25. December 2011 by Golden Shovel Organics.

This lovely palm garden in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida is a wonderful place to be. Perfect for relaxing after the hustle of the holidays is over, when one just wants to enjoy the bird song, the breeze, a lemonade, and a good read in the garden. No turf grass or mowers need intrude here.

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24. December 2011 by Carol Whitaker.

This lovely garden room created by Landscape Architect, Susan Hall for Fisher Island residents, offers a place to unwind and soak up the sun and breezes.  This outdoor garden room is sublime inspiration for sun worshipers.

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23. December 2011 by Carol Whitaker.

This lovely outdoor garden room in Miami, Florida is a place to relax, read or just enjoy the garden. To see what this back yard space looked like before the garden was planted and the furniture placed, see the picture below. 

This lovely inspired outdoor garden room makes a bold and beautiful statement in the garden. The outdoor draperies, outdoor rugs and bold color palette compliment the garden. From the uninspired turf grass and deck in the photo below, this outdoor garden room was transformed with tropical and native plants and trees, and outdoor furnishings fit for a queen or king.

This photo below of the back porch with turf grass growing up to it was uninspiring. After the garden went in and furniture was placed, this backyard sanctuary inspires all who go there.

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22. December 2011 by Carol Whitaker.

This Outdoor Garden Room on the deck was bland before the garden was brought up to the deck. Now, with furnishings and garden hugging the deck, the outdoor room is in the garden. A simple garden solution for a common mistake. This photo is the after. See the before picture of the deck at the bottom of the page.

Gardens should always offer respite from the world for the gardeners, their friends and family. All gardens should have a place to be, a room to enjoy. Creating a place to be, whether it’s to relax at the end of a hard day and watch the sun set and smell the Lady Of The Night as she comes into bloom, or spy as the hummingbirds take nectar from the Powder Puff Tree in the morning while you enjoy your coffee.

The outdoor garden room can be as simple as an end table and two chairs, a bench under a favorite shade tree, or as elaborate as a dinning table and chairs for 10. All outdoor rooms should be surrounded by the garden. If your garden is only turf grass, you can begin by creating a small surface to place your garden furniture on, and then begin planting around it. Or plant first and then bring in the furniture. Your furniture placement in the garden is as important as it is in your home. Furniture should be placed so that you have optimum visual enjoyment of the garden.

As the weather is so beautiful here in south Florida and this time of year is great for enjoying outdoors, I want to share some photographs of garden rooms with you. For those of you enjoying the cooler weather and snow, spring is not far away. These photos are intended to inspire you to create your own outdoor garden room, be it humble and small, or elegant and grand.

The outdoor rooms range from simple little back porch potted gardens and seating, to fanciful and elegant.  All improve the outdoor world of the homeowners who enjoy them and get to spend time in their outdoor rooms in the garden. Watch for the series of rooms to follow. And enjoy your own home outdoor sanctuary.

Below is a before photo of the turf grass coming right up to the deck. What a difference a garden makes to an outdoor room. They are like two different decks. One with a garden and outdoor room, one without any adornment at all.

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22. December 2011 by Carol Whitaker.

Mona Johnson has been working tirelessly to expand and create a naturescape landscape at her home and in her neighborhood. Watch the blog for an interview with Mona and a stroll through her garden, after the holidays.

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21. December 2011 by Carol Whitaker.

It might feel like winter in some parts of the country, but here in south Florida, it’s still fine weather for enjoying the garden living room. This morning it is a balmy 73 degrees. While some of you may be rushing around wildly in the stores doing last minute shopping, I am still enjoying coffee in the garden in the mornings with the dogs, squirrels and birds, and a hot toddy, cup of tea or wine, in the garden at the end of the day.

I’m looking forward to appetizers in the garden, as well, at a friend’s home. She always serves drinks, appetizers and sometimes the first few courses of holiday meals, outside here in her south Florida backyard garden room, at Thanksgiving and Christmas time.

This is the time of year here in south Florida when one really gets to enjoy the simple pleasures of our outdoor garden rooms.

If you haven’t set up a room, and created seating, a table, a simple place to serve, you are missing out on one of the greatest joys of a garden, enjoying it with family and friends, as a glorious backdrop to great weather, food, and festivities.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Chanuka.

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21. December 2011 by Carol Whitaker.

I want to start featuring some of your gardens here and writing about your successes in the garden. So send me an email at thepinkshovel@gmail.com if you would like your garden featured. Even if you aren’t local, we can still talk about your garden by phone and email photos, so it doesn’t matter where  you are.  I enjoy learning about your gardens and gardening experiences and would be delighted to share them.

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20. December 2011 by Carol Whitaker.

Golden Shovel Organics has just launched a new web store where Green sustainable gardeners can buy products that are safe and natural for the garden, just in time for spring.Being a sustainable gardener is not hard to do. Stop using petrochemical fertilizers and begin rebuilding your soil with natural animal manure composts, home made composts, and safe natural garden fertilizer alternatives.

If your garden is already a safe haven and you don’t need to purchase safe natural products, then help get the conversation started by buying and proudly wearing sustainable garden logo t shirts and caps. Or carry a sustainable message on your grocery or garden tote.

To check out the page, go to:

www.goldenshovelorganics.com

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1. December 2011 by Carol Whitaker.

It’s that time of year when we all enjoy the beauty of poinsettias in bloom. Growers have plants ready for your enjoyment. Let me know if I can help you with your special order and delivery.

We also have an abundance of wonderful herbs and spice trees available to celebrate the season.

Send an email or give a call to order: thepinkshovel@gmail.com, or 954-882-5450.

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24. November 2011 by Carol Whitaker.

January 12 at 2 P.M. I will offer a Powerpoint presentation and talk about Green (read sustainable) Gardening. For those who think their gardens are green, come and learn and find out what you may be doing wrong, what you may be doing right and what you can change to be a more conscientious gardener and citizen of the earth. Protecting our living landscape through our home gardens is something we can all do with a little effort.

If you have been thinking about making a change, or are wondering how you can be a Green gardener, this is the talk for you.

Questions will be taken during and after the presentation.

Hope to see you there.

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15. November 2011 by Carol Whitaker.

The American lawn, an icon of the American Dream, is one assumed by most to be green, that is the new Green, meaning sustainable. But that is not the case, yet so many do not realize this. Often our gardens, and especially our lawns, are not Green. They are far from it.

My book, which can be ordered now, is written to educate the average homeowner and gardener. Collectively we are major polluters through our landscapes, according to stats published by  researchers at The University of Texas at Austin, among others.

There are wonderful alternatives to the turf grasses used so widely. Learn about these in my new book.

While there are other books about sustainable gardening on the market, most, like many well meaning groups, make organic sustainable gardening more complex than it need be and more importantly, often they overlook aesthetics in their zeal to do the right thing and teach the right way of gardening. I have witnessed many an ugly organic, native, wildlife certified garden. And ugly butterfly gardens as well. This gives Green gardeners a bad rap. Beauty has always been important to gardeners. Gardening is not just about politics, as some seem to have forgotten. Aesthetic consideration is often a reason people live in neighborhoods with homeowners associations. My brand of Green gardening does not throw out the idea of beauty in a garden. It is not smart to throw out the baby with the bath water. Politics, beauty and sustainable gardening in the home landscape are possible, and I plan to demonstrate that in my book.

In my book, I also educate the reader, discussing things that many people don’t realize are happening in the landscape, in order to make a case for Green gardening as a way of life. Consider the use of construction debris mulch in home landscapes. It’s recycled. To most folks, that’s Green, it’s a no-brainer. While recycling is sometimes Green, construction debris mulches, often dyed red or black, are not Green. This mulch is hazardous waste. Studies by local Florida universities have documented unsafe levels of toxins, that cause pulmonary diseases and cancers, in these products. This should not be used in home landscapes, despite government and industry efforts to convince us it is Green recycling, when it is really Green washing.

I believe most people trust that they would be warned if a product is dangerous, but that is not so. Folks need to understand this. These toxins don’t just get into our soil, water and food supply, they get into our bodies, and our children’s and pets’ bodies from our home landscapes.

Green gardening includes, among many other details, consideration for wild creatures too. Birds, butterflies and other desirable wildlife also bear the burden of our collective behavior. Urban sprawl and growing unprecedented acts of nature; floods, droughts, freezes, cyclones and erosion of habitat, are also reasons for gardeners to act.

My book is a call to action. Our collective actions can improve our health, the health of our environment, and the conservation and preservation of our living landscape.

My book is a short, concise, easy to read hand book, that provides the reader with the basic tenets of Green gardening, what to do, and what not to do. It provides easy gardening and maintenance, alternative practices and products, that anyone can understand and begin to use for positive change.  It keeps in mind the beauty that a garden should be. And my book will also answer the question why. It will provide brief explanations of what the problem is and why it is so important to change our ways. Helping people make the connection and understand how important it is that we collectively, change our gardening ways, may help with changing peoples’ perspectives and habits. That is the goal.

Most chapters are small, as the book’s aim is to be an easy to read, simple handbook. So a chapter may be as small as a paragraph for simple, easy to understand tenets, or as long as 15 pages, when a greater explanation is necessary to understanding the purpose of the tenet.

I believe the book is an important book to write and read.

I am uniquely qualified to write this book.

I have been gardening for over two decades. I have learned from having my hands in the soil and creating my own glorious gardens over the years. I have read voraciously about gardening and kept up with Environmental news. I began doing things the way others do, when I first began gardening, and learned with time, there is a better way. I also have a small landscape design business locally.

After getting my BA in English, I went to work as a writer for The Grower where I fell in love with horticulture while interviewing many folks who worked in the industry, from University researchers to local growers and garden curators. I have worked as a freelance writer for numerous newspapers, including The Dallas Morning News. I have written a gardening column, as well as my website and blog, and have taught in the Broward County School system. I have taught gardening classes in South Florida and Texas, through local community colleges, schools, libraries, gardens and garden clubs. I often speak to garden clubs and HOAs when invited.

I have donated and planted butterfly gardens for students at schools and churches.

I hope you will join me in the transition to a sustainable way of gardening for our health and our future, and read this book.

Email now to reserve your copy, thepinkshovel@gmail.com

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14. November 2011 by Carol Whitaker.

This is a great time of year to grow potted herbs. Consider potting up a Bay Laurel tree or Allspice tree as a center piece in a seasonal herb garden. The trees are long lived and can be grown as shrubs or trees. They make great center pieces to the perennial and annual herbs that can be downplanted around them.

Put two matching pots on either side of the front door to greet guests this holiday season, or place them on the patio or the backyard garden close to the door, so you can easily access them for cooking.

An Allspice tree, potted up with thyme, rosemary and sage are a great combination. Or if you are planning an Italian feast, consider potting up a Bay Laurel tree with basil, oregano, and garlic. Or how about planting Mojito Mint, Chocolate Mint, and Peppermint under a Bay or Allspice Tree.

After the holidays are over, you can plant your long lived Allspice or Bay Laurel Tree in the garden or keep them small and keep them as potted specimens.

These long living potted herb gardens make great gifts for gardeners and cooks. With the trees growing as center pieces, you change out your annual herbs periodically, depending on the season and your cooking needs.

Let me know if I can help you with getting the trees or creating your potted herbs gardens.

Email me at thepinkshovel@gmail.com to order a potted herb tree garden.

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14. November 2011 by Carol Whitaker.

I’m delighted I’ve been invited to present a Powerpoint presentation about Green Gardening at a luncheon of the Lighthouse Point Garden Club at  the Lighthouse Point Yacht & Racquet Club, 2701 NE 42nd Street, Lighthouse Point, Fl 33064, (phone) 954-942-7244, Thursday December 15, 2011 at 11:00 a.m.

Looking forward to seeing you there.

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4. November 2011 by Carol Whitaker.

My first garden book is scheduled to come out soon. Order yours now to be one of the first to own and read this book. Email:  thepinkshovel@gmail.com. Enjoy the read.

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19. October 2011 by Carol Whitaker.

Cecile Brunner has been around since 1894. This sweet pale pink rose fades to white and often looks white in bud form before it opens. The blooms are a loose cluster of small scented glories. It is a vigorous rose and requires minimal maintenance.

Cecile Brunner comes in two forms: A climber which will grow 15 to 20 feet; and a diminutive small shrub which will grow to only about three feet tall. If you have a small space that receives good sun, this is one of the best for the space.

Plant a small group of them on both sides of a walkway or path in order to best appreciate their lovely scent.

Plant the climber at a trellis near the front door of your favorite open window, where you sit and enjoy the visiting birds in the garden. Then you can enjoy the scent from inside the house when the wind is right.

In south Florida this rose blooms all year. When cooler weather arrives on the wings changing seasons, it really becomes a show off.

No need for petro-chemical pesticides, fungicides or fertilizers when growing this rose. Plant it in good soil and use safe, natural products. Sprinkle a handful of equal parts bone meal and blood meal into the natural soil, mixed with equal parts composted animal manure and milled peat moss when you plant.

I have even seen butterflies taking nectar from this old fashioned rose. Something I don’t recall ever seeing at  high bloomed hybrid tea roses.

If you are the kind of gardener who enjoys tinkering with his plants, then deadhead the spent flowers to encourage more bloom. If you are the kind of gardener who prefers her plants to do their own thing, and would rather they perform with little effort on your part, just leave the spent flowers on the bush and let them form lovely rose hips. The rose will continue to bloom throughout the year, with flushes that come and go.

You need not fool with constant pruning to keep this rose healthy. Once a year cut out old dead wood, and cut it back if it begins to get leggy. If you choose to grow the climber, twist new growth around the trellis and tie it with stretch garden tape until it gets large enough and strong enough to hold on and  forgo the tape.

When forcing a rose branch into and around a trellis, be gentle but firm. A rose will bloom even more prolifically when it has been wrapped around a trellis, fence or arbor. This climber is light enough to wrap on a small trellis, or lattice and keep small, and vigorous enough to wrap around a heavy iron or wood trellis and still put on a show.

Below this Cecile Brunner at a small condo dooryard garden, is being visited by a Monarch butterfly.

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8. October 2011 by Carol Whitaker.

Above: A vibrant yellow Oriole perches on a branch of the blooming Powder Puff tree in my Ft. Lauderdale garden, awaiting the arrival of Ruby Red Hummingbirds, in USDA Garden Zone 10

Anyone who has been in south Florida for long, recognizes the subtle signs of fall we experience here. With the exception of those who are growing our native maple tree, most only get to enjoy the beautiful colors of fall leaves changing when they travel into the northern parts of the state, or into other states to see it. Still, our weather changes ever so slightly, just enough to take the edge off of our humidity, and signify for south Floridians the approach of autumn. The past week has been just such a week. The weather is cooler. No more mid ninety temperatures, no more high humidity. It is beginning to feel like fall.

And with the fall here, the temperatures really begin to drop in the rest of the country, where folks experience truly cold temperatures. I look forward to this time each year, as with it comes the hummingbirds. So while all summer long, there are no signs of hummingbirds anywhere here, the Ruby Reds show up in my garden religiously each year, with the cooler temperatures, as they fly south for winter.

I talk to people all the time who seem surprised by this. They never see hummingbirds they say. That is because they haven’t planted the right plants. Plants that bloom and provide nectar throughout fall, winter and spring are easy to come by in south Florida. And they are the plants that hummers rely on for their fall, winter and spring sustenance in south Florida. In my garden I plant a variety of consistent cool weather bloomers.

One of the best is the Pink Powder Puff Tree. A beauty to behold, this tree blooms on and off all year, so is sure to provide color in the garden and regular meals for our cool weather visitors each year. The Powder Puff also comes in a red color bloom. The red blooms in the cooler months only. And to my delight other birds like this beauty too. When the hummers have left the neighborhood, the butterflies enjoy the nectar from the pink remontant bloomer.

Another favorite of the hummers in my garden is Firespike. Firespike comes in several colors; red, purple, and lavender. My favorite is the purple, but I have grown them all. They bloom on and off all year and provide nectar for  hummers in the cool weather, and nectar the butterflies go for in the summer months.

A few other good choices include: Cape Honeysuckle, Coral Honeysuckle Vine, and Perennial and Annual Salvias. One of my favorite Salvias is Salvia Leucantha, also known as Mexican Salvia. I cut my grouping of plants back once a year to about four  inches, and it comes back beautifully despite the heat and humidity, growing  admirably larger each year. Porterweed is also a hummingbird favorite in my yard. But unlike other plants that don’t need supplemental water during winter in my garden, the Porterweeds seem to need more water to sustain their blooming throughout the dryer winter months. I oblige them, to be sure to offer the hummers plenty of nectar for their visit and their travels through my garden.

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4. October 2011 by Carol Whitaker.

For a glorious scent, nothing compares to the old garden rose, Maggie. In my garden in south Dade, Maggie was virtually disease free. She has sturdy thick vigorous branches and double cerise or carmine colored roses, which darken to crimson in cooler weather. Maggie’s flowers are very full.

The rose blooms on and off throughout the year. Maggie’s scent is probably my favorite. It’s aroma perfumes the air when brought inside in a vase. When left on the plant in the garden the aroma carries on the breeze. The heady fragrance of my Maggie planted in the front yard could always be enjoyed in the back yard during cool breezy days.

When you rub your fingers at the neck of the rose bud and smell them, they will have a luscious almost sweet peppery scent, which is distinct from the scent of the rose itself. When the two distinct fragrances combined carry on the wind, it is heavenly.

Maggie is a found rose of unknown origin and age, collected in Louisiana.

Remember rose petals can be eaten. They make a lovely garnish, a colorful addition to a salad, a tasteful rose petal tea, or cook them in cookies, mix them with butter or add them to a home made ice cream. They can also be candied. Use your imagination, or read Edible Flowers by Kathleen Brown or Flowers in the Kitchen by Susan Belsinger and choose from a host of recipes for cooking with flowers.

Maggie is thought to be an old Bourbon rose. It is great planted as a specimen, grown on a pillar, or used as a hedge. Maggie grows 4 to 7 feet and is reported to perform well in zones 6 through 9. She performed admirably in my garden in deep south Florida, just north of the Keys, in zone 10. Quite a few roses said to do well in zone 9, have been great in my gardens in zone 10. I am never afraid to try growing plants said to do well in zone 9, and learn which ones also perform well in zone 10.

This great rose can be bought at Antique Rose Emporium. I’ve bought many roses from them over the years, before I located local sources, and always received healthy beautiful roses.

Visit: http://www.antiqueroseemporium.com

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3. October 2011 by Carol Whitaker.

Above: This Louis Phillipe rose in this dooryard garden is being kept cut back so that it doesn’t out grow its space. It is planted at a sunny south facing exposure. You can see how healthy and green this rose is, planted here in south Florida. This small china rose is being grown without chemical fertilizers, pesticides or fungicides and is a show off throughout the year, especially during the cooler months of fall, winter and spring. Louis Phillipe was brought to this country from France in 1834.

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet

William Shakespeare through Julliete

Roses have been in vogue a long time, and even people who know nothing about gardening and plants know the royal rose, a flower with a common and aristocratic heritage, grown in cottage gardens throughout the world, as well as the gardens of dukes, duchesses, queens, kings, and presidents, a flower maybe even more popular than the aristocratic orchid.

Hybrid Teas are among the most common varieties of roses and modern hybrid teas are those people most know from the florist. They have beautiful tall long buds that look best before they open. Many of these roses are fraught with difficulty when it comes to growing them in the garden. They were bred for the beauty of their high not fully open flower buds. Disease resistance, vigor and often even aroma have been sacrificed to the beauty of these roses’ buds. Some of the difficulties with growing these roses include:

*their need for constant maintenance

*their need for consistent fungicide and pesticide applications

*their need for regular hard pruning

*their need for constant doses of fertilizers

*their need for well-drained, acid soils

As a result of all the chemicals they require to perform and because they are often short-lived and difficult to grow, these roses usually do not make good garden shrubs. The shrubs are often gangly and sparse, and without chemicals to battle their diseases, they often don’t make it in the garden. Certainly, they are not beautiful when laden with black spot and bare branches.

Don’t despair, because one can grow beautiful roses if the rose is chosen carefully for its health. The best part of growing healthy roses is that one doesn’t have to use dangerous chemicals.

To grow beautiful healthy garden roses, consider growing old roses. Old roses, also called antique roses, are coming back into the garden after many years of being forgotten and neglected.

A group of rose fanciers in Texas who call themselves rose rustlers are responsible for the resurgence of old garden roses. They travel the countryside in search of old garden roses and take cuttings from roses they find in such places as old cemeteries, or even on the road side. The roses they find are often abandoned and thriving with no help from a gardener. They also find them growing in the homes of people who have gotten them as pass around plants and cuttings from friends and family. Many of these old roses are grown on their own vigorous and healthy roots. These roses are much more vigorous and healthy than many modern roses grafted on to hardier roses’ roots. They need a modicum of care and some can be virtually abandoned and still perform.

At Texas A&M University, researchers are growing roses to determine which ones do the best without supplemental water, fertilizer and other chemicals. They have named the best performers, Earthkind roses. Several of the roses on the list have done well in my south Florida garden. I haven’t tried them all. Texas has a very different soil and climate than south Florida. They have dry summers and rainy, cold winters. One of the roses readily available in local plant nurseries is the Knock out series, which performs admirably in Texas. I have found this rose in Florida to be racked with black spot, and constantly leafless due to fungus. It is just not well suited to south Florida. So, while all of the Earthkind selections are great for Texas, and places with similar soils, and climates, they are not all right for all of us.

Be selective, and if you are experimenting with a new rose you just had to have and find that it doesn’t perform well in your garden, after the first year. Remove it and try another. There are so many wonderful roses to choose from, and so many that do well in each gardening zone. It would be a shame to grow needy roses with polluting chemicals, when you can grow so many beautiful roses without them.

When I began gardening several decades ago, I had decided that despite their beauty, I wasn’t going to grow roses, because I didn’t want to deal with the thorns or the work involved, as I had read widely about growing roses.

But one day on the side of the road, near my home in south Dade, a man was selling plants from the back of his truck. I couldn’t resist. I had to stop and look, as I always do. He had the most glorious smelling little rose in a three gallon pot. It was spindly and ugly, but it’s aroma stole my heart. For two dollars I brought the rose home. Removed it from the pot which I came to realize was ant infested, washed its roots off thoroughly, and cut it back. I created a home for it in the landscape. That rose grew to be taller than me, nearly eight feet tall,  and about seven to eight foot wide.

Its fragrance carried on the wind from the front yard to the back on cool fall and spring days and it bloomed on and off, throughout the year. Its best shows of small pink to white clusters came during the cooler days of fall and winter here in south Florida. The shrub would often be covered in blooms, to the delight of even my neighbors, who would stop and ask about it.

I took a cutting to a grower I knew in Homestead at the time, and he and I tossed around names of roses it might be. We had both read the books. I had searched for this rose in every book on the topic I could find. Champney’s Pink Cluster maybe, or Cecile Brunner or maybe it was the mystery rose Spice. To this day we don’t know, but the grower began offering the rose for sale from the cuttings I shared with him. He gave it his own name and labeled it a found rose.

From the moment I had such great success with my two dollar rose, I was addicted. And so the search began for roses that perform well in zone 10, nearly 11, where summers are hot and humid, and soil is alkaline, rocky and sandy. I bought and grew a bundle of roses over the years in my garden laboratory, and have found old roses to be fabulous easy care shrubs for the garden.

One of my favorite, an old China rose, is Louis Phillipe, sometimes called Cracker rose and sometimes confused with Cramoisi Superieur, which looks very similar but is a deeper color without the whitish blush that forms in the center of Louis Phillipe, near the end of its full bloom. While these roses can be dead headed for more bloom, if you don’t get around to it, they continue to grow and bloom. It is virtually disease free, with only an occasional yellow leaf during summer rains.

Louis Phillipe has small full, double cerise colored flowers. It is said to grow 5 to 7 feet. Mine has certainly reached 7 feet. It is said to perform well in zones 7 to 9. I know in my gardens in zone 10, it has performed beautifully. I grew it in my first garden in south Dade, not far north of the Florida Keys, in my Ft. Lauderdale garden, and in my Delray Beach garden. I have been growing this rose for well over 20 years and never had any problems with it.

Despite these roses tendency to perform well in a variety or soils, I find that like any plant, the better the soil, the better the plant’s performance and health.

To plant roses I mix equal parts of the soil dug from the hole, compost or composted animal manure, and milled spaghnum peat moss. Twice a year I top dress the rose with compost or composted manure, and put fresh mulch over it.

I dig my hole twice the size of the rose pot, both deep and wide.

If I have a bareroot rose, I dig a sizeable hole, twice as deep and wide as a three gallon container, use the same soil mixture, and create a small mound at the center with the soil. I center the rose roots over the mound, and cover with soil. If the rose is not growing on its own roots, but grafted, I always make sure the rose is planted deeply enough to cover the graft in the soil.

I am always glad to locate and plant roses for people in the tricounty area of Dade, Broward or Palm Beach counties. Contact me through my landscape website at: www.pinkshovellandscapes.com or email, pinkie@pinkshovellandscapes.com

Nelson’s Roses in central Florida carries Louis Phillipe. Visit them at: www.nelsonsfloridaroses.com/

Roses of Yeasterday, Today and Tomorrow carries Blaze. Visit them at: www.rosesofyesterday.com/

 Below: This old climbing garden rose is planted in a Texas garden with a southeast exposure. It was planted with equal parts native clay soil, mulch and composted cow manure. It is not fertilized or sprayed with pesticides or fungicides or other chemicals. It is cut back every other year to control its size. While the gardener does not know the name of this rose, it is possibly the climber, Blaze, which dates back to 1932.

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2. October 2011 by Carol Whitaker.

“We cannot solve the problems that we have created with the same thinking that created them.”  Albert Einstein

When speaking to gardeners, even enlightened gardeners who care about their environment, and include natives in their landscapes, I find that many do not understand the complete dangers of petrochemical fertilizers. Yet there’s a lot of talk about the build up of phosphorus in our waterways, like Lake Okeechobee in Florida, and many others throughout the country. There is a bit less talk about the build up of nitrogen, as nitrogen is being used more now due to the phosphorus build up. But the truth is both of these plant food elements and many other toxic chemicals, including dangerous heavy metals are building up in our water supply and soil, and coming from our fertilizers and our home gardens.

This has been confirmed time again by research. These products, nitrogen and phosphorus, like the other elements plants need can be dangerous in large quantities and in the wrong places. And while these are elements that can be accessed by plants in healthy unpolluted soils, without fertilizers, and without being a danger to our environment, people continue to pour on the fertilizer.

The build of the phosphorus and nitrogen in waterways often causes excessive growth of algaes which often cause fish kills. Some politically astute gardeners know this.

But when I teach a gardening class or talk to garden clubs about petrochemical fertilizers, products of the industrial revolution, products the petrochemical industry depends on to make gobs of money - most people I’ve talked to about this have no idea that the fertilizers they use in their landscapes are laced with hazardous waste.

This is a well documented, yet oddly little known fact. This is something all gardeners and lawnowners should know.

Recycling dangerous heavy metals, radioactive waste, pesticides and herbicides - many which cause pulmonary diseases, and many which are known carcinogens, into fertilizer, is not only allowed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in this country, it is encouraged and called Green recycling. This is Green washing.

Many of these carcinogenic pollutants do not biodegrade, they bioaccumulate, which means they build up in the soil, our plants, water, and food, and ultimately in us. They do most of their harm over time as they build up in our living landscape and our bodies. There are no labeling laws requiring a notice of these contents in the packages, and no warnings about their hazards to our health, on the bags of the fertilizer products that contain them.

According to the Seattle Times expose written by Duff Wilson over a decade ago, “The wastes come from iron, zinc and aluminum smelting, mining, cement kilns, the burning of medical and municipal wastes, wood-product slurries and a variety of other heavy industries.”

These short quotes from one of the series of articles published in the Seattle Times over a decade ago, helps one understand what is going on.

“Manufacturing industries are disposing of hazardous wastes by turning them into fertilizer…”

“It’s really unbelievable what’s happening, but it’s true,” [Quincy, Washington, Mayor Patty] Martin said. “They just call dangerous waste a product, and it’s no longer a dangerous waste. It’s a fertilizer.”

“When it goes into our silo, it’s a hazardous waste,” said Bay Zinc President Dick Camp. “When it comes out of the silo, it’s no longer regulated. The exact same material. Don’t ask me why. That’s the wisdom of the EPA.”

This is a perfect example of Green Washing. It is rampant in our world today and for me, still hard to believe.

Why use this in your living home landscape?

Using these products in our gardens, our living landscapes is not a sustainable practice, and is as far from Green as we can get.

The following statement is from oncologist, Dr. Mitchell Gaynor, author of Nurture Nature, Nurture Health. In this book, Mitchell explores and cites the research documenting the relationships of disease to the chemicals we use in our daily lives, from our gardens and food crops, to our homes.

“There is a definite risk between chemical exposures and neurological diseases – everything from Parkinson’s, brain cancer, and MS to autism, ADD and ADHD. We live in a country where 17% of children under the age of eighteen have one or more developmental disabilities. This is an epidemic, one unimaginable to most of us. Unfortunately, the epidemic is well underway.”

According to Dr. Gayner, the average human has four plastics, six pesticides and nine heavy metals in their blood.

Public Broadcasting host Bill Moyers’s documentary Trade Secrets, about the pollutant loads in our bodies due to the contaminants in our environment brought the case home. He had himself tested. Eighty four distinct chemicals were discovered in his body. And yet he believes he is very careful about what he eats and drinks and doesn’t unduly expose himself to risk.

 Think about it. How many times have you touched the fertilizer you apply to your lawn with you bare hands? How many times have you left the bag unrolled in the garage where your children go to get their bicycles? Has it spilled and been left there for kids to walk on with their bare feet? How much are you breathing when you sit in the garden and have a cold beer. How much is your child crawling through the lawn, putting in his or her mouth? How much is your dog rolling in this? How many tomatoes have you eaten from your garden contaminated with hazardous waste? Make no mistake about it, if you are applying petrochemical fertilizers to your lawn and garden, you are most likely, with most of these products, using your personal piece of the living landscape as a hazardous waste dump. And you pay for the privilege, while industry no longer has to pay to dispose of hazardous waste. They have American homeowners and gardeners, along with our farmers, to dispose of it for them, and at a considerable financial profit. But the overall loss, especially with the cumulative waste over time is astounding.

Green gardeners do not contribute to this.

If you are not a Green gardener, you may be unwittingly contributing to disease in your family and others by the use of these products in your landscape.

The evidence of the dangers of these chemicals is available, but not readily. One has to search for it. Still, many folks, and certainly industry, continue to do business as usual. This is something Green gardeners can change. We don’t have to continue to use these dangerous products in our gardens. We can vote against this by not buying these products, and clean up our environment and protect our health by not using these products.

For more information about the dangerous contaminants in chemical fertilizers, read the expose written over a decade ago by Duff Wilson former reporter for the Seattle Times at:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/news/special/fear_fields.html

If you want to know even more about what Duff Wilson learned, read his book, difficult to come by, and pricey, but worth the read, Fateful Harvest.

For information about the affects of dangerous chemical pollutants in our environment and the causes of diseases on the rise, read Nurture Nature, Nurture Health, written by Mitchell Gaynor, M.D.

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1. October 2011 by Carol Whitaker.

Some of my fondest memories from childhood in south Florida include plucking the orange-red cherries from the Surinam Cherry bushes, also called Indian Cherry,  growing everywhere in our neighborhood. We would wipe them off on our pants and eat them without washing them, as children will. They are not super sweet, and have a bit of a bite to them. But they were fun to eat. Surinam Cherry (Eugina uniflora) were commonly used as hedge plants and may still be found in older neighborhoods. They are used less often now, but still readily available and at a very reasonable price. This plant was the preferred hedge before the fast growing ficus came into competition with it, selling at an even lower price, due to its ease of propagation.

This plant is long lived for a shrub, and a perfect plant for attracting desirable wildlife into the garden. It can be grown as a specimen shrub and will reach a nice size, up to 12 feet or so tall and half as wide. Or use it in a mixed hedge and plant three together in a triangle and space them so that they can grow into each other in their natural habits. Leave the fruits on these plants for the birds and squirrels, and plant a Barbados Cherry (Malpighia glabra), for yourself.

Barbados Cherry also known as West Indian Cherry can be grown as a small tree or large shrub, to 20 feet. It is an evergreen, said to have been brought to Florida from Cuba. Young plants can be killed by freezing temperatures, so it is not a tree for northern parts of the state.

The fruit is high in vitamin C and ascorbic acid.

The plant grows well in marl, limestone and clay so is not too particular about soil. The tree doesn’t usually have an abundant fruit set until its  third or fourth year after planting. It is visited by bees, so planting other plants that encourage bees in the garden will help with pollination and fruiting.

The fruits may be eaten out of hand, or jellied or jammed, or stewed with a sweetener like agave, and used to top ice cream or cake. They may be made into a syrup to pour over pancakes or used in a sweet and sour recipe. They may be frozen or dried. They can be used mixed with other fruit juices, and like citrus their juice poured over fresh fruit will prevent darkening of the fruit.

Under plant this beauty with some good companions such as carrots, sage, rain lillies and gay feather.

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