Sharon's Gardening Page

SHARON'S GARDENING PAGE

I LOVE TO GARDEN!!!

I have loved gardening since I left home and lived on my own. I always planted some flowers somewhere in the yard, often begging space from neighbors. I started acquiring house plants from anyone who was desperate to "help" this poor dying plant out, PLEASE! God has given me the talent of a wonderful green thumb.

Many of my plants have come long distances and many years with me. When I moved from one part of the county, I moved all of them in my van, stopping by my parents in Arizona. Arizona has some STRICT plant inspection laws, and when I got to the border and the inspector asked if I had any plants, I calmly and succinctly said "Of course not". He waved me thru, while my huge Monstera Deliciosa Philodendron waved good by from the back windows of the van. I have had this plant about 18 years now, and it has reached large trash can "pot" size, with cuttings from it going all over the US, and the 4 other pots of it I have in various stages. Spring of 1997, I also acquired a VARIEGATED Monstera from a major Citys' Greenhouse, and brought a cutting they gave me home in a plastic bag, held during the air flights home. His name is Junior, and he lives happily today amongst the others.

I am mostly into tropical foliage plants, such as Philodendrons, Ficus and rubber trees, and some of the flowering begonias and semi-tropical bloomers. The rubber tree I rescued from a Physical Therapy office, where they were TRYING to kill it, willfully! I brought it home, gladly, and "Minerva" was happy in Texas. These are the only two plants that have names, tho my husband accuses me of naming them all. I love marantha plants and have 5 different types. I had to leave most of the big plants behind, except for Junior the varigated Monstera and the huge original Monstera. We now have the sun room and a 4ft by 3ft greenhouse window for plants and orchids inside.

I really get into gardening when it is outside, now that we own our own homestead. It is hard to get serious about planting bulbs and perennials when you do not own the land you plant in! Although I do have irises, carnations and a ginger from Las Cruces, New Mexico, that have followed me through 3 moves now. I am really into irises. I belong to the IRIS LIST, a great source of information and fun. To subscribe, you email them or go toOnelist.com and sign up. There are many old time growers, hybridizers and commercial growers on the list. I also belong to the DAHLIA LIST. To subscribe, in the body of the message, type: SUBSCRIBE DAHLIA-NET Yourfirstname Yourlastname. This will add your name to the list. The last list I subscribe to is the HERB LIST. To subscribe, in the body of the message, type: SUBSCRIBE HERB. This should get you enough mail to keep you busy for years!

I also plant Daffodils, Dutch irises, Tulips, Leukojonium Vernia, Tuberoses, Calla lilies, Day Lillies, Oriental Lillies of all sorts, Dahlias of all sorts, Freesias, Gladiolas in rainbow colors, Hyacinths, Lycoris lillies, and Bleeding heart. Bulbs are such great plantw for lazy gardeners like me, you plant them once and forget them. Disclaimer: this is for southern gardens only. I am learning that you have to dig amarylis, glads and the tender bulbs here.

Here are some **NEW** photos of my iris garden in Washington, and a lovely historic iris that folks from the iris list helped me identify as HELEN COLLINGWOOD (Smith, 1949). Here are some garden photos from the homestead in 1999.

I love perennials, and plant lots of Delphinium, Lupine, Liatris, Snapdragons, Dianthus, Carnations, Foxglove, and Sweet peas. My Zinnas are reseeding and come back each year. I have a flourescent mix, and a soft, pale green that I used in my wedding boquet in September of 1996. I planted zinnas and cosmos and dill at work in 1997, by the front gate, and folks were really amazed that they grew so well. I also pruned a rose bush that had NOT been pruned. Folks thought I killed it, but were surprised when it came back so bushy, and so full of roses that they were astounded! I have finally planted six roses at the homestead, including a Mr. LINCOLN that Annie the dog dug up twice. It is hanging in there, two are blooming in June 2000.

We have finally moved to a 25 acre parcel I have in the North West . We would like to start an organic herb farm and orchard, and grow some more of my latest find, orchids. More about that in a minute. I had always grown some herbs: dill, basil, and cilantro, but my husband is REALLY into them. We planted 8 kinds of basil, some parsley, rosemary, tarragon, 2 oreganos, 3 thymes, cilantro, marjoram, fennel and dill, and some lavender to boot. We also have a Curry plant that is good to smell, but not for the curry flavor folks think of with "curry". We also planted "Sweet 100" cherry tomatoes in a Victorian claw bathtub in the back yard, they went crazy and fed us all summer. We planted Roma tomaotes for cooking and salads as we like the flavor and texture better. We had Sweet Banana peppers (sweet,??? WOW they were spicy!!!), Aneheim chilis, and red/green peppers of unknown origin (last years' seed). We are trying to get started on growing for seed, and making a bunch of "mother" plants for tarragon, rosemary, and lavender.

I always like when folks give me a bookmark list (saves ME the time looking them up), so here is one of mine for gardening:

flower Sharon's Gardening Bookmarks.

The orchid discussion got too long, so I made it a separate page. This orchid orchid is for you!

Send me some e-mail !

Thanks for dropping by.

Many thanks for the wonderful graphics by: