Summertime & the Gardening is Never a Dull Moment
Season 5, Episode 34, July 5, 2023
This week’s episode is full of news. Carol and I discussed cultivated and wild petunias, turnips, a garden memoir by Monty Don, and what's going well or not in our gardens. Masha joined us for part of this episode. You can see her contribution in our latest YouTube video. Yes! Carol published one!
Carol is also a fan of winter sowing now. She had good luck with Verbena bonariensis ‘Vanity,’ an All-America Selection. I need to winter sow some seeds this year. There’s never enough room in the greenhouse and under lights. Plus, some plants just like that winter feeling.
Thinking of winter cooled you off, didn’t it?
I had a busy week, and Carol had a nutty one. You’ll need to listen to hear why. I spoke to the Oklahoma Horticultural Society, and I opened my garden. Busy days. The OHS meets again in September because they take off for summer.
We are also dealing with Japanese beetles, and here’s a cool video from Blossom and Branch Farm where she vacuumed the Japanese beetles off of her plants. I have that same vacuum. Here’s a similar one, and it’s great for the kitchen floor and hardwood floors too.
We’re still playing favorites. Carol’s was the stock she grew from seed. It’s still flowering. Mine is ‘Jeana’ phlox. I did a reel on Instagram where I featured ‘Jeana’ along with ‘Becky’ Shasta daisies.
Our flower topic was cultivated petunias versus Wild Petunias, Ruellia humilis, which Carol blogged about years ago. She recently wrote an article for Family Handyman titled Are petunias perennials?
We both like big and bold spreading petunias like Wave Petunias, Proven Winners’ Vista Supertunias, and Crazytunias. ‘Mayan Sunset’ is my favorite of the Crazytunias. ‘Laura Bush’ is beautiful too. Carol grew Wave Carmine Velour from seeds sent to her by All-American Selections and loves it too.
In our veggie topic, we were really supposed to just talk about turnips, but it is summer, so we also discussed ‘Provider’ Green Beans from Botanical Interests and Jalapeno-gate, yet again, in case you missed it last week. I’m just using my banana peppers in everything in defiance. Here’s some great turnip info from True Leaf Markets.
Carol went down an additional rabbit hole after reading The Ivington Diaries by Monty Don. (2009) (Amazon link) which was on our bookshelf this week. You’ll need to watch my reel about Sweaty Betty and the heat. This and the book led Carol to write a blog post about a plant commonly called Sweaty Betty.
She also found another lost lady of garden writing, Dorothy Childs Hogner. I see a book coming, don’t you?
We were also sent the Secret Garden: 10th Anniversary Special Edition by Johanna Basford (coming out in September 2023) (Amazon link). It was one of the first adult coloring books. A lovely thing.
And now the business-y stuff.
If you want to help support the podcast at no extra cost, please click on our affiliate links and purchase something from them:
Botanical Interests
Farmers Defense
Etsy
Territorial Seeds
True Leaf Market
Eden Bros
Bookshop and Amazon links are also affiliate links.
You can also support us via a monthly subscription for as little as $3 or a one-time donation through Paypal. Thanks to everyone who has already done so!
Please feel free to email us anytime at TheGardenangelists@gmail.comÂ
For more info on Carol, visit her website or blog, May Dreams Gardens.
For more info on Dee, visit her website , Red Dirt Ramblings.
On Instagram: Carol: Indygardener, Dee: RedDirtRamblings, Our podcast: TheGardenangelists.
On Facebook: The Gardenangelists' Garden Club.
On YouTube. Watch for new videos!