Salvias and Morning Glories, Gardening for Healthy Children, Titan Arums

A fellow Master Gardener gave me a root division of a Blue and Black Salvia. Hers grows in a 4-foot wide clump by the cattle guard and fence into the front yard. It had already bloomed at her place this season and it obligingly bloomed again for me in its new home along our front sidewalk.
Lady in Red Salvia and Cleome are thriving in a bed next to the blackberry bushes. Since we just had 5-inches of rain the last two days, they are sitting in 2-inches of water today but seem to be happy about it.

When we were strong-armed into putting up a chain link fence, Morning Glory vines seemed like the only way to soften the look of it during the first summer. A new perennial bed will go into the spot this fall.

THE FALL GARDEN

The lettuce seedlings had to be brought in out of the storm and put under lights but they may have to be re-planted anyway because they are so leggy. A night time low of 59 is predicted for later this week, so I'll try again then.

Spinach, lettuce, chard, kale, snow peas and other fall veggies can all still go in the ground. The cucumbers I planted last week from seed are already 2-inches tall.

GARDENING MAKES HEALTHY FAMILIES (Link to UPI for complete story)

Not too far north of us at Kansas State University in Manhattan Kansas, Candice Shoemaker received a $1.04 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Research Institute for Project PLANTS, or Promoting Lifelong Activity and Nutrition Through Schools.

The idea is to involve elementary school students in growing their own food and flowers in gardens and high tunnels to increase their exercise and involve them in an interest in healthy food.

Tip of the Trowel to Garden Rant for bringing the story to my attention.

TITAN ARUM

Another gigantic Titan Arum (Amorphophallus titanum) bloomed August/September at Eastern Conn. State University and the photos are posted at their Plant Phys site. Click on the link to see the amazing time-lapsed photos. Links at the bottom of the page take you to related sites, i.e. the mother and father's plant sites.

UNWANTED GRASSES AND TREE SEEDLINGS MUST GO

The two days of rain made the ground nice and wet: It's been a good day for weed pulling!

Rock Gardening, Edamame, Cleome

DOES IT ROCK? Here is another photo from the display gardens at Laporte Av Nursery in Colorado. I can't get over how many beautiful plants they were able to cram into nooks and crannies.
Our yard will have to have a new rock garden by next summer.



EDAMAME We harvested all the edamame this week - that's the advice of Johnny's Selected Seeds - harvest it all at once. You can cook it and freeze it or freeze it in the pod uncooked. I'll probably cook it first. Edamame is a wonderful snack food with lots of vegetable protein and good to have around.
The photo illustrates how they looked on the stem of the plant when it was time to harvest.

CLEOME This old fashioned flower is doing a great job of cheering up the yard everyplace it is growing. Once you get it established, it will come back year after year. These plants are the offspring of a pack of seeds I planted at least 5-years ago. When the plants look tired, I pull them and lay the dry stems (with seed heads in tact) where I want them to come up the following year. I can recognize the seedlings when they appear in the spring so I pull out the extras and transplant the ones I want. This year there are probably 10 or 12 around.


I'm still doing daily battle with the cucumber beetles and squash bugs. I flood the plants with water early in the morning and just wait for the bugs to show themselves so I can hand pick them off. There are no effective chemical controls so handpicking is the only way to manage them. The squash is worth it.

Enjoy these summer days - August is here and little signs of fall are appearing: The tree leaves are starting to drop, the zinnias are at their peak, the tomatoes are dying back and the daylight hours are growing shorter. Don't complain about the heat - it will be gone soon.