Even though I live a few miles away from Jackson in a semi country-side, I have never had trouble with deer eating any of my flowers or plants, UNTIL this past fall. I guess I bragged to my neighbors, who had been battling the deer non-stop for many years, too much! So, I planted my beautiful yellow pansies one weekend last fall, and a couple of nights later, when I got home from work after dark, I noticed that  they had all wilted even though I had watered them. Correction….I THOUGHT they had wilted.

Well, the next morning, I was in for a surprise: the pansies had not wilted, the delicate flowers had been EATEN and only the leaves remained. Boy, was I mad! I had liked deer up until then, being an animal lover, and I would often slow down, roll down my window and gaze at their beauty, but now, I don’t feel as lovable toward them as I did! I am told that pansies are like candy to deer. Well, if they like that kind of candy, I can’t satisfy their wish!

So, now I am in the category of other gardeners who try to plant deer resistant flowers and plants. We are really lucky in one area at least: deer hate daffodils and other bulbs, so at least I’m safe there. But, now I have to think about one more thing besides light and water requirements when I buy new flowers: I have to think about the deer too!  To help my search with deer proof vegetation, I use two books we have in the gardening section at Lemuria: Deerproofing Your Yard & Garden by Rhonda Massingham Hart and Deer Resistant Landscaping:Proven Advice and Strategies for Outwitting Deer and Other Pesky Mammals by Neil Soderstrom.

Deer Resistant Landscaping includes chapters on how to outwit other pesks  such as voles, which Mississippi gardeners battle often, and crafty squirrels as well! In both of these excellent comprehensive manuals, many plant lists appear which help the gardener make wise choices. So, if we have another hot summer, which, of course, is a given, and if we experience a drought, which also may be a given, then the deer will be hungry and thirsty. Make them find somewhere else besides your yard to have their next feast! Come take a look at these books–I think you’ll want both on your gardening bookshelf.  -Nan

Springtime is certainly a wonderful time of year. From the extra-fragrant whiffs around every corner to the sudden increased numbers in the bird chorus, it’s hard to stay inside and miss the unfolding of a new season. The warming weather is my queue to get outside and into some potting soil.

Last year, I started a mini container garden that provided me with endless hours of enjoyment. I find that simply sitting outside and pruning a potted plant or two can provide a great space for many activities from meditation to a nice spot to eat dinner and reflect on the day.

A few weeks ago, I picked up several new plants to spruce up my collection of the winter-worn plants that somehow didn’t make it inside during the cold. My garden gnome Alice stays on guard while I’m away, but I’m not sure how attentive he is. Here’s a picture of my “Top Step” Garden, showing that you can have garden anywhere there’s sun light access!

Two books I’ve recently bought are showing me the possibilities beyond container gardens, even about gardening on the roof! Planting Green Roofs and Living Walls by Nigel Dunnett and Noel Kingsbury is a fascinating guide to the whys and the hows of planting sustainable gardens in unlikely places. Check out this read for rooftop greening options that provide better drainage, insulation, and a better overall use of our planet’s resources.

Garden Stone: Creative Landscaping with Plants and Stone by Barbara Pleasant has gotten me thinking about other aspects of garden design. She provides several great ideas of blending various plants and stones throughout the garden to create a sense of balanced energy.

Drop by our store to see our great selection of gardening books from Southern gardening to floral arrangements and DIY backyard spaces!

-Peyton

Spring gloriously sprang into our lives a few weeks ago here in central Mississippi, but the calendar says the first actual day of spring was Sunday, March 20! Hurray, hurray, hurray for all of us gardeners, and a double hurray for the beginning of daylight savings time, which started a week ago! For avid gardeners, that gives us one whole extra hour of daylight to get home on weekday afternoons and work in our gardens!

My garden, which I designed several years ago, continues to change and evolve. I try new perennials and annuals. I move plants around. I experiment. That is half the fun of gardening. When I hear of a flower, previously unknown to me, or if I happen to see a new one in a garden center, I usually go home and research it in one of my Southern gardening books before I buy it. For instance, last summer I planted green zinnia seeds and was very happy with the results. This year I have planted the most gorgeous blue and white lobelia in a container, as well as the newly cultivated tiny profusely blooming petunia. I also have gotten my tomatoes going now.

Although the tried and true Southern gardening books, of which we have many here at Lemuria, still jump from my bookshelves as references, specialty gardening books give us gardeners more information on specific species of flowers. I, personally, consult Lemuria’s garden section often.  Having been “in charge” of the gardening section since I began work at Lemuria almost five years ago now, I have asked John to order more and more specialty gardening titles. I believe that we have the best gardening section anywhere in the South!   Below follows a list of some of Lemuria’s specialty flower books:

The New Book of Salvias: Sages for Every Garden by Betsy Clebsch:  over 150 species and significant hybrids are described and photographed

Impatiens: The Vibrant World of Busy Lizzies, Balsams, and Touch-Me-Nots: descriptions and photographs of over 200 impatiens

Timber Press Pocket Guide to Shade Perennials by W. George Schmid: not only hostas and ferns but 1000 other shade loving perennials

Hibiscus: Hardy and Tropical Plants for the Garden by Barbara Perry Lawton: tropical and subtropical plants of over 200 hibiscus species

Begonias: Cultivation, Identification and Natural History by Mark C. Tebbitt:  hardy and semi-hardy species identified, descriptions and photographs

A Book of Blue Flowers by Robert Geneve: 150 photos of various blue flowers from gardens around the world

Hydrangeas for American Gardens by Michael A. Dirr: a true reverence guide to propagation, pruning, breeding, drying, designing of hydrangeas

Clematis for Small Spaces: 150 High-Performance Plants for Patios, Decks, Balconies and Borders by Raymond J. Evison: exploration of new cultivars

Fuchsias by John Nicholass: a guide to cultivation of over 450 fuchsias

Green Flowers by Alison Hoblyn: green annuals, perennials, bulbs and orchids with planting schemes

Happy Gardening! If I may ever help you in any way with gardening books, please contact me at nan@lemuriabooks.com, or come into the store,and I’ll show you our specialty flower books. I encourage you to branch out (not a pun) this year and try some green or blue flowers!  -Nan

I’m beginning to feel the gardening bug come to life again. I know, I know that is barely the middle of January, but, still, I feel it coming on. I know that my early blooming daffodils will be peaking their hopeful heads up through the cold damp earth in the next few weeks, and that will certainly signal to me that spring is not far behind. I don’t know about you, but the last week’s extreme cold has made me realize that living any further north would really be hard!

So, as I begin to think of spring, I am planning on growing more herbs and vegetables this year. I had some good success last year, but I want to grow more that I can cook with this coming spring and summer. A new book which just came into Lemuria in early December ’10 is titled: The Kitchen Gardener’s Handbook by Jennifer R. Bartley. Within this beautiful book, the food gardener will find design plans, seasonal checklists, fresh recipes, plant profiles and growing tips, and flowers for the table, as the subtitle suggests.

Seasonally subdivided, gardeners can find herbs, vegetables, and fruits for every season of the year, and as an added treat, the gardener author has even included special recipes to be made from the vegetables which he grows in his own garden. For instance, for the Spring section, one will find how to grow strawberries and rhubarb and an accompanying recipe using both. For the summer, blueberries are certainly included complete with recommended varieties, as well as a recipe for “World’s Famous Blueberry Pie”. Included in each seasonal section with the plants which grow best, is also a highly helpful chart detailing the common name, scientific name, zone to grow, and certain notes about each plant. Beautiful color photographs accompany each section.

I highly recommend this new release published by Timber Press, the prestigious guru of gardening publishers, for gardeners wanting a helpful, practical and beautifully compiled guide to growing what one wants to eat.  -Nan

The moment I laid eyes on this book I knew I wanted to read it, and I found it to be beautiful both inside and out.

Many years before “green” became fashionable, Alice Waters was living in Berkeley, California, running her own restaurant. Though she had been trained at the International Montessori School in London, Alice knew after several years of teaching that her true calling was the culinary arts. Soon she opened her own restaurant in Berkeley, California, but it was not too long before she began to notice that the once vibrant public education system was suffering.

Edible Schoolyard is full of beautiful photos taken by David Liittschwager of National Geographic

With all the beauty of synchronicity, Alice began to share her ideas and soon she had teachers and volunteers willing to make the dream a reality: a school garden. The idea of Edible Education involves the following principles: Food is an academic subject; Schools provide lunch for every child; Schools support farms; Children learn by doing; Beauty is language. Teachers are able to turn every type of lesson out of the school garden–lessons for math, writing, reading, and science to name a few.

Alice’s story quickly goes to your heart. I immediately wanted to find out if there were school gardens in our own public school system here in Jackson–and there are! Buddy Bounds and Noah Gray lead the Environmental Learning Program for the Jackson Public Schools. Since 1992, they have been providing all kinds of outdoor programs for students to enjoy. Some of these include: Gardening; Soil Erosion; Nature Trails; Fishing; Water Testing; Catfish Feeding; Soil Conservation; Recycling; Nonpoint Source Pollution; Plant/Tree Identification. All of this takes place on 640 acres that is said to be “breathtaking.” The area boasts a 35 acre lake, 14 miles of nature trails, three outdoor classrooms, catfish pond, ropes course, cemetery (1800 circa), old home sites, more than 75 different native trees, animals, and much more.

School gardens beckon individuals to come together whether you are a teacher, parent, child or involved citizen. I have heard of one more school garden devoted to just one school, Marshall Elementary. I wonder how they are doing. Do you know about a school garden in the area? Please comment if you do.

Much more information on Edible Education can be found on Alice Waters’ website.

Some of Lemuria’s customers call me from time to time, even from other states, and ask me for suggestions for good gardening books since I am in charge of the gardening section. (I’ll be glad to help anyone in the store or over the phone for suggestions for Christmas gardening book gifts, a gift all gardeners love!)

With the summer we have just had with extremely high temperatures and very little, if any, rain, and with the drought now reaching fire potential this fall, gardeners are looking for the tried and true plants and flowers which will survive. Although the summer of 2010 was the hottest summer in a decade, according to records, gardening Mississippians have now recognized the chosen winners capable of survival with very little water. One such gardening book which focuses on tough “native to the South plants” is the new release by Sally and Andy Wasowski entitled Gardening with Native Plants of the South. I also recommend the older releases by Felder Rushing, especially the one titled Tough Plants for Southern Gardens, as well as the three helpful gardening books by Pamela Crawford, one title being  Easy Gardens for the South.

In my own yard, I have noticed what has endured, and the photos show the proof. I took a walk around my parched garden this afternoon to see what is still living. Since I don’t water but once a week, as recommended by the gardening gurus, the photos show the native plants which actually have thrived on heat and humidity, unlike me!

The yellow blossomed tall flowering plant is the native G0ldenrod. You will love the bright, bright yellow long, slender blossoms. Some people erroneously blame it for their allergies and hay fever when it is really another’s fault, the awful ragweed which has just stopped blooming, thankfully, as it had me in its snare! Standing 5 to 6 feet tall, Goldenrod gracefully sways in a breeze. Felder Rushing says, “A garden with goldenrod looks and feels like home.”

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The second photo is an herb called Rosemary. Just look at it thriving in this weather!  Pick a few leaves and squeeze them between your fingers for a delightful poignant scent. It can be used to flavor many dishes, especially meat.

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The third photo is our beloved perennial lantana. Although it may look a little “droopy” right now, it was mid afternoon when I took this photo. It will revive, on its own, without water, by nightfall and will greet the morning smiling and thriving.

None of these plants photographed and shown here have had ANY water in a week. Go figure! Want to quit dragging the hose around or stop paying the astronomical watering bill for a sprinkler system? Well, then use native Mississippi plants in your garden. It really does work, and they really do stay alive, even in a drought! Lemuria has the books to help you choose what to plant now so that next year, you won’t have to watch countless plants, flowers, and shrubs die as your dollars burn up in the ground!  -Nan

A few years ago my fiancé decided to try his green thumb on garlic. I grew up with a garden but my parents never grew garlic. I had never seen my mother use even one garlic clove since my dad found it did not agree with him. Garlic in our garden? We had a lot to learn, but it has been very rewarding and a lot of fun.

You may not realize it but garlic grows really well in Mississippi. It is a winter crop and we plant ours between October and January—though usually closer to October. It can tolerate very cold temperatures, and it did magnificently last winter when Jackson experienced lows in the teens.

A couple of years ago I found The Complete Book of Garlic by Ted Jordan Meredith. With the growing advice from Meredith, our garlic crop increased greatly in quality. This is a book that could be used by a very experienced garlic grower or a complete novice. Though there is copious and dense information, it is not too difficult to parse out the information needed for your situation. You will also find the most beautiful photographs and drawings of the garlic plant.

2010 Summer Garlic Harvest

Besides information on cultivation and varieties of garlic, Meredith also explains the natural history of garlic and its culinary uses over time. Particularly interesting to me were the chapters on therapeutic benefits and the preservation of allicin—the key component with all of the health benefits (lower cholesterol, a natural antibiotic, aphrodisiac qualities).

So we have become better growers but we have also broadened our cooking experience. Perhaps the most exciting experience was making roasted garlic soup. I used ten, yes ten bulbs, of garlic in one small pot of soup. It was divine, but thank goodness we were eating this alone at home. As you cook with garlic, you will learn more about the taste of garlic and will adjust how much fresh garlic you like to use.

The recipe I used is from Emeril Lagasse’s new cookbook Farm to Fork. I have to warn you about the soup. You may experience an array of sensations.

With her second edition of Questions and Answers for Deep South Gardeners, Nellie Neal has compiled another winner filled with new questions and answers concerning all sorts of gardening topics from whether to prune crepe myrtles or not, to why the leaves of hollies turn yellow, to name just a couple. For the well versed gardener or for the novice, this invaluable book also gives a month by month pruning guide and the author’s own original potting soil mix. Because the questions are arranged by the four seasons, the reader can easily find timely advice on seasonal topics.

Following on the success of Organic Gardening Down South (2008), plus her first edition of Questions and Answers for Deep South Gardeners (2002), this new book of timely suggestions and advice is sure to be another best seller. Many of the questions are taken from “the GardenMama’s” radio show which is  broadcast every Saturday morning.

-Nan

Hello all of you “raring-to-go” gardeners! Surely, surely spring is here now after the longest winter any of us can ever remember in Mississippi! It’s not time yet, at least for the next two weeks, or until Easter passes, to put out bedding plants, but it is time to get the beds ready and to go to the numerous beautiful garden centers to whet your appetites. Planting containers is great for now, because the problem of the cold ground is absent, and if we do have that Easter cold snap, you can just throw some plastic over the pots and not worry about losing those tender bedding plants. So, to get your green thumbs ready, I’ve picked out a selection of my favorite “bibles” in the world of the gardener.

Those of you who live in Mississippi will probably agree with me that three of the very best garden books to have on your shelf for proven plants and flowers which can actually endure through our long, hot, humid summers were written by natives of the area: Felder Rushing, Norman Winter, and Nellie Neal.  I have used all of these excellent manuals  for quite some time.

Tough Plants for Southern Gardens: Low Care, No Care, Tried and True Winners by Felder Rushing gives lots of applicable information about “unkillable” plants. Vivid photographs, sidebars full of detailed information, plus notes on soil, sun, or shade requirements accompany each entry.

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Tough as Nails Flowers for the South by Norman Winter offers over 170 proven performers of plants, bushes, and flowers. Each entry gives the origin of the flower, the method of propagation, light requirements and landscape use.  Also of added delight are the colorful photographs and a list of the color varieties of each plant and flower.

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For those gardeners who are interested in learning how to grow what they eat, then Nellie Neal’s Organic Gardening Down South is a must. With chapters on essential soil preparation, growing strategies, and pests, this tiny, paperback, “no-fluff” manual gives much needed information.

I have two large excellent  reference books, which I use when I need to know the background and requirements of a particular flower, bulb, plant, bush, or tree.  Mid South Garden Guide: The Essential Reference Tool for Every Gardener published by the Memphis Garden Club,  now in its seventh edition, is a book which my mother introduced me to about 25 years ago, and I still use her earlier edition as well.   The second reference book, which I recommend every gardener have on his or her shelf, is Neil Odenwald and James Turner’s Identification, Selection, and Use of Southern Plants for Landscape Design, now in its fourth edition. Though only black and white photos accompany the large quantity of flowers and plants represented, the text is what is important in these two encyclopedic publications which will be of tremendous value for the serious gardener who researches each flower or plant to be purchased.

If you need help in Lemuria’s garden section, just ask for Nan. I have arranged the garden section with various categories and sub categories, so that books can be easily be found. There is a garden book for each and every want or need, and new publications are coming in fast and furiously each week right now. Come in the store and pick out a new gardening book to use this season, or if you can’t get in the store, call me or order a new garden book on line from our web site.  And as most gardeners know, garden books might great gifts for family members and friends. All gardeners know that we have a small window of  glorious opportunity from now in late March until mid June for fun designing and planting before gardening becomes too hot and uncomfortable in July and August.

……………………..Happy Gardening!  -Nan

Most people at Lemuria know that when I am not here, I am either reading or in my garden.  I love being “in charge of” the gardening section at Lemuria. It mixes well with my Southern Fiction duty!  Think Barbara Kingsolver’s  Animal, Vegetable, Miracle as well as her Bean Trees or Poisonwood Bible. This spring and summer I have decided to try my gardening hand at container grown vegetables, so I have planted tomatoes of all types, squash, and okra in terracotta pots. I do have some tiny cherry tomatoes appearing this week, but the verdict is still out on the others due to all the rain we had a few weeks ago. Now I have discovered a brand new book at Lemuria which I wish I had found in April: Organic Crops in Pots!  The author, Deborah Schneebeli-Morrell, knows her stuff about growing veggies in containers! Picture anything that will hold dirt, and this book tells you how to do it! From tin buckets to plastic kitchen bowls  or metal colanders to woven sacks and colorful shopping bags, anything can be grown, including herbs and fruits, as well as vegetables! Be creative! Let this book be a jump start for you to get excited about  any type of container grown vegetables! -Nan

P.S.  Also check out another container book of merit for flowers: Pots in the Garden by Ray Rogers!

-Nan