Exotic Star amaryllis....

I have one! I am just beside myself!

I have never seen an amaryllis that looks like this!

I got it at our seminar on Gingers. Our speaker is also an amaryllis expert, and she brought this to show. She agreed to sell it to me when I asked if it was for sale. Often they will bring plants for sale. I was surprised when she did sell it to me! I will never sell it!

I will share however, when it makes baby bulbs or seeds. She said it does make good seeds.

It was late when I got in, and I couldn't wait to post it, so I borrowed the picture. I will post some of my own as soon as I can take some.

Weeds....

I have these weeds in my flowerbeds, that are tall and awful looking. I am going to have to measure them in terms of 'bales', as that is the only way you can bundle them. So far, I have pulled 3-4 square bales of long weeds.

When I get to the little weeds, I measure them in 'bushels'. I haven't pull many small weeds yet, but I will. I am sure!

Being a gardener. . . . .

This is the rose, "Laura Bush".

Being a gardener, I am having 'blossom withdrawal' lately. I have been to several towns around us, looking for bedding plants, or something with a bloom on it, to put in my yard, and 'tide me over', until things start to bloom here.

I have been unable to find anything, until today!

I looked for an "Easy Living" rose, with no success. I finally found an orange rose, "Laura Bush", and it is a beauty!

Also, I purchased four 6-packs of Dusty Miller. I always have loved it, with the velvet grey/green leaves. I didn't know for years that it would bloom, but it does! It is a biennial, and waits to bloom in it's second year, a pretty little yellow bloom. Mine are not blooming, but I am satisfied with the foliage.

I found tall RED snapdragons in bud, and white alyssum, blooming! I couldn't resist, I have them living in my flowerbeds now!I am going to have RED and white for Valentines day!

I was so happy to be in my own flowerbeds. I have one more day to work at the Extension office, getting our award nominations sent off, then I am going to be a homebody. I am going to stay home and take care of MY gardens.

I have made a lot of progress already. Progress is good.

Doin' things different this year....

As some of you know, I am a Master Gardener, here in Jackson County, Texas. This past year, I served as President of our Association, and it was my privilege to do so. Last December 15th, I handed the reins of power (chuckle, chuckle) off to my VP, Mary Nell. I did so gladly, because our association does need the enthusiastic new Master Gardeners to lead us, and keep us from becoming static and bored. All our new officers are new Master Gardeners, certified only a year ago, at most.

So, now,what to do? How do I fill my time? I had over 428 hours last year, what will I do now?

LOL!

I am the Web Master for us, that is what! I started working on our website last year, and this year, that is all I am going to be responsible for. You can see it at www.jcmga.com


I am proud of it, and I am always happy to have suggestions of how I can improve it. We have a wonderful assortment of personalities in our Master Gardener group. They have been great about sharing pics with me, and alerting me to things they are doing.

Oh, yes, and I will be writing a monthly Master Gardener type column for the local newspaper.

My yard is pitiful. It will take lots of TLC to restore it to it's former magnificence. We will get there. It will just take some time.

Something else I learned today...

One billion seconds is approximately 31 years.

One TRILLION seconds is approximately 31,710 years. Thirty One Thousand, Seven Hundred Ten YEARS!

Now think of that in terms of money. If one second is equal to one penny, how much would you have to spend per day to fritter away a trillion dollars?

Just amazing.

That girl is just full of information!

My friend Linda from Rockport sent me an email today. She was/is advertising the Rose/Herb Society program that is coming for January on the bay laurel.

Anyway, she included this tidbit to add to my general knowledge.

Did you know.....
In times past, ladies in the Orient made dye from the skin of the eggplant. They then used that dye to color their teeth grey. Back then, grey teeth were considered stylish, and as you might expect, eggplant farmers were very popular with the ladies.

UGH!

And she included the big UGH!

Did I really need to know all that? Sounds ukky to me, but I did learn something I didn't know.

I didn't know they grew eggplant in the Orient, either.

Thoughts for a good new year.....

I am trying to think of what would make this new year "good".

All the normal things that would make it good- good health, happy family, prosperity- that isn't what I am thinking about. Those things I pray for and wish for everybody. I am talking what will make this GOOD year GREAT!

A GREAT YEAR would mean that the weather will be so mild that I can plant tomatoes by the end of February, and enjoy firm, ripe tomatoes by May 15th (at the latest!).

A GREAT year will be one that yields onions like those in the grocery store. Great huge 1015s that are 8" across, and sweet as apples. (Our history has been onions on the smallish size, to the point that DH has sworn off growing onions.) DH's Mama has grown such wonderful onions. . . . . . .

We are not growing corn this year. Same reason as the onions. . . . . . . .

But I want wonderful peas (snow peas, sugar snap peas), so that I may graze in my garden. I do the same with green beans.

I want flowers in my garden, lots and lots of flowers; Zinnia and larkspurs, cosmos, Bells of Ireland, and poppies. Sweet peas are already on the arbor, and the peas are blooming- the ones to eat are blooming!

'Laura Bush' petunias grow in the herb bed, and they are up already. Lots of dill and cilantro, garlic, tansy are up, volunteers from the plants that came from reseeding the year before. Once you have them, you will always have them- my favorite kind of plants. The Mexican Mint Marigold are blooming, pretty little yellow blossoms that smell deliciously of licorice.

I want a RED bed. A real RED bed. One in which every flower is red. My red beds always turn into a multicolored bed, because the red is too orange or too blue. I have a weakness for RED in the garden, but with me, any RED is wonderful. How do I learn to discern which red is better than another?

I want a few things finished around here. The big porch project will be one of those things that we talk about and talk about, then one morning we just start on it, and in a couple of days, it will be almost finished. It will then take forever for the little last details to get done. I don't want that this year. I want things to be finished when we quit working on them.

I want more gardenias this year. We didn't run any air conditioning last year, and I don't expect we will this year either. I want to be able to smell those gardenias blooming from every room in my house. I just wish they bloomed all year. I can take cuttings from my own gardenia bushes this year. My friend shared rooted cuttings with me 2 or 3 years ago, and they have done very well.

Another bush that I want more of (I can't believe this!) is the white oleander. We have some pink ones and red ones that DH rooted and planted, and I have fussed and wished them gone for years. But the white oleander smells wonderfully of baby powder, and it blooms a lot during the year. I think I could line the back yard with it, create a great screen between us and the neighbors, and smell that fantastic fragrance in the evening.

I want so many flowers in my yard that a weed won't stand a chance! THAT would be great!