THE GARDENER VS A WILD MORNING GLORY: PICKING AN IMPARTIAL JURY

On trial: The Wild Morning Glory

Sweet & Innocent Touch of Nostalgia

or

Ruthless Bully with an Appetite for Entire Trees

THE COMEDY COURT CASE BEGINS:

In this case, a human gardener has charged a wild morning glory vine with attempted murder of a tree. The human gardener is asking the judge to declare ERADICATION. A six plant jury will watch this case. The lawyers have almost finished their jury selection questions. Let's listen in:

Picking an IMPARTIAL JURY:

Morning Glory Lawyer: Juror number 1, please state your name and answer this question; do you have anything against human gardeners?

Juror #1: I'm an Agave americana and I'm perfectly happy crammed inside this tiny pot. I hardly remember the wide open deserts of Mexico. Yes, I hardly remember being taken from my dear mother as a small pup...(Agave starts to cry)...that's all.

Human Lawyers: (turning to each other) Well, this certainly didn't get off to a good start. The next juror looks well cared for so there's hope.

Morning Glory Lawyer: Other jurors, please state your names and answer the same question. Thank you.

Juror #2: I'm a gorgeous bromeliad called Neoregelia. The humans take very good care of me. I get sunshine, rainfall, and a nice breeze. I hardly remember the day I was RIPPED from the tropical canopy, thrown into a box and shipped to some garden store. I miss my forest branch...(starts to cry)...and the sweet chirping of little frogs that used to live in my leaves. Sniff, sniff.

Human Lawyers: Boy, two for two. This is not going to be an easy case.

Juror #3: I'm a rubber tree. I have not ONE thing against the humans except when they CUT and SLASH the trunks of my rubber tree friends and collect their white sap in buckets. I'm told they BOIL our sap to make rubber. Hideous! (Shudders and grows quiet)

Human Lawyers: (Trying to hide under the table...whispering) Geez...and these are the most impartial plants in his garden? I'd hate to see the ones mad at him.

Juror #4: Hi, I'm a Victorian Parlor Palm. I'm so well liked that the humans keep me indoors. There, I collect DUST, endure SPIDER MITE invastions, and barely get WATERED. The weak sunlight insures that I stay sick and SPINDLY. (Starts to cough)

Human Lawyers: When will this be over?!? Hey, things are looking up. The next one is a vine! Surely a vine will be impartial to another vine. Vines are used to being trimmed back.

Juror #5: I'm a variegated arrowroot. I'm not sure how I feel about the humans since my memory has been altered. Wait, it's coming back to me. Something about a diabolical variegation experiment long ago. (Pauses and closes eyes) Now I remember. I was cut to pieces by the humans and stuck in glasses for some bizarre purpose. (Shudders with fear)

Human lawyers: That was a terrible turn of events. But look! Juror #6 is a native sedge. The gardener lets them grow everywhere and he goes out of his way not to step on them. Maybe there's hope.

Juror #6: I'm a native Texas sedge and I must say this gardener deeply cares about my well-being. He let's me grow everywhere and....HELP...there's a chicken on ME! GET HIM OFF! HELP!

Chicken attacks Juror #6

JUDGE: Order in the court! Will the owner of that renegade chicken kindly get it out of my courtroom. There will be no eating jurors during this trial!

Human Lawyers: Your honor, the gardener owns it and it won't happen again. (Whispering: My mother told me there would be days like this.)

JUDGE: Would the lawyers for the HUMAN gardeners like to question the jurors?

Human Lawyers: No, your honor. We can't endure a moment more. 

JUDGE: Well, in that case, we have our jury. We will start the trial immediately.

Judge for the case

JUDGE:  JUDGE SAGE has spoken. Court adjourned.

Thanks for stopping by. The garden trial...and I do mean GARDEN TRIAL will start later this week.

David/:0)











GARDEN TRIALS~ RESULTS: NEW PLANTS SUMMER 2010

This post is like Survivor TV: many of the plants start out with high hopes of 'making it' to that final A+++ rating, but first they have to survive. I tried out a LOT of new plants since I redid the front beds. The front beds are in a brutal situation: near the street, on a slope, lots of sun, sandy loam soil, and that occasional dog that decides to mark his territory. I also do not fertilize except with compost once a year. In other words, they'll live the life of a wildflower.

I also did NOT want to water these plants endlessly, so here goes:

THE LOSERS:

The white angelonia did not do well (the other colors of Angelonia did splendidly), the cilantro bolted after a week, the Ruby Star got eaten and decided it did not like it here, and the creeping thyme, well, here's the picture:

Creeping thyme got the dreaded two thumbs way down award. It will be a long time before I try Thyme again.

(I was hoping for more Thyme in the garden, guess not..ha ha)

NEXT:   THUMBS UP PLANTS

I really was hoping for something with small, delicate foliage and lots of endless blooms to soften the hard edges of the agaves. Angelonia is FANTASTIC for this purpose. I highly recommend this plant for Houston gardens.  The dahlberg daisy is a sweet little plant and a native to boot. The salvia is an old friend along with the sage. The cleome is taller, and currently suffering a bit from the high temps. Still, it gets a thumbs up.

AND NOW~ THE COVETED DOUBLE THUMBS UP:

These plants have beautiful foliage, are compact, and add interest to the dry, rock garden.

Most varieties of lavender cannot stand our high humidity, but Goodwin Creek is the exception. I LOVE this plant. The white licorice plant is from South Africa, and has a low habit with nice, silver foliage. It can recover from a wilted condition in an hour.  The rosemary is another old favorite, but it comes in so many varieties that it can be very confusing. This one has a larger leaf and used for culinary purposes. I like it.

And finally, the ultimate award goes to blue daze (Evolvulus) It blooms endlessly, honey bees LOVE IT, it takes drought well, it stays low, and has a small, intertwining habit. I wish the flowers would last all day, but they fade by noon.

Blue Daze and Angelonia are great together.

I have a few other wonderful plants that passed with flying colors, but that will have to wait 'til next week.

BLUE DAZE is the winner!