Accessible Gardening: Practical Matters for Physically Challanged Gardeners #7, 0 by Sansai87

Sansai87 wrote:
In all, it cost over $1000 to get Tater-dog out of trouble, but PJ said it was still worth it. lol. Miss Vickie, I was researching the idea of doing an Amargia’s plant of the week thing for locals and I ran across a fun website that might be of interest to you. I was looking at how others had done the project and found the University of Arkansas does a “Plant of the Week” thing like DG does. Just specifically for Arkansas. I liked it enough to bookmark it. http://www.arhomeandgarden.org/plant_week.htm
I now see the value of specifically local knowledge. I have to unlearn much of what I learned from a gardening neighbor in CT. The rules can change big-time with locale.
Sheri, I haven’t noticed any hummers at the Homestead Purple verbena, but butterflies and moths are crazy about it. I think the hummingbirds are too busy defending their chosen “flower” on the feeders PJ puts up. They go so far as to buzz people’s heads to let it be known their feeders are empty. There are a few more birds every year. PJ just puts up more feeders. :-)
I read somewhere ‘Homestead Purple’ occurred as a natural mutation in GA and was discovered by a couple of famous plantsmen who introduced it into the nursery trade. I know it looks like a giant version of what grows by the roadside in the SE. It does move around like some comments on PF say. MK’s theory is that it grows so prolifically it all but exhausts the soil in its allotted space in a single year, and wants to move to an adjacent fresh area the next year. We are moving it to a space that gets regular fertilizer to try to overcome its gypsy tendencies. Also, will try treating it sort of like an annual and just moving a few new roots to a different spot every year. The way it blooms when little else does makes it worth the effort. That shade of purple pairs well with anything. It can go wherever you want an extra punch of color. ~Nadine~
Photo: Your very own Sunday comic