I harvested onions and garlic Sunday and today. It has been so wet here I am afraid everything will rot. Both the onions and garlic are smaller than before, although this is just m second or third time to grow garlic. Soil that I normally have a hard time sticking a spading fork into is almost too soft to walk on.

I planted some Old Timmy Cornfield pumpkin seeds today. The soil was much too wet,but I wanted something to do. I have three volunteer plants and wanted to add to that number.

The deer broke my electric fence again today. I am afraid I am going to have a problem with them this year. I planted deer food in that area for years, now I am trying to fence them out, also, my neighbor is trying to fence the out. I am afraid the deer are going to vote our plans down.

Lynn I just read in a Facebook post that softneck garlic "lodges" like that. It's ready to harvest. As H/J said, don't leave it in the ground too long. It seems early for garlic, bit some varieties mature earlier.

babysitting, and working one handed, so TTFN.

Amy, that's interesting. As soon as it dries out, and the weather forecast says that might happen soon , I'll start harvesting a few.

I've built an " onion rack " on my covered patio. It hangs from the ceiling. My Dad used an old screen door in his shed, but not having an old screen door, I made something similar using bird netting. I throw my onions up there to dry out, before I trim them and put them in storage in the storm shelter. I gotta hunch I should do garlic the same way ?

My grandmother always braided the garlic tops together and hung them. I'm sure any way that gets them lots of air circulation to cure will do.

What have I planted here?

How do y'all prune dianthus?

I didn't know what these were when I bought several in 2019. I thought they were pretty annuals for a new flowerbed that I dug up. They were supposed to be temporary. But, they continue to live. I've dug up a few and shared them with mom and sister. They look like junk with all the brown, dead stuff....but the pink flowers and new foliage is pushing up. It's hard to prune off the dead stuff without the new stuff.

I did decide to put the rudbeckia and the soapwort in that bed. So, all the SF plants are in!

Except the fig. It continues to look great, Kim.

At Pilates last night, a couple of women were talking about echinacea (won't go into the conversation), but I asked one women if it tries to take over her entire garden. She said it did not. I'm not sure what over-achiever type of coneflower that Lisa gave to me, but it is the great, great, great, great, great grandmother of all of the new ones that are coming up everywhere. I do love them, though.

Observations on my store bought tomato plants. I can't recall when I've not grown Big Beef tomatoes from seed. Its probably 5 to 10 years. So this is new.

One of the four Better Boy plants, is half the size of the other three. Its almost a sure bit to have been mislabeled. I guess I might find out what I've got when it produces a tomato.

I'm disappointed in the number of tomatos from the Beefmaster plants, and they are the tallest of all 10, now growing out of the top of the CRW cages.

The Arkansas Travelers will be interesting. They're not growing up, as much as they grow out. But they have fruit.

And my largest discovery, is an absence of blight. IDK if my Big Beef plants got the Early Blight , or whatever kind of blight. But at this time of year, the lower limbs would be showing the coloration of the blight. And by the end of July, they would be almost completely taken . There's no blight on any of the plants ( knocking on wood ) . I can only attribute this to the varieties, and maybe the seed the grower was using.

I get my Big Beef seed from Johnnys. I think next year I'm gonna find a new seed source and plant fewer Big Beef. I never thought that the variety could be the culprit.

Dawn wrote that she had trouble wih blight and if I understood her correctly, she planted in larger numbers planning on the blight taking the plants early. I thought if Dawn could not beat the blight, then I had no chance.

That's exciting about the lack of blight, Lynn!

I'm not good at determining my tomatoes'' disease/issues.

Right now, they have something. Maybe blight? Maybe too much water. Maybe something else. They are still making fruit, though.

I'm pretty sure that's how Dawn's were too. Not pretty, but fruit producers until they got too sick, then she pulled them.

It seems like mine usually make it until the fall with some pruning. They're not pretty, full and plush-- they are producing ugly tomatoes. I would love to have pretty plants, though.

It's an interesting thought about your seed/variety being the culprit. I hope you continue to keep us updated.

Hazel, Lisa loves THUGS! I think all her flowers turn in to THUGS. LOL

I just shear my dianthus off before new buds try to grow.

Moni

Here's what the blight on my plants looked like. It would start on the lowest leaves. Something about it being in the soil and I think that's where the old saying of " never let your tomato leaves touch the soil " began. But it also spreads to the plant from rain splashing on to the leaves, or so that's what I read. Mulching is suppose to help protect the tomato, but Dawn said we would have to mulch a large area around the plant, like 10 ft diameter, or in my case, the entire garden.

The article where I found this pic, says to treat with a fungicide. Dawn never suggested this and the best I recall, she did not even try to stop the blight. I figured she'd been down every road. For some reason, Dawn would never post pics. I wish she would've.

TOMATO BLIGHT

Looks like a black sweet potato vine, HJ. Also. . . . no easy answer to the change of color in hydrangeas. I liked this article.

https://www.espoma.com/landscaping/how-to-turn-pink-hydrangeas-blue/

I've no idea what's going on with this one.

I was at Lincoln today. Wow--rudbeckia and gaillardia are everywhere, along with frost weed, feverfew, and one monster coreopsis. My new favorite, Illinois bundleflower, is robust and growing like crazy. (Directly below)

Lori D. stopped by and we visited there, with John, for about 2 hrs. I had cut some tithonia for her. Had it wrapped in wet paper towels in plastic bags, but it wilts pretty quickly. I'll be anxious to hear if she's able to revive it.

I'm in reading and research mode so will cut this off now. Later!

whenever I have plants that have a problem on leaves.. I just cut the leaves off and toss in the garbage. Most times, that takes care of it if you catch it early enough.

Lynn, I recall Dawn explaining why she was so private, and thinking at the time her reason made sense. I still wish she would have shared more photos.

I got one of Lisa's thug coneflowers when we first moved here. Now I have a few dozen. They're taking over the entire bed.

Dawn posted this link several years ago. Might help you determine what's going on with your tomatoes.

https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/vegetable/problem-solvers/tomato-problem-solver/

That purple flowering thing...first thought was a mallow (due to the leaves), then I looked again and I saw a sweet potato (or other vining morning glory).

Dawn used to always plant a few hybrid tomatoes in case it was a bad blight year. I want to say in 2015 (a very wet spring) she sprayed with daconil and alternated with copper. However, I noticed as time went by she....mellowed? She was less concerned with garden problems, especially when she quit doing so much canning. She also said to remove the diseased branches and disinfect the tool between plants.

I have never grown Big Beef. Johnny's is a reputable seed company. it is resistant to a lot of diseases, but I don't know if any are resistant to early blight. I will say I bought one once, named defiant, and while resistant to everything imaginable it was the first to get blight! So have you thought about a different variety?

have to go, have a nice Thursday.

Big Beef, along with Early Girl, are two of my failsafe hybrids. They are going gangbusters here. i have had to trim off a few blighty branches, though.

Johnny's is located in New York state. I wonder if they're growing a different Big Beef tomato, even though its the same variety. The blight likes heat, high humidity, and low air flow. Except for air flow, New York state doesn't fit that category.

Amy, I got my eye on these Better Boys, so far, they've shown no blight and are growing very similar to my Big Beef.

OklaMoni , I've tried trimming off the infected parts of the plant. It doesn't work. The blight still works its way up the plant.

I think it might be airborn, in that it prefers low air flow. I use CRW cages and I experimented with larger cages, so the plants would not be so crowded inside the cage and there would be better air flow through the plant. I went from " 9 squares " to " 10 square " ( I've no idea how that relates to diameter in inches ) but I did not see any difference.

Wow it is so good to read all your posts! I have been lacking in keeping in contact so please accept my apologies. Life always gets in the way, right?

My garden has been delayed and delayed and some more delayed. I did get the tomatoes and peppers in, but then animal projects took over. Then the rain flooded my garden area for days.. and just as it started to be 'walkable' again, here comes another rain storm.

So this is the tally:

The tomatoes and peppers are doing ok - the Heidi I got from the SF is a killer! The Arkansas Travelers are also growing more along the ground than up and very very bushy. Do you really not pull suckers from indeterminant tomatoes? I gave them extra space but feel if I don't curb that foliage air flow will surely suffer. Of the onions probably about 1/4 bolted and I don't know how many have rotted, was hoping I could let them dry out in the bed some.

I lost one of my 2 big potato beds - it stinks and I don't even want to turn over the dirt to pull out the rotten potatoes. -- ANY IDEAS?

I have not yet planted my Okra, Sunflowers, or Pole Beans - too late?

I have not kept up with trimming the outside of my garden area so I have lots of grasses growing through the chicken wire. Was gonna try the Salt/Vinegar/Dawn spray once I get it cut down some. Anybody got any experience with that spray?

On a personal note, I am sooo happy it is getting warmer - the gray was starting to get me depressed. Of course, knowing Oklahoma weather, it will go from cold and wet to boiling hot and drought with no in between lol.

Happy Gardening ALL

Oh and the comfrey made it through sitting in water for weeks :)

My salad greens don't like the heat.

I found several comfrey seedlings this morning, that I dug out. One came out perfect, and I put it in a pot, to give away or sell.

Even so I love warmer weather... this sudden HEAT is brutal.

I may go for a bike ride early tomorrow morning rather than weeding yet again.

Moni

Good to see you here Regina. Heidi is a beast. I am glad I listened to everyone and tried it this year

My first to break color is this beauty

And I did NOT grow Heidi this year. I went straight to slicers and cherries. Nothing's doing anything yet since I was so late getting them in--but they look great.

Yikes. . . I just went outside and my container plants and the veggies all are very thirsty. This will be the first watering we've had to do. I'll turn it on in just a little while. Yep, Moni, I think the lettuce is about done for.

I've been studying native shrubs all day. John requested some ideas. Sheesh. Tall order. He really was hoping for evergreens. About the only thing I can think of is dwarf yaupon hollies. And he also just really wants a Christmas-looking pine tree. Sheesh. Move to Wyoming. Juniperus pinchotii or dwarf yaupon. That's all I got. Any of the rest of you have any brilliant ideas?

Nonetheless, I'm finding some really great deciduous natives shrubs and understory trees. Check this link out: https://pallensmith.com/2014/12/01/10-north-american-native-shrubs/ I planted a button bush for him yesterday. Several more I want to get for Lincoln. And maybe Prunus angustifolia (Chickasaw Sand Plum)--I think the kids and their families need some of those--do you have any input on those?

I'm so sad I didn't plant enough onions or garlic, since they're all doing so well. Gotta get some nitrogen to some of the littlest (sickly) hot peppers.

No ideas on the potatoes, Regina, except to leave them, cover with some alfalfa hay or straw to kind of cover up the stink, and look forward to rich soil after a while. Okra, sunflowers, (bush) beans. To be planted Friday at the school. I'll probably sow beans every couple weeks all summer into the fall. I wouldn't use salt, vinegar and Dawn anywhere in my yard. I've gotten to be quite the snit regarding putting chemicals or strange things down anywhere. lol

Later!

Yep, summer arrived yesterday (90) and is here today too. I had to water desperately thirsty things today....I had about forgotten that water had to be applied manually.

Well, I added southern bayberry as an evergreen.

Others would be inkberry holly (moist soils), junipers of course, can you all grow texas ranger (leucophyllum) or sophora secundiflora (mountain laurel) (I can't), dwarfer forms of magnolia virginiana (highly recommend).

Prunus angustifolia is delicious (or can be) :)

My outdoor temp is snowing 96, I don't even want to go outside.

I have said many times, that my soil will go from soup to sidewalk in a week without rain. I will have to mulch and water often soon with the heat like it is.

Hobo's deck

I have been trying to make it easier for Madge to grow things.

We hope to clean up the deck a little.

A rack we made to hold 10 mineral tubs, we can stand straight, or lean over the rail to tend the plants. I plan to make a fro t for the rack to reduce the heat and protect them from the sun, I have no idea if this will work. We will have to lift the front off and on with the tractor.

Making a rack for plants.

We need to move some things off the deck.

A lot of these are hanging baskets being watered.

Thanks, Danny--I'll check them out.

I am sorry for posting two times, I thrust the first post was lost, I could not find it when I looked for it on GD.

Southern bayberry and sophora secundiflora sound like good ones! I'll put them on my list. Thanks much. Where have you ever found out about all of these great plants?

Hey Everyone.

Good to see you Regina. Sorry your garden is delayed. You're not alone.

Thanks, Nancy--black potato vine. I don't remember buying that.

Dawn, was private for a couple of reasons, I think. If I remember correctly, someone asked her for her location so they could Google Earth her house and look at her garden for one. Does anyone else remember that?

Danny, I did pick up a mallow at the SF, but this isn't it. It's probably the black potato vine. Maybe I grabbed it at Lowes awhile back when I wanted to buy something, but they didn't have anything interesting.

Moni, I pulled all my lettuce yesterday. It went to the chickens. :(

Kim, that is a beauty! I'll have to try Heidi next year.

Thanks for the native shrub ideas, Nancy and Danny. I'm also going to check into those. :)

Larry! That's a neat looking shelf! Thank you for sharing your pictures. I agree, it's not fun outside when it's this hot.

In fact, I've been a bit depressed all day. I say this every year, but I get depressed when it gets super hot. Most people are the opposite. I'm not sure why. I start looking at property in Flagstaff. LOL. And now, Oregon because that's probably where my youngest will live in about a year. Their climate really is much more suited to me. But, my home is here.

I just plugged in a fan for the chickens. yes, they are spoiled. It doesn't keep them cool, but it does offer a breeze.

Jen, I ate the second ripe raspberry this afternoon. It was perfect. Tasted just how a raspberry should taste. I gave the first one to Tom yesterday. He loved it. He is a raspberry fan. I am hoping in a year or two, we'll harvest blackberries and raspberries by the bucket.

Also ate the first Sungold tonight.

Jennifer, I hope the tubs work. I started getting soil ready to top them off with. I think it was Megan that said that she had better luck with good garden soil. So far I have topped 2 tubs off this year and they are doing well. Matter of fact my best looking roselle is in a tub.

I have already managed to get stuck this morning, but a nice man stopped and helped me get out of the ditch. I have so many people that honk and wave, I guess the know me, or, I am just that idiot that tries to grow a garden in the mud.

Larry those pictures are so nice.
A lovely porch.

Has anyone grown Texas star hibiscus. I planted seeds that were really old and I think they all germinated. Found out it’s a perennial. So now I have to put in much bigger pots. The cost of potting soil is going to do me in.

Yes, give it lots of water...in fact I grew it best on the periphery of my pond in OKC. It's very tall (as you probably read). I like the color, I don't like the fact the petals are more like stars than overlapping like some other hibiscus.
I am not growing it here now, preferring other hibiscus species instead.

Nice container garden, Larry!

HJ, I'm happy the raspberries are producing for you. I'm still digging plants out, trying to get rid of them all. Lesson learned, plant where you know you'll want them for the next 20 years.

I remember that incident, HJ. I think she had something else happen before that which made her reluctant to give any personal info, but that pushed her over the edge. And to think today everyone wants to be a youtube star and overshare.

Danny somehow I knew you would know something. Thanks for chiming in on that.
It looks stunning in pictures so I can’t wait to see it.
I normally like full flowers too

My onions and garlic harvest for today.

Some the garlic was in the ground too long.

Part of my harvest from a few days ago.

Bless Hedge"s heart, she lets me pile this junk every where. She understands I can't work long at a time and need to sit will I work.

Please understand that I can hardly see this screen and sometime yes it prints things that I don't want. I think you all know that the tablet should have printed " Madge "

Have I asked if anyone is familar with Amish Paste? theres a few large roundish ones on 2 or 3 plants. The other fruit on same plants are more oblong and smaller.

also, isnt dog vomit fungus weird?

Don't mean to annoy but here is a planting schedule for the fall if things aren't working out for the summer. If you trust OSU fact sheets:https://extension.okstate.edu/fact-sheets/fall-gardening.html

HU

Hey Larry , I'm the other idiot that tries to plant in the mud. All the things that were said and thought about me out thar. Oh my.

Might as well think about a fall garden if the spring isn't working out.

HU

HU--that's just what I was thinking! Do YOU trust OSU fact sheets?

Larry--I think your harvests look plum good! As does the deck. Placing the mineral tubs like .you did was ingenious. Can't quite figure that out. Oh, so you put add-on benches outside the existing deck, apparently. Good idea. Ha ha sorry you got stuck, glad someone came along to help you out. I can't believe you did that!

I've been preoccupied with acquiring native plants this year, so the vegetables have sort of gone out the window . . . well that and the constant rain and cool weather. I put in gourds and squash a week-2 ago at Lincoln, and another 4x12 bed of watermelons and cantaloupes today. Still have to go back tomorrow to plant okra, beans, and sunflowers. Maybe sunflowers--if I can find a place to put them. The kids were at school today (ages 6-10 or so) I got mobbed. They LOVE the garden, and had a billion questions for me. So fun. The new day for their program is Friday, so I will plan to be there on Fridays. It seemed like a mob, but in truth there were probably only 10. And 2 tiny adorable ones 3 and 5. I didn't think I liked kids but guess I do. :) I like the teenagers, too--that is, the teenagers who want to be in the garden.

But the bad thing is that if I work a couple hours over there, I'm exhausted when I get home. On the other hand, it's all good. My beds here are so full of stuff, there's minimal weeding., and now we have our lawn mowing friend/service. Actually, the main bed at Lincoln is too full for too much work, also.

Okay, friends, I'm building a list of native shrubs and understory trees. There are so many amazingly wonderful ones, I don't know why people have been conned into planting sterile ho-hum non-native (or worse, invasive) ones. And I was one of the many of the conned ones. HJ, I know I ordered some Amish paste but don't recall planting them. I have peppers coming on several of the pepper plants, and I'm psyched about that, since I sowed so many different varieties .The Chinese 5-spice are very happy strong plants, as rare the jalapeno 5-color and the Ros de Mallorca. I have volunteer somethings coming up where the squash/melons were last year. Cool.

Tomorrow for sure! The Devil's walking stick gets transplanted. I'm a little bit scared. It's only 20-24 inches tall and it looks vicious already! Garry got out his heavy leather gloves for me to move it. LOLOL .And I'm glad I waited so long, because I finally settled on the perfect place for it! Directly in our front view as we look toward the back of our property. With that spectacular specimen tree, I found the perfect place!

PS: Jacob posted pics of his fantastic market garden produce on FB. This guy--he's hard core! We all knew he was the best, right?

Nite to all. What a great group you are!

Might I say I can take the heat but these mosquitoes gotta go.

Yeah, with all this rain...mosquitos have been bad (but not as bad as I feared). I just try to stay inside dusk to dawn (lol), because I don't need any mosquito born diseases.
The heat is fretful, but thank goodness for AC. I am also happy that things are finally starting to grow. I am trying to relearn how to water things...I let a couple lose some new growth the first day of 90s.

Of all things that failed to germinate (in the constant wet), it was spiderwort (tradescantia) that I didn't get a sprout out of. I was kinda looking forward to getting a range of colors cheaply.

With the end of constant rain, I'm finally able to fertilize things, so that may spur the seedlings on. I guess I will need to transplant some things soon, though I guess I should plan on some rainy future day, I'm sure we'll have some, though the last three days rain patterns have gone south of me. I guess I'm not quite ready to complain, 'but I need that rain', but it may not be long at 90F temps. I don't look forward to having to drag a hose around..especially as complicated as my front yard has gotten (by my own hands) this year.

Nancy, you could plant a whole plantation is native shrubs and trees. Yes, I don't know why people bother with Bradford pears when they could have service berries for instance. Nor euonymus when you could plant ninebark or leadplant. There's so much beauty in the natives, just so much ignorance and big-box mindedness in the 'natives' (referring to people this time). I also get disgruntled when people want to buy something big (like $125) to plant, when a one gallon would catch up to it in two or three years. Small plants transplant so much easier and avoid transplant shock that plagues larger tree or shrubs for years.

Somebody is making money on the non natives. A whole supply chain of people making money. And trying to find actual natives is difficult!

wasn't it the star hybiscus that Dawn grew and had the guy looking at it with binoculars? does it's foliage look like marijuana?

Larry, your deck is brilliant. I want a permanent place to put my flowers. Ron's OCD kicks in in fall and he wants to empty pots and move them. Then I lose perennials. Right now all the flowers are in the very back bed where I can't see them. There's supposed to be okra in that bed eventually. I'd be happy with them on the patio, but it's too cluttered for him.

We had noise last night, but no water. Will have to water things.

Everyone have a good Saturday.

Amy that’s right!
Well if they haven’t figured out what people are doing where I live already this won’t be a problem lol.
Which is one more reason I need my own land.
When finished I will have donated over 200 plants this year.
I am disappointed I wasn’t more pro active concerning my selling. I should have had a better plan. I will say the weather did not help at all.
I am enjoying herbs potatoes strawberries and flowers this year.

It only looks like marijuana if you don't know what marijuana really looks like (I'd say that's umm 50% of the population? I know..but then I've never GROWN it!).

I just attended the first chapter meeting of our local Wild Ones chapter (since early 2020 or maybe late 2019, due to pandemic of course). It was fun to meet like minded people and make some plans. I volunteered to look into (and make) a QR code (those scan things for your phones) for our signage on a native plant garden about 7 minutes from my house. I have done it (though probably will need to refine with requirements).

The president keeps hinting I should do a program...he hit me again today.

I also contacted (because it came up in the meeting) one of my favorite vendors to begin inquiries/negotiations about purchasing flats of wildflowers from them). David (the owner) always calls me his favorite customer....so we'll see ;)

It's hot out there, I do understand why Wild Ones has problems getting volunteers to weed during the summer (which is when you need it the worst of course). I said I could probably lead a weeding crew starting at 7 am occasionally. We'll see if anyone takes me up on that, or I'm just there by myself (lol).

Sounds like a worthwhile organization, Danny. I see they don't have any chapters in OK. I've spent the entire afternoon reading about native shrubs and understory trees. There are a lot! I just ordered Tony Dove's Essential Trees and Shrubs. . . it looked like a good one, and I noted it had Tallamy's endorsement.

At the other end of the gardening spectrum, got a call from one of the church friends. She wanted to know if I'd be interested in taking a look at the two small beds in front of the church and giving them some ideas. She said they had knockout roses (which all died--RRD, probably), and hostas; that they'd divided the hostas and moved them over to the east (FULL sun) side of the building. She planned to spray to get the junk out of one of the beds (vinca vines and lamium maculatum (spotted dead nettle). I told her I'd drive by and take a lot, but maybe she wouldn't have to spray. Those beds are pretty small. Yuck what a mess. VERY rocky soil, the beds are only about 8x10 and 6x8. Further complications include the "soil" is level with the sidewalks so don't see a good way to add good stuff to them (and they look like they need a sizeable amount of good stuff). Won't hurt to suggest a couple things, but definitely will KIS. I can't spend time working there, and I think the ones who used to are "retiring." It was depressing, speaking of non-native and not being responsible stewards. People just want what they've been taught are easy no-work solutions to beds around buildings.

Sophora secundiflora wouldn't work here, pretty sure, nor leukophyllum. I don't think they'd work at Lincoln, either. Lincoln is in a particularly low spot in town. BUT that did give me an idea--we could put in a couple rain gardens there! Good. That will give me another project. LOL I'm bummed--both look beautiful. I have a friend in NM and sent her a heads up on them.

Yay, we finally got the aralia spinosa moved. I wore the gloves (LOL), Garry dug the holes, and we both filled the soil in. I am thinking it will love its new space in the "Back 40."

Here it is, followed by a photo of one of the paw paws, about 20 feet away (they're doing well). It is definitely part shade.

Well, quite a day, doing a little of this, a little of that. Pulled all the garlic, what little of it there is (maybe 2-3 dozen, and some disappointing small bulbs, along with fewer nice ones). Weeded a bit. Went to town and viewed the church's beds; back and studied most of the afternoon, then chicken and stuffing for dinner, then out to plant Devil's walking stick.

Making a QR code, very impressive, I had no idea what they were even called. :) How big is the native plant garden?

Hi, Y'all.

Yucky heat. I didn't spend much time in the garden today. I did water a few things and harvested some bell peppers, jalapenos, onions to make chow chow. I already had cabbage and green tomatoes in the house. I had forgotten about my grandpa's chow chow until I was reminded today while visiting my uncle and aunt.

So, I made it and it is good. And it's fun that it all came from the garden except the red bell pepper that I purchased. None of my peppers are red yet.

We probably should give people a break when it comes to being native purists. It's good to put out the word and spread it as much as possible....but people want something to make their properties look nice....but are often working outside the home, caring for stuff inside the home (like shopping, laundry, cleaning), caring for children and all the things that children are involved with, helping with grandchildren. They're not spending hours studying plants and native plants because they simply don't have time. They'll have a few hours on the weekend, drive to their local nursery and purchase something that looks pretty, and plant it.

I guess in some ways I don't understand why my chaste tree is so harmful to the environment. It seems like the pollinators love it...and it's not spreading. It's just a little chaste tree in the middle of my backyard that is covered with bees and butterflies. I guess I should study more on why it's harmful. Maybe I will when I retire in 20 years. Maybe I'll decide to pull it out then. But for now I'll spend my extra time in the garden and dealing with garden produce. I SO enjoy skipping the produce section at the grocery store. Sometimes I'll buy blueberries or citrus. Oh, and the red pepper today. Oh..and ugh. Lettuce if I want to eat lettuce. Too hot for it now.

I just remember a few short years ago when I would load up on the fresh and frozen veggies/fruit at the grocery store.

Nancy, the peppers you gave to me at SF are so awesome. The paprika grows "upside down"....and the 5 color jalapeno is SO pretty! Thank you for sharing those with me.

I'm going to come back with a pic of the Survivalist Garden. It's all food. No flowers. We seem to be in a flower phase here. Love my flowers.

I feel kinda the same way about the heat...but after extended cold and wet, I also feel happy to see things actually growing now. Mixed blessings I guess ? :)

In the chaste tree's case, maybe it's not much as it's harmful as it's not as beneficial as if it were a carefully chosen native, which would have it's own ecosystem (things that eat it's leaves (usually insects), which are then eaten by other insects, or birds, lizards, etc). An oft quoted phrase from Tallamy's work is that certain species of oaks support up to 280 different species (leaf, nut, bark, leaf litter, roots, etc). Colorful birds that sing, lizards, frogs, toads, snakes, well...everything doesn't have food or maybe a home.

I would almost guarantee that nothing eats the foliage on your chaste tree, so it's not really contributing to the local foodweb. Unfortunately, most people plant exotics that don't contribute to the local ecology. Many insect species are restricted and will only feed on X, Y, or Z hosts that they evolved to bypass the plant's chemical weapons against being eaten.

Actually a quick bit of research, Vitex agnus-castus (Chaste Tree) is listed in the Invasive Plant Atlas of the United States. So that means that in many environments it *does* reseed and out compete native flora. Just because you don't see the seedlings, doesn't mean birds aren't carrying them far and wide or they blow or something. That's really bad, that's like producing a food desert. Our native species have it hard enough with people putting up high rises, parking lots, plowing up woodlands and prairies and not planting any replacements for them. The least we can do is try to plant something that may help them in our small yards (which are no replacement for forest or 1000 acre prairies).

There, did that research for you, even in the middle of the night when I woke up with back hurting.

The only bug i remeber eating the leaves of my chsste tree is hornworms. iI cant remember if they were tobacco or tomato or another one. i do remember having at least a couple of types —maybe more—last year.

the bees do love the flowers on it though.

i guess i dont physically see the damage my chaste is doing because around my property we have so many types of birds and wildlife. its a busy place.