This morning a neighbor asked me to look at his roses. I was afraid of what I might see having learned about the arrival of rose rosette in our part of the country. Sure enough, my neighbor has 3 roses infected with the rose rosette virus. I could go into a lot of detail about what causes this and how to deal with it. Basically, it makes your rose bushes ugly and then they die. Since this is a virus, there is not a treatment. 

This virus was in the Huntsville/Decatur area last…

Hello everyone.

Thought I would take a moment and introduce myself. I specialize in orchids for which I have been growing for 23 years now. I have had groups on yahoo and facebook to educate people on all aspects of orchids and their growth and care for years.

I recently started to dwell in other area's of gardening with bromiliads, cacti, succulents, and ferns. I have a large corner lot that is mainly all grass except for the brim around the house and need to create…

I put in 3 of the raised beds this morning. We used bagged garden soil amended with cow manure and layered the newly installed plants with clean straw and a thick layer of leaf mulch from the botanical garden mulch pile.

Bed #1

Cherokee Purple tomatoes - 2

Better Boy tomato - 1

Marigolds

Bed #2

Okra - 4

Marigolds

Bed #3

Jalepeno peppers - 6

Marigolds

The rest are still to go but I…

Spring is a great time to divide hostas, especially those very large hostas.  It's easier to divide that giant hosta when it's eyes are just coming out of the ground then when it's a large leafed out plant.  If you can divide them before they leaf out, most of them won't even show signs that they have been divided.  

Before I get into how to divide your hostas, I just want to say that despite what some of you have heard, hostas do not need to be divided.  I divide mine simply because…

Can I grow Hibiscus in zone 6, full sun, Claremore, OK?

I grew up in the Midwest where my Grandparents homesteaded.  Living 40 miles from town on a family farm and ranch where I attended a one room school with my five sisters.  Mom gardened out of necessity.  They were organic before it was the cool thing to do.  An acre of garden is not an overestimation where we grew tomatoes, potatoes, beans, peas, lettuce, radishes etc.  A great memory was when Dad still irrigated corn and grew a few rows of sweet corn and the older members of the…

Stopped by Academy to pick up some flip flops for summer gardening and Home Depot to get some potting mix for a ginger plant. The parking lot cartman was doing good business in raspas and paletas. The heat + humidity-whew! Today I will try to create a tire planter for the ginger so my dog Mi'ja can't use her entrenching tools to unplant it. She digs holes a foot deep. I am hoping not to cut myself in the process.

Bought a Christmas catus. Had it about a 1 1/2 yr. Bloomed right before Thanksgiving last yr. Bloomed through Christmas and Valentines. Bloomed before Easter.  Must be a Holiday catus. Others, are not blooming like this one.

Finally the snow melted !! And then I saw what was underneath.

Insurmountable comes to mind.. Needs an overhaul, but I guess we have " artistic differences".  I want to correct  bush forms, weed and fluff perfectly, not add anything until what is here is under control.  She, on the other hand covers all flaws with flowers.  It does seem to work, as in the end it is lovely.

I ache and my hands look like monkey claws.  And we have only just begun.…

i have a great tree in my front yard but , i leeks sappy stuff on my lawn and in pond . it also has some black fungus on it . love my tree but not the mess . some please tell me what to do.

My first report for 2012:

Two raised beds prepped and ready, five to go. Plus a pretty large corner tree/flower bed we're installing. Yay dirt!

We're scaling way back this year and only trying to grow things we are interested in eating/using, which means lots of tomatoes, jalapenos, herbs, eggplant, carrots, and maybe some onion & garlic. 

I hope this year will be the year of the.... CHICKEN. We're researching coop plans and breeds now. I'm…

I have some aloe plants in terra cotta pots. I've had them for a long time and water them when they appear dry. I've noticed that the leaves look sort of tan to pinkish, rather than green. Should they be in bigger pots?

By the way my avocado plant looks wonderful.

still waiting for the warm weather to actually stay..... the temps here are back to "normal" and not a lot of people are happy about it.....that one week when it was 70-80 all week really got people in the mood to plant, but now i wouldnt dare put anything in the ground unless i really wanna kill it.....the over night temps are still in the lower 30's upper 20's and im really nervous about the apple crop this year because some have already come out of dormancy and started to bud...........…

I sat in the garden for the first time today and really enjoyed it. The windchimes tinkling in the wind and the birds chirping - the dog chasing them. I love my garden. It's the one place where I feel really serene.

Yesterday was a gardening moment for me. I picked 3 red ripe tomatoes off my tomatoe plant that made it thru the winter. It is literally a bush full. It's just a good feeling -like Mr. Rogers used to sing; to be able to go in your yard and pick fresh homegrown veggies. My guys finished building my simple veggie bed yesterday. I'm excited to grow food. Not sure what this summer is bringing but my backyard gets sunlight and shade and if it is going to be anything like…

Just had to share, my little neighbor next door came over with a request to tour my garden for a report for science class, her idea was to choose several plants or flowers and then try to answer these questions: Why are there so many different kinds of flowers? Are they all good, or are some harmful? How do they all grow? So, I have alot of plants and after the tour she told me wich ones she wanted- Lions tail, nasturtiom, california poppy, butterfly weed, a yellow iris, a yellow yarrow. we…

My gardening discovery this year has been that I can grow most of the organic veggies I buy again in my garden and NOT from seed. You leave about 1/3 of a lettuce at the bottom (could be celery, bok choi, etc) and then place in a cup of water and revives itself. Once you see some roots plant in the ground. I've grown red leaf lettuce and bok choi this way.

With carrots and beets you cut off the tops but leave about a 1/3 of it and place in water; the same thing occurs. You won't get a…