Hurry! Hurry! Step Right Up!

After a rainy, soggy week, 

last Saturday dawned bright and sunny for the North Central Louisiana Master Gardener 

Spring Plant Sale.

Babs Barham organizes plant identification signs prior to the sale. Cheryl Maxwell made these informative signs for the hundreds of plants we grew! In the background Rozetta Smith and Kathy Stone sort through sun perennials and vines.

Sylvia Baker gathers boxes for shoppers.

One of Sylvia's boxes filled up with a shopper's purchases.

Kathy Davis and Carolyn Sutton discuss a table full of coleus in every color.

A table full of zinnias, narrow leaf and garden varieties.

Luscious columbine!!

The columbine bloom

Hyacinth bean vines 

Eager Master Gardeners Susan Kelly, Josie Herbert, and Kim Belue.

Did you know that Kim is the owner of Better Living Market housed in the Old Wheat Barn location.  Kim has chosen the most wonderful merchandise to enhance your healthy lifestyle. Be sure to stop by and see her!

Susan Kelly is the owner of Chickadee Hill, a floral design business. The weddings she decorates are beautiful!!

Our good friends at Louisiana Tech were on hand with their beautiful, healthy vegetables, landscape plants, and flowers.

Tech students ready for a day of selling

Hurry! Hurry! Step right up!!  
And did they ever!! The crowds were great!

Many thanks to the Lincoln Parish gardeners that came out and supported our sale!!!
We hope you enjoy lovely plants all summer and beyond!

Kathy Stone and Kim Belue get ready to accept payment.

Miriam Schrock (center) along with Master Gardener Dee Hutson manned the Monarch butterfly booth teaching gardeners how to start a Monarch butterfly program of their own. Several different varieties of milkweed were available.
Don't you just love Miriam's T-shirt?! 

The plant sale includes many talented vendors.

Such creativity!!

This vendor, Susan Aguettant, and her family have a special place in my heart. I taught Susan's oldest daughter, Stephanie, many years ago when we lived in West Monroe. Every teacher will understand when I say there are kind, supportive, fun parents and students that you never forget. The Aguettants are one of those families.

Oh! By the way, her herbed breads were scrumptious!

Fun bonsai...

Great woodworking!

Our friends at the O.W.L. Center and their delicious treats!!

Lots to choose from!

Our good friend, Aaron Jennings with Jennings Apiaries was there.  His wife is making these awesome necklaces that contain real honey comb. Wouldn't that be perfect for someone named Honey.....

Wind chimes and more!!

We were also pleased to have some very impressive young people join us. They were representing the Young Entrepreneur Academy.

If you were there, I know you had a great time. If you missed it, you have my sympathy. 

 But do not despair, it gets better every year!!

Love ya'll,

Shelli

There are some days when I think I’m going to die from an overdose of satisfaction. ~Salvador Dali

Gardening In The City

I love visiting the city. Small specialty stores, neighborhood restaurants, and the local coffee shop all at your fingertips make city living so convenient. Add in the millions of events happening every weekend and I can understand why many people wouldn't live anywhere else. However, I need gardening therapy to get me through the day; my peace of mind depends on it. Not having room to garden would keep me from becoming a city dweller.

But while I was staying in New Orleans, Katherine and Collin recommended that I visit Hollygrove.

Hollygrove is divided into halves with their shop in the middle. On one half is the large garden tended by community volunteers. The other half is individual garden plots tended by individual gardeners. The shop in the middle sells produce grown in the garden. 

I was there in March and the garden was transitioning from fall to summer vegetables. I was happy to see fall vegetables that had gone to seed lingering in the garden to attract and sustain the pollinators.

I couldn't get a good picture of this design plan. I would have needed to climbed a ladder to show you that the gardener laid out the rows in concentric circles. It was a fun design for a small plot. And who doesn't like colorful, edible nasturtiums.

When we visit my sister in Dallas we often enjoy yummy Mexican food at Gloria's Restaurant located in The Village at Fairview.  They, too, have a community garden for their residents. 

Their website says, "The Village Garden is a community garden with 55 private, raised beds, seven larger community/pantry plots, and a small orchard. The garden is open to area residents, to supply fresh vegetables and herbs for their own families, as well as families that depend on The ACO Food Pantry for their basic needs."

People just love gardening! Whether you live in the city or the country, nothing tastes better than a home grown tomato!!

Love ya'll,

Shelli

The greatest gift of the garden is the restoration of the five senses. 

~Hanna Rion

We're Back!!

Hey! We're back from our grandparenting break. I was excited to stay with Katherine and Collin for a week after they brought Olive home. During that time it was such a treat to have my Alabama sister came over to visit.

 I have since been back with my parents and Dallas sister.

Four Generations!!

Olive is doing so well and is such a cutie pie!! She has amazing parents, too!!

Since we last talked, we lived through the Great Flood of 2016. There were no flooding issues here at Turkey Creek Garden, but many North Louisianians have suffered tremendous loss. We lost one pine tree and I was amazed at how considerate the tree was as it fell. It curved right around my little camelia bush, missing it by inches.

I couldn't have handled losing another bush since just before the flood, our yard caught on fire!! We lost six thorny eleagnus that were part of a hedge we had been nursing along for a couple of years.

The fire started in a neighbor's yard and, by the grace of God, James saw it when he went out on the porch to eat cinnamon rolls with the dogs. The owners of the home where the fire started, as well as both backyard neighbors, were gone. Had James not been there the fire would have burned unnoticed for Heaven knows how long!!

Can you see James partially hidden behind the fence?  He's got the water hose trying to keep the flames down until the firetrucks arrive.

Flood! Fire! I was beginning to feel like an Egyptian and was waiting for hordes of locusts, but things have settled down.

Dolly, Patsy, and Tanya are fine although during the flood their coop was surrounded by a lake of water. James, bless his heart, dug a ditch which quickly drained their chicken yard. In this picture I have removed their feed container from the coop so that I can clean it. Just by seeing their food in a new location, they think it is some new treat and stand there gobbling it up. I want to call them "dumb clucks", but can't bring myself to do it.

Fred and Ethel hated the flood, but LOVED the fire!!! Five firetrucks and strange men running around in the yard was more excitement than they dared dream of; not to mention those wonderful sirens!!!

The gardens have been planted. The circle garden (aka pallet garden, fall garden) has been transformed into a cutting garden. More on it later. Everything in the big garden is coming up - cucumbers, beans, squash, corn, okra, tomatoes, potatoes, and onions. I smell tomato pies on the horizon!

Love ya'll,

Shelli

There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort. 

~Jane Austen

MG Plant Sale

Hey! I'm not really back to blogging yet - am still on my new grandbaby break, but wanted to post the Master Gardener Plant Sale article that was in the Ruston Daily Leader...

Master Gardener Spring Plant Sale

Put down your trowel and change out of your dirty gardening clothes. It’s time to get ready for the North Central Louisiana Master Gardener Spring Plant Sale!

Our seed guru, Donna White, and other dedicated Master Gardeners, have been busily working in the greenhouse since January. They have been lovingly germinating, transplanting, and caring for a special selection of plants chosen just for your garden. You’re going to want to be first in line!!

The Master Gardener Plant Sale is known for its unusual plants, expert advice from gardeners, and great prices. The prices range from 50¢ to $5.00. Plants in the traditional categories of shade and sun annuals, shade and sun perennials, herbs, vines, and natives will be offered at the sale, but will include varieties that you can’t always find at other garden centers. There will also be plant categories that we have discussed together in this article such as Tough As Woodpecker Lips plants and Pollinator Friendly plants. For those gardeners out there who have a creative turn of heart and a whimsical wink in their eye, there are other categories of plants to be had…. Let’s explore some plant sale categories that might be of interest to you.

Woodpecker Lips: Although the weather is cool and rain is reliable now, we all know that the late summer, early fall drought will come. Then you will be so glad that you planted tough, drought and heat resistant plants this spring.  At the sale we will be offering narrow-leaf zinnia (both yellow and white), melampodium, speedwell, and coreopsis. Native plants fall into this category too, as they evolved in this environment and are programmed to withstand native conditions. Bee balm, ‘Great Blue’ lobelia, and Culver’s root will stand up to our tough summer situation because they are tough as woodpecker lips.

Pollinator Protectors: To support our pollinators, both host plants and nectar plants will be included at the sale. Hyssop, bee balm, cosmos, calendula,  penstemon, and black-eyed Susan vine will be a few of the many nectar plants available. Dill, fennel, parsley, and cleome are a few of the host plants for butterflies that will also be there. We are very excited to be offering several different types of milkweed, the only host plant for the monarch butterfly. We will also have our very own pollinator expert present to answer your questions. Dee Hudson has raised monarchs in her own garden and she will be able to help you start your personal monarch project.

The Famous People Garden: Imagine strolling through your yard with a friend and introducing them to the famous people in your garden. ‘Aristotle’ basil, ‘Tinkerbell’ rose, Joe Pye weed will all be available to “move in” to your home.

The Zoological Garden: Royal Menageries were all the rage during the Middle Ages. Owning rare animals was a status symbol.  Master Gardener, Cheryl Maxwell, has a menagerie garden. Her goal is to have a plant representing an animal for each letter of the alphabet.  We’ll be offering cleome(aka spider flower), ‘Swan River’ daisy, and bee balm to start your personal menagerie.

The Prayer Garden: What could be better than a cup of coffee and Bible study in the prayer garden? And if you were surrounded by angel trumpet, holy basil, and cardinal flower, well that would just be the crowning glory!!

The Master Gardener Plant Sale will be held on Saturday, April 23 at The Bridge Community Church located at 2301 North Trenton Street in Ruston. The sale will open at 8:30 although lines will begin forming much earlier. Our friends from the Louisiana Tech Greenhouse will be an important part of the sale. Last year they brought some of their beautiful vegetable plants. Other participating vendors will be offering  metal art, wind chimes, cedar planters, stained glass, natural soaps, fresh honey, hyper tufa planters, custom door plaques, birdhouses, and wildlife feeders. The Union Humane Society will be tempting you with precious pups and Taco Guero will be tempting you with delicious snacks. 

It promises to be a fun day and we’ll be looking forward to seeing you there!