February Gardens at the B&B

Book your Texas wedding with one of our all inclusive  elopements at the ranch and get married in our garden!

From the Horticulturist at The Hill: Henry Flowers, Curator of Festival Hill Gardens:

“Here are some plants  recommended for the winter: Cool-Season Annual Herbs: dill, fennel, parsley, cilantro/coriander, chervil, lovage, anise, and caraway (the last two are more difficult, but worth a try). Vegetables: lettuce, kale, chard, turnips, beets, spinach, radicchio, chicory, arugula, dandelions, mustard, bulbing fennel, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and kohlrabi (a personal favorite). Flowers: borage, calendula, dianthus, violas and pansies, violets, alyssum, snapdragons, chamomile, feverfew, and nasturtiums (will need protection from harsh cold).

Other plants: Now is also a good time to plant perennial herbs such as rue, rosemary, sage, sorrel, savory, thyme, catnip and catmint, salad burnet, and oregano. It is also a great time to plant hardy trees and shrubs, especially roses – herb of the year 2012 (potted roses make wonderful, long-lasting gifts!). These lists are not all inclusive, but they are a great place to start.

Remember too that the winter is a great time to plant and grow many of our best edible flowers. All of the flower plants listed above, with the exception of snapdragons and alyssum, are edible if grown organically – and so are roses! And since I’ve mentioned roses, here is a list of some that I think are the best ones for us (and many of these are ‘Earth-Kind’ varieties): Belinda’s Dream, Carefree Beauty (Katy Road Pink), Maggie, Old Blush, Cecile Brunner, Souvenir de la Malmaison, Mutabilis, Souvenir de St. Anne’s, Mrs. B.R. Cant, Penelope, Prosperity, Marie Pavie, Green Rose, Knock Out, Climbing Pinkie, New Dawn, and Archduke Charles.  If you need a rose to fit certain criteria, the staff at the Antique Rose Emporium is a good source of reference.

Roses

The Antique Rose Emporium (ARE)  hosts  its annual Fall Festival of Roses in November  with three days of free garden-related seminars presented by nationally and internationally known speakers and gardening tours.  The ranch is located just a short drive down a beautiful country road from this amazing nursery & garden center.

Antique Rose Emporium, with its 8 acres of landscaped grounds, is located at 10000 FM 50 in Independence, Texas. For more information about the annual Fall Festival of Roses, call 979-836-5548.

With dill as the herb of the year, it is a good idea to start planting it in the garden soon.  Be sure to plant lots of its wonderful familial relatives such as parsley, fennel, lovage, cilantro, and chervil. Now is also a good time to start planting other cool season plants such as kale, broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, chard,  spinach, lettuce, collards, mustard, turnips, beets, and such. Stick some of these into your flower beds for interest. ‘Redbor’ and ‘Winterbor’ kales with their dark purple or soft green leaves look great with pansies, snapdragons, calendulas, dianthus, chartreuse lettuces,  parsley and cilantro – the bonus is  you can eat them too!
Don’t forget that fall is also a great time to plant trees, shrubs, and bulbs. Roses are one of my favorite group  of herbs, and I’d recommend the following varieties: ‘Mutabilis,’ ‘Carefree Beauty,’ ‘Mrs. B.R. Cant,’ ‘Maggie,’ ‘Cecile Brunner,’ ‘Marie Pavie,’ ‘Cramoisi Superieur,’ ‘Madame Antoine Mari,’ ‘Belinda’s Dream,’ ‘Knockout,’ ‘Nacogdocehes,’ ‘Martha Gonzales,’ and, oh, the list could go on until your eyes started to glaze over.  Yes, you can have your roses and eat them too!

Thanksgiving is a good time to get your sweet pea seeds in the ground.  If your looking for a suggestion, my favorite  is an old variety named ‘Painted Lady.’ She has pink and white flowers, blooms early,  for a long time and is particularly fragrant.

Post me a comment and let me know some of your favorites!

The first feature is a tumbling  waterfall surrounded by rock and perennial plants including a Pineapple Guava Standard.  It arrived too tall so after it settles in I will trim it down to size and retrain it next year into a shorter tree form.  We were able to convert our antique water trough (originally used to water the  livestock by our ancestors who established our  homestead) into a unique tumbling waterfall.  I have learned two new tricks already after brown algae began to grow in  the trough:  add a bag of barley grass and some goldfish!  Both are organic, natural ways of taking care of the algae and adding interest to the trough.  We started with 12 fish and are down to 2…..one of the perils of being a fish in the country with  all  the wild “critters”.  The remaining 2 are wily creatures who thus far have survived.

The second water feature includes Japanese Rain Chains.   They are made of copper and will develop a lovely patina as they age.  The water flowing from cup to cup makes the most delicious ”babbling brook” sound…..so very soothing and relaxing.  Makes me want to lie down with  a good book right there!  The rain chains are in on the backdrop of our wedding gazebo with backlit stained glass on either side and gardens expanding from both the left and right.  We expanded the gardens to include more perennials and some edibles (Pindo Palm, Cardammon, an Olive Tree, Daylillies, Roses to name a few of the edibles).

Gardening has always been one of my passions but learning to hardscape with  water is a whole new arena and one I am enjoying!  Come enjoy the new gardens with the birds, wildlife and other guests!

Speaking of Fall, now is the time to plant herbs and flowers. Culinary herbs such as dill (herb of 2010), fennel, parsley, caraway, coriander/cilantro, celery, chervil, and lovage. There are also many ornamentals such as bishop’s weed, Queen Anne’s lace, and laceflower.  Vegetables such as carrots, beets, turnips, and  parsnips obviously belong here too.   I also sprinkle in seeds of tri color swiss chard for their beautiful and edible foliage,  sugar snap peas and baby lettuces for a quick harvest.There are also medicinal plants such as angelica – of which  the Chinese variety (Angelica polymorpha var. sinensis)  does best here (zone 9) - in part shade. It is biennial and can reach 8 to 10 feet when blooming! Angelica, by the way, is a historically important plant that was used to treat a variety of ailments and gives its characteristic flavor to the liqueur Benedictine. One member of this family which you should truly avoid growing is poison hemlock. It can be mistaken for parsley and is quite lethal – just ask Socrates if you don’t believe me.  As a important and fun experience, most of these plants are great larval host plants for many butterfly species!Get on  your gloves, get out your spade and get digging!  The reward is far greater than the work involved…. 

Not only great decorative tools, pomegranites are also edible and full of vitamins—–seed are used in salads, as garnishes, eaten out of hand fresh and juiced for their antioxidant properties being used in drinks from cocktails to punch!