Archive for the ‘Gardening’ Category

Antique Roses and Gardening for Beauty

December 11th, 2012 by Pamela Murski

Roses at the Ranch

Best to start  at the beginning. The first roses were the species roses – those roses that were created in nature. The center of origin of all roses is considered to be China. From there the rose spread to what is now Asia, Europe, North Africa, and North America, but the rose never made it below the equator until the intervention of man. There are many wonderful species roses and for the most part they are spring-blooming only.

Here’s a list of some that do very well here at the ranch and B&B:

Belinda’s Dream Rose

Rosa laevigata – Cherokee Rose – Native to China

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Fall Gardening in Central Texas at the Ranch

October 2nd, 2012 by Pamela Murski

 

Fall Gardening

Here at the ranch we love the tips and advice we get from our specialist,  the Horticulturist at the Hill (aka: Henry Flowers at Festival Hill)  With Fall just around the corner and hopefully the Texas heat beginning to abate, it is a great time of year to plant the following:

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Brenham Texas B&B Gardens & Tips on Good Flower Photographing

April 27th, 2012 by Pamela Murski

As an avid gardener here at the B&B, I am always looking for tips on photography for flowers.  This  video from a photojournalist from the chronicle has some good ones.  Come stay at the ranch and practice your photography skills using  our gardens as your subjects!

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Roses at the Ranch

February 28th, 2012 by Pamela Murski

Here at the ranch, we get all our roses from the famous Antique Rose Emporium, which is just a quick 10 minutes away.  Some of our favorites are Belinda’s Dream, Cramoisi Superior, Carefree Beauty (Katy Road Pink), Maggio, 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 are having a tough time deciding or need a suggestion for a certain locale, be sure to ask the staff at the Emporium…..they are the experts on roses!

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Winter Gardening at the Ranch

February 14th, 2012 by Pamela Murski

Murski Homestead hosts intimate weddings year round, even in the gardens, so keeping  them in shape is a priority.  Winter gardening is one of the pleasures here at the ranch as the season is cooler, the colors last longer and it tends to be more rain and less watering, so that we can really enjoy the outdoors for longer periods.

Some of the things we recommend for winter gardens in the South are:

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Winter Gardening in Brenham Texas

December 21st, 2011 by Pamela Murski

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.

 

 

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Antique Rose Emporium: Annual Fall Festival of Roses

September 15th, 2011 by Pamela Murski

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.

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Spring Herbs at Brenham Texas B&B Ranch

March 15th, 2011 by Pamela Murski

Spring at our Ranch B&B in Brenham is just around the corner and after this crazy, wild winter we are planning on a bumper crop of spring herbs. Some of our favorites include Aussie Sweetie basil, African Blue basil, Lemon thyme, Italian parsley, Tuscan Blue rosemary, Rose Scented geranium and cilantro. The Antique Rose Emporium is one of our favorite places to shop for them. It is also a great place for inspiration and reflection. We look forward to blogging about some of our incredible recipes from our spring classes using those great herbs!

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Fall Garden Herbs, Vegies, and More…

October 12th, 2010 by Pamela Murski

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 

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Winter Gardens Brenham TX B&B Guest Ranch

March 8th, 2010 by Pamela Murski

Winter gardens at the ranch are a thing of beauty even in their starkness.   The Camellias and Quince are blooming which is a sure sign of late winter at the ranch and also a reminder that Spring is just around the corner! After this unusually wet and cold winter, I am anxiously awaiting a wonderful Spring full of incredible fresh green herbs and beautiful new garden growth at the B&B!

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New Gardens Complete!

November 6th, 2009 by Pamela Murski

Our new garden additions with the water features are finally finished!  The process was so very interesting.  I was intrigued watching the different techniques for hardscaping and installing water features.

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!

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Herbs & Vegies for the Fall

October 29th, 2009 by Pamela Murski

Oh what an incredible and glorious fall it has been so far! Not only have the rains replenished our tanks, cattle and land but also perked all the gardens up and the fall blooms are abundant. The ‘Country Girl’ mums, the Mexican cosmos with their radiant orange flowers, the smellicious almond verbenas, the multi-colored zinnias and the ‘Ponderosa’ lemon weighing heavily with its abundant and heavy fruits are but a few enjoying the bounty of the rains. Butterflies still abound in the garden – especially on the various mistflowers, butterfly weeds, the zinnias, and the chaya. Caterpillars are busy munching away on the fennel and other plants in a hurry to metamorphose before the first frosts. 

 

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…. 

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Pomegranites

October 26th, 2009 by Pamela Murski

First pomegranite of the season from my friends trees was harvested recently at her farm near Burton, Texas.  Mary Jane, a great friend in my culinary unit, is also a wonderful artist and weaver.  She and her husband built their home by hand and it is a intense mixture of color, whimsy, art and function.  Her gardens are eclectic in form and by their very nature an extension of her artistic bent.  While at her home recently for a meal, I snapped this photo of her in her kitchen with her pomegranite in hand!  (TIP:  While in Brenham, be sure to sign up for one of her weaving classes at Fibers!)

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!

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