February,
1999
Gardening activities
at Horsetail Haven, a home garden located in Austin, Texas
February is
for Roses
Valentine's
Day brings bouquets of romantic flowers, but in Austin it also means get
out the shovels and pruning shears. So join in the tradition:
-
Prune all bush
roses back by about 1/3, try to open up the center of the plant, fertilize
when new growth starts. Ann Marie likes to feed monthly with Medina Hasta-Gro
plus epsom salts (1 Tablespoon epsom salts per gallon of fertilizer)
-
Instead of giving
your sweetie a bouquet of roses, delight them with an antique rose bush,
the nurseries are full of lovely ones such as Katy Road Pink, Souvenir
de la Malmaison and Phalaenopsis
-
Put an herbal
ground cover of catmint (NOT CATNIP) under your roses, the two have complementary
needs and look wonderful together
Garden Update
Ann Marie
continues starting seeds indoors, peppers, datura and tomatillo were started
in January. February brings the sowing of tomatoes, lemon catnip,
Impatiens balsamina and Zinnia angustifolia. Scented
geranium (Pelargonium) cuttings are being taken to ensure an adequate supply
for flower beds and friends. Outdoors, poppies and love-in-a-mist
(Nigella damascena) have sprouted. These seeds were randomly
scattered last October. Bluebonnet plants form a soft green carpet
where they self seeded after last year's spectacular show. In the
vegetable garden, salad greens are being harvested, but the brussel sprouts
have yet to produce. Nasturtiums were killed by December frost and
will be replanted this month. Sweet peas sown in October are really beginning
to increase in size. Most of the fall sown leeks have disappeared
.... snails or lack of care?????? The backyard is in a state of change,
care to see photos?
Persian
Shield
One of the
new plants to hit the Austin nurseries last year was Persian Shield, Strobilanthes
dyeranus. This striking ornamental plant has large, iridescent
purple and silver leaves. It will grow several feet tall if placed
in a shady location and kept well watered. Not reliably hardy in
Austin, it made a good winter houseplant. It is easily propagated
by cuttings, these root quickly in water or ordinary potting soil.
When all danger of a frost is gone Persian Shield will be planted under
a Texas Mountain Laurel (Sophora secundiflora). Bedding companions
will be a clump of Giant Lioripe, a Japanese Painted Fern (Athyrium goeringianum
'pictum') and, at the sunnier edge of the bed, a variegated St. Johns Wort
(Hypericum tricolor).
Use
Your Herbs
Madalene
Hill and Gwen Barclay have a wonderful tomato soup recipe in their book
"Southern Herb Growing". Below is Ann Marie's low fat adaptation
of their recipe. The original Hill and Barclay recipe is pure heaven,
but this one is pretty tasty, too. Use it as a first course at that
Valentine's Day candlelight dinner.
Tomato Soup
1-28 ounce
can chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons
flour
1/2 teaspoon
salt
1 tablespoon
lemon thyme leaves (no stems, please!)
1 tablespoon
fresh chopped basil (or 1 teaspoon dried)
1/4 teaspoon
pepper
1/4 teaspoon
baking soda
1-8 ounce
can evaporated skim milk
1/2 cup dry
white wine
Toasted herb
bread (optional)
Puree tomatoes
in blender. Place in saucepan and combine with flour, salt, lemon
thyme, basil and pepper. Simmer 10 minutes. Quickly stir in
soda. Stir in evaporated skim milk and cook over low heat until slightly
thickened. Do not allow to boil (unless you want curdled soup)
Stir in wine and simmer 20 minutes until wine flavor is "mellowed".
Serve with toasted herb bread. Makes 4 servings.
Fly
Back to Home Page
