Calliesgarden’s Blog

Ahhhh… I’m pulling a Bob Hope… I’m 39 years old and that’s where I’m staying… in my mind at least.  Growing older IS actually all that it’s cracked up to be, however it does have it’s drawbacks, sore backs, creaking joints and all of those other little maladies of getting a bit on in years.  Not to say I’m old… just older than I was when I was 38.    This is what I asked Brent (my honey) for… A night at a live hockey game.  I haven’t been to a live game in years, and although it won’t be the NHL, it’ll be at one of the farm team games.  They are as good as the NHL games by times, especially with two or three beers into ya. LOL

So, this year is going to be a great year.  Last year I moved and moved my children a total of 6 times.  I was exhausted.  I sent one child off to the Air Force, One child off to the neighbouring city and then out west, another child moved to and then from her Summer work residence to college.  I told them all to save up their money for a moving truck the next time cause I wasn’t moving them again.  Sheesh, when I was in my early 20’s any moving I had to do I got my friends to help me with.  I’m now officially too old for moving and am staying put.  So’s my garden.

So now I’m in planning mode for the spring gardens.  The two beds out front need dug up, cleaned out and re-done.  Like totally.  I know it will be back-breaking, but it has to be done.  I’d rather dig a new flower bed any day of the week rather than have to dig up an established one, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do.  The snowball tree has to be moved away from the house, so that’s definately going cause we have some new basement windows to put in and that thing is in the way.  I hate it anyway so it will be a joy to get a backhoe in to take the stupid looking thing out.

Don’t get me wrong, a well tended snowball bush is a thing of beauty, but this one came with the house and has been sorely in need of tlc for way too long… it’s suffering is apparent and I really don’t want to put the time and energy into bringing it back to it’s former glory… if it ever had former glory days.   In the meantime, I’ve got some great plans in the works that involve poppies, a flagpole, a garden shed/greenhouse and some brick pathways.

Dig out your wallet Brent… heh heh heh… evil laughter ensues!

~Callie

Visit CalliesGardens.com and CalliesFlowers.com

Thank goodness the tree is down, the bingles and baubles are all put away, and the kids are gone back to their respective colleges… Whew. Was that ever one busy holiday.  It’s a good thing I had some vacation time or Christmas may not have come at my house. I have a new cell phone and a new digital camera to figure out… that should keep my little mind busy for a couple of months. I also have about 10,000 updates to do to my websites, blog and the new Sussex Communities in Bloom (CIB) website.  For all those interested, the CIB website is temporarily up and looking for sign-ups. If you are interested in joining the Sussex Communities In Bloom, you can visit the website at http://www.calliesgarden.wordpress.com/ (Note: only for residents of the Sussex, NB area)

Now, lets move on to Flowers. I’ve been doing some research via the internet for new rose/flower varieties for the spring and using the new info to update my website. It’s turning out to be a lot of fun and gives me the opportunity to totally ignore the white stuff on the other side of my windows. The exciting thing about this is the fabulous discovery of new and/or improved varieties. For example, the new Portulaca – Pazazz variety has wonderful pink colored flowers in a semi-upright growth habit and is highly floriferous (lots of blooms). The Pazazz varieties can be grown in full sun or in partial shade, allowing the flowers to stay open longer before closing to rest in the evening. The variety is ideally suited for pots or gardens and hanging baskets.  It is a fabulous addition to a dull patch in your garden that needs a bit of “Pizazz”!  The Pink Glow, Rose Glow and Salmon Glow colours are all very vibrant and you’ll want to plant them in swaths along your borders. It’s been a while since we’ve seen any new developments in the Portulaca species, however this year seems to be the breakthrough year for them. That’s good for portulaca as it’s an underused plant in most gardens.

With that in mind, I’ve got to get my underused vacuum cleaner out and get rid of the rest of the Christmas debris that’s been hiding in the cracks and crevices. How do those little spruce needles get everywhere they shouldn’t be?

~Callie

Callie is the author of www.CalliesFlowers.com and www.CalliesGardens.com

In case you haven’t noticed, I’m an activist. I cannot sit idle by while the world goes to Hades in a handbasket. I’m one of those people who stand up, speak out and work to make things better. This whole coup the Liberal, NDP and Bloq Party are trying to pull off just steams me… I wrote a rather passionate letter to the editor and heartily applaud what our Conservative Government did to put a stop to the shennigans of that bunch of anarchists sitting in the opposition benches of parliment!  When I vote I expect my vote to be respected.  I don’t expect a bunch of power hungry politicians to usurp my vote and the votes of millions of other Canadians.

For a gardening enthusiast, I digress from my main topic… gardening… I couldn’t help it, I love politics too… but that’s me.  I just couldn’t put it off.

But sometimes I procrastinate terribly. Sometimes I put things off with Great intentions to do it “tomorrow”. Sound familiar? Politicaly that can be a disaster. Financially that can be a disaster and in Family life that can also be a disaster, but procrastinating is my middle name, so I do it with gusto from time to time.

Thankfully, plants are forgiving. They just sit there in the ground waiting.  They’ve got all the time in the world to wait and they make productive use of their time too… by growing bigger. Even in the winter some plants will contine to grow if their roots are down far enough. The boxwood that I had every intention of moving over across the yard, is still patiently waiting for me to come get it. I haven’t forgotten about it, I just put off fetching it till the spring. I was actually going to pot it up and bring it inside so it would continue growing, but it’s too late now… BUT, I still have my clippers.

So I think I’ll do a bit of holiday clipping and snipping of that boxwood to garnish some things around here. Pam and Art down at Goold’s Flower Shop are bound to have some mistletoe/holly, so It’s time to dig out the ribbons, the floral wire and knarly tree branches to make something festive and annoying.  I say annoying because you always end up moving those festive things around, out of the way, from the table to somewhere else and then back to the table again.  Tis the season!  The boxwood in question looks like it could stand some clipping, but it sure is growing slowly.  This spring it’s going to get it’s new home and lots of great fertilizer to give the thing a boost cause It’s been two years since I bought the thing and it’s nary an inch taller than it was then.  Boxwoods will do all right in locations that receive full sun, but they really do best in semi-shade.  Also they like soils ranging in pH of 5.5 to 7.5, which is in the neutral range – so a regular fertilizer for trees and shrubs will do nicely.

Well, gotta get going with those snippers and dig out the rest of the stuff for holiday decorating.  Have a great holiday and see you all in January 09.

~Callie

Visit CalliesGardens.com and  CalliesFlowers.com

It’s time for a traipse through the woods in search of the perfect Christmas tree. I think I better do that before we get that huge dump of snow that’s predicted. I LOVE Christmas. I love everything about it. The colours, the music, the food, the presents, the snow.. Well not the snow so much anymore, but even I have to admit it looks mighty purty. What I love the most though is what it represents. A new start. Forgiveness. A Do Over.  Thank Goodness! I’m one of those people who still remember what Christmas was Originally all about… the birth of a Saviour to the World. Too bad not more people remember and celebrate that. I know, I know, I’m harping, but really, THAT is what the “Spirit” of Christmas is all about.

I was doing a search on the Internet the other day for flowers that are the most popular during the Christmas season, and came across an interesting article. It stated that while retail sales are declining, online sales are remaining stable and even increasing in some sectors. If there were ever a time for our local merchants to get a website up and running, that people can purchase from, the time is now. You must be wondering what that information has to do with a gardening column? Well, lots actually. When it comes to gardening, people will jump online to research something BEFORE they go to the local merchants and purchase. Me personally, I’m a huge fan of buying things online, but our town has a lack of online merchants with websites. We really need to do something about that.

Most of the time, our merchants here in Sussex do a great job of matching prices anywhere else, so the upside of that is that I usually do ALL of my Christmas Shopping here. I’d just like to do that shopping without having to go to a store! So my merchant of choice this year is… Me! How’s that for shameless self-promotion? Actually, I can buy from my own website and Goold’s will get the business, so two businesses in Sussex wins along with the person I’m giving the gift to.  The Tannenbaum Basket is a perfect example of the great things you can give as a gift without even leaving your house. Now if I could only get that Christmas tree the same way it would be the perfect shopping experience!

~Callie

Callie is the author of www.CalliesFlowers.com and www.CalliesGardens.com

It’s a wonder I don’t run off the road. Seriously. I used to make fun of people like me. You know those people… the ones who are driving forward but looking sideways. Ohhh, I’m so embarrassed to admit I’ve become even  slightly like that… but I have. And it’s so much fun! All it takes is driving a little bit slower so you can look around. Oh my goodness… I did not just say that did I? I’ve become my mother. Shoot me, shoot me now. Hot flashes I was prepared for… becoming my mother… Noooooooo. All kidding aside, I’ve been driving slower and rubber-necking it because I’m looking for a very specific item. And I want to find some good specimens because before you know it, spring will be here and I want to be ready.

What am I looking for you ask? Why, Eastern White Pine of course. If you look along the sides of the highways all over New Brunswick you’ll see lots of little white pine growing with abandon. I’m looking for just the right size, of course… and a DOT friend of mine told me a while ago, that as long as I stayed within the guidelines, I could dig a few of these roadside goodies up. So I’m mentally tagging them for spring “dig-up”. If you are totally unenlightened about our Eastern White Pine, then let me enlighten you.

Eastern white pine (or white pine) is a truly magnificent tree attaining a height of 80 feet or more at maturity with a diameter of two to three feet. Needles are soft, flexible and bluish-green to silver green in color and are arrayed in bundles of five. Needles are 2 1/2-5 inches long and usually shed at the end of the second growing season. Cones are 4-8 inches in length, mature at the end of the second season, are fairly thin and have a fragrant gummy resin. Bark on young trunks and branches is smooth but on older trunks the bark becomes dark gray and crackly.

White pine is found on dry rocky ridges and wet sphagnum bogs, but best growth is in moist sandy loam soils. It is susceptible to white pine blister rust disease but the pine weevil is also a major insect pest which deforms trees by killing the terminal shoots (new shoot growth). Needle retention is good which makes it a good Christmas tree if not pruned too frequently and additionally, white pine has very little aroma which results in fewer allergic reactions than do some of the more aromatic species. To produce a 6-foot tree requires 6-8 years growth on good sites. Propagation is mainly by seed which needs a period of cold to break dormancy, but it does graft quite easily. Interestingly enough, early native Indians used the inner bark as food, while colonists later used the inner bark as an ingredient in cough remedies. Seeds are eaten by red squirrels, birds such as red crossbills, pine siskins, chickadees and songbirds, so having a few in your backyard encourages bird habitat… and That is something I plan on… for next year… if I don’t kill myself first, looking for them.

~Callie

Visit CalliesGardens.com and  CalliesFlowers.com

I am dragging my behind trying to put my garden to bed for the winter.  I didn’t plant any bulbs or throw any mulch around, didn’t clip, snip or weed anything yet. The general clean-up of dead garden debris is crying out to be done.  Well if it doesn’t snow this weekend, I guess I’ll have no excuse not to. I’ve noticed an increase in the indoor spider population lately and am having visions of pouncing brown spiders again.  I’m shuddering even thinking about them.  I hate to admit that spiders are very beneficial to the garden… if only they’d Stay in the garden. I’m not going to dwell on spiders or how beneficial they are, cause I hate them so much. You’re on your own to figure out the spider thing, but it’s time to review the fall clean up “to do” list again.

Time to rake your lawn and watch for dormancy, after which point you can apply fertilizer, preferably organic.  If you haven’t had to mow your lawn in a couple of weeks, it’s probably gone, or going, dormant.  Mound mulch up around the base of your less hardy shrubs when the temperatures start to go below freezing at night. This will protect the roots and stem base of your shrubs from damage due to temperature fluctuations. Don’t cover your perennials over with mulch until the ground freezes – they need to breath up to that point. Right about now you can prune your spirea and potentilla shrubs by cutting them down by half, and prune out dead and thin straggly branches. Any ripened sunflower seed heads should be brought inside for drying now.  Put them individually in brown paper bags and poke a few small holes in the bag for air flow. Once thoroughly dry, you can use them in your bird feeder or save them for planting next year.

I’ve been contemplating what I’m going to talk about in the winter when most of us here in the Northern Hemisphere can no longer garden outside and need to content ourselves with indoor “gardening”. Now take me for instance. I have tons of gardening books and magazines and would be what you typically call an ‘armchair gardener’ in the winter months. Most of us don’t have a heated greenhouse, nor a whole lot of room to turn our homes into a sea of greenery. That doesn’t mean there aren’t lots of fun things to try out though.  Here’s some things you can consider for the next few weeks… Forcing bulbs indoors (Narcissus, tulips, grape hyacinths, etc)… Cactus (especially Christmas cactus) which are ideally suited to the dry air conditions found in most homes in the winter.  Orchids, which aren’t as hard to care for as one might think and how about bonsai? As we get closer to the Christmas season, I’ll give a few tips on how to use the elements from our ‘bare ‘ gardens in Christmas wreaths and arrangements and how you can do this while pruning your dormant trees and shrubs.

But make sure you check out any harvested bounty for big brown spiders who are just waiting to pounce!

~Callie

Visit CalliesGardens.com and CalliesFlowers.com

WooHoo… a WordPress blog… just what I always wanted.  Actually I’m just trying it out to see if I want to migrate my Blogharbor blog over here.  See whatcha think… The Lazy Gardener

should i or shouldn’t I… you decide…

In the meantime, I’ll give this blog a good run for it’s money and see how it stacks up.  Toodles y’all.