Hello:

I have finally been doing garden work in Nicholas County where I live.  It is nice to provide services for the folks around here.  A four county territory is kinda big at $3.89 a gallon for gas.  Ironic then that the president and vice-president of the MG Association here are the two ladies farthest away from almost every activity.  If we had an allowance for gas, the job of Master Gardener would be lots easier.  I feel guilty that I cannot get to the Tamarack herb garden as often as the herbs need.  Herbs do so much better with that constant snip snip.  They get too lanky and thin if left alone. 

Speaking of lanky and thin.......  I planted six of the most pitiful nastursium plants I have ever seen.  They were in that nasty seed starter medium of utter disaster.  Three of these plants combined were barely as big around as a pencil.  Most of the gardeners I know would have considered them dead already.  I hate to waste things and I can't help but cheer for the underdog.  I planted them.  I told them, ok, if you grow instead of croak you can maybe fill in this space between the sage and fennel.  WOW! Two days ago my husband dug two of them up and transplanted them to the bed in the triangle.  They took over their area and were trying to dwarf the sage and the chives.  It is even difficult to see the blooming parsley in this cacophony.

I love nasturtium.  There is always a place in the garden for them.  The leaves have such a great pepper flavor.  The flowers can be eaten and used as decorations on the top of pumpkin pie.  Their yellow and orange colors make them a wonderful and tasty addition to the fall banquet table. 

 

Grow nasturtiums around squash to keep the beetles off.  Then add the flowers to the top of a squash caserole, or use a flower like a cherry on top of a stuffed acorn squash half and don't forget the pecans.  What grows together as companions in the garden generally eats well together.

 

I'm working on a photo album of all the purple flowers right now.  I hope to share some soon.  Meanwhile,  try out a few flowers for dinner!

 

Bette

 



Greetings:

Been very busy in the harvesting season and after the storm took out the power for a week.  I just had to post the photo of the Dahlia I got by default because this plant did not sell at the MG fundraiser and it lost it's label.  I never knew a dahlia could be so gorgeous as I never knew anyone who grew them before.  This bloom reached a little over eight inches when it filled out.  It took it a month for the center to unfold.  What an amazing sight it was.  This dahlia has dwarfed the Black-eyed Susan it got planted next to!  If the picture hadn't been lost off of the pot, I would never have gotten this plant.  It is my gain for taking the chance on an unknown.  I hit the jackpot.

Bette

Hello:

The gardens are blooming all over the place.  We have been very busy putting in the crop for this year and trying to thin flowers.  The rain garden is taking shape.  I will call it West Virginia Chic with a touch of the Flintstones.  We have done a lot of transplanting and a little bargain hunting to come up with the plants in the landscape.  The advantage to plants from here is you know they tolerate or enjoy the soil and water conditions.  The chances of success are greatly improved. 

I bet you can see the part we call Flinstones!?!.  Why move the perfect table, ottoman, and fireplace mantel?  This photo is a month old.  Today, the giant ferns are sprouting randomly and towering up to four feet.  They aren't done growing, yet.

I need to research the best type of grass for the area.  It needs to be an easy maintenance low grower and good ground cover that can stand up to foot traffic when we move the grill down there.  I want a grass like a golf course might use.  I'm also still looking for a great statue.  My husband has put up a collection of found treasures from the sheds and creek.  A mill stone looks wonderful in a native setting.

Slowly, but surely.  The neighbor's grandson thinks the stone work is just way too cool.  He wants one on his side of the creek.  Grandpa may not be so hot on the idea of moving one ton (or heavier) boulders.  We're a bad influence, but they can come and roast hot dogs with us to christen "Bette's Place" at "Swallowtail Lane" on the corner of "Frog Leap Point" in a couple of months when we get it all finished.

I wish I would have bought the whole display of butterflies and dragonflies that are a battery powered light that changes color constantly.  They look fantastic hiding in the plants or trees with some tulip solar lights.  It creates great ambiance.

Bette



Hello:

There is so much happening in the garden it is hard to keep up with it all.  One neighbor worked for two days with my husband on that wonderful (!?!**) mower and still it doesn't work.  My other neighbor loaned us a bush hog for the tractor.  Most of the area around the house has been mowed.  Some of the dandelions in a meadow had to stay to feed the Goldfinches and Sparrows.  That last frost got most of the apple blossoms so the dandelions won't be needed under the trees to help the fruit ripen.  The birds are so much fun to watch as they put on an olympic show to bend the dandelions to reach the seeds.

The Iris are blooming, so I thought I'd share them.  I've never seen one with four sets of petal like this before, or so dark purple.

 

This one amazes me how pure white the top is.  The fall is quite unique in combining the deep purple, tiger stripe and yellow.  It is somewhat hard to see, but inside the white is another tiger pattern.

These are just two of the varieties here.

Enjoy,

Bette

Hello:

My niece tells me that a good blog needs to have a story people can follow and not just the photos explaining a newspaper column she can't read from the other side of the country.  I used to make up stories of the farm in Texas.  We named some areas and special plants and wove a whole line of fantasy fiction stories into the land.  Neighbors and friends would do the Sunday walkabout and B-B-Q lunch and it got to where they started adding to the storylines.  I began taking a sketch pad and creating drawings to go with the stories.  I took a few movies of our escapades along with photos.  Some people wanted me to blog it all then.  My confined to the city relatives and friends love my stories of green land and running water.  We called it the "Great Walkabout".  Now that we are in West Virginia I guess we will have to start calling it the "Wild & Wonderful Walkabout"!

Every good story needs a cast of characters.  The main characters in my stories are the dogs that became our "keeper pack".  When you live at the end of a rural dirt road and the economy gets bad, people dump dogs, cats, and other animals on you.  We have gotten some of the greatest joys of our life from the dogs other people threw away.  Let me introduce you to the first member of what my husband has dubbed "The Dead End Gang".

Chance is American Standard Bulldog and Border Collie.  He is the Chosen One in the stories.  We got him out of a shelter on August 5, 2004 when he was about 10 months old.  He had three days left so the shelter gave him the name Chance like the Homeward Bound Dog.  He is the father of some of the other characters.  He is a very good father and leader of his pack.  The others pay homage to him using the love bite on his lower jaw.

  

Chance is a talking dog who loves to give you that perfect Nipper the RCA dog imitation.  He has the softest fur of any dog I've ever met before.  People can't quit petting him and he is a friendly ham.  In the car he rides shotgun and causes people to do a double take at his profile and antics.  We went on a walkabout this morning and I caught him coming over the hill.  A very happy fellow, he is.

...to be continued

Bette

Deer in Bette's Beds

Howdy:

I caught the deer enjoying an early morning in Bettes Beds.  I hope you like it.

Bette

Hello:

I want to share the photos of my new yard art.  My husband is so creative with junk!

The tractor has no steering wheel.  The shovel will soon read "Bette's Boulevard" like a street sign for our driveway.

The old circular ringer style washing machine is next to be rescued from the creek and turned into treasure.

Bette

Hello:

The hail storm we had on this mountain did some serious damage to all the daffodils up here.  It was only quarter sized stones, but they hit hard and the flowers did not like it.  I got a few pictures before the storm so enjoy them.

I just love these white daffodils.

Yes, this is a daffodil.  I've never seen one with so many leaves before.  I think they are very special and beautiful.  Enjoy.

Bette

Greetings:

Hope everyone had a Green time for St. Pat's Day.  The Crocus bloomed up here.  They knew I was waiting on them and then in one day they all opened up at once.  I grabbed the camera and went to catch them before the deer could eat them.  They have a delicate fragrance I wish I could post, but alas, I cannot.  Enjoy a couple of photographs.
Bette

The first of the daffodils are beginning to bloom.  I'm going out to capture them for a future blog.  Bette 

Greetings and welcome to Bette's Beds the blogspot.  This space will be used to expand on the column in the Nicholas Chronicle of the same name.  In this location I will post photographs and videos of the things I describe in the newspaper.

My problem with the rhododendron in my identificatin book was that it was black and white and my flowers were not!  I will also put links to the best of the research.

I will eventually learn how to fully use all the functions of this blog and be able to chat and hold plant discussions.

I was serious in offering a trade of my plants for someone's expertise in getting me started and putting my logos on the blog.

Meanwhile......here are photos of the rhododendron I see from my windows.

Bette

One is a September photo and the other is a March photo.