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| Pest-killing bugs swoop in to protect roses. I am anxious to have a variety of hosts for these beneficial bugs - Daisies, Mints, and Borage. |
When the Buckwheat was taller than the roses and the Japanese beetles were destroying blooms, I thought of renting a renting a bulldozer for a minutes. But no - Creation rights itself rather quickly.
Some local helpers came in with weed-whackers and leveled the Buckwheat and the invasive Bermuda grass. The season for Japanese beetles was over and rain came. On Sunday, three inches of rain fell.
The flowers on the Sunday altar were needing a home, so I took them to my favorite basic English class. They already had copies of Creation Gardening and Angel Joy, so they knew my perspective. Most are future nurses, plus one future doctor.
Everyone was quite excited to enjoy the fragrance of Mr. Lincoln, Easy-Does-It, Veterans' Honor, and other roses. Twelve students are women, three men. I talked about cause and effect - how to get good roses without spending much money. I knew beneficial bugs would lose them, so I talked about using fungicides when fungus was the single most important part of healthy, productive soil. "So why pump fungicide all over the roses when fungus - overall - is the best thing for them?" They decided I should bring roses to every class, which is easy at the end of the long growing season here.
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| Bow before Empress Wu. |
In the spring I was asked to buy the largest Hosta, Empress Wu, at a sale price - for fall delivery. I kept wondering about where that went. Yesterday the box came.
My ground-cover strategy for next year is to use beneficial bug plants like Mountain Mint to fill in large areas among the roses. Hostas are Hummingbird plants, which was proven when Mr. Gardener's plants in the backyard gave us regular visitors - the hummers even checked out the birdfeeders.
An ad for Hostas amused me, claiming the plants loved deep shade and semi-shade. That is a good example of selling for the empty spots in the yard - such as under the trees. In fact, Hostas are like roses. They love morning sun and afternoon shade. Like many plants, Hostas sleep in the first year, grow the second year, and leap in the third year.
Hostas will bloom in the deep shade and seem quite content there, but few people visit the back of our home. Those Hostas will move to the rose garden, with parent plants staying behind to produce more.
A Moliner who loves the outdoors has cautioned me to grow native plants, and I am one who likes to help the Monarchs. They need plants for their babies, so I am increasing the number of Butterfly Weed plants. Another great butterfly plant is Joe Pye Weed, which is more like a convention center for butterflies. Both are easy to grow and attractive plants.
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| Butterfly Weed is quite attractive and easy to grow. |
All the ingredients are there for the Creation Gardener to use. Plant it and they will come - beneficial insects, butterflies, Hummingbirds, and many delightful animals.
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| Joe Pye can be found in a taller form, which I like among the roses, and a smaller one - Baby Joe. |
