July 1, 2010

Bunny birthday; pressed flower art; tomato disease; plant rot

Happy birthday, Harvey!

We hopped into bunny-hood two years ago on July 4 weekend when we rescued Harvey from the schoolyard. What a blast it’s been!  Since I follow the manual he downloaded on his Ibunpad, we’re well trained. Of course, Harvey (and now Gaby) will always be Disapproving Rabbits.

My plants, too, have trained me well. The Iceberg rose does tricks for the treat it wanted: a move to the grueling sun in the side yard bed.

Beyond is the thryallis that grunted when it got so cold. In its case, I just whacked it with a sharp tool, and showed it who’s boss around here.

Okay, who was I kidding? Now it’s back in charge!

I bet its flowers would dry just beautifully to make a card or a picture. If you open books at my house, you’ll run into a few flowers that I treasure as much as the words that embrace them. But the folks from Flat Flower Cards will tell you that the good old-fashioned phone book works beautifully, for many reasons.

Find out why this week on CTG.  Tom meets with the artists behind Flat Flower Cards:  the mom and son team of Donna and Andy Hammer.

You’ve probably seen these hand-made works of art around town and at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. You can also order them online.

See how they got started, and get some of their tips to preserve the art you’ve well-trained in your garden.

This week, Daphne answers a question about larkspurs that flopped over suddenly last spring. Larkspurs are gone for now, but the question is still valid, especially now in our heat and humidity. Plants are crowded. They get rain (!) or more water than they want. They flop. In kindness, we water again, just to send them to their death sentence.

I didn’t kill my new sambac jasmine, but I certainly gave it some grief when I watered it too much. “Oh, it’s a baby, I need to water it some more; it’s so hot.”

I cut off the damaged leaves, and these days, I stick my finger in the pot to check the moisture level before I bring on the hose. It’s fine now and will reward us with fragrant flowers any day now.

Fungus and disease also plague our beloved homegrown tomatoes. Get Trisha’s tips on how to recognize these problems and prevent them.

Watch online for everyone’s tips and a garden that goes from “death curb” strip to shade in deer country.

Harvey will be cuddling in my lap to watch all the flat flowers he would love to turn into “art!”

Until next week, Linda

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