"Taking the Winds of March with Beauty"
Season 6, Episode 19, March 27, 2024
I can’t believe it’s the last week of March. Still, for our latest episode, Carol and I covered PPA’s perennial for 2024 Phlox paniculata 'Jeana,' our favorite tools, etc. for our veggie gardens, a great new book on bird-friendly gardening, and so much more.
It’s a great episode this week if I may say so.
It’s quite chilly in our world, but I still hear bluebirds singing so I know spring is here. Carol brought up Abby’s Plant Parties for young and old in her update. Those look fun. Since it’s cold at night, we also discussed whether to cover or not to cover. We both chose not to cover, but I did take some of my new roses with tender growth into the greenhouse. They had buds. For more tips, listen to the podcast.
P. paniculata ‘Jeana’ is our flower this week. It’s also profiled on Mt. Cuba Center’s website. It was also mentioned in a “rant” from Garden Rant about how there is no such thing as a “straight species.”
For our veggie topic, we decided to discuss favorites. See our favorite tools below. Listen for more.
Carol: I love the Cobrahead weeder for making rows in the garden. I also have a long-handled raised bed cultivator from Gardener’s Supply which is handy for raised beds. Claw on one side, hoe on the other, and a short handle that is just long enough to reach across the bed.
Dee: I also like the Cobrahead. I have a cool and brutal Japanese weeder I use all the time. I like hand tools because I can control them better and they don’t hurt my back. I also like the DeWit Dutch hand hoe. As for pruners, I love Felcos, and floral snips. I have Corona ComfortGEL Leaf & Stem Micro Snips and Fiskars micro-tip pruning snips. These are different tools for different jobs.
Carol wants everyone in Indiana to be aware of Asian Jumping Worms. I hope Oklahoma never gets those.
I was extremely excited about our book this week, Bird-Friendly Gardening: Guidance and Projects for Supporting Birds in Your Landscape, by Jen McGuiness. (Amazon Link.) It is the real deal.
If you’d like to know more about growing for birds, check out the National Garden Bureau's “Attract Birds to Your Garden with a Home-Grown Buffet”
Carol is chuffed about this week’s dirt. Pansies are now a Texas Superstar!
Our rabbit holes are fun this week.
I was on Teresa Byington’s Rose Chat podcast. Here’s my episode. So fun! Teresa wanted me to tell Carol about ‘Flirty Skirts’ pansies. They have seeds at Park Seeds. I wonder if Carol will get her greenhouse friends to grow them for her.
Carol wrote about Bebe Miles, a Lost Lady of Garden Writing. I see a book in her future, but for now, you can read all of these in her Substack newsletter. She’s also writing Seed Packet Poetry. Does Carol have too much time on her hands?
Eclipse Update: Another YouTube video of two guys talking about it. If the skies are clear, we will see planets too.
Happy Easter Everyone! Enjoy spring!
Here’s the stuff at the end…
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