The Hellebores are in Bloom!

My trip to Tennessee and Alabama last week was intended to take me to somewhere warmish, and with some signs of spring. It didn't. Even though central Tennessee often has signs of daffodils popping up by now, I didn't see a single one. But upon arrival home (truck full of my tree and shrubs from the wholesale nurseries I'd visited, no further transmission problems through the mountains), I found our own daffodils have buds well above the foliage. The hyacinths have substantial buds and the snowdrops are already in bloom (photo below).

But the big excitement (for us plant nuts) is to find my hellebores in bloom. Also known by the name, 'Lenten Rose,' these tough plants start blooming in late January and will still be in bloom in early June. I had a shade bed above the driveway where I've had difficulty finding plants that grow well there. But about 15 years ago I planted a couple of Helleborus and they happily dug in. Over the years I've added a few more and now they are happily growing and reseeding themselves throughout the beds.

If you don't know this plant, it's what Barry Glick calls an, "idiot-proof plant." Barry has been hybridizing and selecting helleborus varieties for years and you can read about his work in the January issue of Southern Living. He's a fellow Garden Writer of America member so I cross paths with him at conferences. If you'd like to read more about this tough, evergreen plant, check his website. If you are dazzled the the colors he has developed and want to order some, you'll need to send him an email and see what he has available. It's entirely possible the Southern Living article generated so much excitement, he may not have any left.

Being back in central Tennessee, specifically in McMinnville, was both sweet and sad. Sweet, because I used to go there every spring and buy plants from the nurseries and truck them back to Missouri. The sad part was that not much looked familiar. The nursery names were the same, but the old connections I had there are gone. I did find a few good plants, specifically an 'Autumn Sunset' maple, about 16 ft tall, with a root ball weighing about 250 lbs, along with some balled and burlapped shrubs (doesn't look that big in the pickup at top, did it?) I mention the weight because when I backed my pickup up to the back of my rental pickup in Memphis, intending to pull the Big Tree and shrubs from one truck to the other, my tailgate latch broke. That was important, in the rain, because the Big Tree would now have to be lifted up and over the tailgate! Grrr. Thankfully the nice guys I posted about before, at Enterprise Rental, hoisted the big tree up and over and into my truck. With all the additional weight of the plants, I worried for the next 7 hours of driving that the ailing transmission would go out completely as I drove over the mountains in Arkansas. But gratefully, I made it to my own driveway, Josh tinkered with the tailgate and got it open, and we now have the Big Tree and the assorted shrubs unloaded and ready to be covered by snow tonight.

One plant I still have from those trips back in the late '70s, is a start of Crow's Foot Ivy, that was growing on one of the nursery barns. It's evergreen, with especially large leaves. Sometimes I put layers of the leaves on a serving plate to add color to a dish. (No, they're not particularly edible, but they aren't poisonous, either). The ivy grows along the edge of my house foundation and front porch.

The one thing in McMinnville I'd hoped might remain, was the old Gay-Lo Cafe, downtown. On my annual spring trips years ago, the local nursery workers went there for lunch for the great home cooked meals and the place was always crowded. Over time I'd gotten acquainted with one of the ladies who owned the place and I raved about her apple cake so often she finally gave me the recipe. The Gay-Lo (named for the two owners, Gayl and Lois, as I recall) is now just apartments, but the apple cake recipe survives. So here it is, a memorial to a fine eating place in downtown McMinnville, Tennessee. It's baked in a sheet pan and is so good you will have to pace yourself.

Gay-Lo Apple Cake
McMinnville, TN March 21, 1977

2 cups sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
2 cups flour
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 tablespoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 cups sliced, tart apples

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy, then mix in the eggs. Add the flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt and mix. Add in the apples and mix lightly. Oil and flour a 9 x 14 in. cake pan, then pour in the batter and spread evenly. Bake for about 1 hour or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Icing:
In a saucepan, combine:
1/2 cup (1 stick)
1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons flour
3/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Melt the butter and brown sugar, adding in the flour then the water, mixing. Simmer for about 10 minutes until slightly thickened and add the chopped nuts. Spread over still-warm cake, then let cool completely before serving.

And here's one more helleborus from my garden, the only red one I have. I'm hoping it will cross with the white and greenish-white ones I have with it. The foliage is evergreen so even when they're not in bloom, they still are attractive plants.

This month I'm planting peas, onions, potatoes, bachelor's buttons, poppies, dill and cilantro. Spring isn't here, but early planting time is!

More Signs of Spring Each Day

Our friend, Sandy Marik, brought lettuce and dill she is growing in her AeroGarden. The AeroGarden company recommends replacing the grow-light bulbs every 6 months or so, which I believed was silly, just a company wanting to sell more components. Well now I'm convinced. Click on the picture to enlarge it and see the lettuce we're growing here in Barbara's AeroGarden, and the big, leafy lettuce Sandy is holding. She said she picked just 2 Aero-cells (2 little 2 inch pots) of lettuce for that big handful she brought to us. And the dill is big and beautiful. Some of us here at Long Creek Herbs are envious today! And delighted for Sandy, who's enjoying salads out of her AeroGarden. while our light-starved little lettuces, in the background, are pretty wimpy. We'll have broiled salmon with dill and butter for dinner tonight! Thank you, Sandy.

The weather turned from the mid 70s yesterday to the low 40s today & 20s tonight. Perfect, considering the peach tree is in bloom and needs to slow down a bit. Chilly temperatures, even some possible snow tomorrow, will be good to slow down plants that are racing toward spring.

Speaking of lettuce, our WWOOFer, Lauren, planted lettuce last September when she was here. I gave it a bit of straw and it has overwintered fine, even without a cold frame. You can see it's up and will soon be ready to begin harvesting. It's amazing this seemingly soft, tender plant, is one tough cookie.

And speaking of tough cookies, Helleborus is getting nicer every day. The first blossoms popped up around New Year's, and the flowers will be winding down sometime in May. Most of ours are white, or white with freckles in the center, but I have a couple of deep wine-red ones. Hopefully they're mixing because they are reseeding themselves throughout the bed. Later the Solomon's seal will come up between the plants, along with goldenseal, but for now it's just a big bed of hellebores and a few daffodils.

The daffs are really showing off their colors now, as well. I never remember the names of the various jonquils I plant, but I have a considerable collection. By fall I will have forgotten where they're planted and when I start planting new ones, often dig into the old bulbs. Try as I might to find a new location that has no bulbs, after 30 years of planting more each year, I seldom dig anywhere without running into clumps of bulbs.

Steve Bender, Southern Living's Grumpy Gardener, posted instructions for pruning crepe myrtle. I probably should have read those before I started snipping away at mine. A few weeks back I wrote that I hadn't pruned my crepe myrtles since before the surgeons had been pruning on me in 2006. When one is brought low by kidney failure, you just don't have the strength to bring out the pruners and whack away at 16 ft. tall shrubbery. But with a new kidney and renewed health and overall contrary prunicity, I decided it was high time to bring the crepe myrtles down to size. The myrtles bloom considerably better when pruned every couple of years and I pruned, not knowing what I was doing, just using my nurseryman's instinct. But Steve's a true Southerner and it's in his genes, I'm certain, to know exactly how to deal with that truly Southern plant. There he is, standing in his front yard, ready to mow a myrtle down to size.

Many, many years ago, when I was young and newly in the landscape business, I was amazed that crepe myrtles would even grow in the Ozarks. Then one day a landscape customer asked me to eradicate an enormous crepe myrtle in her back yard. It was a very sheltered, protected location and the myrtle had become a 20 ft. tall tree, too large for the homeowner's tastes. The plant had never been pruned at all, so, reluctantly I took a chainsaw to it, sending the wood off to my friend, Dr. Halley Tatum, who loved the wood for carving spoons (he dubbed the wood, "Crazy Myrtle" because of a grandchild's mispronouncing of the words). The rest of the plant I hooked a chain to and pulled out with my truck. I salvaged some of the stump and brought it home to plant, and was amazed at how tough and maintenance free it is. Once it begins blooming in July, it stays in continuous color until frost stops it. I've planted several crepes over the years and once I discovered the method for pruning to get more blooms, I have grown to love the plants.

Peeking up through the leaves and grass, the blue grape hyacinths are tentatively standing up. They'll withstand snow if it comes, but will soon show themselves all over the edges of the lawn like bright blue toy soldiers. No spring peepers today, but lots of spring color. And all the birds coming to the feeders each day have a look of love, or lust, or something in their eyes. I noticed the bluebirds are trying out the houses already, checking them for space and room. Spring is marching northward a few inches each day.

Plants in Bloom, Feb. 6, 09

Plants are tough. How could something withstand the ice of last week, the constant low teens temperatures, then with only a couple of days of warmth, burst into bloom? As soon as the ice melted off the edge of the pathway by the kitchen door, this cluster of snowdrops (Galanthus) was in bloom. They are the first spring bulbs to bloom each year and originated in Asia Minor.

Also in bloom today is the helleborus, sometimes called lenten roses, which starts blooming in January and often remains in bloom through the end of May. Extracts of helleborus have been used in folk treatments and experimental therapies in Romania and Germany.

The dragon's blood sedum (Sedum spurium) is at its best now, as well. In the summer you can't quite understand where it gets its name as it is just another greenish sedum. But in the winter, it turns a brillant dark crimson and "spills" out onto the rocks, like the spilled blood of a dragon. Dragon's blood is one of those interesting plants that will grow just about anywhere, from on top of a rock with only a thimble full of soil, to the edges of the lawn, in a rock garden, on top of an old cellar or between the bricks of a pathway. While it does bloom in summer, the flowers do not compare to the brilliance of the leaves in winter.

Henbit also begins blooming now. I know there are more gardeners who declare war on henbit than those who don't, but it's a "weed" that is so incredibly innocent it's hard to understand all the wrath thrown at it. You can look on Fertilome or Scotts products and see it listed as, "a noxious weed," which their product controls. Home owners spray herbicides on their lawns, or use a granular form, to eradicate the plant. The home owner buys the product, spreads it on their lawn and in a few weeks, the henbit magically dies. Oddly enough, henbit magically dies whether you spray it or not. It's season runs from early February through April or May, then it yellows and dies, whether you spray it or not.

Henbit really doesn't cause any harm to the garden, although it does take up space you may want for your lettuce or other early crops. Pull it and it's gone, without any poison chemicals required. However, since it begins flowering so early, it spreads lots of tiny seeds throughout the season and will continue coming up. If you leave it alone the plant will be covered with hundreds of small, lavender flowers. You may see it covering an entire lawn or roadside and it's attractive, then it dies in late spring and is replaced by other green growing things. Harvest some henbit and chickweed and cook up a pot of early spring greens. Serve it with a batch of cornbread and you've got a traditional Ozarks supper.

(And if you look on the side of the package of either Fertilome or Scott's weed products, you'll see photos of other very edible, very tasty, "weeds."

Or, if you have a handsome goat, like Mr. Billy A. Goat, here, he will likely eat any of the henbit you gather for him.

We have compost piles at the edge of the garden where we compost a lot of the garden debris, but many times it's easier to simply toss things over the fence, where Mr. Billy is waiting. He, and his herd of nannies, will taste, and often eat, any of the weeds or garden trimmings that get tossed to them.

February is the month for planting seeds for spring plant. Tomatoes, peppers, herbs, achocha, all those things that will get planted outside after danger of frost, are ready to be started now.

We're making Dream Pillows and Dream Pillow Kits in the shop and Valentine's Day is always a popular time for those. We have a few customers who buy our Kits for 25 and 50, and use them in nursing homes as a craft activity. The nursing home residents like making the Dream Pillows and the staff love it because everyone sleeps really well afterward. To read more about Dream Pillows' uses, check here, or go to our Dream Pillows page.