At Home in Wyoming

What A Knockout!

 
I am not much of a gardener.  Deep down in my heart, I don't think that the Lord wants me to be out weeding in the hot, hot sun.

But I like flowers, if they are low maintenence.  Which means cosmos and hollyhocks, cottage flowers that don't mind a little grass growing around them.

Roses I love, but can't grow.  Too much fuss. 

That was until I discovered Knockout roses.  My mother has them, my sister has them (or had them, the dog dug them up).  So I thought I would give them a try.

These babies are awesome!!  They bloom from the minute that you stick them in the ground.  All summer, bloom after bloom.  No dusting, no fussing...and they don't even mind being stuck where there is grass and hollyhocks.

So next spring, keep this in mind.  Knockout roses are kind of costly at the nursery...but Walmart had them for 10 bucks a bucket, so start checking early next spring before they sell out.

Just 10 bucks for a bucketful of joy.  And they are easy, easy, easy. 

Honest!

The Apple Tree Saga

 

My apple trees (or tree, actually...the other is a crabapple) have always been a bit of a disappointment.  The few apples that I get are usually wormy and tiny.  I asked my husband why, and he told me that the tree needed trimmed.

So he trimmed.

I wasn't home.

I came back and discovered, to my horror, that he hacked that beautiful apple tree into something that resembled a topiary.  It was hideous.

I was hot.

We had words.

And then he had the nerve to blame his father.  He said that hacking trees was bred into him.  It was practically his family heritage.

He was right.  I remembered...over 25 years ago...when his father, the city manager of a small town (400 or so people) hacked the trees that lined the city park. It was horrible, he took almost all the branches off of those lovely old trees. 

The citizens were outraged!  Mothers, who used to sit in the shade while their children swam at the tiny town pool, were now broiling in the sun.  My father-in-law was the town villian that year.  The talk of the town, and the talk wasn't good.

 

I went back for his funeral a few years ago.  The town didn't look the same.  Some sort of blight killed most of the old trees.

But the trees that lined the city park were leafy and green.  Full and gorgeous.  He had saved them, by hacking them to death...before anyone knew that they really needed it.

My 'topiary' apple tree has started to grow out now, and is beginning to resemble a tree again.  My husband and I have achieved a truce of sorts...he doesn't touch the tree, and I don't complain about the tiny, wormy apples.

But I noticed that the apples are a little bigger this year.  And I must admit that the tree is looking pretty healthy.

I remembered those trees in the  town park.

Suddenly, I am starting to have a little more faith in the future of my apple tree.

And in my tree hacking husband!

 

 

 

Flowers In A Pinch

 
If you are in a pinch for flowers to arrange this summer, don't forget the lowly little petunia.  They are not usually the flowers that you think of for arrangements, but they are colorful and last forever...and make a sweet little country bouquet by a bedside table.

You've probably got them anyway, they are cheap...so what's not to love?

Bananas?

Tomato, pepper and cuke plants relaxing on the front porch...waiting for me to dig their new home!

My sister-in-law swears by this tip...she read somewhere in a women's magazine that a peeled banana placed in the hole where you plant your tomatoes will yield better growth.  She tried it and says that she never had better tomatoes...so I am going to give it a whirl.  Check back with me in August for the results!  DLB