Archive for March, 2016

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Masses around the Oak

March 9, 2016

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A few years ago, I bought one or two Chrysanthemum paludosum. Now I have tenfold. Chrysanthemums are self-sowers, and each year I look forward to a new crop,  late winter – early summer. Last year I decided it would be pretty to have a solid mass growing around the oak tree. (Chrysanthemums are drought tolerant, therefore compatible to the oak.)

When it was time to remove the 12-18-inch annuals, I simply shook the uprooted plants wherever I wanted them to germinate. I actually heard the seeds falling to the ground like wooden rain sticks.

When this year’s crop dries up, I plan to do the same. What fun, and how beautiful it will be to have a solid mass of Chrysanthemums circling the entire oak tree!

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Growing Tips:

USDA Zone 9a – 11

Deer resistant

Great fillers for garden beds, containers, and baskets and as borders

Sun Exposure:

Sun to Partial Shade

Bloom Time Depends on Zone and Microclimate:

Late Spring – Early Summer

Mid Summer

Late Summer – Early Fall

Mid Fall

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Mustard

March 1, 2016

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“Out of each wintry season

it happens again and again.

That yellow mustardy growth,

a photographer’s gold,

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signals sunny days ahead

over hills and fields and country roads.

A smidgen before spring

it happens again and again.

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Wild and free producing yields,

that warmth, that sunny glow

paints the earth mustardy yellow

where fallow grasses grow.” –016 DMA

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For a fun read on Mustard history and more, check out Eat the Weeds

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