Green is a relaxing color and nature provides it in many shades and textures. This driveway surrounded by a myriad of greens is a sure sign you are home.
I give thanks for all things green
I give thanks for all things green;
For trees and leaves, caterpillars and beans.
For the algae and moss that grows where the world is wet;
And for succulents growing in soils with a water debt.
I give thanks for all things green;
They furnish our world with oxygen and caffeine.
Green chlorophyll is queen, a molecule most supreme;
She captures energy for us to live and move and dream.
I give thanks for all things green;
And flowers which bloom in all colors including aquamarine.
I give thanks for bugs and fungus and slimy things all around;
Our earth would not be as lovely or function as well with out them in our town.
Green stink bugs mar the tomatoes; green mantises eat the bugs;
Not all which creep and crawl are thugs, some even deserve hugs.
I give thanks for the veggies in my garden most green;
And sharing with birds, bees and worms a pleasant routine.
For kids with faces and tongues made green from a Popsicle;
I hide spinach in spaghetti sauce for eaters most fickle.
I give thanks for all things green;
My table is full and my family and friends healthy and serene.
I give thanks for the balancing act that sustains the earth;
We all have a role to play and all of us are of great worth.
Have you notice how many shades of green Mother Nature uses to paint the earth? From green-gold to green black and every shade in between, the earth is a feast of green for our eyes.
Flowers are brighter and more effective with a foil of green. The color pops and the eye is drawn when color is an accent against a lush back drop of green.
Salvia 'Black and Blue' is a lovely sight. It brightens gardens year 'round in warm climates and spring though frost in cooler locations. The ladybug and the bloom benefit from the presence of the other. The blooms attract insect visitors, the ladybug feasts on those visitors. I give thanks for the colors of the rainbow, the royal purple of a bloom, the orange of a ladybug and the green of life-giving leaves.
The rainy season ended abruptly and early here in South Florida and the landscape is showing the stress. Some lawns are turning brown and a few trees and shrubs a dropping leaves. But one sign of fall is still showing up at least in irrigated lawns, the fairies have been dancing leaving behind a ring of mushrooms.
The term "Fairy Ring" conjures up visions of sugar plums maybe? The term has been around for centuries and mentions of the phenomena can be found in English myths and superstitions dating back to medieval times where it was believed that the rings were formed by dancing fairies and the area a place of enchantment.
Actually, Fairy Rings are the result of the growth of various fungi and occur in all types of turfgrasses. They tend to occur where quantities of organic matter, such as lumber, tree stumps, logs, etc., are located either naturally or from having been buried during construction. The fungi are simply doing their job, which is decomposing the organic matter. The highly visible mushrooms are the fruits of the hard working fungus.
There are three types of Fairy Rings. Type I rings have an area of dead grass inside a zone of dark green grass. Type II rings tend to have a band of dark green turf, with or without mushrooms. Type III rings do not exhibit a dead zone or a dark green zone, but simply have a ring of mushrooms present. Typically we see only Type II or III Fairy Rings here in Florida. Type I rings and the disastrous results occur more often in more northern regions and cool-season turfgrasses.
Rings can be present anytime of year, however we generally see mushrooms during the late summer and fall. Fairy Rings can be small, sometimes less than 1 foot across and usually grow larger each year. Older rings can be 6 feet or more in diameter. Not all rings are complete circles; they vary considerably and can appear as half-moons, quarter-circles, or irregular shapes.
Most of the mushrooms are safe, but some are poisonous. If there are concerns about kids or puppies eating them, the mushrooms should be removed or destroyed. Remember; never eat a mushroom that you are not absolutely sure of its identification, even experienced and trained mushroom collectors use extreme caution when sampling their harvest.
There are no controls recommended for home lawns with fair rings. However, it is possible to mask the dark green ring symptoms with an application of fertilizer. It is very difficult to dig up and remove the under ground organic matter which the fungus feed on and even if you try, it is likely that he rings will return. Fairy Rings will usually disappear naturally, but it may take several years.
You may find a fungicide that list Fairy rings on its label, be aware that many fungicides only inhibit the fungus growth, not completely stop it, and do not eliminate the dark green bands of turfgrass. My suggestion is to make up a story of the Fairy party last night on your lawn, and live with the Fairy Rings.
The hottest part of the year is upon us, August and September can be brutal temperature wise. It was mid-morning and I was out sweating and taking pictures and yet I was calm and happy when the reason for such struck me, there was a loud buzzing accompanying me as I worked - the cicadas were singing.
I have always associated the loud sound of cicadas in the woods with the lazy days of summer. The sound transports me to the days of lawn chairs set on the breezeway or under a tree while a breeze - cool or not - blew in from the ocean. As teenagers it was comic books and gossiping with friends; as a young adult heaver and lighter chick lit books were my choice of entertainment, but when it's too hot to be working a break in those chairs with the cicadas singing was always welcome and often lured me into a sweaty nap.
Cicadas are interesting insects. They spend most of their lives underground as juveniles emerging only in the last phase of their lives to molt into an adult, mate, lay eggs and die. The whole adult phase only takes a few weeks.
Here in Florida, we do not have the periodic cicadas which are the ones which hatch on a predictable schedule - a 13 or 17 year life cycle. But there are 19 species of these insects which call this state home. They all have a life cycle which is several years long, however each year there are some cicadas which mature, emerge and serenade us.
Most of the species lay their eggs in living or dead branch tips in late summer and fall. The eggs may hatch in the same year or next spring. When the small ant-like nymph hatches, it falls to the ground and burrows. The immature cicadas feed on the watery xylem of roots but the damage is usually insignificant. They will molt four times over a period of about four to ten years depending on species. A fifth molt is needed for the cicada to emerge as an adult. This molt is done above ground and the cast of skins are commonly seen on trees and shrubs.
Cicadas are not usually considered damaging insects to Florida gardens and landscapes. Their root feeding is of no consequence and the adults consume small amounts of plant material. The main interest of adults is mating. In most species, it is the male which "sings." He produces his call with a pair of drum-like organs on either side of the abdomen known as timbals which are a complex arrangement of cuticle, stiff rib-like structures, plates and air sacks. These songs vary by species and attract females of the same species. If you would like to here cicada songs, check out Species of cicadas commonly heard in northern Florida by T. J. Walker at entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/walker/buzz/c700... or the Cicada Link Directory of Cicada Mania at www.cicadamania.com/cicadalinks.html, look for the sites with the word AUDIO highlighted in yellow at the end of the link.
The song of cicadas transports me to a simpler time when few houses were air conditioned and summers were long, hot and lazy. If I listen closely, I can hear them today calling me outside to play.
This beautiful and whimsical planting of the succulent plant Sedum morganianum AKA burro's tail is growing at a friend's house. It is healthy and one of her pride and joys. She has carted it around as she moved about the country and tended it lovingly for years.
Succulents should grow well here in Florida and some do. It is sunny, hot in the summer, warm in the winter (at least in South Florida) and dry - well for 6 months of the year. Great conditions for most succulents; it's the other 6 months of the year the rainy season when most of the 55 to 60 inches of annual rain falls that causes problems for succulents.
Most succulents have plant tissues such as thick waxy or hairy leaves, swollen stems and trunks and thickened roots for storing water. Some have spines which are modified leaves and serve the plant in many ways. Spines can deter predation; few animals want a mouthful of ouch! They can shade the plant, serve as a point for condensation to occur and direct water to drip back towards the plant or on the root system. Succulents are mostly adapted to growing in dry or desert-like conditions, though there are some species that originate in areas of higher rainfall. Wet conditions can cause rots.
The venerable Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Miami-Dade County, Florida has a collection titled the Lin Lougheed Spiny Forest of Madagascar (www.fairchildgarden.org/livingcollection...). I found it fascinating; particularly in the way the plants are installed to survive South Florida's annual rainy season. Succulent beds are possible in wet humid areas with beds constructed to drain well and rapidly.
Rock gardens have been popular for centuries and have a history all their own. However, in humid wet areas, beds for succulents are built a bit differently. I have often railed against the use of raised landscape beds here in Florida. We are topographically challenged and such beds are often hot and dry and normal landscape plants suffer when planted on one.
Raised beds which are made for dry gardens are the way to go for succulent gardens in humid rainy zones. Such beds place the plants so the roots don't grow into saturated soil or the high water table and make drainage of tropical rains faster. The base should be of construction or hard rubble and/or rocks which may emerge out of the bed. The growing mix should contain about 6 parts gravel or poultry grit, 2 parts coarse sand and 1 to 2 parts peat and/or potting soil. This mix should drain very quickly but be able to hold some moisture and nutrients. The whole bed should be topped with inorganic mulch such as pea gravel. Though it pains me to say this, organic mulch should be avoided, many succulents are prone to rot if moisture accumulates or is held against the trunk or stem.
There is a lot of work to building a succulent bed where it is humid and rainy, but most of the work is up front. Once built and established, the usually slow-growing plants need little care. However, the beds must be hand weeded religiously.
Too much work? This is where my friend's sedum comes in; she grows her succulents where they are protected from the rain so the amount and timing of water application is controlled. Such an area can be as simple as under house eves on the south or west - just be sure water doesn't drip into the pots. Or it can be a protected area on a covered porch, deck or patio. Greenhouses are also suitable for protecting succulents from the rain. In short, growing areas for dry-loving succulents here in Florida and other tropical zones should be sunny and dry.
There are many advantages to growing succulents. The offer fantastical looking forms, many have showy blooms or leaves. The plants tend to be pest-resistant and if the beds are constructed well, are water-saving and require little care.
The forgotten chicken was roasting at 475° F. Rushing into the kitchen to save dinner, I quickly pulled the oven door open, reached in with a hot pad in hand to grab the pan and the oven door bounced trying to close with my arm in the way. Needless to say, I was stunned for a moment until the pain hit.
Immediately, I turned on the faucet to cold and ran water over my arm for a while, then grabbed some ice. After the first few minutes, I know the burn was at least going to blister if not be more serious. Thoughts of Granny Cloud and a dear old college professor, Dr. Thomas J. Sheehan came to mind.
Granny Cloud always kept a patch of Aloe vera growing near the house for treating occasional burns, she also took the gel inside the leaves internally, but that's another story.
Dr. Sheehan was my undergraduate advisor and is an orchidist extraordinaire. During a lab session, I was firing the top of a glass test tube in an alcohol burner in preparation for sowing fine dust-like orchid seeds, Dr. Sheehan came into the lab and spoke to me for a short time. All during this time I was holding the tube in the flame, when he finished, I reached over and took the top of the tube in my bare fingers. Glass gets very hot and the burn was immediate. Dr. Sheehan took me by the wrist, removed the tube from my hand and lead me right out into the attached greenhouse. He split a fresh Aloe vera leaf and applied it directly to my thumb. The pain was a little intense, but seemed to be cooling. He gave me a couple of fresh leaves, told me to apply a fresh leaf section every hour and suggested I head to the student health center in the morning if my thumb was red or the pain was still extreme. The next morning, there was not even a blister.
Well, much to my chagrin (I hear Granny Cloud fussing at me); I have no Aloe vera growing nearby. Surely there was something I could put on this burn which would easy the pain and help the healing process. There are many plants which have historically been used for treating burns. These include boiled elm bark, plantain leaves, alder bark, sweet gum leaves, goldseal roots, chickweed, ivy, mallow and St. John's wort. None of these are growing in my space and there has been little research and no confirmed results as to the effectiveness of any of them.
If you had been standing nearby, I bet you could have seen the light bulb turn on over my head, Bulbine frutescens grows in my landscape. Bulbine is a tender evergreen perennial in the lily family from South Africa and I had recently done some research about it. The leaves of this plant are round and tubular, thick and juicy. One common name for Bulbine is burn jelly plant and it has traditionally been used in Africa to treat a multitude of problems including mosquito bites, cuts, burns, rashes and eczema. Some reports that the sticky gel sap contains similar components as that of Aloe vera. Again, there are no conclusions as to the effectiveness of this plant sap as a medicinal treatment.
I cut a handful of Bulbine leaves, they are not as juicy as Aloe, scraped some of the sap and applied it to my arm. It was not as cooling as Aloe but the weather was very hot and the pain began to recede. As you can see above, part of the wound did blister. I continued to apply the Bulbine sap a couple of times a day for about a week. The wound has healed, it pealed like a sunburn and there is no scar.
I can not and do not make a medical recommendation about any plant. But it may be worth a conversation with your doctor or other health professional about keeping a plant or two around for such. Aloe vera and Bulbine frutescens are good choices for herb and succulent garden and containers where not hardy.
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