexpensive. In fact, you will even save money. And having a green wedding is a fun way to put your beliefs into action, and get your family and friends interested in taking steps in their own lives to reduce their impact on the planet.

various flowers

It may still be winter with fields covered in snow, but around Valentine's Day, brilliant blooms abound as bouquets of flowers fill the shops. As the first snowdrops and crocuses appear, you know that spring is just around the corner and valley meadows will soon be carpeted in a kaleidoscope of colourful wild flowers. Summer arrives and chalet balconies are bedecked with beautiful blossoms. The rich red, yellow and gold of autumn set a quieter mood as the annual cycle slowly once more draws to its close. Diamonds maybe forever, but flowers are for everyone!