Artful Gardening Update

From My Garden...

It has been a really hot year here in North Carolina, even for the South. I’m not sure that the little azaleas I planted last year have survived. Mums that bloom several times a year had tiny blooms and the foliage underneath was brown and wilted. I have learned to plant “soldiers” here, not knowing what to expect from season to season.

I know for a fact that any lantana I plant will always do very well, and I will have to prune its leggy growth at least twice in the summer. There is an aromatic, fresh and almost minty smell when I prune lantanas and then I wonder why. I will have to investigate their properties to see why they exude such a fragrant smell.

Things that have done well:Lantanas, long-needle pine that planted itself several years ago, pin leaf oak that planted itself several years ago, oregano, basil and this year, rosemary, gardenia, Leland cypress, morning glories, iris and outcropping of weeds that resemble moss roses and grow in clusters.

Things that have not done well:Azaleas in the back yard (the front is doing well but they are much more mature and don’t get that relentless sunlight,) my roses (variety I don’t know, I inherited them when I purchase this house,) Bermuda grass, always picky anyway and in this hot weather, becomes straw in days without water, Gerbera daisies, usually do really well but the heat is taking its toll with them, even with watering.


Make Your Own Spices!

I have planted parsley, oregano and basil this year. My garden is simple and doing well. Collards that are over a year old are still leafing and I have plucked the insect riddled leaves, rinsed them well and enjoyed them cooked and buttered—good old collards!

Periodically, I cut my herbs, rinse them well, shake them and place them on dish towel covered cookie sheets. I leave them there to dry in my air-conditioned abode, turning them daily. After four or five days, depending on the herb, they are quite dry and then I separate the leaves from the stems. I’ve learned to feel the dryness and the sound the leaves make when separated. Then, the leaves go onto a plate and for a day or two, they will dry further.

I’ve found it is really important to dry the herbs well because the next step is putting them, bit by bit into my little electric coffee grinder and pulverizing them to a fine granular powder. After that, I put the finely cut herbs into a bottle and label them. At times, I have kept the herbs separate, labeling: “Rosemary,” “Oregano,” “Basil,” etc. At other times, I have blended them all together into a mixture I usually label “Garden Mix” and date it. I love the “Garden Mix” best of all.

What I have learned from this procedure is that fresh herbs, dried carefully, pulverized and bottle make a very aromatic seasoning that far surpasses what is on the grocery shelf. I have sent these mixtures to my daughter, who claimed that the “Garden Mix” is what she reaches for first for seasoning salads, pasta, fish or just about anything else.

I don’t know what the shelf life of grocery shelf seasonings are, but I have found them to be vague or tasteless after a couple months. My garden herbs fare much better, but I’m not sure why. It is difficult to put them to a “shelf life” test because they get used up quickly, well, within a year. What I have discovered is that the potency of my dried and pulverized garden herbs far exceeds any spices I have purchased, including expensive, organic bottle herbal spices.

I’m not quite sure why this is, I will have to research the preservative procedures with commercial spice further. Meanwhile, I am enjoying my sparks of parsley, rosemary, oregano or garden mix flavors shaken from a bottle and grown from my own garden.

Morning Glory Tree

Two years ago I planted a Leland Cypress along the fence in my backyard. It is doing very well and is about eighteen inches taller and maybe eight inches wider from its original circumference. My usual annual growth of morning glories traveled over to the cypress and climbed right up its branches, decorating it with deep purple blooms.

Every spring I plant the traditional purple morning glories. From year to year they provide me with seeds for their next generation. I collect the seeds when they become pod-like little purses and store them in a glass jar until Spring. But, the ones that get away will gladly plant themselves in surprise areas where they take hold and start growing. They are very enthusiastic. I'm not sure about the cause of their migration, but I'm always happy to see them coming up with little heart shaped leaves in the Spring.

What I like most about morning glories is their very close attention to temperature and light. In hot summer, they will be out very early in the morning, then close up for the rest of the day. In fall, when the temperature is cooler, they will remain open longer and on cloudy, cool days, they are open for a good part of the day. This is a pleasure on a dark day, with the velvety purple flowers giving the back yard a glow...


My collard plants are going into their third year in my garden. I have recently been informed that they are perennials. Their stems are around one inch in diameter and they look like little trees. The leaves are small, tender and sweet. I have several collard recipes that will put on my Artful Cooking page, but just chopping the leaves into 1/4 inch pieces and simmering them in one quarter inch of water yields an aromatic and extremely healthful side dish. Adding a pat of butter, salt and pepper, makes this really tasty.Not only are my three year old collards doing well, but last summer, I let them bolt. They grew long stems of lovely yellow flowers which the bees loved. The flowers soon became seed pods which dried. I broke them and let the seeds spray down on the soil below the plants. For months, nothing happened, then suddenly in late summer little collard seedlings began to appear. I am watching them and monitoring how they will grow.

The same thing happened with my parsley. I want to include a picture to go with with my story of their progress.