Gardens Florida

Monica Moran Brandies

Don’t be afraid of plant addiction

Wes and Faye Miller [of Seminole Heights in Tampa] both have this condition.  He calls it a disease, but says, “I enjoy it.”  I have a serious case myself and am glad to have it.

 

The Miller property is not large, perhaps a quarter of an acre at most, and they probably have more kinds of plants than I have.  Faye roots most of the cuttings and has even managed to root the Petra or queen’s wreath vine that I have not.

 

“I take stem ends, 4 to 6 inches long, the ones with green rather than woody stems,” she says.  She dips them in rootone and sticks them in sterile potting mix. “I may only have 50% root, so I take a handful, maybe 10 or 15.  I’ve been trying to root a white hibiscus for 3 years and finally got one to root.”  Obviously I have not tried hard enough.  We all agreed that rootone wasn’t necessary for easy rooting plants and Wes sticks most of his cuttings in pure compost.  They all stay in the shade until they are rooted.

 

I have also discovered that some plants root better if most or even all of the leaves are removed.  My bush sunflower and many cuttings of milkweed root better for me just as sticks.  For the basics of rooting cuttings, see the column on my website on How to Take Cuttings.

 

We all agreed that Earth Boxes and Grow Boxes are a great way to grow many plants, especially the ones that won’t grow so well otherwise.  They have 52 of these, many of which Wes makes himself for less than $10 each.  He teaches a class on making what he calls Garden Boxes.  These line the decks at the back of their garden that borders the Hillsborough river, most of them filled with attractive vegetables.

 

He also teaches classes on how to mount staghorn ferns, bromeliads, and such and classes on what he calls Guerilla Gardening, which includes frugality, surprises, and general garden success and excitement.  His last class is on beginning bonsai.  He gives talks to groups, so if you see his name, go.  You will learn a great deal.

 

He also says, “If someone tells me I can’t do or grow something, I set out to prove them wrong.”  He has some small Japanese maples growing.

 

All in all, plant addiction can give you great satisfaction, constant happy surprises, good food, flowers every day of your life, and many other blessings for less outlay of money or risk of trouble than any other kind.  It is beneficial to both the people who have it and even to the society around them.

 

Now’s the time to… tell you to contact Wes Miller for classes, call 813-244-3893.

I will also admit that plant addition is not really the best way to make you garden look like a magazine cover.  A group of plants of the same kind and color makes a better visual impact.  But those of us with plant addictions don’t have room for many groups.  That is okay.  Our gardens are one place when we can create a little world of our own choosing.  I chose one of almost every plant…except the thorny ones or those that take up more room than they return in flowers, fragrance, or food.

A garden both rare and reliable

Jeani Alvarez has a garden that is as close to wall to wall color as a garden can be.  And she does all the work herself.

“When I feel a little down,” she says,  “I just have to plant something, and soon I feel so much better. Gardening gives me a sense of peace. The beauty cannot be beat.”

 

She has been gardening since she got her first home, always in the Tampa area, in this garden for 13 years.  She learned by doing.  “I started with bags of peat and flower seeds.  The flowers came up and bloomed and people would stop to tell me how beautiful they were.”

 

Her property is small and the pool takes up much of the back yard.  In the front she has most plants in large pots because the ground is so full of roots from the palm tree and perhaps also still from a huge oak tree she had to have removed.  “It shaded my whole yard and the first summer it was gone, I couldn’t believe how much hotter it was,” she says.  She is now planting new shade but with smaller trees, frout crape myrtles and a Drake elm.

All except the front is surrounded by privacy fence and the two side areas are long and narrow, but the one side is full of gorgeous plants that alone would make any gardener proud.  The other side is mostly her service area with A/C, rain barrels, potting area and a shed.

 

Having so many plants in containers means that she has to check for watering every day and in the hot dry times, twice a day.  She waters by hand with a hose and also saves rain water and hauls it around bucket by bucket.

 

“I will try to grow anything, even if it will not grow here,” says Jeani Alvarez.  “I’m always looking for something new.”  She has a blooming veronica and a plant called “Black something” with the deepest red, glossiest leaves I’ve ever seen.”   One blanket flower plant that self seeded was blooming over a full square yard.  Her many different coleuses were tall and wide as a bushel baskets and cuttings from the same plant showed different colors only a few feet apart where there was more sun.

 

Jeani Alvarez has the knack of garden decoration down to an art.   She finds treasures in antique shops, thrift shops, and nurseries, such as  the old wrought bed and dishes and teapots that turns into small and colorful towers.

 

She also has many plants like milkweed and butterfly bush to invite and feed the many butterflies that live in her garden.

 

Today’s pick is the blanket flower, Gaillardia pulchella.  This one in  Jeani Alvarez’s garden is one self sown plant.  It is actually an annual, which explains why it was always short lived for me.  The secret is to save some seeds and start again and to learn what they look like as seedling so if they come up on their own, you will recognize and nurture them.  They like sun but will grow almost anywhere and tolerate both heat, drought and even salt.  The showy flowers attract butterflies and are lovely in bouquets.  Sow seed in late fall or early spring.  There are several different colors and double forms.

 

Now’s the time to…enjoy the garden anytime from dawn to dusk.  What a relief after the summer.  It is also a time to confess that the celery plants I was so excited to grow from the bottom of the stalk have so far all died for me once they are planted in soil.  I still enjoying my fourth one, but if anyone has a secret to getting them transplanted and growing in the garden, please let us know.

This garden has a new and stunning plant

Sandy and Michael Taylor came to my first open garden and I overheard him say something about a plant called Witfieldia or white candles.  He had some blooming in his garden and it only took me a few days to get there to see it.  Sandy gave me the information so I could research and it looked very appealing.  But when we saw it in his front yard in all its splendor, we coveted our neighbors plant.  See Today’s pick for more details.

“I’ve been gardening ever since I moved to Brandon in 1985 and bought a then bachelor pad with a beautiful oak canopy yard.  The yard has been evolving ever since as I gradually eliminated the grass areas and turned it to beddings.”

 

Some of the trees are live oaks. “That name is ironic,” he says.  “There is much dead wood up there and it falls in every wind.”  But live oaks are still the best.  We have much more branches dropping from the laurel oaks.

 

Sandy’s part of the garden includes an amazing collection of orchids that hang inside the pool enclosure.

 

“Be careful,” he said.  “I’ve fallen in the pool a few times trying to get around the plants.”

 

Sandy also has her collection of unusual staghorn ferns there.  She was at work when my sister and we visited.

 

“She will be surprised that of all her plants you (my sister, who was visiting from Ohio) asked for leaves from her African violets.”  We made sure that Sandy wasn’t planning to show any of them soon before she clipped.  We are bold but not enough to ask for bits of orchids.

 

Ivies cover most of the ground that doesn’t have shrubs, trees, or perennials.  Mike put in all the stone work in the front yard and keeps careful paths all through.  He had a pad and pencil ready to get any names he didn’t yet know and I might.  There was only one jasmine that none of us could name.

 

“I grew up in Wilmington, Delaware and, with my six siblings, had to do some rather extensive mowing of two acres of grass (including a ballfield) and the family garden (tomatoes, large raspberry and blackberry patches).  My Mom also planted a large traditional flower garden every year that, of course, had to be turned over and prepared every spring.  Aside from these influences,  I think my exposure to Longwood Gardens, located across the state line in Pennsylvania, inspired a lifelong interest in plants,” he says.

 

“My favorite plant is always the one that is currently in bloom, but I’m somewhat more fond of my ornamental cherry tree which, although it hasn’t bloomed anywhere nearly as profusely, reminds me of the absolutely gorgeous cherry blossom season back home in Delaware,” he says.

 

Sandy’s part of the garden includes an amazing collection of orchids that hang inside the pool enclosure.

 

“Be careful,” he said.  “I’ve fallen in the pool a few times trying to get around the plants.”

 

Sandy also has her collection of unusual staghorn ferns there.  She was at work that day. “One practice I have that maybe makes up for all my other miscarriages and neglect is my annual application of 150 to 200 bags of oak leaves that I collect every spring from the nearby neighborhoods to build and maintain a layer of mulch throughout the yard,” he says.

 

Today’s pick is the White candles, Whitfieldia elongata, that are hardy from Zones 10a through 11 so Mike Taylor covers them in cold times.  They do best with a little morning sun and dappled shade.  Too much shade and they  will be mostly dark, glossy leaves, attractive even so.  But the spires of white flowers are spectacular and they bloom in flushes all year round.  They do need constant moisture, so plant them within reach or the hose or irrigation and mulch them well.  We are hoping they will start from cuttings, but we aren’t sure yet.  There are two vendors offering them on the web.  The Taylors don’t remember where they got them.

 

Now’s the time to consider Mike Taylor’s experience: “I abandoned my sprinkler system when I lost pressure in it and couldn’t readily find the source of leakage.  It was getting ineffective anyway as things grew and ‘water shadows’  prevented adequate coverage.  I now water by hand when necessary, but things suffer a lot due to my inattentiveness at times.  Same for feeding.  I just use regular retail garden fertilizer (6‑6‑6) for the most part, but very irregularly, if at all.  I think things are actually better off when I don’t, since I tend to be heavy‑handed with it and have done some damage many times.

Come or come again to my garden

With my Open Garden this Saturday, Nov. 3 and again the next week, Nov. 10, from 10 am to 1 pm., I am still working to make it better.  I  have been working on it almost every day since last fall.  And part of me is scared.  How do I dare invite people to a garden that still has too many weeds, mostly in the form of invasive vines?

There has been has been plenty of bloom most of the year, and for weeks now there have been dozens and dozens of blue ginger blooms.  The Philippine violets have burst into bloom with white, and two shades of lavender flowers.  The floss silk trees has also been blooming for weeks and the garden beneath it is a carpet of pink orchid‑like flowers.  But will any of those be left?  I am hoping at least enough so you can imagine how many of them looked.  I have found that by pruning some back, it prolongs the bloom season. I have a friend who sometimes says, “Did you get your work done?”  And I have to answer, “Not since I can remember.”  But what would I do without it.  It is my entertainment as well as my work, with constant rewards that balance the needs.

 

This very morning I was facing a mass of weedy vines and momentarily depressed.  Then suddenly I dug up one of my hand choppers that had been missing for weeks.  I also uncovered one of those rare kinds of crotons with bare midribs in the middle of the leaves, sometimes called “mother-and-daughter”.  I carefully weeded and pruned to give it light and air.  Next I found the cardamon ginger starting into bloom.

 

And best of all, I found not only another monarch caterpillar when I had been without any for two weeks, but also another beautiful caterpillar that I guessed must be important.  I picked the bare stem it was on and brought them both in to my butterfly cage.  Then I checked my book and the new one will be a Zebra longwing, our state butterfly.  And it lives on passionvine, one of my many invasive vines.  Nothing is all bad.

 

At our first Open Garden in 2000, one lady remarked, “Now I know it doesn’t have to perfect.”  I took that as a compliment because that is what I want people to remember.  No garden will ever be perfect, but it will always be wonderful.  I’ve seen many better ones, but come and see mine anyway.  I do have a very large variety of plants and you can learn a bit of what to do and what not to do.  Most important is to ENJOY.

 

Directions to the Garden Open House, Nov 3 and 10, 10 am to 1 pm.

From south Brandon, go to Lakewood and Highway 60 and turn north on Lakewood to Windhorst Road, the second light.  Turn west or left and go to the second right hand turn onto Estatewood Drive.  This becomes Burning Tree Lane without any turns at the next block and we are on the left on the curve at 1508.  There will be signs.  Call 813- 654-1969 if you get lost or need  further details.

 

From elsewhere, go off I4 at exit 10, go south on 579 to MLK Blvd (to the Race Trac just past WalMart) and turn right.  Go to Lakewood and turn left.  Cross the railroad and go about half a mile.  Watch for signs at either Woodhaven or Windhorst, turn right, and follow the signs.

 

I ask you please not to pick any citrus.  They look ready but they are still very sour and we need them all.

Starting from scratch

Barbara Thompson has a unique gardening background.

 

“My Grandmother lived in Key West and grew what seemed like every plant and fruit tree that existed.  My Mother, sister and I lived there a couple of times when my Father’s Navy ship was out to sea,” she says.  “In 3rd grade my ‘show and tell’ was about the ‘jungle’ in my Grandmother’s back yard.”

 

“In the 70′s my Grandmother left Key West and moved into our house in Illinois.  Every spring she planted flowers and vegetables.  She was also very good with house plants.  That’s were my love of gardening originated,” Thompson says.

 

When she and husband Mark moved to Brandon 24 years ago, they built their present home and started landscaping literally from scratch.  Mark is the garden architect who decided where the trees, including five crape myrtles in various colors, and bushes should go.  He also planted them all.  They both share the mowing,  edging, and raking.

 

Barbara has taken several classes at the County Extension Office including Compost Happens and the Rain Barrel Workshop, and is a graduate of the first Community Forest Steward program with Rob Northrup.

 

Their home is on a corner and is also unique in that the door between the kitchen and the garage is their main entry with a very small but lovely, shady yard in front.  The side has more turf and larger gardens along the house and surrounding the side patio and French doors to the dining room.  The other side yard, inside the privacy fence, is very narrow but lined with flowers on one side and young fruit trees on the other.

 

Mark laid the long brick walk that leads past a screened garden room and all around the pool enclosure to the back gate. He also put in the patio floor, all with bricks recycled from the Hillsborough Hotel in Tampa.

 

They have an irrigation systems that waters once a week during the dry months and Barbara water the container plants and window boxes with the hose. Barbara feeds with Miracle Gro every few months.   Most amazing, she has succeed with window boxes.  See details below.

 

 
Window boxes are possible here

 

Why don’t more people in Florida plant window boxes? Because they take constant care, especially watering?  So do other container plants but many of us have many of them.  Window boxes should be easier than hanging baskets, since they have one long side protected from drying wind.  The biggest drawback, it seems to me, is that you can’t move them out of the spotlight when they have their down time.

 

There is one gardener that has found ways to succeed and has done so for many years.  Barbara Thompson now has four colorful window boxes.

 

“I had impatiens in all of them over the winter,” she says, “but the others got downy mildew and looked so bad that I threw all the plants away so it wouldn’t spread.”  The problem hasn’t spread to the box has on her kitchen window.  It is very striking.

 

“One year I planted only red impatiens for Christmas but I  don’t think it was as pretty as the mixtures of reds, pinks, salmons and whites,” she says.  “Impatiens are my favorites because of their billowing effect.  They get very tall and drape over the front of the box.

 

“I water them when the plants start to droop.  Depending one rain (or lack of) and  temperature, it’s usually 2 times a week.”

 

“We put in our kitchen window box after our house was built 24 years ago.  I started out mostly planting petunias.  It was very sunny because the oak tree in the front yard was a baby,”  she says.  “The dining room box we’ve had for about 10 years.  That’s when I started planting impatiens since it’s almost always shady.  My husband gave me the two bedroom window boxes this past Christmas.  They have reservoirs in the bottom and wicks so I only water them once a week.”

 

She uses Miracle Grow potting soil.  She doesn’t change the soil often, only when plants die from a fungus or disease.  She does put on a top layer of Miracle Gro Garden Soil when she replants.  She does that in May and early November.  Begonias and New Guinea impatiens do well during the summer months.  Impatiens, petunias, geraniums, and oyster plant are good for the cooler months.  She revives what she can and discards the others.  “I’ve had impatiens that lasted 2 years.”

 

She feeds them with Miracle Gro once a month in the summer, every other month in the winter, when they also need less water.  Constant color is possible in window boxes even here.

 

Tree trimming time again

“We need to get our trees trimmed, and maybe some of those behind the fence removed,”  said my spouse David.

 

 

“How in the world will they get those out from behind the fence?”  I asked.  “It will cost a fortune.”

 

“We need to get our trees trimmed, and maybe some of those behind the fence removed,”  said my spouse David.

 

 

“How in the world will they get those out from behind the fence?”  I asked.  “It will cost a fortune.”

 

I didn’t even know who I would call.  The man who helped me through tree trimming trauma the four last times was not available.  I had a name of Asbel Parra, who was in
the crew before and I had heard good things about him.  I called, he answered at once, and came that day.

 

David promised to walk around with us when he came to make an estimate.  That resulted in double the work, but is well worth it.
Asbel Parra looked very young, but only the young can do  that climbing. He knew more about my trees that I did.  I am thrilled to hear I have three live oaks.  Asbel also figured out how to take the dying water oak trees out from the back before they spread disease.  Our good neighbors gave permission for them to bring their truck to the back through their less crowded yard.

 

Experience Tree Service, two brothers and their father, came and quietly pruned more than five large oaks.  Asbel climbed with ladder and rope, no lift bucket, and worked all the first day, with the shredder only on a few times.  The second day he had to be away in the morning, but told me his brother Ismael would be up in our largest oak for four to five hours trimming.  They were so quiet I hardly knew they were there.  By now I have learned to stay out of the way.

 

That afternoon Asbel walked me around again to check on all the smaller trees that needed trimming or removing.  Small trees are quick and inexpensive for them, but hard to impossible for me.  I had them remove everything that hadn’t proved excellent.

 

I didn’t have place for them to dump the truckload of woodchips, but they had a little extra time that day and used my cart and wheelbarrow to take it all to the back where I needed it.  That and the fact that they hardly damaged a single plant from the understory won them eternal thanks.  There were a few more plants crushed when the two large trees were taken out, but they will revive.

 

 

Asbel Parra grew up in Cuba where he often climbed palm trees barefoot to pick a coconut.  He came to the U.S. in 1998 and began working for Davey and then for IntegratedTree Service, learning as he worked.  He saved his money, and when he became a citizen, he was allowed to send for his mother Dania, father Fidel, and brother.
The three men have been  running Experience Tree Service for several years now.  They are licensed and insured for commercial or residential work and specialize in dangerous removal.  They also do landscape cleanup and hauling and are rated at the top of the   list and can be contacted at 813-695-8375.

 

I now have a new yard with more sun, room for more citrus trees, and much less pruning on my conscience.  And it didn’t cost a fortune.  The price was very reasonable, less than what we would have spent for lawn moving or pool care if we needed either in the years since we last had tree trimmers.  Also, we feel safer, but still hope for no hurricanes.

This food forest is thriving

Rosalind Baker calls her garden the food forest.   “For many years, I moved around a lot, but I always had at least a basil plant on the window sill,” she says.

 

Now she and husband, Patrick Mahoney, are  settled in and have trees, three citrus that were rescued from a grove being removed, three plums, two mulberries, two figs, an avocado, a mango,  and some shade trees.

She was still picking figs from her bush in mid November when most figs had already gone dormant.  The leaves on hers were perfect.  Most often they look rusty by late fall.  She also has blueberries and mulberries.

 

Most of their six acres is in full sun, ideal for growing vegetables and fruit.  This is her third winter with her herb and vegetable garden, a large L-shaped plot where these two vegans hope to grow much to all of their own food plus some extra for income.  They have a good start.

 

“We tilled the soil well before we started for the section with the cement block walks,” she says.  “It hasn’t been disturbed or stepped in any more than necessary since.”    She has pieces of plastic shelves for stepping areas where needed.  A plank from stone to stone would also minimize the compaction, but the black plastic is less noticeable and lets the air and water through.  All of this makes for the maximum benefit of earthworms and beneficial micro organisms working  underground.

 

She is not certified organic, but tries to work with nature as much as possible, no pesticides, feeding with worm tea and castings, and lots of mulch, a new layer every season, winter & spring.

 

Each section of the garden is slightly lower than the other, going down from the fence to the lawn.  Already she is selling produce to the friends in her yoga class.  She plants  both perennial and annual herbs and vegetables, and a few things for the butterflies and pollinators.

 

Her many colored lettuces and brightly stemmed Swiss chard looked lovely and lush.  Her tomatoes were huge and full of flowers.  “But no fruits yet,” she said.  And the next
moment she discovered not only first fruits but quite a few that were hiding under the leaves.

 

She will cover the tomatoes and basil as needed.  Most of her plants will come through and produce all winter no matter how cold it gets:  the arugula that she planted and the ones that self-seeded from last year, the kale, Swiss chard, collards, onions, and spinach.

 

A neighbor grows hamsters for laboratories and produces 6 cubic yards of shavings per week with bits of uneaten alfalfa pellets and such.  This he is glad to dump on their land where it becomes rich mulch quickly with some turning.  They already can sell it  to other gardeners: they do not deliver but will load your truck or trailer.  They also have some potting soil for sale, the kind that Rosalind uses for starting her seeds.

 

You can get in touch with her by phone at 352-804-9246 or by email at thefoodforest@gmail.com

One amazing rose garden

Indira Mathews was told that roses don’t grow well in the Tampa area.  Three and a half years later she knows better, as some 400 rose bushes thrive and bear abundantly in her garden.

 

“Most days I can pick 100 roses,” she said.  “But we just cut everything back because I didn’t know you were coming.”  She also knows ever rose by name.

She could still and did pick at least 3 dozen for my friend Nancy and me before we left.   “I would just have to deadhead them later if you don’t take them,” she said.

 

She takes roses to church, to dinners for the needy so they can enjoy some elegance, and to nursing homes.

 

When she gave me directions to her home, she said, “You’ll see the rose bushes in the front yard.”  Indeed they extend from the back fence to the front curb, in neat beds that are edged with stone or raised with wood.  Most are in the ground, but plenty are in large pots.  The climbers cling to the back fence and the lattice around the patio and trellises.  There is just enough grass to make paths and set off the flower beds.

 

Her husband, Tom Mathews, is a retired neurologist and they last came from Dayton, Ohio, where I was born.  Originally, Indira is from Malaysia where her mother grew roses and  her sister still lives and was the first woman to win an award for rose growing.  She received a trophy from the King.

 

Indira has had busloads of visitors to her garden.  “The day I planned to disbud all the plants so that they would be blooming 40 to 42 days later for the visitors, my husband had to have unexpected surgery.  I came home and disbudded in the dark by feel and flashlight,” she says.  “I work in a rain coat or night goggles.  I can’t say no to my roses.”

 

Since her husband, like mine, is not a gardener, she hires the help she needs, someone to spray the roses every week or, in winter, as needed. They use the most Florida friendly sprays like neem oil.  “This has been the worst year for black spot that I’ve ever seen,” she says.

 

The lawn man mows and trims and brings her fertilizer in large bags.  She has tried every kind of fertilizer.  The garden is on automatic watering, some overhead, some low flow.

 

Herbs for Life: This book can make life easier

If you are looking for a book on growing and using medicinal herbs in Florida, you will be as glad as I am to see that Herbs for Life, by Linda W. Mix. R.N. is hot off the press and available for Christmas gifts.

 

It is a very easy book to use, mostly explained at the beginning.  “Herbs help bring the body into balance by strengthening the body’s systems and activating certain functions as needed.  Although each herb is capable to treating several different ailments, it will focus on the needs of the individual body,” Mix writes.

She gives tips on growing and harvesting herbs, making teas, infusions, decoctions and poultices.  As a nurse, she tells how herbs relate to pregnancy and how to calculate dosages for children.  And she tells the dangers and how to avoid them and how to work with your physician.

 

In the core of the book she gives the details: common and botanical name, parts used, description, cultivation, culinary uses, medicinal uses, others uses and cautions for 91 different medicinal plants with a colored photo of each from trees to ground covers that we can grow and use here. There are 245 pages.

 

Because she has done her research in the northern Florida panhandle, we might tweak some of the information to suit milder climates.  For instance, she says to plant nasturtiums in early spring, and we can plant them in late summer or fall.  Up there she says, “sometimes nasturtiums will last until frost if shaded in the hottest summer months.”  I have moved cuttings into the shade where they survived the summers here in central Florida, but they didn’t grow much until cooler weather.

 

She gives a long list of herbs to treat common ailments.  For arthritis and rheumatism, the very best are cayenne pepper, garlic, ginger, and horseradish.  For colds and sore throats, the most efficient are cayenne pepper, echinacea, elderberry, garlic, ginger,
honeysuckle, horseradish, lavender, rose hips, rosemary, sage, thyme and violet.

 

If you don’t grow your own herbs, you can buy them dried or in capsules at any health food store.

 

Check the website: www.MedicinalHerbsForLife.com.  The book costs $24.95.  Or you can send a check for $29.95 plus $1.50 sales tax to her at Linda Mix, Medicinal Herbs For Life, P.O. Box 36002, Panama City, FL. 32412.

 

It will easily save you in doctor bills and time off work and it will add to the joy of your life.

Published in the Brandon News section of the Tampa Tribune/Dec. 14, 2011

A novice garden already great

“I have all sorts of questions,” said Karel Bennet.  “My house is surrounded with potted plants and I don’t know what to do with them.”

 

But what this lady lacks in know- how, she balances twice again with enthusiasm.  Her mother Suzanne, who lives with her and is now wheelchair bound, was once a gardener, but Karel did not have any interest until she retired from the post office in 2003.  Then she got the plant addiction, which is just about the happiest addiction a person can get.  It was her mother who first showed her my column.

Gardening has wonderful rewards from the very first.  Even a life time does not answer all the questions since everything we learn just shows us how much more there is to know. Karel Bennet had successes blooming all over the place in late December starting with a red bougainvillea in the corner of the front yard.

 

“It dies to the ground every winter,” she says, but comes back like that (six feet tall and wide and drooping with color.)”

 

Under an oak tree on the other side of the front yard two large red poinsettias were in bloom along with the last of the blue torenias.  All around the dooryard were pots of plants, some of which she was hoping to give away before she has to carry them in on cold nights.  “My aloe is blooming,” she said.  “I didn’t know aloes bloom.  They also multiply greatly.  If anyone wants one, I give them a dozen.”

 

Her Christmas cactus was just starting to bloom.  “I didn’t know that the when the leaves turn red it meant they were about to bloom, and I was pinching off the red leaves, thinking something was wrong with them,” she laughs.

 

In the back garden around the pool, she has a herb garden in pots that includes the largest bay leaf plant I have ever seen.  “I try to give the leaves away, just like I do the plants.  But people who don’t garden, don’t garden.  I should remember that since I didn’t either,” she says.

 

Right now she is working too hard watering all those pots.  But she has a way with plants and her garden is going to bloom ever more abundantly as she learns more and more.  In the meantime, I have never seen anyone so excited about their garden. And her mother has a smile that lights up a day as she enjoys watching Karel making things grow.