It's become clear to me through posts and PMs that there are some gardeners here just waiting for the chance to discuss gardening!
So, I was thinking... how do you use gardening, or how does it affect you if you need a break, need some respite, need to relax, need inspiration....how do you use it as a therapy tool in caregiving?
What are your activities: Do you go out and pull weeds, read a magazine, design new beds? Look through garden catalogues? Go to garden stores?
And what interests have you added to your gardening? Visit estate or garden displays? Do you go to garden shows?
Does anyone design and plant Knot Gardens? Raised bed planters? Assistive gardens? Pollinator gardens (and have you thought of ways to help the bees and butterflies?)
Are your gardens primarily for pleasure or food, or a mix of both? Do you grow plants for medicinal purposes? Which ones, how do you harvest and process them? Any suggestions?
Do you grow plants that can be used in crafts, such as grapevines for wreaths and lavender for lavender wands? Do you make herbal products such as creams, lotions, chapstick?
What else can you share about gardening and the means in which it nurtures your soul?
Our Jazz is fantastic! Snug Harbor on Frenchman St. is the place to hear jazz.
Ahhhh, yes the candy! As for pralines, Southern Candy is phenomenal! Order some online for yourself! They are on Decatur St.
Some of my fondest memories as a kid with my grandpa were in the kitchen making pralines with him.
Please tell us more about your gardening ventures. What kind of petunias do you grow? There have been some interesting variations over the years. I need to refresh my knowledge on what's available and plan to start some for next year, although if I remember correctly, unless you get pelleted seeds, they're kind of hard to plant.
CWillie, I envy your carrot success. I planted them more than a few years but never had a successful crop. Perhaps I should just throw some tops with a bit of foliage in a compost pile and see what happens.
NeedHelp, I'm partial to Preservation Hall. My sister moved to NOLA and stayed for a few years. PH was one of the places we definitely had to be when I visited her. I'm not familiar with Snug Harbor. Maybe that's reason enough to visit NOLA again?
I do miss those beignets too. Is that restaurant along the river still there, tempting visitors with the fragrance of fresh beignets?
My daughter, age 24 recently moved to Colorado. She is very excited about the change of seasons. We don’t have that in Louisiana. She is enjoying the leaves turning and looking forward to snow.
I am happy for her. It is a treat for us in the muggy south to experience these things. She is most excited about lower humidity.
What have you witnessed from southern transplants that move to a colder area? Think her excitement will last?
She says she is going snowboarding with her friend over the Christmas holidays. She’s all in!
She eats a variety of food but was telling me about a restaurant there that grows their own produce and herbs and has even developed an interest in gardening!
Don’t know where? She rents a second floor apartment. Guess she means growing herbs in a window sill or something like that.
She says due to the lower humidity the cold is different there. I say it’s still cold! She says, “Mom, it’s not the bone chilling cold like in higher humidity.”
She was so picky as a child. I was afraid that she would starve in college! LOL She actually learned to eat more variety. She never listened to me saying something was good but she had an open mind with friends. I don’t care who got through to her, just glad she started eating more variety!
I am shocked at the food (veggies) that I always served and encouraged her to eat and she wasn’t ever big on trying them. Now, she’s calling me and saying how good Brussels spouts are! It’s all that I can do not to laugh. I refrain and tell her that I am glad she enjoying different dishes.
I guess that isn’t uncommon for kids to act that way with parents.
I loved gardening with my grandpa. I loved the beautiful colors of the veggies and flowers. I liked collecting the figs from their fig tree for grandma to make preserves.
There are community gardens in the area. Some even on rooftops of apartment buildings. But is is too late here to think about starting anything new. It may very well be windowsill gardening, or maybe houseplants?😉
She is in a good area. She loves being able to walk most everywhere. She says people are more courteous on the road than in Louisiana. LOL
She likes being in an area with lots of coffee shops and restaurants. She has a friend whose brother plays music and is planning to go hear their band.
She knows several people from Louisiana that have moved there and have been settled there for a few years so they are filling her in in the areas to avoid.
She has a friend in Vail and a couple of friends in Englewood. She wants to be in Denver. She knows a few people near her. She needs to find a doctor and dentist.
She went to the botanical gardens and loved it! She says there is a nice farmers market nearby. Oh, she drove to IKEA to buy a few things for her apartment and was amazed at the size. We don’t have an IKEA in Louisiana.
She has been seeing signs about winterizing your car and that’s new for her too.
Looks like Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia topped the list in 2019.
Glad the traffic in Baton Rouge, LA when she was at LSU was awful.
Oh my gosh, during football season they would do caravans. It was horrible! They are die hard football fans. They had an undefeated season last year along with winning the national championship! Geaux Tigers!
The traffic is crazy! The tailgating is unreal. Streets are blocked off. Traffic backs up for hours!
Doesn’t Minnesota have a high mosquito population like we have here? Seems like I remember a friend who grew up there saying they had a lot of mosquitoes too. Gosh, they get very cold too. She laughed at me when I said I was cold on a chilly night here. She told me that I would never survive in a Minnesota winter!
Are they low maintenance?
GardenArtist: In the end, I did a half yank re the petunias. LOL. I removed the ones that were very obviously powering down, and left the ones that still seemed somewhat enthusiastic about being here. I decided it would be a small experiment - which ones could take days of rain and bounce back? In the end, the clear winner is a red wave. So now I know.
I caught myself wondering what others would think about my half colourful, half empty garden - really? Is that how far my need to please has gone? So I gave my head a shake and decided to just please myself.
Now I am planning which bulbs to plant, and where. I am not particularly a lover of tulips but I have a decided fascination with daffodils. So 2021 may be the Year of the Daffs. We shall see!
Just used up the last of the green tomatoes making "Rummage Relish". Oh, my. The house smells so good!
They worked out tremendously for me, for both flowers and veggies. Not sure if I am allowed to post references to others on here but I was very inspired by a lovely older fellow named Leon, who has his own channel on Youtube - Gardening with Leon.
This summer I planted one for tomatoes for myself at my place, and four for my mother to have on her balcony: one=mimulus, one=bush tomatoes, one=calibrachoa, one=mixed herbs. The trick seems to be to pick plants that appreciate moist (but not wet) soil.
My mother has no strength in her hands or arms and is not able to water planters. This new (to me) idea worked well - I was able to water them only 2x/week during my regular visits, and she had something to look at and not worry about.
Years ago I passed a pretty house while walking my dog. It had nice flower boxes filled with blooming flowers.
I complemented the owner and she laughed and told me that they were fake flowers!
Hahaha, from a distance they looked totally real!
I wonder how long those last outside in the weather, harsh sunlight and lots of rain here in Louisiana. They must fade with the sun beating down on them.
We are losing so much of our wetlands with these storms. The erosion is a real concern.
There is a ‘Save our Wetlands’ effort in Louisiana but it’s an ongoing battle.
It is already 3" tall.
Must be either a daffodil or a paper white narcissus in that area, lining the driveway. 🌱
Every year this gives me a mixture of sadness and joy -- at saying a final goodbye to summer, but knowing that spring will bring a whole new round of happiness with my "green therapy".
And let us not forget the months ahead of planning and researching plants and garden design!
Wishing everyone a peaceful, productive day.
I am a big fan of US gardening guru, Melinda Myers, and she advises to leave perennials standing through the winter and cut them back in spring. However, here in the Pacific NW our winters have so much rain that I kinda go half & half on that -- I do worry about some turning to mush so cut them back, and try to leave a few for the insects and pollinators to overwinter in.
We have an elm of unknown origin or parentage in our backyard (several arborists have been mystified as to what it exactly is -- our guess is some sort of slippery elm) and every year the leaves hold on, hold on...until one day when they just all drop in one majestic display of golden glory.
I have heard/read differing opinions on whether to chops leaves up if I'm using them as mulch, or leave them whole. I know I have to keep them pulled back from the crowns of plants. Other than that, I think this year I will try a blanket of whole leaves and hope it doesn't turn into an interwoven leafy mat of smothering doom for my bulbs.
This year we are also leaving (leaf-ing - LOL) more on the ground in our yards, as recommended by the Nature Conservancy of Canada. They have a great PSA/promo/contest on right now under "Small Acts of Conservation".
There is something so satisfying about being outside in the crisp (or damp) fall air and then coming back in to a rewarding hot beverage. Basically, I just like being outside in the company of plants. And occasionally my kitty, if he has nothing better to do.
In the south it’s totally different. We have plants that bloom longer due to our warm climate.