MrBrownThumb

How To Collect Hollyhock Seeds

2009-11-29T13:10:00.010-06:00

MrBrownThumb garden blog.

The first hollyhocks I grew in my garden were black hollyhocks in memory of an old neighbor who grew them when I was a kid. These hollyhocks were biennial, from seed they take two years to complete a life cycle, and I didn't save any seeds and so lost both of them.

Why didn't I save seeds from my hollyhocks? Not really sure why I didn't since hollyhock seeds are easy to collect. If you have a hollyhock in your garden that you really like, you should save some seeds from it every year and sow them.

Collecting and saving hollyhock seeds is very simple.

How to collect and save hollyhock seeds

The hollyhocks blooms in your garden will probably be pollinated by bees. Bumblebees, in particular seem to really like hollyhock blooms. After the bloom has been pollinated the petals will fall off.

When the bloom's petals fall off they expose the pod where the seeds are developing. The hollyhock seed pod starts off green and then turns brown, like the above picture illustrates. The first time I paid attention to the seed pod I thought it resembled an old coin purse with the string at the top to draw it closed. This seed pod is probably ready to split open and harvest the seeds from. If you look closely, you may be able to spot the outline of the seeds. Although, I prefer to leave the seed pod alone until it opens by itself.

When the seeds inside have expanded and the pod has split open, you know the hollyhock seeds are ready to collect. The dark, circular seeds seem to expand to release themselves. Even at this point they don't go very far from the plant, the seeds stick together and are not easily disturbed by wind or rain.

For example, these hollyhock seed and seed pod were ready back in August. I left them on the stem to see how long they would remain attached to the stem or to each other. In late November I finally collected them because they would probably would've remained in their location until the whole plant succumbed to a frost. Don't the seeds look like little coins?

If you grow hollyhocks in your garden you have to be prepared to deal with hollyhock rust and pests like the hollyhock weevils pictured above. Hollyhock weevils will feed on the developing buds of the bloom and will lay eggs inside. When you collect the entire seed pod, weeks or months later you may discover that the eggs inside have hatched. Separate the seeds from the pod and place them in a paper envelope, then seal the envelope with tape or glue. This way if you find you brought in any weevil larvae or adult weevils, you can toss the envelope containing the hollyhock seeds into the freezer for a few days to kill them.

The first time I saved hollyhock seeds I set them on a windowsill to dry and weeks later I had lots of hollyhock weevils all over the place, not fun.

How To Collect Hosta Seeds

2009-10-30T21:50:00.004-05:00

MrBrownThumb garden blog.

Gardeners who grow hostas usually grow them for the foliage and because they lighten up shady gardens, but these perennial garden plants have just as impressive star-shaped flowers. The first hosta was introduced in my garden by way of seeds I swapped with another gardener online. In the fall I dug a small hole in the soil and placed the seeds, covering them with an inch or two of soil...the next spring I had hosta leafs!

I now have a couple of different hostas, all grown from seeds I collected once I learned how easy it was to gather and sow the seeds.

Hosta flower stalk: How to Collect Hosta Seeds.

Hosta foliage is nice, but I think I enjoy the hosta flower stalk the most. Before the blooms unfurl on the scape they remind me of Q-tips.

An open hosta flower calling bees to visit and pollinate it.

When the flowers have been pollinated the seed pods looks like green sausages hung out to cure.

When the seeds pods are ripe they turn brown and start to split length wise. These seeds pods are far along and one seed pod is ready to release the seeds. If you notice your hosta seed pods are starting to split open while they are still green-you can go ahead and collect them then. Even when the seed pods are open most of the seeds will remain attached.

If the seed hosta seed pod is still closed, you can split it open with a finger nail and remove the hosta seeds which are black and papery. Gardeners who don't have time to check on the progress of seed pods every day can cut the flower stalk when it looks like the pods are ripening and place it in a vase of water to finish ripening indoors. I've also cut the flower stalk and placed it in a paper bag and let the pods open and release the seeds as they dry

Here's a video from my garden that shows a couple of bees pollinating the hosta flowers.

The hilarious comment by Garden Faerie below reminded me that one day while walking my foster brother to school, I stopped to collect some hosta seeds that were hanging out of a fence and over a sidewalk. I was bent over gathering the pods when he started screaming; "They're coming! Run, MrBrownThumb, RUUUUUN!!!!" When I looked up he was half a block away, his backpack bouncing like mad. It turned out he saw someone coming out of the house and he was sure we would be arrested for taking the seeds.

How To Collect Calendula Seeds

2009-10-22T13:48:00.010-05:00

MrBrownThumb garden blog.

Calendula is sometimes called pot marigold but shouldn't be confused with Marigolds from the genus Tagets. Since they are in the Asteraceae family they also don't develop a single seed pod that makes collecting seeds extremely easy for the beginner gardener/seed saver among us, but the seeds are just as relatively easy to locate as the Marigold seeds.

How to Collect Calendula Seeds

Calendula flowers can be yellow, white, orange or a combination of two colors-- like the calendula I spotted at the medicinal plant garden walk. The petals of the calendula surround many small "flowers" that are pollinated, from my observations in the garden, by small insects butterflies, moths and beetles.

The petals around the tiny flowers are only there to help attract pollinators to the center of the bloom. After the flowers have been pollinated the petals will wither and fall, leaving just a button-like center comprised of numerous seeds. Each segment, marked with the arrow, is an individual seed.

The seeds will fall off on their own, sometimes they stay on until they are brown and dried, and sometimes they fall while still green. The trick is to remove the seeds when the plant is ready to release them before wind, rain or garden critters do it for you. I do this by brushing the "button" with the pad of my thumb. Get a better idea of what I mean by watching the garden video below.

When dried, either on the plant or indoors by a gardener, calendula seeds look like this. They are brown, spiny and curled. Save some seeds from your plants to grow again in your garden next year or to share with gardening friends.

When I'm not actively harvesting calendula seeds and sowing them in the garden, they still come back because they're scattered around by birds. Most of the calendula I grow is located in the shadiest spot in my garden against the foundation of the house where it doesn't thrive, but blooms enough to keep it around.

Every year I tell myself I will grow it in the sunniest spots because it is a low-maintenance garden plant that blooms like crazy up until the first frost and sometimes beyond. We already had a light frost in the garden this year and just yesterday I spotted one of these plants blooming in the garden when I was collecting the calendula seeds pictured above.

How to Collect Marigold Flower Seeds

2009-10-21T15:33:00.001-05:00

MrBrownThumb garden blog.

Marigolds are common and inexpensive garden annuals, but that doesn't mean you can't, or shouldn't, collect seeds from your Marigold flowers for next year. This year was the first year in a really long time that I grew Marigolds in my garden. I grew them alongside a few vegetables and herbs as companion plantings. Over the weekend I found myself doing some cleaning in the garden and a took a few minutes to save a few seeds from my potted Marigolds for next year. Marigolds don't produce large or round seeds- which can make figuring out where the Marigold seeds are confusing for the beginner gardener or first time seed saver.

One of the last few Marigold blooms in my garden, past its prime but not yet ready to give up any seeds. How to Collect Marigold Flower Seeds.

Marigolds don't produce seed pods that make it easy to identify where the seeds are and the uninitiated gardener/seed saver may wonder if the seeds have fallen out and been lost. The seeds here are a long ways from being ready for harvesting.

I generally wait until the flower heads look brown and dried like the two Marigold heads in this picture. When they look like these two, the seeds are ready to be collected and saved for next year.

To remove the seeds of the Marigold pinch the ends with your thumb and index finger of each hand, then pull apart and the seeds will slide out without any problem.

The Marigold seeds are on the left, they are long slender, black and the points of the seeds are very sharp. You can sow the seed directly where you'd like for them to grow next year in the garden or you can bring them indoors and dry them before storing them.

How To Plant Iris Rhizomes In Your Garden

2009-10-15T17:53:00.002-05:00

MrBrownThumb garden blog.

This past weekend I transplanted a few clumps of "black" bearded irises in my garden. The first time I planted iris rhizomes I thought they were planted similar to canna rhizomes and planted them too deep in the soil. A couple of clumps of iris rhizomes never bloomed and some bloomed only sporadically over the next few years. While reading a garden book one day I learned that the reason for the poor flower production was probably due to planting the rhizomes too deep.

'black' iris growing in my urban garden. How to Plant Iris Rhizomes in Your Garden.

bearded iris divisions ready for re-planting in the garden.

When I dug up and divided these iris rhizomes I found that I had a problem with the iris borer that was bigger than I had estimated this past summer while doing some inspections in the garden. After tossing away the rhizomes that were infected by this pest I cut down the leaves to make sure any iris borer larvae that remained had less places to overwinter.

While replanting these I made sure the exposed rhizomes were facing south to receive as much sun as possible. I placed them on small mounds above the soil level as recommended, and spread the roots out to give them space to grow.

A side view to illustrate the soil mounds mentioned above. See how they raise the iris rhizomes higher than the ground? Make the mounds a good height because the soil will settle when you water or it rains and if they sink below a couple of inches they may rot. If you're planting them in a low spot in your garden where water is prone to pool, make your mounds even higher to accommodate any settling.

Once the rhizomes were positioned properly, I filled the area with garden soil making sure to cover the roots and leave just the rhizome divisions exposed.

The best time to plant bearded irises in your garden is July-September, because this gives them time to become established before winter and bloom the following spring. When I first planted the single rhizome that all of these, there's more than what's pictured here, came from I planted it in the fall because that's when I bought it and it bloomed the following spring. Irises are such low-maintenance perennials, perfect for beginner gardeners, that I recommend everyone should grow some.

Larvae of the iris borer that I found this summer in my garden. If you notice your iris rhizomes are rotting you may have some of these pests attacking your iris clumps.

5 Funny Garden Articles in WWN

2009-10-05T14:45:00.001-05:00

The next time you find yourself in the checkout line of your local grocery store skip the traditional gardening magazines and pick up a copy of Weekly Wold News to keep up with the most interesting gardening stories.

5. Garden Slug Diet. Everyone knows that gardening is good exercise, but if all that squatting in the garden to pull weeds or plant seeds isn't giving you the cardio workout you need sprinkle some salt on those garden slugs. This takes natural slug control a bit far, no?

4. Garden Gnome Terrorists. A terror threat is infiltrating America in the form of garden gnomes. The next time you're in your garden hit one with the garden rake and see if it cries out. They hate us for our freedom, but love us for our gardens?

3. Stolen Garden Tools. You aren't going crazy and it isn't a sign of you getting older, your garden tools aren't vanishing- they're being stolen. A "garden nut" stole 318 sprinklers, 127 extension cords, 108 shovels from his unsuspecting neighbors.

2. Gardens Damaged by Garden Faeries. The typical gardener upon discovering damage in the garden will probably blame it on deer, squirrels, raccoons or a variety of other garden pests. It turns out these critters have been unfairly blamed. The real culprits are garden faeries who eat $200 million in produce every year. Think about that the next time you put a faerie door in your garden.

1. Gardening Ghost. If your husband isn't much help around the garden perhaps he can make it up to you in the afterlife. This lucky, depending on how you see it, widow has an extremely low-maintenance garden because her husband's ghost does all the work. How would you like your very own ghost to prune and fertilize your garden?

These stories and more can be found in the digital archives of WWN on Google Books. I'm surprised by all the ads for what seem like real gardening products that can be found in this periodical. Do that many gardeners really read it?

Related:

Gardening Articles in Life magazine

How To Collect Morning Glory Seeds

2009-10-03T16:03:00.001-05:00

Morning glories are popular annual garden vines because they grow in a variety of soil conditions and in container gardens. The flowers usually last for a single morning and die in the afternoon, although on cloudy days, the flowers may last well into the early evening or night.

Collecting seeds from a morning glory vine in your garden or one you may admire in another garden is just as easy as growing them in your garden.

Blue morning glory flower.

If the flower has been pollinated, soon after the petals fade, you'll notice the seed pods begin to swell. These two seed pods are ripe and pulling them from the vine at this time will not yield good results.

If you want to harvest morning glory seeds to plant next year wait until the seed pods turn brown, and begin to shrivel and resemble the seeds pods pictured above.

Ripe seeds are black and hard, you may find some that are tan or white-these I'll usually discard and keep just the black seeds. If you squeeze a seed pod and it is ready to release the seeds it will crumble in your hands. If you apply pressure to a seed pod that isn't quite ready it may be soft or pliable and won't break apart. If you fail to harvest these seeds before winter approaches, you may have a second chance in the spring because they remain on the vine unless disturbed.

Gardening Articles In Life Magazine-For FREE!

2009-10-01T21:50:00.002-05:00

Google recently digitized the entire run of Life magazine as a weekly and made the archive available for free. I was curious if there was any content in this archive that would be of interest to gardeners and have found quite a bit. Some relevant at the time gardening news, tips, gardener, garden and plant profiles. Here are a few that I've found interesting in my searching over the past couple of days. If you find any that you particularly like feel free to share with the group.

"Garden in Rubble" 1947

German widow,Frau Sophie Wanderer, created a multilevel garden in Frankfurt-Am-Main out of the remains of her bombed out house to supply her with food after WWII. She filled pots, pails and barrels with earth and grew tomatoes, lettuce, beans and tobacco to trade for things. One year she grew 600 pounds of tomatoes and gave most of it away. She fertilized her garden with manure she swept up from city streets!

"J.F.K's New Garden" 1963

Besides being fond of the ladies it seems "master gardener" President Kennedy had a soft spot for a long neglected rose garden and lead the effort to restore it.

"Gardens for U.S. at War" 1942

Story about the six million amateurs that take up victory gardening has an amusing cartoon strip with gardening advice like; "Don't waste good seeds on bad soil," 'Don't plant rows up and down a hill."

"Mrs. Tobin's Garden" 1948

A profile of a garden on Long Island complete with the garden design plan. Check out the picture of the rustic garden path with the sea of spring flowering garden bulbs on either side. Wow!

"Italian Gardens" 1950

If you guessed this was a tour of some garden in Italy, you are correct. Although that pyramid-like garden at Villa La Pietra looks a bit gaudy for my tastes. I can see Donald Trump have a garden designed that looks a lot like that.

"Garden Addict Kicks the Habit" 1958.

Ex-enthusiast find horticulture's perils exceed pleasures.

Phyllis McGinley, who after 18 years of gardening noticed it had taken over her life and replaced her flowers with simple greenery. It is an awesome article, possibly the first garden rant ever published and something that probably every gardener can read and relate too.

"My Garden" 1956

H.R.H The Duke of Windsor has a ten page spread of photos of his garden outside Paris. He provides the captions to the garden photos listing plants and reasons why certain plants are planted. I guess makes him the grandfather of garden bloggers and makes us all descendants of royalty or something.

"A Topiary Garden" 1941

A story about a topiary garden built by an advertising exec in Lake Forest, IL. The estate was later given to the University of Chicago, where the university later developed a chrysanthemum "hardier to cold than any other." The first picture is great and looks like something that the movie Edward Scissorhands was trying to evoke, although I don't agree with the assessment that the plants look "grotesque."

"How to Make an Indoor Rock Garden" 1940

I didn't know that indoor rock gardens were all that popular back then. The article isn't very long though.

"Wildflowers" 1957

I almost didn't read this article because of the "wildflowers" title. The selling of these seeds without much regard to the areas they will be planted in is becoming one of my pet peeves. I thought it was going to be an article about how great and easy it is to grow "wildflowers" by just sprinkling some seeds around your garden. Oh. I. Was. Mistaken. It is a few pages of beautiful botanical illustrations hand painted for this issue of Life. It highlights 50 plants grouped by region from six areas of the United States, that home gardeners can grow in their own garden.

"Flower-Lovers' Ramble" 1963

Pretty cool article about 22 (including a 16-year-old-boy who had this own greenhouse in Great Bend, Kansas) Americans traveling abroad on a themed vacation. They visited 44 gardens across Europe.

I'm going to stop here and let you go and explore on your own. I find Google books to be hard to navigate and confusing, so I've saved a link to my search search results for "garden." If you hover your mouse over the cover of each issue it will display the title of the relevant article within. If you hover for the title you can usually get a good idea if the article is about gardening, gardens like Victory Gardens, a plant, or event like the opening of the greenhouse at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis. Or one of the many garden parties Life covered. They must have been very popular back in the day.

Given that the gardening articles are so old, I don't know if I would use them as a reference if they offered a solution to a garden problem, although some gardening wisdom is timeless. Take for example, the article on "Smothering Garden Weeds" that appeared in 1956 about the use of black plastic as mulch. At the time it might have seemed revolutionary, now not many people would be impressed with your ingenuity if you offered it up as a solution since everyone does it.

If you're looking for gardening tips or solutions to problems in your garden try using Google for Gardeners. It is a custom Google search engine I edit and handpick websites to include.

Climbing Nasturtium "Moonlight"

2009-09-15T15:12:00.010-05:00

A couple of years ago I saw pictures of a climbing Nasturtium in some garden magazines and was eager to grow this annual. Unfortunately, I'd never come across climbing nasturtium seeds for sale in the garden centers and nurseries I visit. One garden center was particularly brutal to visit. The seed rack display had pictures of climbing nasturtiums in a rustic garden, but no actual climbing nasturtium seeds for sale. This past spring when I acquired climbing nasturtium seeds from Renee's Garden seed company and was excited to grow them.

The seeds were planted in April and quickly germinated and grew to the familiar mound that make Nasturtiums such a popular border and container plant. These mounds flowered prolifically in late April, May, June and July. No surprise really, Nasturtiums are garden workhorses that way. The flowers and foliage were almost enough to make me forget that they weren't doing any actual "climbing."

When I met Renee at the Independent Garden Center Show I mentioned to her that the climbing Nasturtiums appeared to be just an average mounding variety. At first she thought I meant they weren't vining and she mentioned how you have to pick up the runners and train them up a vertical surface. I told her I was aware of that, but that mine were just not doing much of anything besides flowering. She asked me if I still had the seed packet and I chuckled to myself and wondered, "Do people throw away seed packets?"

We agreed that I would provide her with the lot number on the packets of seeds and she would look into it, "Perhaps it's a bad batch," she said. Maybe it was. That evening I arrived home with the intention of looking for the Nasturtium seed packets, but first I stopped by and checked on the Nasturtiums. The first thing I noticed was that overnight the darned plants had put out a couple of the long runners I'd been waiting for all spring and summer. D'oh!

Now that the days are getting shorter and cooler the climbing Nasturtiums are taking off and growing like mad. The good thing about all that early flowering is that my Nasturtiums are now covered in developing seed pods. I've already harvested and dried a few seeds for next year.

Nasturtiums produce no tendrils so, they can't vine up a garden stake on their own, you have to pick up the runners and give them some help.

Some nasturtium varieties produce blue-green leaves, this one produces green leaves. Maybe it is just my imagination, but it seems like these leaves at the base are larger than normal.

The color of climbing Nasturtium "Moonlight" in the on-line seed catalog is described as "soft primrose yellow." Renee's Garden also carries "Spitfire," a red-orange climbing Nasturtium that I didn't grow but will add to my list of seeds to get.

In the years I've grown Nasturtiums as a border plant in the garden I've learned that the tips of the plant usually get stepped on. I figured that placing them up higher than ground level would keep them safe. I made garden pots out of cinder blocks at the entrance of my ghetto garden path. In these I inserted bamboo stakes that I would attach the vines too. Next year I'll make the pot out of two cinder blocks- one stacked on top of the other. The trailing foliage will be enough to mask them and when the runners appear they won't get trampled on. While I grew this climbing Nasturtium for vertical interest in the garden I think they would be just as at home planted in a window box or trailing over a balcony or deck. I can imagine how impressive the 6-8 foot long runners would look spilling out of a balcony garden and swaying in the wind.

Other posts on Nasturtiums:

When I collect Nasturtium Seeds-My post with pictures and video to help you identify the seeds and when to collect them.

5 Reasons I Grow Nasturtium in My Garden-Post on the benefits of growing Nasturtium.

Nasturtium "Jewel Mix" & "Dwarf Cherry Rose"- Two Nasturtiums varieties I've grown and written about before.

Update: Made a quick garden video so you can see this climbing Nasturtium in my garden. See the post on collecting Nasturtium seeds for a video on how to collect seeds from Nasturtiums in your garden.

Lemon Cucumber

2009-09-08T22:28:00.004-05:00

This past spring I got lemon cucumber seeds from Botanical Interests to grow in my garden. I decided to try the lemon cucumber seeds chosen because I'd never eaten one of these cucumber varieties before. Due to a series of gardening setbacks, I may not get a chance to eat a lemon cucumber this year, but I'm enjoying growing them.

I started my cucumber seeds late and then pretty much neglected the seedlings and planted them out even later. By the time the cucumber vines were about 10 inches long they were covered in blossoms, but there weren't many bees working in the garden. I watched as the blossoms unfurled, then withered without any signs of fruit being set. I panicked and started to hand-pollinate them, which has worked marvelously. Take that, stupid bees.

Lemon cucumber blossom & leaf.

At some point last year I ran out of bamboo sticks to use as stakes in the garden and haven't gotten around to buying any more. So, I turned to my second favorite method of creating garden stakes. This lemon cucumber vine is container grown and climbing up a couple of dried allium stalks from my garden. Which reminds me to buy more alliums this fall for the garden. Alliums have great flowers, but I like the dried stalks the most for they remind me of fireworks.

One of my lemon cucumbers, a result of me taking pollinating into my own hands. It probably will not ripen in time, but I'm enjoying watching it develop along with all the smaller siblings on the cucumber vine.

I'm definitely going to grow lemon cucumbers in the garden next year and the year after that. Perhaps, the fact that I started mine so late have contributed to this, but I find them to be great candidates for a container garden because the vines aren't unruly. At only about five feet long the vine is flush with developing fruits, which leads me to believe it could easily be grown in small garden like a balcony or fire escape garden.

Lemon cucumbers aren't some crazy hybrid between lemons and cucumbers. The name for this weird vegetable is derived from the yellow, lemon-shaped fruit; which is said to be sweeter than regular cucumbers and not sour like the name or color would imply.

Update: 9/27

My lemon cucumber vine has withered down to virtually nothing, but the only cucumber that managed to form enough was harvested today.

I noticed the spines sort of lost their sharpness and were easy to rub off. The second thing I noticed about the cucumber was the two tones in the skin. I Don't think the photo does it much justice, but it was really "pretty" and shimmered in the sunlight kind of like a Christmas tree ornament.

Inside the cucumber looks like all other cucumbers you've seen, with the exception that this one is round. The power of suggestion seemed to influence how my taste buds reacted to the flavor. I would swear in a court of law that the lemon cucumber has a bit of a citrus taste, but nobody else I shared it with mentioned anything similar. What we all did say about it smelled like an average cucumber but these were definitely a lot sweeter. Next year I'll plant a whole bunch of these cucumbers. If you're interested in growing these you can buy the seeds from Botanical Interests, who supplied me with my pack to try.

How To Collect Four O' Clock Flower Seeds

2009-09-03T17:52:00.006-05:00

Not far from my garden there is an empty lot with a hedge of Four O' Clocks that grow an flower like mad. I try not to pass the abandoned property very often because these plants just remind me just how much I stink at trying to get these seeds to germinate. I've tried for years to grow Four O' Clocks from seeds with little luck. On this abandoned property they grow in almost full sun, watered only by rain and they thrive.

They're called Four O' Clocks because the plant has a habit of blooming after 4:00 PM, but I took these pictures at 5:00 PM. I think these flowers need a better alarm clock, no?

Even unfurled the flowers are interesting to look at and resemble trumpets. The red, pink, yellow and white blooms put on a display in the late evening when they open up.

The large and black seeds, that resemble miniature grenades, are easy to spot because the Four 0' Clocks, don't develop a seed pod. You can find them cradled, where the petals of the bloom were prior to being pollinated, when they are really ripe. I'm amazed at how readily these Four O' Clock seeds germinate, grow & bloom year after year without any help. I guess their durability is why they are such a popular annual garden plant. Maybe next year I'll break down and just buy some, because no matter what I do I can't get a single seed to germinate.

I made a short video that demonstrates where to find the seeds on the Four O' Clock, what they look like and how to collect them.

The Seedy Side Of Independent Garden Center Show '09

2009-08-22T01:34:00.004-05:00

Earlier in the week I attended the Independent Garden Center Show 2009 here in Chicago on the same site as the Chicago Flower & Garden Show. Over on Chicago Garden the first post is Independent Garden Center Show 2009. Followed by the post on products for gardening in small spaces, garden pots and planters, garden tools and plants and my favorite the Obama head planter. While the Independent Garden Center Show isn't open to the public I hope my posts give you an idea of what was on display and you may catch in garden centers in your area next year.

I was hoping that I'd get a chance to see a lot of new plants at the IGC Show but that wasn't the case. My disappointment didn't last long because there were a lot of garden seed vendors at the show and I got to meet a couple of them. Renee's Garden was there and they were promoting her new varieties for Renee's Garden seed line in 2010 and the Cornucopia (website coming soon) line of seeds. Of the new varieties they have I'm most excited about the Spanish Padron pepper. The second night of the IGC Show I was treated to dinner by Renee and had a great time talking about the seed business, garden bloggers and much more. Meeting Renee, who is so nice and friendly to garden bloggers, and her team was the highlight of the show for me. Yesterday I got an Email from Renee's Community Garden, a social networking site by Renee's Garden for gardeners who grow from seed, that they were having a 30% off sale to clear out the warehouse and make room for those new introductions I mentioned. Enter sale09 as your Coupon Code at checkout between now and September 8, 2009.

Thompson & Morgan also had a booth and I stopped by because of the sign that read "The Kew Collection." I was really geeked about it because I'm a big fan of Kew, even though I've never been and have only seen it on television-- I'm going to make the pilgramage one day. I figured that if I can't get up and go to Kew gardens, I could at least grow something from Kew gardens. This line of seeds by Thompson & Morgan isn't of plants introduced or developed by Kew, they're just given the stamp of approval by Kew.

Maybe it is just me, but I'd be more inclined to buy these seeds if the connection to Kew was more than them just getting royalties for loaning out their name. On the other hand, I think their Taste of Italy line of garden seeds is pure genius. I'm told that these seeds can't be kept in stock on Long Island, you know, on account of all those Italians that live there. They also do well here in Chicago where we have a large population of people of Italian heritage. How cool would it be to be able to go to a garden center and pick up a whole gardens' worth of seeds based on the country you ancestors came to America from?

I'd buy that for a dollar!

Also at the show was Botanical Interests who is another seed company, who besides selling awesome seeds, has been showing garden bloggers a lot of love and respect. They were there to promote the The Botanic Garden Series they developed in conjunction with the Denver Botanic Garden. The aim of the line is to sell seeds from plants that are endangered in the hopes that they will be kept around for future generations by home gardeners like you and I. What a great idea that; 1. protects endangered plants from being lost 2. shows that companies can do good while making money.

I was drawn to the Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds Company booth by the funny costumes but I stuck around to look at the heirloom seeds, many varieties I'd never seen for sale before, and meet Jere. The seed company was started by Jere Gettle when he was 17 years old and his catalog consisted of one photocopied page that he sent out. Now he owns an heirloom seed business, has an heirloom seed store in Petaluma, California, a magazine devoted to gardening with heirlooms and a pioneer village. I wish I would have that kind of drive at his age. That's Jere in the picture talking to me and Garden Girl about heirloom tomatoes.

Update: In the comments CandidWines points out that the seeds for ChicaoTomato Fest, which I'd forgotten about.

If you're one of the gardeners that has been feeling down about the loss of Smith & Hawken I've got good news. I've seen the future and it is Burgon & Ball--ok so they've been around since 1730--but, OMG is their stuff awesome. They bill themselves as "tools for serious gardeners" but they sure look like the kind of company a seed nerd could fall in love with. The metal box above is a garden seed organizer, you open it up and it has compartments organized by months, to keep track of sowing times. Check out their website for a glimpse of what else you serious gardeners could spend your car payment on.

Troy-Bilt Lithium Ion Garden Trimmer

2009-08-14T18:50:00.004-05:00

Earlier this spring I was given the Troy-Bilt TB57 Lithium Ion string trimmer to review. This spring Troy-Bilt also sponsored Chicago Spring Fling, a garden blogger symposium, which I was part of organizing. I mention this just so that you know from the start that the good will shown to me and other garden bloggers by Troy-Bilt may have influenced my thoughts on it. I don't think it has but I think as a reader of this blog you deserve to know this information.

Some other things you should know about me; I'm a frugal gardener (read poor), a wuss when it comes to things that can potentially blow up in my face and not good at following assembly instructions (I don't read them). I'll explain why that's important below.

When I got the Lithium ion garden trimmer in the mail it came un-assembled and I let it sit around for a couple of weeks because the last thing I want to do it put together something that comes with an instruction book. I finally gave in and decided to tackle the assembly of the trimmer and managed to do it within a couple of minutes. I wished I'd done it earlier because it was so easy to do. Imagine my surprise when I lifted up the lightweight trimmer and it didn't fall apart like my computer desk did. Just out of the box and this trimmer by Troy-Bilt was already looking pretty good.

Here is the lithium ion battery that comes in the box, along with a charger. For the first time in my life I managed to follow the directions and allow the battery to charge fully before I used it. The battery itself is isn't very heavy and slides in and out of the holster easily.

The TB57 has a 20-volt battery, which I'm not sure is suppose to incredible or not. Math and science make my head all hurty. I do know that using it was an experience, it was like riding a motorcycle for the first time. All of the garden tools I've ever owned have been manual. I've bought everything either at a garage sale, thrift store or found it in an alley. After the first use of the garden trimmer I got those ghost "vibrations" in my hand and arm, it felt like the trimmer was still in my hand and on. "Wow," I thought to myself. "This must be what an Amish gardener feels like during Rumspringa."

A couple of years ago I almost ruined Thanksgiving when I pitched a fit because my BIL was going to deep fry a turkey for the first time. For weeks I'd been watching the news hearing about homes going down in flames or people getting hurt frying turkeys. I don't like things that can blow up or burn down a house. Call me crazy, but it doesn't seem like fun. Gardeners and homeowners who are eco-concious will love that the TB57 has ZERO emissions and is pretty safe for the environment. Me, I like that it isn't powered by propane and I don't have to worry about my hand getting blown off. Or I don't have to worry about pulling around an extension cord that could get cut or electrocute me.

I charged the battery once in May and I'm writing this in August and trimmer still works like the first time I used it. I've used it in my garden and around the neighborhood cutting down herbaceous weeds that grow in the cracks of the sidewalks.

See for yourself:

Some of these are pretty tough and have stems that are as thick as pencils and the TB57 has taken them all down with little effort.

I've never owned a trimmer like this before, but I've seen many landscapers using simmer trimmers and noticed how they are always tapping it against the ground to release the string in the trimmer. The TB57 feeds the string by itself and there is even a small blade in the shield that keeps it cut at the right length. Just to feel like a real landscaper sometimes I'll tap in a couple of times on the floor, like a baseball player coming up to bat.

Four months later and I'm still on the same string cartridge (and same batter charge) that it came with. As you can see from the video I'm not really careful when using it and will really let it fly against the concrete. That's one of the benefits of using something you didn't have to pay for and you want to see how far you can push it before you break it.

Every gardener knows how satisfying it is to pull some weeds in the garden. What I never experienced before in the garden is just how wonderful it feels to cut them down like this. Leaves, stems and dirt are being kicked up and splattering your shoes and clothes and you can almost hear the weeds crying; "Please stop! We're sorry we grew here. We won't do it again," over the buzzing sound of the TB57.

My one complaint about the TB57 is that it doesn't have a plant guard around the trimmer. The first day I used it I cut down a couple of my Oriental lilies because I didn't gauge just how far out the string reaches. Oops. Nothing like cutting down plants you've been waiting a couple of years to bloom to make you stop and think about what you're doing.

If I were looking to purchase a garden trimmer I'd buy the TB57 from Troy-Bilt, it is lightweight, durable, easy to use, safe for the environment and won't blow your hand off.

Carnivorous Pitcher Plant Eating Bugs

2009-07-10T16:06:00.000-05:00

http://mrbrownthumb.blogspot.com

Yesterday I was looking for a garden photo and while I didn't find that photo I did find these photos of a carnivorous pitcher plant from two years ago. I think I may have been waiting for a slowdown in garden blogging to share the pictures of the carnivorous pitcher plant and never got around to sharing them.

The photos were taken over a course of a few days and show insects being lured and trapped inside separate pitchers of the carnivorous plant. Lets take a short tour of the carnivorous plant and see the insects that fell prey to it.

First we have the opening of the pitcher plant. Notice the hairs growing around the opening to keep trapped insects inside. You can just spot our first insect victim laying in the bottom of the pitcher in this photo.

When I focused on the inside of the pitcher the first victim came into focus. It is a fly. It looks like the pitfall trap is dry and the fly didn't drown in the phytotelmata, perhaps it died of exhaustion. Without the water inside the pitcher plant we can see how smooth the inside is, this keeps insects from being able to climb out once they've been lured inside the carnivorous plant.

The cavity of this pitcher is filled with liquid and we can see at least three victims, two flies and an ant that have drowned inside. There may be a third insect in there too, if you look below the ant you'll see an extra pair of wings, that has been being digested by the carnivorous plant for a while.
The final photo shows a yellow jacket that made its way inside and like the others fell victim to our pitcher plant and became a meal. The dark spots floating in the liquid are two separate flies that also made it in but never got out. I remember being amazed that these two flies about the size of the tip of a pencil couldn't get past the trap hairs shown above.

Related Posts:

Natural Methods of Pest Control

Why is my Venus Flytrap Dying?

ZZ Plant Propagation

2009-07-06T19:28:00.003-05:00

This post on ZZ Plant Propagation was written for the http://mrbrownthumb.blogspot.com urban gardening blog.

Early in the growing season when the houseplants made the yearly migration to vacation outdoors my ZZ Plant (Zamioculcas zamiifolia) was damaged in the process. Instead of getting upset at one of my favorite succulent plants being marred I decided to take the opportunity to propagate this plant.

I've blogged before about how easy it is to propagate succulents from cuttings and especially single leafs. It is a great way to get new plants and since prices for ZZ Plants around here are pretty expensive I figured maybe I could make a few extra plants to share with friends and family that are always taking plants when they visit.

The stem of the ZZ Plant that was damaged was relatively short so I plucked the leaves off of that stem and let them sit around for a couple of hours to let the cut ends callous over.

While I was waiting for the leaves to dry I got my potting soil ready. The potting soil I had on hand was very heavy so I amended the soil with some perlite, the white specks, to make it fluffier and allow for better drainage. I took an empty plastic container from the deli and poked a few holes in the bottom. Unlike with other plant cutting you take you don't want to cover your ZZ Plant leaf cuttings because they are succulents and too much water will cause them to rot and die.

The leaves were inserted standing straight up in the soil. I'm keeping them in a bright and protected area of the front stoop where they will get some sunlight but not direct sunlight the leaves could dry out and die completely in the summer heat. The leaf cuttings are also protected from getting any to assure I don't lose them because the soil was kept too soggy and the tips of the leafs begin to rot.

The leaves were inserted into the potting mix standing straight up. I'm keeping them in a bright and protected area of the front stoop where they will get some sunlight but not direct sunlight- the leaves could dry out and die completely in the summer heat. The leaf cuttings are also protected from getting any to assure I don't lose them because the soil was kept too soggy and the tips of the leafs begin to rot.

If you've looked around the archives of this gardening blog you may have come across similar entries: Plant Propagation: Succulents by Leaf Cuttings being one and Echeveria 'Black Prince' Propagation is another. Both of them show how you can make more plants from the leafs of a succulent plants like the ZZ Plant.

Looking for a post on caring for your ZZ Plant? Growing info can be found in the post ZZ Plant: Easy Low Light Houseplant

MrSubjunctive has a post on the ZZ Plant too and growing them from leafs. It looks like from his experience the leafs take several months to propagate.

Adenium Obesum Flowers and Seed Pod

2009-06-15T20:08:00.000-05:00

This post was written for the MrBrownThumb garden blog. If you garden in Chicago visit Chicago Garden on ChicagoNow.com

On a recent visit to the Garfield Park Conservatory I came across this potted Adenium obesum which made me realize just how much I've neglected my own Desert Roses this year. I have yet to officially try to bring them out of dormancy, even though they are leafing out on their own.

Notice how the branches on this Desert Rose have been trimmed and the branches that cross or grow towards the inside of the plant's crown have been removed. I really like this effect and will trim mine because it looks realistic.

A closer view of the flowers on the Adenium obesum. The flowers are beautiful and illustrate why this succulent plant is called a Desert Rose. Even when not in bloom, I think this is one of my favorite plants and the caudex provides enough interest for the indoor gardener. See how the plant buds on new growth? Make sure not to trim the tips when it starts to grow or leaf out in the Spring.

Here a closer look at a seed pod on another Adenium obesum in the collection of the conservatory. The seeds have been dispersed but if you're lucky enough to get seed pods to produce there are a couple of methods for saving the seeds from Adenium that you can employ. Cover the seed pod with either a paper bag or with a fabric like muslin or an old pair of pantyhose.

Previous Posts on Adenium Obesum:
Adenium Obesum Care
Adenium Obesum Seedlings
Adenium Obesum Propagation by Cuttings

Chicago Spring Fling In Pictures

2009-06-03T00:51:00.009-05:00

Didn't get a chance to take a lot of photos during Spring Fling but here are a few that I liked. My pictures of the Rick Bayless garden are over on my garden blog for ChicagoNow.com: Chicago Garden and my other post on the subject of Spring Fling is: Chicago Spring Fling in Words. Links in this post open in new window. If you hover your mouse over one of the garden photos you should get a description.

I didn't get a chance to properly thank Flatbush Gardener & Garden Faeriefor their help during Spring Fling. You two were on vacation but you found it in your heart to help out with your fellow garden blogger who was in a wheelchair and couldn't get around so easy. If you're ever back this way let me buy you a drink.

Chicago Garden

2009-06-01T14:56:00.000-05:00

Welcome, to all the new followers of the MrBrownThumb garden blog. And "hello" to all the followers who have been reading for a while. If you live or garden in Chicago, or know someone who does, make sure to read the end of this post. Heck, even if you have no connection to Chicago make sure to read the end of this post.

Raise your hand if you've been watching the Life After People special on the History Channel. I love it! I could spend days watching this thing and never get tired of it. One of the things in particular that really interests me about the special is watching how plants will one day grow over everything that people have built. One of the episodes focuses heavily on Chicago and it has a few segments on how Wrigley Field will look once grounds keepers aren't around to maintain it.

Pictures I took of the television while watching the show.

In the segment that covers Wrigley Field, the show's writers theorize that the ball park will one day be overgrown by the ivy that grows there now decorating the outfield walls. If I remember correctly the narrator states that ivy, in Chicago's climate, can grow at a rate of fifty feet a year.

I know in other climates ivy can be a problem and becomes an invasive plant but I don't think I've seen evidence in gardens around Chicago of ivy growing that much in a single year. I personally love ivy and have this dreams of one day having a garden filled with ivy. Ivy, everything-ivy walls, ivy topiary, an ivy gazebo. If you hate ivy, my fantasy garden would not be one you'd ever want to set foot in. Anyway, where was I going with this? Oh yeah, ivy. With the exception of how much it will grow in a year I don't have a problem with the fear mongering about the ivy and how it will end up destroying the historic scoreboard and blah, blah, blah. Mostly because it is true-ivy is beautiful, at least to me, but can be a very destructive plant.

When the narrator started going on about how the field would be taken over by buckthorn, that would become these mounds of interpenetrate greenery, my BS meter went off. They showed some dilapidated buildings somewhere in Indiana to illustrate what it looks like when nobody is around to take care of the buildings and nature is left unchecked--and what life after people has in store for Chicago. When I failed to spot any mounds of buckthorn in the video of the abandoned town in Indiana I started to wonder who the consultant was that predicted all this buckthorn taking over Wrigley Field was.

I've spent way too much time thinking about buckthorn and the consultant who told the producers of Life After People that buckthorn would take over Chicago. I've been looking around Chicago at abandoned lots and undeveloped areas to see any evidence of this monster buckthorn and I've come to the following conclusion(s): 1. I really need to stop thinking so much about plants I see on shows that have nothing to do with plants or gardening. 2. The horticultural consultant for Life After People probably doesn't live or garden in Chicago.

One could probably bet good money on #2 and win because everyone who lives and gardens in Chicago knows that dandelions and maple trees will take over at Wrigley Field.

Recently, after a few good rains in Chicago I've had a bumper crop of maple seedlings all over my garden. Seeds are germinating all over the place and I can walk out on any given day and pull out a handful of them that I swear were not there the day before. If I didn't garden on such a tiny plot of land I'd be inclined to let the little seedling grow. I've developed a catch and release program for the seedlings that I manage to pull out of the ground before the tap root develops too far. I'll pot them up and keep them around for a while and then plant them in an empty lot or two. I can't brinng myself to kill a tree.

What are the plants that will take over your garden when nobody is around to maintain it?

If you live or garden in Chicago: Today the Tribune launched ChicagoNow.com and I've got a new garden blog over there called 'Chicago Garden'. It is a blog about--well, gardening in Chicago. The website is still in beta but when it is completed it will be like Facebook for Chicago by Chicagoans. I've put up a number of posts there already and that garden blog will be a little different than this one. It won't be as much as a personal garden journal like MrBrownThumb has been. It will be about and for Chicagoans. Once all the features are set up for ChicagoNow.com you'll be able to create profiles and even start a blog. It's going to be really cool. So come on over and sign up for an account and say hello. If you don't live or garden in Chicago come by for a visit anyway and tell your friends or family who may live in Chicago about the new garden blog.

This is my first gig as a "garden blogger" and really an experiment for companies like the Tribune. I'm glad the Tribune folks gave me this opportunity and that they saw a benefit in launching the site with a garden blog and that they went with a nobody (me) when they could have picked from any number of great horticultural writers in Chicago. Don't let them regret it and keep me employed by visiting Chicago Garden and joining up and participating.

Cheers!

Chicago Spring Fling In Words

2009-05-31T00:56:00.006-05:00

Today was the last day for Chicago Spring Fling, and have been surprised on a number of occasions. Some people were exactly like what I was expecting and some nearly brought a tear to my eye with their generosity and warmth.

Friday was the first day of Chicago Spring Fling and the attendees were greeted with open arms by the Chicago Botanic Garden. I wasn't able to make that event because I was waiting for some packages to arrive in time for me to hand the items to the garden bloggers. During the day Denise Corkery of the Chicago Botanic Garden sent me email updates about the group when they had been picked up by the private shuttle and while they visited the gardens. They created a page just for attendees of Chicago Spring Fling and posted a group photo they took of most of the group.

That morning I got an unexpected surprise from Sue Markgraf of GreenMark Public Relations. Just a couple of days prior she had heard of Spring Fling and arranged for Colleen Lockovitch to be available to answer questions garden bloggers may have while visiting the Lurie garden. Colleen Lockovitch is the director and horticulturist of the Lurie garden and I'm deeply disappointed I didn't get a chance to meet her but I'm glad many of our visitors got a chance to do so.

Free Hug Friday

I arrived at the site of the dinner/reception as the group was leaving the Lurie and set out to fill the gift bags. I was waiting for some packages to arrive last minute so I missed out on earlier festivities, but the reaction of several garden blogger to the gift items we got made it all worthwhile. Since I was late I was prepared to do all the giftbag work by myself, so I was pleasantly surprised when Diane, Beth Botts & Monica got to work and helped move the gift items from boxes into the gift bags. You don't expect guests to show up ready to work- so a big thanks goes out to them.

Lainey & Fallon from Edelman Public Relations were also early arrivals & guests who went to work putting together the gift bags full of gardening items. They were there to represent The Scotts Miracle Gro company and the GroGood campaign, who sponsored Chicago Spring Fling, to raise awareness about growing food this year for the needy. I'd met Lainey before when I was invited to attend the dedication ceremony of a new community garden in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago. Before the reception started and garden bloggers were let into the room, they approached me after seeing some name badges and made it known that they didn't have to be in attendance and would be ok with leaving if their presence would be a distraction or cause problems with some of the garden bloggers who have been pretty critical of the company they represent. Being sponsors and having paid, like everyone else, to dine-I insisted they stay and gave them the option of sitting together at a table or splitting up so they could talk to more people about the GroGood campaign and how important the issue is this year. They chose to sit together in a corner of the room at the table that typically gets filled w/strangers or your weird cousin at these kinds of events.

When all the bags were filled with gifts (thanks to the help of these wonderful folks) we let the garden bloggers into the room and they sat around and continued the conversations they were having from earlier in the day. Once everyone was seated I made my way to the tables and introduced myself. At the second table I stopped at I was greeted with a hug by Kylee and this nervous wreck just about lost it and started crying. When I finally got around to the table were Chris & Katie from GardenPunks were seated I was the recipient of yet another hug and I was having trouble holding it back so I had to cut that convo short and make it to my table before my mascara started running. One day when my mind isn't occupied we'll have to delve into the reason why Katie thought I'd been incarcerated before. Yeah, you read that right.

At the table for the misfits and randoms; Lainey, Fallon, myself (the weird cousin) and Garden Girl were joined by Ben Helphand of NeighborSpace who was there to tell the group about the organic community garden we would be visiting the next day. We had an awesome conversation about brands and the relationships they develop with bloggers and just how transparent bloggers should be when they form these relationships. I guess I've let television and my interaction with some "marketing" departments pollute my view of the industry and their connections to bloggers. We talked about several things but mostly our conversations revolved around blogging ethics, is there such a thing? Should there be such a thing? And what happens to a blog that becomes a dumping ground for giveaways and press releases. Hopefully the Chicago gardening ideas Ben & I talked about come to fruition and I can be a part of them or help in some way.

I'm particularly grateful that Beth Botts was a part of Chicago Spring Fling and made herself available to garden bloggers and shared the wealth of her gardening information and Chicago history. Beth, if you ever need a second pair of hands or help in some way with a project you're working on I owe you three days of helping in any way I can. Professor Jane S. Smith was there to sign copies of her book The Garden of Invention. It isn't every day that I get a chance to rub elbows with a Pulitzer Prize nominee so I was especially geeked that she was there, but I forgot to ask her to sign my book. Professor Smith volunteers at the Lincoln Park Conservatory so maybe I'll get a second chance to get that book signed in the near future.

Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors we were able to give away some awesome items. Our giftbags included:

Seeds and a couple of garden cook books from ReneesGarden.

Seeds and mouse pads from Botanical Interests.

Garden Gloves from EthelGloves for all the garden bloggers in attendance. They've also provided a coupon code for anyone who would like to order extra gloves. Just enter "BROWNTHUMB10" into the "Discount Code" field on any of the screens at checkout. The code is good through June 6 & 10% off your purchase. Just to be clear; I don't get anything from you using this coupon code, I think Angela just named it "BROWNTHUMB10" because when she made it up she and I were emailing each other a lot with arrangements for CSF so I guess it was easy to name it that.

A few $50.00 gift certificates from GardenShoesOnline.

A shirt, book and buttons from YouGrowGirl.

Troy-Bilt® was another sponsor of Chicago Spring Fling and as part of their sponsorship they each garden blogger a garden journal. They also generously gave away a Super Bronco ™ CRT garden tiller valued at over $600.00!!!!!

Chicago Honey Co-Op gave us enough lip balms to hand out to every attendee and a few personal beauty products made from their urban apiary here in Chicago. They also have a blog about the bee farm those products came from.

Proven Winners grew a Supertunia® Vista Silverberry for each of the participants. It has a wonderful scent and

Layanee was nice enough to get us gift certificates from www.Garden-Guys.com for free bags of organic fertilizer for every garden blogger. The same offer was then extended by her to the community garden we toured on Saturday. As a Chicagoan, I was really touched by that. Thank you Layanee and I'm sorry I never got around to talking about those.

Cindy also got us a few items from The Houston Chronicle. I'm sorry we couldn't use those bags but we already had one from one of our sponsors but I'll put mine to good use. And thank you very much for the poppy seeds, I love them even though I haven't sown a single one. They are one of my favorite flowers.

Leslie gave out hand made Christmas ornaments to commemorate the event and had one for everyone one.

Anneliese from CobraHead brought a long a few CobraHead garden tools that we were able to raffle off.

Garden Girl secured a $25.00 gift certificate from Gardens Alive that we raffled off.

On Sunday I learned that on Friday people were giving out "free hugs" at Millennium Park, I guess the universe knew it was one of those days.

"T" is for thank you, tipsy & Troy-Bilt
On Saturday we visited the Bayless urban/edible garden and I don't think my words could do the garden justice, so I'm going to make a photo post about Chicago Spring Fling and include that tour in there. Along with photos from the Ginkgo Organic Community Garden that grows food for the needy in Chicago.

A big thanks to the four wonderful women who blog at My Skinny Garden, Garden Girl, Lake Chicago Shores & Sweet Home And Garden. I appreciate your honesty, dedication, drive, selflessness and the respect you showed me and your fellow members of the organizing committee during the process. People who attended the event will never know just how much you put into this and every single little thing you helped arrange & every whim you indulged. That you all did so much without once having to make sure the spotlight was shining on you says a lot about the people who raised you, the people you've raised and the people you will raise in the future. They say that you're judged by the company you keep and I'd be honored if I could call you all my friends. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Thanks to all the people who attended Chicago Spring Fling. When we started organizing this we didn't know the response would be so big. We thought the state of the economy would mean just a handful of people showing up and were surprised at just how many people turned out to spend time with friends and visit some gardens. We hope you got your money's worth, and then some.

Thank you to the Chicago Botanic Garden (Denise Corkery in particular) for being sponsors and making sure everything went well with the group visit.

A few people made it a point to personally approach me and thank me for being part of the committee that helped organize Chicago Spring Fling. If at that time you got the impression I didn't appreciate the gesture, I'd like you to know that wasn't the case. 1) I'm not good at meeting new people, 2) For as much as I run off at the keyboard I'm really bad at trying to make conversation. Being part of this has taught me that the words "thank you" have so much value--I hope to carry that with me in my personal life forever and I have you to thank for that.

We tried to make Saturday's dinner as easy as we could. We chose a restaurant close to the hotel so everyone could attend and make it back to the hotel at night, and we made the cost as reasonable as we could. Thinking we had planned for everything to go smoothly so people could linger and talk afterward and have all those conversations about blogging people were so sure they were going to want to have-we were so pleased with ourselves. At the end of the night some items that were not part of our dinner package had been ordered. Garden Girl made an announcement that people who had ordered them should figure out the cost of those items including the crazy tax we have in Chicago and the tip. That's when things threatened to get ugly and the grumbling started and some comments were made, some barely audible-- but we heard them. Barbara Hastings, who was there representing Troy-Bilt, perhaps sensed the coming frustration of one person doing math on a paper napkin and picked up the added cost that wasn't part of our agreement with the restaurant and saved the night. Thank you Barbara and thank you Troy-Bilt for all the support.

On Sunday, the last day, the last event for Chicago Spring Fling was a visit to the Garfield Park Conservatory. Words don't do the place justice so I'll include pictures of that visit in another post.

Slow Food Chicago Tomato Fest 2009

2009-05-22T22:35:00.005-05:00

Marmande Tomato photo courtesy of Damien Casten

May 27th 2009 marks the start of Slow Food Chicago Tomato Fest 2009. The tomato festival is a project of Slow Food Chicago, Candid Wines and the Chicago Honey Coop. Gardeners and urban farmers, in and around Chicago, will have the opportunity to buy heirloom tomato plants for $3:00 a plant.

The first heirloom tomato plant sale will take place on May 27th, 2009 at the Garfield Park Conservatory from 4:00pm-7:00pm.

The second heirloom tomato plant sale will take place on June 5th, 2009 at the restaurant Uncommon Ground on Devon from 4:00pm-8:00pm.

Everyone who buys a heirloom tomato plant will be invited to the Second Annual Tomato Festival in September at the urban bee farm operated by the Chicago Honey Coop. Heirloom tomato growers will get a chance to share some of their crop with their fellow heirloom tomato grower.

Some of the tomato varieties available for sale include:

Little Marvel
Lincoln
Thai Pink Egg
Mortgage Lifter
Pearly Pink
Tappy's Heritage
Cuor di Bue
Principe Borghese
Illini Star
Tess's Land Race Currant
Persimmon
Cherokee Purple
Black Cherry
Japanese Black Trifele
True Black Brandywine
Wapsipinicon Peach
Plum Lemon

If you're in Chicago, and haven't already done so, request your free bean seeds for One Seed Chicago. If you you're looking for gardening information try my Google Custom Search Engine--Google for Gardeners. Use it to find information on plants, and gardening tips and tricks.

Spring Bulbs In The Garden

2009-05-08T14:31:00.007-05:00

Let me beging by saying "Welcome" to all the new followers & subscribers of the MrBrownThumb garden blog.

Spring arrived in my garden a while back, but the only thing blooming then was a clump of daffodils so I decided to wait and make one post about the spring bulbs in my garden. I've posted before about cheap bulbs for your garden and how you can find them in places other than garden centers and nurseries.

The first tulip isn't one of those bulbs that I've found at a local grocery store. This is "Flaming Parrot," and was a gift to me from a gardening friend I know online. I've had it for a couple of years now and every time these tulips bloom they demand my attention in the garden. I also have "Black Parrot" tulips in the garden, though they are just at the bud stage. The "Black Parrot" blooms aren't as big and dramatic as the blooms of the "Flaming Parrot."

This spring I decided that I'm really not a big fan of daffodils. I have a clump of these garden bulbs because they were gifted to me by the same gardener that gave me the "Flaming Parrot" tulip you see above. If you look at the larger daffodil image above you may see that I created a border at the bottom of my wrought iron fence with a strip of weed blocking fabric. It doesn't look to bad and actually does help with blocking urban trash from being blown into the garden. I can't tell you how good it works at blocking weeds but it helps keep my garden a little neater than it otherwise might be.

The smaller daffodil is one that is sold as a "miniature" daffodil and I don't know where it came from because I don't remember planting that clump of daffodils in my garden. The blue flower is a wild violet that is growing rampant in my neighborhood at the moment. I'd like it a lot better if it grew in areas where there is suppose to be grass and not among my flower beds where I can't easily reach in and pull it out when it gets to be too large.

These are some of the tulips that are growing in my garden that I purchased at the ALDI grocery chain over the past couple of years. I have a variety of different colors blooming now and it kind of looks like someone dropped a bag of Skittles in my garden and up grew these tulips. There is no real plan here since all of the tulips I've planted don't have IDs and come in a medium sized box and cost about $4 to $5.

One a personal note: If you've been wondering why I've been quiet on this blog there is a hint in this video. Pay close attention when you see the ladybugs. I'm also part of the committee putting the finishing touches on Chicago Spring Fling so that has been keeping me a little busy. Can't wait for all the cool things happening at the end of this month.

What's going on in your garden?

Posts about starting seeds for your garden for newbies:

One Seed Chicago 2009

2009-04-28T11:06:00.000-05:00

You've probably heard of One Book, Chicago and participate in the program that gets Chicagoans to all read the same book at the same time. One Seed Chicago is a similar endeavor by local urban greening activists with the aim to get Chicago residents to grow the same plant.

The website for One Seed Chicago asks you image thousands of the same vegetable or flower linking "community gardens, yards and window sills across the City!" The imagery is striking and a noble one. The same plant being grown by thousands of people across the city- from an executive to the person who cleans the offices where the executive works and everyone in-between.

The results of the voting haven't been posted on the One Seed Chicago web page but I came across an unrelated press release that states the bean (any kind) will be this years seed. On the website for One Seed Chicago you can request a free seed packet if you'd like to participate.

If you don't live in Chicago how about growing some beans with us in solidarity? Or better yet, start a similar project in your neighborhood, city or state.

Update: 4/28/09

Over the weekend I attended the Green & Growing Fair at the Garfield Park Conservatory. The photo I added above is of the Blue Lake Pole seeds NeighborSpace was handing out. You can now officially request your seed packets to grow your own beans for One Seed Chicago

Never grown plants from seeds? See these tips I've posted before:

Plastic bottle seed starter.
Sandwich bag seed starter.
Seed starter pot from newspaper.
Paper tube seed pot holder.
Homemade seed pots.

Houseplant BINGO! Part 2

2009-04-18T00:13:00.004-05:00

OMG, did you hear that Ashton Kutcher got one million followers on Twitter? Yeah, I don't care either.

I was watching him on Oprah when I realized I was really immersed in a game of Houseplant BINGO! It looks like a Dracaena of some kind in the background.
But here is what I'm wondering; Why is that houseplant leaning like that? Is Mr. Demi Moore a practitioner of Hortitorture?

Houseplants usually lean like this towards a light source when they don't get even lighting. but there appears to be no window in the direction the houseplant points to. Maybe this is characteristic of houseplants in Hollywood. The houseplant figured he better lean into the shot if he or she wanted to be on Oprah. I can't blame the houseplant everyone nowadays is looking for their fifteen minutes of fame. I'm no fan of Ashton Kutcher and would be more interested in reading tweets by the houseplant behind him. As a matter of fact with the Botanicalls kit you can hook your houseplants up to give you Twitter updates.

So what would it be like if Ashton Kutcher hooked up his houseplant to Twitter with a Botanicalls kit? I think it may be something like this:

Yoga was really great. Don't feel balanced though.
about 9 hours ago from TwitterBerry

I can see some light over there. I'm going to lean towards it.
about 11 hours ago from TwitterBerry

It must he happy hour somewhere. I need a drink! ASAP!!
about 11 hours ago from TwitterBerry

Someone put dried moss on my soil! WTF?
about 11 hours ago from TwitterBerry

OMG! MiracleGro is on Twitter.
about 11 hours ago from Txt

Ashton is crying in Demi's lap again. Ugh!
about 11 hours ago from Web

I'm going to be on Oprah! W00t! W00t!
about 12 hours ago from Web

#FollowFriday @Pothos.
about 13 hours ago from web

I just cried, again, watching #SusanBoyle. AMAZING!
about 13 hours ago from TwitterBerry

Or something like that. I'd read tweets by his houseplant before I'd read updates by him. If you're curious @Pothos is a real account set up to show how Botanicalls works. Whoever owns that Pothos does a bad job of watering it because it always seems to need to be watered.

Gardening Gloves From Ethel Gloves

2009-04-17T11:06:00.000-05:00

In late February when Ethel Gloves became a sponsor of Chicago Spring Fling I started an email conversation with Angela at Ethel Gloves about garden blogging. We discussed many issues that gardeners face when they start blogging including the pitfalls & triumphs. Recently, Angela offered to give me a pair of work gloves for men as a thank you gift for bouncing around ideas with her. I know me and know that something like a pair of work gloves would probably end up either getting lost or not used at all. I asked if I could instead get a pair of Ethel Gloves to give to a blogging friend. After I explain why I wanted to do this she agreed and offered me three more Ethel Gloves to give away.

If you're a regular reader of this garden blog you may remember me taking a long break last spring. You may even remember the post I made where I explained my absence after a few readers started asking what was keeping me from updating this gardening blog. My family's worst fear came to pass last October when my mother succumbed to her illness and passed away at the age of 56.

Through a large portion of my mother's illness and her subsequent passing- Ohio Mom, Cooking in Cleveland, was there for me. She offered me support and a shoulder to lean on when I needed it most. Sometimes I found it easier to talk to her than I did my own siblings or friends in real life. I'm not sure how we went from just knowing each other on a gardening message board to exchanging emails but however it happened I'm grateful it did. As you can probably tell from her screen name, she has kids of her own but somehow she still managed to find time in her life to be like a mother to someone-- a total stranger--who needed one. Ohio Mom you'll get a pair of these gardening gloves courtesy of Ethel Gloves. I hope you put them to use in your rooftop garden this summer.

Carolyn, Sweet Home and Garden Chicago, I'd like to give you a pair of these gloves but you're already attending Chicago Spring Fling- you'll get a pair then as part of the Ethel Gloves sponsorship. I wanted to thank you openly for hunting me down on the Internet while I was gone and checking up on me. If it wasn't for you (and a few others) expressing interest in my whereabouts I don't think I would have returned to this blog.

Walk2Write, of Walk 2 Write in Florida, I don't know you very well but back at the beginning of February you left the following comment:

"I hope your efforts to promote garden blogging are richly rewarded. Good luck with Spring Fling too!"

I wouldn't be my mother's son if I didn't believe in blessings. At the time when I read your comment I thought it was just a very nice thing of you to say. But for some reason I kept going back to the post where you left that comment. You may not even remember leaving it, but I read it over and over for a couple of days. By the 19th of the month I had a meeting scheduled with a newspaper publisher about the possibility of garden blogging on a website they are building. "Why me?" was my first reaction to the email inviting me to meet with them. After scheduling the meeting I found myself reading your comment again and then it all made sense. The second pair of Ethel Gloves goes to you.

Xris, Flatbush Gardener, I'd share a pair with you too but you're coming to Chicago Spring Fling and should be getting something then. While I was gone from garden blogging I got a kick out of checking my email and seeing your comments calling out the spammers in my comment section. Thanks for keeping an eye on my blog.

Rosengeranium, Indoor Gardener, I saw the blog post you made about me while I was gone and I really appreciate it. I'd give you a pair except you're all the way in Sweden. If you're ever in Chicago I'd like to buy you a cup of coffee or something to say thanks since I can't ship a pair of Ethel Gloves to you.

There are more of you out there that I'd like to thank for now I have to stop here. I've given away two pairs of Ethel Gloves in this post leaving two available. They are available to two garden bloggers with a catch. There's always a catch! Don't ask for a pair of these gloves for yourself-- nominate a fellow garden blogger to receive one.

You should be a garden blogger nominating a fellow garden blogger. You can be somehow related to the garden blogger you nominate-BUT you both must be garden bloggers. The garden blogger you nominate has to be one not attending Chicago Spring Fling. The garden blogger you nominate for this pair of gloves must live in the United States or Canada. Write a post (you don't have to link to me) or send me an email if it is too personal, explaining why the garden blogger you are nominating deserves a pair of these gloves.

What I'm looking for are stories of friendship between garden bloggers. We'll be making many new friends this spring during Chicago Spring Fling. This contest is my attempt to share some of Chicago Spring Fling with those who can't make it. This contest closes on April ~~16th.~~ April 30th.

Ethel Gloves has also provided a coupon code good for 10% off your purchase. Enter "BROWNTHUMB10" into the "Discount Code" field on any of the screens at checkout. The code is good through June 6 and timed to continue until the end of Chicago Spring Fling. Visit Ethel Gloves & see the their blog- Ethel in the Garden & leave a comment if you got one of these blog for free. If you're a fan of the White House veggie garden-Ethel Gloves sent a gift package to the First Lady, her mom & the two First Daughters. You can follow @EthelGloves on Twitter.

If you're a garden blogger you're invited to attend Chicago Spring Fling. Hurry-registration closes this Sunday!

Since that comment by Walk2Write I've had several opportunities presented to me. On Monday I signed a contract to be a garden blogger for the newspaper publisher referenced above. As I went through my cell phone calling family members to tell them the news- I came to my mother's phone number. Immediately the tears began to flow and I wanted nothing more than to be able to share with her what has been happening lately. As I looked at her listing in my cell phone "Why me?" didn't cross my mind. I knew why. I've had someone blessing me my whole life.

Update 4/17/09

I've extended the deadline for nominating a garden blogger for the gloves because I got busy working on SF and haven't had time to keep up with the emails. This should give people some extra time in case they didn't see this post. The deadline is now 4/30/09. Thanks

Macy's Flower Show 2009

2009-04-10T11:52:00.000-05:00

Macy's on State Street ushers in spring with the flower show Dream in Color. For someone like me, who professes to hate pink flowers in the garden it sounds more like a Nightmare in Color. So I was surprised at my reaction of Dream in Color, I actually liked it! The annual flower show at Macy's on State Street is a holdover from the Marshall Field's era in Chicago. Full disclosure; I once worked at Marshall Field's when I was going to school and I was one of the anti-Macy's crowd when they bought the beloved Field's. I swore up and down to anyone who would listen that I would never step foot inside of "Macy's." Today was the first day I have been inside the store since it stopped being Marshall Field's.

A week or so ago, Marisa Reeves (Media Relations Manager for Macy’s East, North Region), offered to set up a tour of the show for local garden bloggers with the Jon Jones (Visual Director for Macy's on State Street) & Todd Pope (Branch Manager for Green View's Oswego location). My Skinny Garden & Garden Girl found time in their schedules to attend. And that is how my boycott of Macy's & pink flowers ended.

I'm a realist and I know that the purpose of the flower show is to get people into the store and hope they buy or become loyal customers. Gimmicks like this usually don't appeal to me but the show is a lot of fun and realistic. What do you mean by "realistic?" A lot of times flower shows like this tend to lean towards the theatrical and use plants that the visitor can't grow in their Zone. Dream in Color uses a combination of perennials that can be planted in Chicago interspersed with flowers & plants that are too tender and won't survive a Chicago winter. But you can actually walk away from Dream in Color with inspiration that is practical and a plant list you can find at a local garden center to start a garden in Chicago.
Besides ideas for plants for your garden and color combinations you can use in your garden you can also gather ideas for gardening in small spaces like patios, decks and that annoying spot between the street and the sidewalk that nobody ever knows what to do with.
I think we could talk My Skinny Garden into wearing one of these if Macy's would become a sponsor of the national garden blogger gathering Chicago Spring Fling.
My favorite installation is the flamingo topiary. If I recall correctly each flamingo had over 2,000 kalanchoes painstakingly added. The frames had to be rotated so all the plants would receive equal amount of light to prevent them from becoming lopsided.
Here is an overhead view of the garden installation. The topiaries are underplanted with tulips, azaleas and chrysanthemums. The turf is created with wheat grass that has to be cut by hand and maintained during the run of the flower show.
This is an overhead view of the Walnut Room.
As you can see, even the fountain in the Walnut Room was turned into a garden and has been invaded by pink flamingos.

There are many tablescapes and items throughout the store that can give you inspiration. I don't know how I'd pull this off but I have to have blue trees like this in my garden.
I know these planters aren't very pratical but I really like the way they look. Notable tablescapes not pictured:

Ralph Lauren table featuring the Red Pogada china collection
Martha Stewart table featuring her Modern Daisy china collection
Wedgwood/Waterford table inspired by Showtime's The Tudors featuring Wedgwood's Oberon china collection along with crystal stemware and serving pieces from Waterford

I actually took a picture of the tablescape inspired by The Tudors but didn't include it because I figure that tablescape will be visible in other locations.
I called this one the Hewlett-Packard Garden because it was built around the HP Mini. The peonies in the design by Vivienne Tam are picked up by the real life tree peonies. We were told these mini-notebooks have been displayed as clutch purses on the fashion runways.
I loved this square topiary planted with succulents on the first floor. Like I said, there are a lot of neat ideas you can take from the displays on the first floor for gardening in small spaces. This one is an interesting topiary shape I never would have considered-but it works.
Fashion & flowers collide all over the place. The Betsey Johnson garden seems a little subdued and not as over the top as I was expecting. I'm not sure if this was intended, but viewing this garden installation I thought the trees looked rather menacing and looked like they were lurching over the fairy-like mannequins. Since My Skinny Garden and Garden Girl had also been to the Chicago Flower & Garden Show the first thing that came to mind was the bee topiary in the installation by the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences, when we saw the dragonfly topiary.
A view of the flamingos and cherry trees from the second floor. If you attend Dream in Color you should enter either through the Randolph or Washington entrances so you get to walk underneath the giant flamingos. There are fifteen cherry trees used throughout the show and they had to be put, alternately, in a greenhouse and in refrigerated trucks to get them to bloom for the show. If I remember correctly all fifteen will be replaced at some point in the show to keep the flower show fully stocked in cherry blossoms.
Whenever you're in Macy's you should make it a point to look up and see the amazing Tiffany Ceiling.
On the left is Jon Jones, Visual Director for Macy's on State Street. On the right is Todd Pope, Branch Manager for Green View's Oswego location. Green View is the floral partner for Dream in Color. Together with Marisa Reeves they provided us with an educational and funny tour of the flower show. Jon, if you read this I could probably make a centerpiece of one of the large flamingos. Todd if you need to unload any of those plants I could probably find two or three garden bloggers who would take them off your hands. Thanks for the tour.

Dream in Color is free to the public and runs from April 5th- April 19th. See website for more details. Don't miss the following:

Flower show tours by the University of Illinois Extension Master Gardeners every Thursday-Sunday throughout the duration of the show, 11 a.m., 1 p.m., & 3 p.m.

Rose Gardening tips by the University of Illinois Extension Master Gardeners every Friday & Saturday through the duration of the show, 12:10 and 12:40 p.m.

Family Fun Day
Saturday, April 11, 5th Floor Children's Department, 1-3 p.m. Kids will learn the basics of worm composting, including learning about Red Wigglers.

Family Fun Day
Saturday, 18, 5th Floor Children's Department, 1-3 p.m. The Traveling Bug Brigade by the University of Illinois Extension Master Gardener staff.

I didn't post pictures of the garden displays on the first floor so as not to spoil it for you if you're in the Chicago area and would like to attend. There is more to see that what I posted. And for the record, it will be a cold day in hell or take one awesome flower show for me to ever call the Sears Tower "Willis Tower." I'm just sayin'

You may be interested in these posts of the Chicago Flower & Garden Show 2009:
Dancing Stones
Hope for a Healing Planet
Greening Up
Reflections: An Asian Inspired garden
Rooftop Garden of the Future
Garden Marketplace
Paradise in a Parking Lot
Chicago Flower & Garden Show 2009