Milkweeds and Other Gardening Topics
Season 5, Episode 45, September 20, 2023
On our 45th episode of Season 5, I had trouble with my earphones and head phones. Carol still managed to make the recording work. Go Carol! She also tried to temp me with the Great Comp Garden and William Dyson’s salvia collection. It hasn’t worked thus far.
Last week, Carol went on a garden discovery trip in Indianapolis where she saw the Nina Mason Pulliam Ecolab, and a brand new garden center. I weeded and dug out some sneaky plants like elm tree saplings, autumn clematis, garlic chives and my ever-present Rudbeckia ‘Goldsturm.’ Fall is a great time to do these chores.
Then, we played favorites. Mine is my ’Blackhawks’ big bluestem grass, and Carol is loving 'Blue Beauty' tomatoes, one of the few tomatoes she wrested from the raccoons.
Since it’s time for monarch butterflies to journey south to Mexico, we decided to talk about native milkweed. Here’s a list of milkweeds by state that Carol found, and here’s an Oklahoma milkweed guide. The topic is kind of complicated, so here’s a post on monarchs and milkweed I wrote last year.
Although we both grow native milkweed in our garden, we also grow several non-native flowers, and I still grow some tropical milkweed while my native milkweeds bulk up for better performance in coming years. Allan Armitage’s recent article about natives and non-natives explains several reasons why. What would our gardens be without zinnias, cosmos, various basils, mints (in pots, please), and ‘Jacob Cline’ monarda for example?
On our bookshelf this week, we stayed with our milkweed theme. The Milkweed Lands: An Epic Story of One Plant by Eric Lee-Mader (Amazon link) has beautiful drawings and good information if you want to learn more about this essential weed. The book reminded Carol of The Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of our Most Essential Native Trees by Doug Tallamy (Amazon link.)
For our vegetable gardening topics, we discussed whether you should plant perennial flowers in your vegetable garden. Listen to see what we think.
We finally discussed Chaos Gardening in our dirt. Here’s another FH article about this trend. What do you think about chaos gardening?
Our rabbit holes this week were quite interesting. I was inspired by @juliacurated on Instagram so much that I went and read the poem “Clair de Lune” by Paul Verlaine, which the song is based upon. Carol gave us an update to Father by Elizabeth van Arnim (Amazon link.)
Kathy from Cold Climate Gardening wondered if Carol’s mystery book is Key to the Treasure by Peggy Parish (Amazon) which led Carol to the Amelia Bedelia books also by Peggy Parish (Amazon)
Special note to listeners who live near Edmond, Oklahoma… The Edmond Iris and Garden Society will host their annual Iris Rhizome and Plant Sale on Saturday, September 23rd, from 9 am to 1 pm at Rodkey House, in Stephenson Park at 410 South Little, Edmond. Proceeds from their sale benefit educational programs, their Centennial project for the Edmond Iris and Garden Society, and a Horticultural Scholarship to OSU.
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For more info on Carol, visit her website or blog, May Dreams Gardens.
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