Maxima To The Max

     

     A member of the Black-eyed-Susan family, this native perennial turns heads.  The name is no mistake, the Maxima does everything to the max.  The powdery-blue foliage produces leaves the range 1’ to 2’in lenth, and not to be out done, in mid-summer, it sends up a flower which easily tops 6’.  The flowers have intense yellow petals which dangle from dark brown seed head centers and the flower stalk is so sturdy it rarely needs staking.  The Maxima can also handle our intense heat and isn’t overly picky about soil conditions.  The plant spreads by underground rhizomes, but not to the sometimes aggressive state of its much smaller relative.  This plant is beautiful planted en mass, in the back of a boarder or as a single specimen, but no matter how it is planted, people will stop and ask about it. 

   I love my Maxima.  When the foliage emerges in the spring, it’s almost like having a blue Hosta in full sun, then when the flower shoots out in the summer,

I am in love with the color and shape, but my favorite time of year is when the seeds have matured and I can sit and watch the goldfinches feast on the seeds as they ride along with the swaying stalks.   

Oh Yeah....Pancakes Too

     

For about 47 weeks a year, I curse the briars which cover our property.  I have numerous snagged sweaters and quickly learned to wear a canvas barn jacket when I wander the fields in winter.  When small, my children would come home with scratches on their arms and legs and tears in their eyes from the rambling thorns.  I could usually keep them within sight by warning that there were ‘briars over there’; that often kept them from wandering outside the confines of mowed grass.

     We are now in that three to four week period where the briar magically transforms into Blackberry bushes.  I have been up very early every morning for the past week, trying to beat the heat and insects to wander carefully through the brambles, picking pails of blackberries.  I have about twenty jars of jam and several bags of frozen berries and am already envisioning blackberry sauce over cheesecake this winter. 

     Long sleeves and jeans in June are well worth the discomfort for these delicious berries and not just for the taste.  Researchers have known for quite some time that berries contain antioxidants which help to fight cancer causing free radicals.  A study at the University of Ohio has found that blackberries are the most potent cancer fighting berries of them all, by nearly 40 percent.

     In another week or so, I will be cursing the horrible briars which bring me so much joy through my morning toast with peanut butter and blackberry jam.  If you are looking to pick some for yourself, you had better hurry, the shoulders of the roads have been busy with pickers and the season is very short.

In Loving Memory

    

 I lost my dear, sweet sister-in-law unexpectedly last month.  She left behind a loving husband, son, family and many friends.  Lil was not just my sister-in-law, she was a sister of my heart, a friend and a gardening companion.  When she and my brother and their son Abe moved from Hickory to Virginia ten years ago, it was hard to see them leave, but we saw each other several times a year and spoke often on the phone.  Our talks often turned to gardening, one of her favorite topics. 

     Lil loved to share plants and advice and she planted what she liked; case in point, the castor beans.   One day while over at her house, I pointed out a plant I was not familiar with, she informed me that it was a castor bean plant.  I, in turn, informed her that the pods where extremely poisonous.   She told me that she was aware of that, but she liked how the plant looked.  I had to agree that it was a very pretty plant, but at the first opportunity, I advised my brother to keep up with the “honey-do” list and to pick up after himself for a while.

     I plan to make a trip to Virginia soon to gather some cuttings and take some plant divisions from Lil’s garden.  I will nurture these young plants so one day when Abe has his own home, I can give him some of his mother’s plants, I will also give some to her sisters and mine.  Lil will be greatly missed in our family, but having some of the plants that she loved growing in our gardens would be exactly what she wanted.

                                  Lillian Nettles Beucus  

                          December 17- 1956  May 6, 2012

ROAD TRIP......

    

 In college the words “Road Trip’ would send a thrill through us.  It meant dropping whatever you were doing, grab a change of clothes, a toothbrush and a few dollars and hit the road.  Maybe heading to a nearby campus to crash on the floor at a friend’s dorm or borrow the house of someone’s parents who just left for a cruise (all participants, to this day, will remain nameless), but no matter the destination, it was always an adventure.

     So a road trip to a Botanical Garden can still be an adventure, in a different sort of way.  Maybe not as spontaneous; having to work around kids’ sporting events and dentist appointments can be difficult.  There may not be a stop at the first package store for beer, but there will be a stop at Starbucks for some lattes.  And maybe there isn’t the same amount of freedom; after all, dinner has to be on the table at a decent time. 

Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens

     If you are looking for a Garden Road Trip, there are some wonderful places a short drive away.  Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens in Belmont is only an hour’s drive.  Besides the glorious gardens, they offer classes and events at different times of the year.  

Sarah P. Duke Gardens

The Sarah P. Duke Gardens, located near Duke University is considered one of the premier public gardens in the United States. The JC Raulston Arboretum located at NC State University has one of the largest collections of plant material for the Southeast.  Wandering these beautiful gardens will both, inspire and relax you.  Take a camera to snap some pictures for possible ideas for your own garden.

JC Raulston Arboretum

    Any of the above mentioned gardens would make a memorable road trip and would not require a call to your parents explaining the reason they could not reach you all weekend was because you were at the “library”.

And The Award Goes To....

     

I love old movies and movies about old things.  Often, as I sit and watch these wonderful classics, usually alone, because no one else in my family has good taste in movies, I find myself noticing the landscape and the gardens used as settings.  There are some great movies worth watching for the gardens alone.  ‘Secret Garden’ goes without saying, whether you watch the original or any of the remakes, it is beautiful.  ‘Edward Scissorhands’ is one movie I can watch and hardly notice Johnny Depp.  ‘Grey Gardens’ shows what happens when gardens go bad. 

 ‘Marie Antoinette’ shows the splendor of Versailles.  ‘Pride and Prejudice’ or any Jane Austin book made into a movie will have fantastic scenery and along the same lines is any version of ‘Jane Eyre’.  Then there is the vegetable garden in the movie ‘It’s Complicated’…they wired the tomatoes onto the plants to make it look so good.  

 And let’s not forget ‘Being There’ filmed on the breathtaking grounds of the Biltmore House.  The list can go on and on: ‘The Great Gatsby’, ‘Room with a View’, ‘Atonement’, ‘Under The Tuscan Sun’ and even ‘The Godfather’ for its grapevines.

   

 I can honestly say I have never watched the Academy Awards, but I might start if they ever give an Oscar for the best garden.

Welcome To My Garden, Atticus Finch

    Atticus Finch, in the classic novel To Kill A Mockingbird said, “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing but make music for us to enjoy . . . but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” Well, Atticus Finch has not walked through my garden during nesting season. Those melodious warbles turn to raucous squawks and graceful glides turn to perilous dive-bombs.



My son has a cat named, Trout (don’t ask). This cat was a semi-feral kitten when we got her and after seven years of attention and regular meals, she is still irritatingly skittish. One day, in the garden, she surprised me by doing loving, figure eights around my ankles. My joy at this unexpected show of affection quickly evaporated when I noticed the pair of mocking birds swooping nearby….the cat was using me as a human-shield.
  

       
 There is a lovely Crape Myrtle outside our bedroom window, which is a favorite place for a pair of mockingbirds to build their nest every spring. It is also near the porch where we feed the cats. At six o’clock, every morning, Trout and our other cat, Millie, sit on the porch, waiting to be fed. They do not have too long of a wait during the week, but on weekends, well, they just have to wait. These patient cats drive the territorial mocking birds into a frenzy, thus, waking me up and since I am up, I feed the cats; I’m angry because I wanted to sleep in and the mocking birds are still squawking, but the cats are happy. Short of cutting down the tree, I see no end to this cycle.

I’m keeping the tree and will live with the mockingbirds. I’ll just hope they earn their keep by eating all the insects this mild winter did not kill.

Spring Peepers and Marshmallow Peeps mean Spring

      
To many, spring means the arrival of the first daffodils or the sight of the first robin, but to me, spring is here when I hear the spring peepers. These well camouflaged amphibians are rarely seen, but step outside on a cool spring evening and enjoy the chorus of these tiny frogs as they fill the air with what sounds like tiny bells. The peepers are only 1 inch to one and 1.5 inches long, so while they are heard, they are not often seen. But, if you decide to venture out for a look, they are tan or brown in color with a tell-tale X on their back. Large pads on their toes allow them the ability to climb trees, but prefer the dense, damp woodland floor. Their favorite snacks are ants, flies and spiders and they are favorite snacks for snakes, skunks and larger frogs. During the winter, peepers have been spending that time hibernating deep under fallen leaves or under logs in the forest. As the weather warms and the ground heats up, the peepers come out, starting their spring chorus in March and early April.



It is the male which is making all this noise, trying to attract a female by inflating a sac on its throat, which inflates and deflates like a balloon, to create the distinct sound. Once mating season is over, the spring peeper becomes silent, leaving the evening airwaves to crickets and whip-o-wills. With these warm March days we have been having, the peepers should be out very soon, so come outside, the concert is free.