What's in my garden?

I've been getting this question a lot lately, especially from fellow gardeners. What's in my garden? Well, for starters, if you are imagining a traditional garden, a rectangle of tilled soil, that's not what I have. I have two raised beds, about 6' by 2', that my brother helped me build and I filled with old mulch to make some good soil. This year Curt started all my plants in the greenhouse for me. I have tomatoes, LOTS of tomatoes: Better Boys, Early Girls and Romas. I probably will have 40 red tomatoes in the next week or so. I also have peppers, zucchini, squash and cucumbers. For now, since my plants went in late, I just have blossoms. Then I have more peppers in a strawberry pot, which my brother laughed at me for because he says they will be wild. So far so good! And I have six pots of herbs ... kind of a container garden with the Palm Tree and the peppers and the herbs on the back deck. Let's see, I have Basil (sweet and old fashioned), Rosemary, Parsley, Chives, Thyme and Dill. My garlic didn't make it. I'll have to try again on that.

Let's see, what else have I planted in the yard this year? Two Spiral Willows, two Lilacs, some Hollyhocks, a Japanese Maple (Acer) that will be small. Last year I focused on spring bulbs, summer bulbs, roses and moving some of the existing plants to better locations.

Summer Heat Wave

Driving back from Memphis on Sunday it was as much as 103 degrees that afternoon. Finally, sometime after six o'clock it dipped below 99 degrees out. But the country is in this heat wave at the moment. Yesterday, our office building had a power surge, probably due to the heat ... I went out shortly after that ... my car said the temp was 102-103. Warm even by my standards! Yet even so, I remind myself that it's not Iraq or equatorial Africa where 115 is not unusual. Anyway, since it has been so hot even after 8 PM the last couple of days, I haven't made it to the park. I got up yesterday morning and watered my garden, our young trees and bushes we planted and my pots of herbs. At 6:30 in the morning it's low to mid 70s. So this morning I got up to go for a walk while it is cooler.

I walked down a street I've been down many times before and as I was coming back two dogs came tearing out from behind a house with an unfenced yard. "Great," I'm thinking, "I didn't bother to bring my pepper spray." The fat Doberman charging toward me seemed more than happy to attack; now the other dog was the classic follower, "Hey wait for me! What are we doing?". What was it? Um, I'm not great with my dog types, tall skinny dog, not a Weimaraner or Grey Hound. What was Marmaduke? Great Dane. I started clappy my hands and saying, "NO" firmly to the Doberman till he quit charging and backed off.

It reminded me of an incident on Wildflower Street a couple of years ago. One of my neighbors had a Doberman and it was moody, sometimes friendly and other times not and they often let it loose in the front yard. There was a man who would run every afternoon in our neighborhood but one day, the dog was loose when he came jogging by. I happened to be looking out the window when I saw that dog charge and take a huge leap into the air ... I grabbed the nearest pan and ran out the front door pounding on it hoping to distract because that dog was intent on taking the jogger out. Thankfully it worked; I was pretty scared. The jogger was shaking from the near attack and he backed off slowly until the dog retreated.

Crepe Myrtle

Over the weekend I saw a lot of Crepe Myrtle in Memphis. I thought it only grew as a bush. Turns out there are several varieties and some are actually trees that grow 20 to 30 feet tall. The southern climate is perfect for them and the trees are everywhere, in shades of pink, purple and white.

The other bush that is in full bloom in my area right now (Planting zone six) is the Hibiscus. Last year was the first time I noticed them. I was confused by these bushes because the flowers look like Rose of Sharon flowers, which to my knowledge grow on tall stalks not bushes. I was both right and wrong. Same plant family, but definately a bush. They also are long bloomers and are shades of pink, purple and white.