July 02, 2009
by Charla Borchers Leon, Victoria County Master Gardener
Tree limbs with hanging baskets provide a picturesque background to a garden setting. Baskets in round and cone shapes can be defined by color, texture and height of plants, as well as length of cascading runners. These baskets were designed for seasonal summer color in red, white and blue.
True Meaning of Fourth of July
While family gatherings, barbecues and even fireworks come to mind (be careful if there is a burn ban in effect due to dry conditions), let us not forget the meaning for the day. In 1776, America was declared a free nation by our forefathers. Today, American men and women somewhere on this globe are in service to our country defending the principles of freedom. Let's support and salute them for helping make sure we remain the land of the free and the home of the brave.
We can do that as a group in public ceremony or reverently by ourselves in patriotic retrospect. I am one who likes both, and am proud to display the red, white and blue in my life. The flag of my country flies above my front door; I invite friends to celebrate with stars and stripes party materials; there are patriotic garden structures in my garden; and I seasonally plant my landscape in 'red, white and bloom.'
Patriotic Garden Color
Even in the current days of extreme summer heat, there are plants that will do well in the right conditions to add patriotic color to your garden.
There are various red bloomers, others in white and even a few in blue. I have chosen salvias in red and blue, geraniums in red and white, angelonias in blue and white, caladiums in white to shades of red, the gaura, cat's whisker, zinnia and vinca in white, blooming vines like blue morning glory, white Confederate jasmine and the white with red bleeding heart, green with white variegated ivies like the English and Algerian and ground cover and container materials like blue torenia and the white diamond frost euphorbia, to name a few.
'Red, White and Bloom' Baskets
Combining some of these plants, I have various-shaped hanging baskets in my garden suspended from live oak tree limbs. One round basket has strapleaf red caladiums, blue torenia, white angelonia and various cascading green ivies.
Another round basket contains vibrant red and Victorian blue salvia, with white diamond frost euphorbia and variegated English ivy; a cone-shaped basket with a red geranium, white euphorbia, blue torenia and trailing variegated Algerian ivy; and another cone-shaped basket in red salvia, blue torenia, along with solid white vinca or periwinkles.
Desiring partial sun and shade, these plants get some of each with the movement of the sun during the day.
In this extreme heat, they like a drink early in the morning and again in the evening - as hanging baskets dry out more rapidly than plants in containers or in the ground.
Try these combinations in hanging baskets, and provide your own décor for a patriotic 'red, white and bloom' celebration in your own garden setting.
Today's article calls for celebration in another sense. This is the sixth anniversary of the beginning of this column, published each Thursday since July 3, 2003, and the beginning of its seventh year of publication.
There have been 312 original articles written weekly since then, and there never has been one repeated. Ninety Victoria County Master Gardeners and interns have written these articles voluntarily, with several writing more frequently than others. None receive pay as the Master Gardener program prohibits such remuneration.
Stats Tell About 'The Dirt'
'The Dirt', as we call it, is circulated in The Advocate into eight surrounding counties (industry-calculated readership of 95,781) every Thursday, available on-line with 33,300 potential hits/visitors per week and permanently archived on the Master Gardener Web site (www.vcmga.org) with a tallied 25,663 hits in the last two years. (See all articles on VCMGA web site at http://www.vcmga.org/GardenersDirt.html)
1st Place in Texas for 3rd Time
Sound like a lot of statistics? Well, these are the facts that helped compile the entry for Texas statewide mass media competition in the Master Gardener program this year. 'The Dirt' has secured first-place recognition in Texas twice before in its previous five years of existence, and it won first place again this year. And we are celebrating its success. It was selected by a panel of judges from Texas the first year and now for a second time with judges from out-of-state.
Each article takes a minimum average of more than 20 hours of work by the author, editors, and Master Gardener coordinator. Many involve a whole lot more. Before submission for publication the following week, each article goes through a 17-day period of clarification, edit and content review backed by fact and provable research for each article.
With a serious contractual commitment by the Master Gardener voting membership (with The Advocate), a committee of four, plus the Master Gardener coordinator schedule the column with topics and secure the authors.
As editor-in-chief since inception, I have had the privileged responsibility of coordinating with each writer and working on a weekly basis with extension agent and Master Gardener coordinator Joe Janak, editing all 312 original articles. We have never missed a deadline and have always given credit where credit is due in writing, photographs and source material.
Janak didn't quite know what he was initiating when he supported the idea of a weekly gardening column in the newspaper. Now, he wouldn't quite know what to do with his time if it were not to provide the final go ahead for another article to appear in the next week's paper.
Today and every Thursday, we celebrate another published article, and we share in celebrating a third, first-place state award for our work.
We thank The Advocate for our partnership that guarantees its publication and our readers who make the work so much more gratifying when we are told there are those who can't wait for Thursday morning's paper to see what's in 'The Dirt.'
We aim to be around for at least another year.
Red or white strapleaf caladiums
Red hot Sally or Victorian blue salvia
Red or white pintas
Red or white geraniums
Red, white or blue wave petunias
Red or white purslane
Red or white dwarf hibiscus
White gaura
White cat's whiskers
White diamond frost euphorbia
White vinca
White zinnias
White confederate jasmine vine
White with red bleeding heart vine
Blue or white angelonia
Blue torenia
Blue plumbago
Blue daze
Blue morning glory vine
Variegated green with white English ivy
Variegated green with white Algerian ivy
Green and white Joseph's coat snowbush
Green with white flax lilies
Green with white Aztec grass
Future Topics
Fall Master Gardener Training Class
Drip Irrigation System
Texas Superstars by Color
Cactus Gardens
Re-Seeding Plants
Celebrations at Victoria Educational Gardens
Fall Plant Sale
EarthKind Symposium
Wildflower Project
UPCOMING MASTER GARDENER EVENTS
Lunch and Learn with the Masters
Free to the public;
Dr. Pattie Dodson
Public Health Center;
Noon to 1 p.m.
July 13 - Water Gardening
Aug. 10 - Mulching, Composting and Water Conservation
Aug. 6 - Fall Training Class Begins
Sept. 12 - Fall Plant Sale
Oct. 17 - EarthKind Symposium