The Sunflower Plants are Brown and Dry

We had beautiful sunflowers again this year. Most of the plants came up from seed that had dropped to the ground last year. Last year I had bought some giant sunflower seed packets and the giant sunflowers came up again this year. But some short sunflowers came up voluntarily from sunflower seeds dropped from the birdfeeder. What a cheap way to buy seed!

Sunflowers are so bright and they bloom all summer. They also attract bees and butterflies, which both share the flower together. And this year I saw hummingbirds at the sunflowers. Unfortunately, I couldn't get any photographs of them.

All the sunflower plants were pretty, but I liked the giant ones the best. With one pack of seeds I can keep sunflowers growing year after year. We had a small vegetable garden and the sunflowers were planted behind it, between the hay field and the grass lawn. I believe the tall sunflowers hid the garden from the deer. They often come up through the field and walk across the road into another field, and then back again. Not a single deer got into the garden.

Now the plants are dry and the flower heads are drooping. I'm going to cut off the heads and lay them out in the yard to continue drying. I'll just let the birds have most of them. I pulled out a couple of shells and ate the seeds. They were raw, of course, and tasted just like raw seeds I've bought in the store. I'm saving two flower heads so I can roast the seeds in the oven.

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Nicotiana - Flowering Tobacco

My sister planted two white nicotiana (flowering tobacco) plants early this spring. They are flowering now and should continue to bloom all summer. Their blooms are closed up most of the day and they have a pale yellow exterior. In late afternoon, they start opening up and stay open through the next morning. Nicotiana comes in pink, purple and red, but my sister bought the white flowering plants because they're supposed to have a stronger smell.

The nicotianas are planted along the side of the house, which gives them some shade in the morning. Whenever I walk by, I pick off any old blooms so the plants look prettier, and also to encourage more blooms to develop.

The plants are full of flower clusters of long-tubed, trumpet-shaped flowers. They're attractive to butterflies and hummingbirds, but so far I haven't seen any. The plants do tend to flop over, so I tied some of the branches to some stakes.

The blooms don't have a real strong smell, but as I walk by the house in the early evening, I can get a whiff of a sweet flower smell. Nicotiana is supposed to self-seed so as the plants spread, their scent will grow stronger. I enjoy living here and learning about and taking care of the flowers my sister plants. I've always lived in an apartment and the grounds were landscaped and included flowers. There are many pretty flowers in South Texas, but I hadn't seen a nicotiana plant before.

Japanese Beetles Causing Damage

I've seen many Japanese beetles this week. Last year, they were all over a yellow rose bush and on some dwarf peach trees. This year they're on the peach trees again, but also on pink clover blossoms in the yard, on some new roses bushes planted this spring, on sunflowers, a hybiscus plant, iron weed, and dahlias. This picture is of two beetles on peach tree leaves. You can see how much they are destroying the leaf. When they're done, it'll look like a leaf skeleton.

Last year I bought a spray bottle of organic bug spray to get rid of the beetles. But since there are so many beetles this year, I did some research on other ways to get rid of them.

I found a YouTube video where a woman used a plastic soda bottle and tapped beetles into it to feed her chickens. They love to eat the beetles. I tried it out at the orchard and it did a pretty good job, but when I scooped beetles into the bottle, I often knocked off some beetles from another leaf or branch. And since I don't have any chickens to feed, this isn't the best way for me to capture beetles.

I also read an article on the internet that said to knock the beetles into a bucket of soapy water. So I tried that next and found it does a good job for knocking several beetles off at a time. It doesn't do so good when you're trying to get at a beetle in the middle of a tree or flower - the soda bottle would be better. One disadvantage of the bucket is you have to be careful only to knock beetles into it. I saw quite a few ladybugs on the peach tree leaves and I sure don't want to kill them.


I took this picture of my first bucket of Japanes beetles (pointing the camera stright down toward the surface of the water). I was proud of how many I got.

I'm now using a tin can filled with soapy water. I feel I can get the can into tighter spots and knock the beetles into it without worrying about knocking off a beneficial insect.

I catch more beetles if I go hunting early in the morning. The beetles don't move much when the temperature is cooler. But if the leaf has any texture to it, I can't knock the beetle off - I have to pick it off. When I go out when it's sunny, I can see the beetles better because the sun reflects off their shiny bodies, but the sometimes fly away before I can knock them into the tin can.

Today was my fifth day hunting beetles. I'm going to keep checking the trees and plants every day until late July. That's when the beetles lay their eggs. This fall, I'm going to use milky spore disease powder around the fruit trees, rose bushes, and specific plants I've seen the beetles on. Milky spore disease powder is approved and registered with the EPA. The spores do not infect other non-target organisms, such as other insects, birds, mammals, earthworms, and plants.

We're planning to put in a bigger vegetable garden and plant more flowers next year. By attacking the Japanese beetle grubs, we shouldn't have many adults next year.

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You can buy milky spore at Master Gardening. Key in "Japanese Beetle" into the search box. Visit Mastergardening.com for all the hottest new gardening items!

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To read more about the Japanese beetle problem, CLICK HERE

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Easy to Grow Snow Peas

I bought a package of snow peas and planted them early this spring. All I did was get a sturdy screwdriver and poke holes in the ground about 4 inches apart. Then I put a pea in the hole and covered it with a little dirt. I didn't dig the ground up first or add any fertilizer. After I was finished, I watered the ground.

About two weeks later, the plants started coming up from the ground. I had some bamboo poles, so I stuck a pole next to each plant. After they started getting taller, I should have tied the plants to the poles, but I didn't. I'm a lazy farmer. But the plants sort of twisted around the poles anyway.

Later, each plant had several white blooms. I missed seeing the peas emerge when they were small because the peas and pea leaves are the same color. But finally I walked by one day and noticed a pea pod about 2" long. I searched through the plants and found a whole bowlful of pods.

After I washed them, I blanched the smaller ones for two minutes and then froze them to use later. Then I boiled the bigger ones until they were soft. A few of the pods were tough so I ate the peas inside and threw out the pods. I ate the cooked snow peas without any seasoning, but they would have been good with a little butter, too.

Snow peas are an early crop and after I pick the rest today, I'm going to pull up the vines to put in the compost pile. However, there's a shady side of the house facing north that I'm going to plant just a few more plants. I want to see if they'll grow even though it's late in the season.

Burgess Seed & Plant Co.

How to Cook With Snow Peas

Cascarones - Confetti Filled Eggs

I bought a carton of cascarones in an HEB grocery store when I was in San Antonio. Cascarones are empty egg shells that has been painted a bright color, filled with confetti, and with a piece of tissue paper pasted over the opening. During Fiesta, San Antonio's 10 day celebration, thousands of cascarones throughout the city.

Smashing a cascaron on someone's head brings good luck. Crush the cascaron in your hand right beforehand, though, or you could hurt someone's scalp with egg shell fragments.

Cascarones can be used at any happy event such as birthday parties, festivals, and holidays.

How to Make Your Own Cascarones

Carefully crack open a raw egg at the smaller tip end. You'll need to pull egg shell fragments away to make a clear hole. Shake the egg so the liquid will fall into a bowl. You may need to use a spoon handle to help it along.

Rinse out the shells and save them in their egg carton with the hole side down so any water drops will drain out.

Buy some egg dye or use food coloring. Most instructions tell you to add some vinegar to help set the dye (make it retain its bright color).

Once you've dyed your egg shells and let them dry, you can fill them with biodegradable confetti and then glue a small piece of tissue paper over the opening. Place the egg back into the carton because the cascarones are fragile.

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CLICK HERE for more information, including a video on making cascarones.

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All the Party Supplies You Need: Including Candy Making Supplies and Costumes

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San Antonio Botanical Gardens

Bougainvillea (photo) is popular throughout San Antonio and the Botanical Center had huge displays.

When I lived in San Antonio (before moving to Tennessee), I went four or five times a year. and I never got tired of going.  

There are some beautiful flowering beds outside the Carriage House (the entrance).  The Carriage House was an actual building complete with horse stables before it was brought to the Botanical Center.  

There's a wonderful restaurant inside with unusual menu items and everything is fresh. The restaurant is not large and it's quite popular, so time your visit so you can arrive early enough to have lunch.  It's only open Tuesday - Friday, 11:00am - 2:00pm and Saturday-Sunday 9:00am - 2:00pm.

The small gift shop has unusual items and is great for finding gifts. And they have packets of all kinds of flower, vegetable, and herb seeds.  

Once you pay and go outside, you can choose which way you want to go (using a map).  There are  formal flower beds with four large rectangular display areas which are changed seasonally.  There are also water fountains and sometimes a few ducks stop to visit.

In the Old Fashioned Garden they grow older flower varieties.  In season, this garden attracts a lot of butterflies.  There's a Rose Garden and the Sensory Garden (Garden for the Blind). The Kumamoto Garden was a gift from San Antonio's Sister City of Kumamoto, Japan.  It's enclosed in a bamboo fence and is peaceful to walk through.

The Native Texas Trail is neat. They have plant communities characteristic of the Hill Country (Edwards Plateau), East Texas Piney Woods, and South Texas. These are three distinctive and diverse ecological regions of Texas.  There are also several early Texas houses, which have been reconstructed on the site.

I love walking around the pond in the East Texas Pineywoods section.  They have benches to sit on and I watch the ducks in the water and the turtles sunning on rocks.  There's a vending machine to feed the ducks (25 cents).  The ducks come running when they see someone walk by the machines.   

There are also plant sales, a children's vegetable garden program, and farmer's market (in season).  And they often have special one-time events.   The Center is downtown, on 555 Funston, off of Broadway.  

There are four special events each year:  Shakespeare in the park, Concerts Under the Stars, Gardens by Moonlight.  In all the years I lived in San Antonio, I never attended one. Maybe I'll be there at the right time when I go back for another visit.

Four Seasons Nursery

San Antonio Botanical Garden Web Site