Diggin' in the Dirt

Yesterday, I discovered that Spring had arrived at Home Depot, and I couldn't resist taking a little bit of it home with me. It was love at first sight when I saw these pretty Snapdragons, which are a new "heat-tolerant" variety that will bloom from now until June. Our courtyard looks a little drab right now because all the ornamental grass and shrubs have been cut back so the new growth can come out, so I was delighted with the splash of color the Snapdragons added to this flowerbed. Every time I pass a window, I look out at them and smile. I hope you're enjoying signs of Spring where you live, and are having fun diggin' in the dirt. I love it!

Blue Grow the Lilacs

With the promise of Spring in the air, I find myself daydreaming about spring flowers and plants for our yard and patio.

Today I'd like to share one of my favorite landscaping plants — the Lilac Chaste Tree (Vitex agnus-catus). We have one in our courtyard, and during the summer its bright bluish-lavender flowers add a "coolness" to the landscaping.

It is a perennial and needs to be cut back during the winter months, or early spring. Here is the way our tree usually looks around the first of April ...

The flowers grow in 6"-12" spikes, and our tree blooms two or three times during the summer months.

A word of caution: Bumblebees love this plant, and will even spend the night on the flowers. However, when I took this picture, they were too busy gathering pollen to bother me.

To learn more about the Lilac Chaste Tree, you can click on the link to read an article by Southern Living magazine's "Grumpy Gardener."

If you live in the South, I think you would enjoy one of these colorful trees somewhere in your yard or garden.