Once In A Lifetime Moment

We had one of those yesterday morning. I was out on the front porch tending my plethora of houseplants when I looked up and saw something I never in a million years expected to find on my lawn.

At first I thought it was a bird (my eyesight is not good to say the least) but then I realized it had spots running in rows down it's back and that's when it hit me, this was no bird this was BAMBI!!! I'm actually very surprised that I was the one to discover him because I am usually in my own little world when working with my plants and it practically takes gun shots to get my attention.

Isn't this the most precious, beautiful baby you've ever seen. One thing for sure his mommy will never be told he looks like Winston Churchill or Yoda (yes, I actually told someone that once, tact is not my strong suit).

G said that Toby the dog had been sniffing something in the grass but G couldn't see what it was and figured Toby being a dog he probably didn't want to know so he didn't check it out. Toby was his typically curious but very gentle self, he didn't bark or try to harm the baby, just wanted to say hello. He had actually come back in the house and was no longer interested in the baby.

We're not sure where mom went but I don't believe she could have been far because when he ran away, he was very wobbly and was listing side ways, so we're thinking he must have been pretty new. He was also very tiny. So I'm thinking he couldn't be very old, a day at the most.

edited to add G's comment: What Pamela didn't tell you is that she bent down beside Bambi and petted him. I had visions of this 12 point buck laying in our living room with Toby and going to the door wanting to be let out. And I can just hear the complaints from our neighbors! "Your deer ate all the buds off of my lilies last night." But when Pamela stood up, Bambi ran away and I must admit, I am very disappointed I won't get my very own pet deer.

In the Garden this Week.

G and I seperated out a clump of these daylilies 3 years ago, we planted most of them but had so many that we couldn't find places for all of them. We were so tired of digging holes that we didn't even bother to plant them, we just sat them on the ground. They lived and thanks to Toby's viligent watch over our yard they actually got a chance to bloom this year.

Not much inside the greenhouse this time of year but I love

the look of Terra Cotta and just had to snap this photo.

Red verbena, it will be many times this size by the end of the season.

These started off as one very tiny division I was given about 6 yrs. ago.

I divided it about 3 yrs. ago and this is what I got. G keeps promising me a shade house.

If I ever do get that shade house I am going to divide some of these and pot them

up to sell at the market.

We were living in Florida when I brought the parent plant to this hydrangea home and asked G to plant it he asked "Why? it's nothing more than a dead stick". I told him to just trust me. Many people don't understand the difference between dead and dormant.

The stick only looked dead but was actually dormant.

I gave my mom a division from the parent plant and she planted it at her house. That was almost 25 yrs. ago. About 3 yrs. after we moved here to NC I got a division from her and planted it here. So in a sense that dead stick has traveled 500 miles and 3 states from where it first started. That's pretty good for a dead stick, don't ya think.

I like the way no two are the same color. Sometimes one

bloom head will have several colors together.

My coneflowers are just beginning to open.

Gaillardia just beginning to open.

Gaillardia's common name is indian blanket.

This plant was labeled Gaillardia but as you can see it looks nothing like one. I'm not sure what it is but the color is striking. This pic doesn't do it justice, it's is actually a deep copper. I'm kind of glad it was mislabeled because it's not a color I would have knowingly chosen and I would have missed out on it's amazing richness.

The neighbors lilac myrtle hangs over our fence. It always blooms

so beautifully. I am not so lucky with myrtles.

These are some of the asiatic lilies I have planted along the

back of the house. They too are just beginning to bloom.

Found this fellow on the sidewalk behind the house. Not exactly sure how he got there but I'm thinking that Toby the dog had something to do with it. I looked him over but found no injuries but he was being very still for a large such a large frog.

I picked him up and took him down to the pond in our back yard, I had to hold him with both hands like a Burger King Whooper, he was that huge. Then I brought Toby inside for the rest of the day so the poor guy could find his way to where he was going without the interference of a curious dog.

Finding frogs in our pond says a lot for the quality of the water because frog are very sensitive to the eco systems where they live. They can't live in polluted water. It amazes me that our pond will support frogs considering it is surrounded by 14 houses most of which use some kind of lawn chemicals.

Hot Peppers

For the past couple of summers G and I have been selling produce grown in our garden at the local farmers market. We usually only sell for a couple of months when the tomatoes are producing at their peak. Once they start to slow down I don't have so much excess so we call it quits until the next summer rolls around.

Last year I also did very good business with hot peppers. Most of the vendors don't offer hot peppers because for some reason this area hasn't caught onto the love of hot foods, ( I mean the truly tongue blistering hot that some crave). And I will have to clarify this by saying hot is not my favorite flavor either but G loves it, so we grow them. I figure to each their own and with the turn over I was doing in peppers last year I decided to look into other ways to use and sell hot peppers.

Since the vendors at the market where we sell don't offer a lot of hot peppers I don't have a lot of competition. It's a niche market that I plan to explore more this year.

Once the tomatoes were finished producing the peppers where still going strong but I didn't really have enough of them or do enough business on peppers alone that I could justify booth rent, not to mention getting up at 4am to make it to the market on time for opening. But I couldn't allow my peppers to go to waste either. so I made 'pepper sauce' with some, pepper jelly with others and dried the rest. I plan to add these things to my booth and see how they do this year.

G identified the variety of Cayenne that were the hottest, I sorted them out from the rest and dried them. Once they were dried I cleaned the seeds from the inside and dried them a bit longer, until they were as crisp as old parchment. Then I ran them through a small coffee grinder I use just for herbs and made a powder for seasoning chili from them.

I can't tell you how pleased and impressed I was with myself. I planted those peppers and took them form garden to spice rack all on my own. But I'll admit I did "re-learn" some things the hard way. First of all, always and I do mean always, wear gloves when handling hot peppers. I got the oils from the peppers under my nails and in my cuticles and it stayed their for almost 10 days. Needless to say I also got it in my eyes and mouth.

Houseplants - Brown Tips and Salt Burn

Why do the tips of my houseplants turn brown? The answer is there can be several reasons but, I thought I would share with you about one particular reason that I discovered a few years back.

Certain houseplants are very prone to brown leaf tips more so than others. Two that come to readily to mind are Spider Plant (no they don’t have spiders in them) and Lucky Bamboo (and I can't say it's ever brought me any luck). For years I’ve had the same problem with my plants and I’ve asked every “plant person” I’ve come in contact with the same questions; What am I doing wrong? How do I make the brown tips go away? The answer I received most often was “I don’t know”.

To me (and most folks) the obvious answers are water and fertilizer more. Turns out that both are the very worst things I could have done. More water will only cause the leaves to turn yellow and/or mushy making the plant look all the worse and eventually die. More fertilizer caused more and larger brown tips.

After asking every plant person I met (both professional and hobbyist) I finally stumbled on an answer that made sense and turns out the prescribed answer really does work.


Brown tips on plants such as Lucky Bamboo and Spider Plant are most often caused by a thing called ‘salt burn’. Salt burn happens when the roots of the plant come in contact with more salt in the soil then they can cope with. This causes small, often totally unnoticeable burns on the roots that in turn keep the roots from doing their job - taking up water and nutrients. Although it's rarely fatal it is very unsightly.

Most all commercial fertilizers are made up of salts such as potassium and nitrogen (the chemical used to green up your lawn grass). Water from City supplies are treated with chlorine; another salt. For the most part the first two are good for your plants, the third not so much. These chemicals are also good because without them we would be a very hungry nation and without chlorine in our water we would be a very sick nation. But there are certain plants (Bamboo and Spider plants are only two) that are negatively affected by these chemicals and with a little knowledge and training we can lean to recognize the problem and treat it properly.

The best treatment for salt sensitive plants is to avoid it by feeding with natural fertilizers only when necessary (which is much less often than you might think) and by using aged water.

The truth is that Lucky Bamboo and Spider plant only need to be fertilized once a year at the beginning of the growing season, and again about mid-July if you must. Use only naturally occurring fertilizers such as fish emulsion at ½ to ¼ strength, you can also water with compost tea but again I would make it weak and keep it down to 2 times a year at the very most. Or you can top dress (sprinkle the top of the soil) with worm castings, also called vermicompost.

Ageing your water by filling the watering can and allowing it to sit open for at least 24 hours will allow the chlorine to evaporate off. When you water be sure to allow the water to soak the soil completely and run through the pot for several seconds each time you water. This will help to wash away any salt build up.

Another way to recognize salt build up is by looking at soil in the top of your pots. If, when dry, it appears yellow and/or white and crusty then you have salt build up. This often happens in African violets that are fertilized with commercial fertilizers. The best way to deal with this is to scrape the bad soil from the surface being sure to get all the yellow/white crystals, replace it with fresh soil and water thoroughly with aged water.

The brown tips on the houseplants in the pictures are the result of a long vaction under the trees being watered with the hose. Even us plant folks take the shortcut sometimes.

Do you have a houseplant related question? Email me at sojourn1960@hotmail and I’ll try to help you find the answer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermicomposthttp://web1.msue.msu.edu/imp/mods1/00000089.html

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/plantanswers/publications/houseplant/houseplant.html

Lost and Found

I'm so glad G married me. He's a smart man and he's always willing to help.

Recently we had a round of musical computers. That's a tedious little event where all the computers belonging to the family are switched around and the one you've finally gotten used to and actually like goes home with it's true owner and you get some POS that no one else wants and that doesn't have the programs you been using installed on it and you lose stuff that is very important to you.

In other words K came home from Iraq and wanted his computer back and I got something that J had been using that didn't have the same programs on it that I use because she uses her computer for gaming and I use my computer for photography and in the world of computers those two hobbies call for entirely different resources. It's a little like going needing a truck for your day job but the boss gives you a Honda Civic instead.

Swapping computers around like this can lead to interesting interactions and intercommunications that give a whole new meaning to the term 'family bonding'. As a result of my recent computer 'upgrade' I lost some photos I had taken. I was very pleased with these photos and was not pleased when they got lost. I had plans to have a particular one printed poster size and framed to hang in our entry way. So when I found out the current computer I am using 'misplaced' them I did a whole lot of communicating and there was a whole lot more family bonding.

But recently through a strange series of events I found the photos on the computer but still couldn’t retrieve them, I know that doesn’t make any sense and trust me it was just as confusing to me as I am sure it is to you. But as I said, G is a smart man and is always willing to help. He figured out the problem and so I am able to share the photos with you. I think G has earned a different kind of bonding.

I hope you enjoy the photos.

Arbor Day

In honor of Arbor Day I thought I would share a few of my favorite trees with you. One is from my home state of Florida, two are in my own yard here in NC and one is just down the street from me.
I also want to take a moment to warn you about a very popular tree that is a very bad investment.

Live Oaks are the stateliest of all the oaks and are a protected species in my home town of Tallahassee. If unhindered their limbs will spread so wide they need to be supported by props and sometimes elaborate wires and pulleys but this doesn’t happen very often because they are very slow growing and usally fall prey to builders long before they get large enough to need the extra support. But those of us who grew up with these trees consider the extra care of an old specimen to be worth any expense. These are the trees that you often see planted alee fashion down long winding drives; think southern plantation style.

Southern Live Oak

This oak is in my back yard. I love the tree for its enormous height and the privacy is affords my backyard. See the swing in the picture? It gives you an idea of just how large this tree is. I’m not sure just want kind of oak it is, we’re thinking maybe a pin oak; I plan to find out soon as it leafs out a bit more. This particular tree has no acorns on it. Not sure why, could be the variety or it could be there isn’t a pollinator nearby. At first I thought it might be that the squirrels ate them before they could fall but the fact is it doesn’t produce acorns at all.

Oak in my backyard

This tree is in my front yard. Although its leaves are black its proper name is Crimson King Maple. It’s a common enough tree yet it’s the only one in my large neighborhood of over 800 houses. As I said in my previous post I find black plants rather intriguing and that’s why I like this tree. However, should something happen to it I’m planning to replace it with a Magnolia ‘Betty’. I’ll try and get a picture of one; hopefully the one at the local arboretum is still in bloom. This pictures don't do this tree justice because the leaves are much more glossy than the pictures show.

Crimson King Maple

Crimson King Maple close-up

This is our local Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. I think you can see why. I like this tree for its quirkiness, who wouldn’t love something so homely and yet so cute. The owners decorate it each Christmas.

Charlie Brown Christmas Tree

Then there is the Bradford Pear. These trees are cheap and easy to find at your local home improvement centers. They are fast growing and I admit very attractive in bloom. Builders are notorious for putting them in the yards of new development for those very reasons. What they don’t tell unsuspecting buyers is just about the time they start to look good and give significant shade they will be damaged either by ice or wind, usally within 5 years of planting. The multiple branches are very brittle so the least little stress will crack them right down the middle. They almost never recover. This tree cost less than $10 to purchase but can cost more than $300 to remove, that's expensive for a tree that almost never last more than 5-8 years (yes, there are acception but few). There is always one of these damaged in my neighborhood, except when I needed a picture. But you can see pictures of the damage done to them here and here.


If you need a fast growing shade tree consider the Sawtoothed Oak. They are considered fast growing and drought tolerant.


The best way to choose a new tree for your home is to contact your local extension office they can give you recommendations on what to and what not to plant in your local area, as well as info on how to plant and care for the tree of your choice.



The best time to plant a tree in the South is in the fall, this gives the tree time to acclimate before the long hot (and sometimes dry) summers. Trees and shrubs should receive and inch of rain a week but if it’s not raining in your area then you’ll need water them yourself. This is particularly important the first two years. After that most trees and shrubs can make it on their own with the exception of long droughts, then you’ll need to water them.

The local extension office can also give you the name of a certified arborist in your area when you need help caring for or removing trees.

The Lady on the Hill

Biltmore House (castle).

Biltmore Estate is one of the most beautiful estates in America. The house is truly a castle and the gardens are amazing. The descendants of George Vanderbilt have worked hard to maintain the house and grounds and are constantly restoring and preserving them. They have generously opened the estate to general public. No doubt it was a smart move on their behalf because it enables them to hold on to the estate but the fact is that many beautiful estates have not been so lucky. Many don’t have such savvy owners who cared or were willing to work as hard at keeping their families legacy intact. And you can rest assured that keeping and estate like Biltmore thriving is a full time job.

Can you imagine the time and effort

that went into the detail of just one window?

This spring there is the added bonus of 4 new rooms in the house, actually the house should more rightly be called the castle because it truly is a castle. In fact it’s bigger than some European castles. Unfortunately the owners of Biltmore house will not allow photos to be taken of the inside so I don’t have any of those to share but you can see some on their website. I have to tell you though that the website doesn’t do the rooms justice, they are much more beautiful in real life.

What a lovely place to just sit and enjoy the gardens.

In the 13 years that G and I have lived in NC we’ve visited Biltmore Estate often. Mere words cannot describe Biltmore, it’s is awe inspiring, stunning, majestic, overwhelmingly beautiful and yet none of those words truly describe or define Biltmore. Whatever your interest Biltmore something for you, be it homes of the rich and famous, architecture, art, craftsmanship, food and wine, gardens and much, much more. Its beauty and majesty draw people from all over the world and one visit is never enough.

At one point in history gargoyles were believed

to frighten away evil spirits.

There are many aspects of the house and grounds that draw me back over and over again but the one thing that always wins out are the gardens. Biltmore owners and staff put together stunning shows season after season and no two are the same. Frederick Law Olmstead designed the Biltmore gardens and grounds. He is considered the father and founder of American Landscape Architecture. He is also the designer of Central Park and Boston’s Emerald Necklace to name just a few of his many accomplishments. Olmstead designed an easy marriage between the causal and the formal garden styles for Biltmore so that there is something for every garden taste.

Looking towards the conservatory,

which is larger than most average American homes.

Our past visits have been mostly in the fall. The only thing that can hold a candle to Biltmore in the fall would be the Blue Ridge Parkway. But this year I wanted to go in the spring to see the tulips. I had seen pictures on their website and heard my gardening friends wax poetic over the beauty of the walled garden in spring. I wasn’t disappointed. The pictures don’t do the wall garden justice and much to my pleasure this year they featured black tulips. For me there is something intriguing about black flowers and most especially black tulips.

Pink and black;

one of my favorite color combinations

The stauary is amazing and something

I never tire of photographing.

Probably my favorite photo.

This little glass terririum was inside the conservatory.

It's a miniture world all it's on with little gazebo, creek and bridge.


Love this juniper; wanted one of these
for ages now.


G and me sitting amoung the tulips

just outside the winery.



Gate leading to the deer park. I'll have to explore this on our next trip.