Drats -the Farmers co-op had no buttercrunch lettuce.

The farmers co-op had no butter crunch lettuce. I had to settle for an iceberg lettuce. I guess I
will have to continue my search. Also I couldn't resist buying some strawberry plants to plant
in the vegetable garden, really a mixed garden. You can plant the repeat blooming strawberries
in zone 8 in February.

Have you heard all the buzz about green tea and it's health benefits. Green tea is harvested from Camellia sinensis, which means Chinese Camellia. Also black tea and oolong tea is also made from the same plant. You can grow this camellia in the milder parts of the U.S. - to
zone 8. If you live in a colder climate you can grow on a balcony or patio and bring inside when it freezes, or grow in your green house. You should wait until plant is 3 years old before harvesting the leaves for tea.

There's more to gardening in the deep south in February than pruning roses.

I must stop at the local Farmer's co-op and buy some broccoli plant and butter crunch lettuce.
Butter crunch lettuce is divine. I don't know anything about the cultivar except that it is
wonderful to eat.

Lady Claire is late for 2nd year in a row.

My camellia, 'Lady Claire' , a japonica usually begins blooming in early Fall. With the exception of one bloom around New Year's day, it waited until February this year. I wonder if the recent drought had anything to do with it. For we have had two summers of drought.

Spring is in the air. Not only can you smell the fragrance of the winter honeysuckle,also known as 'Kiss Me At The Gate" you can also admire the blossoms of the winter jasmine, the berries of possumhaw, a blackbelt native, and the other hollies plus nandinas. In our woodland garden, the smell of the old-timey jonquils and the saucer magnolia is heavenly, and as an added bonus a feast for the eyes.

Grasses and Antique Roses, some tough plants

We are hopefully over drought conditions. I noticed that antique roses and grasses
seem to be among the toughest plants. Many of my plants seemed like they weren't
going to make it, even though I was providing them with plenty of water.
The roses I find to be so tough were Moonlight, The Fairy, Seven Sisters, Sombrueil,
Souvenir de Malmaison, and others. I particularly like the
Sombreuil Rose
and Souvenir de la Malmaison Rose
.
Sombreuil is a white climbing tea rose with great smell, and Souvenir de la Malmaison is a pink fragrant bourbon. Souvenir de la Malmaison can
be acquired in both shrub and climbing form. Both roses are repeat bloomers.

A favorite grass of mine is
Zebra Grass
( Miscanthus sinensis zebrina). There are
many great cultivars of Miscanthus such as Autumn Light, Gracillimus, Sarabande,
and Strictus.

Black Bamboo is heavenly.

I had admired
Black Bamboo for severals years. It was around
$100.00. Then my neighbor found some at a nusery near Tuscaloosa: it was $85.
Imagine the delight I experience, when I saw Black Bamboo list on the Woodlanders
website. I ordered it in March and planted it in a pot and placed it on our patio.. New shoots are coming up.Waiting to see if the canes will get blacker. Anyway it's a fun plant. I may divide some next year and plant at the edge of some woods, and see how far and wide the colony spreads.
In fact, I ordered 15 plants from www.woodlanders.net/. The prices are very good and the plants are doing swell, in spite of our drought, which is hopefully over. You may order
from Woodlanders during the cool months of the year.

Choice- Swimming Pool or Cottage Garden?

On July 3rd I visited with my friends in Mobile. She and her husband are retiring.
Previously they were thinking about putting a garden in the back yard. However, just
recently, they decided on having a swimming pool put in. Although I love gardens,
I was just a touch envious of my friends for getting a swimming pool. On Triple
Digit Days with very high humidity (Mobile is usually humid) I also would rather
be swimming than pulling nutgrass out of the perennial beds. She was wondering
if her decision was reasonable. Remembering a week in early June, I wish I had a
swimming pool.

My Fetterbush is coming back.

I'm ecstatic! My Fetterbush -
Lyonia lucida is coming back it looks. New leaves are popping up. Hopefully the Pier 'Temple Bells' will recover from having fertilizer
spread to close to it. Pieris 'Temple Bells'
is such a great plant. It's slow in
growing, but oh what a charmer of a shrub it is. The flower clusters looks like little chandeliers.