Mystery Plant

I planted a Houttuynia cordata 'Chameleon' in the fall. I just love them! They are so pretty even without great looking flowers! (Beware: They can be invasive and hard to get rid of!) But, on to my story...


So, this Spring, when something came up in that spot I was glad to see that a favorite plant had survived it's first winter here. They I started to realize that it wasn't the right plant. My husband tried to convince me that I must have remembered wrong.


I kept waiting and researching. But, I couldn't find any connection between the two plants, nor could I identify the interloper. It was all wrong: leaves, flowers, timing! (If you recognize it, PLEASE let me know what it is!)

Then, I noticed that the Houttuynia was growing up underneath.


Finally, I decided that I didn't like the new plant and that it was my garden, so I could pull it out if I wanted to, and I did!

So, now I am letting the Houttuynia grow and flourish!


The end! (Until the old bits that stayed in when I pulled it out grow back!)

Wrestilng Mother Nature in Beijing

Wrestling Mother Nature in Beijing

Aaron found this and emailed it to me. How weird!! Whoever wrote it should have done a little more research to know what they were talking about. Pollen is created by the male parts of a flower or the male cultivars of a plant. It is funny how much people fight nature rather than enjoy it or find a way to work with or around it!

World's First Tree

I just found this on MSN. Scientists have reconstructed what they think is the world's first tree. Modern science is so interesting!!

Lithops

I love succulent plants and one of my favorite succulent plants is the lithops. They are a tiny plant with only two leaves. They look kind of like little brains and are really cute. I'll admit, they are pretty weird looking, but that is part of the fun!!

Introduction to lithops

Lithops cultivation

Buy lithops I want the baker's dozen!!

I had one for a while, and I killed it!! :(

Luffa

I have wanted to grow my own luffa sponges for a long time. I tried a couple of years ago and the plants didn't flower. I learned that I needed to have them be a certain lenght before they'd flower and fruit. I need a bigger yard!! ;)

So, here are some luffa sites that I have found and I hope to one day be a successful luffa grower!!

Luffa Seed

About Luffa

Uses, about, etc

How do make and grow luffa

FUN!

Square Foot Gardening

In our last class, we were talking about square foot gardening. I just wanted to make the link available here. It sounds like a great idea, whether you have the space to do a large garden or not!!

More Vegetable Gardening Links

Wow! People really love to garden! There is so much vegetable gardening information on the Internet. It is wonderful. Here are a bunch more sites about vegetable gardening.

Carrots Love Tomatoes Book about Companion Vegetable Plants

Roses Love Garlic Book about Companion Plants in the landscape

Companion Herb Planting

Companion Vegetable Gardening

Herb Varieties pdf catalog

Minigardening Container Gardening

List of Plants for Container Gardening Includes Herbs, Fruit, Vegetables and Ornamentals

Mountain Valley Seeds Good source for seeds for our region

Starting the Garden with Transplants Beware, this is a Florida source, so any dates could be off from what we should do in Utah

Tirecrafting Tires can be used in really neat ways as containers and other things for your yard

Seed Planting Chart What to Grow for a family of four

Night Gardening

Planting a garden to be enjoyed at night is a great way to do something a little different. Especially if you aren't home a lot during the day to enjoy it, or just need a place to relax in the evening and you want things that bloom only at night.

Here is a website that can help you with that!

Night Gardening

Mood Boost from Nature

I was given an article, once about the effects of nature on mood and happiness. I was trying to find it so that I could link to it, here. I couldn't find it, but I found some other resources about the effect nature can have on happiness.

Get outside, get happy!
Happy by Nature

Stepables

Okay, so here is post number 3, for today, but I found a fun little site about stepable plants. They are plants that can tolerate foot traffic. So many of them are SO cute, too!

If you want to look at all the plants they have, do a search and leave all possiblities at "ANY". Or you can search by conditions, but if you put too many characteristics in, it won't bring up any plants.