The Allure of Black Roses for Friday Floral

Tomorrow is Halloween! Many of us are getting their pumpkins carved and the candy ready for trick-or-treaters. And perhaps some of you will be getting or giving a bouquet of black roses. For anyone who is wondering about the history of these mythical roses I found a wonderful article for you by one of my fellow authors on eZineArticles:

The Black Rose - A Magical, Mythical Beauty By Matt Murren

The mythical allure of black flowers has fascinated our attention for centuries. Black tulips and black roses appear to originate from a make believe fairytale world. A pure black flower is the Holy Grail of plant breeders worldwide. Their unnatural color inspires a powerful feeling of mystical expectation. If you were to receive a black rose bouquet, it could mean a variety of things. Possibly you had become a widower recently and you received the flowers as a token of bereavement, or perhaps it was a tell tale sign that you had offended someone and the dark bouquet was sent as a sign of revenge of retaliation.

In the time of the Edwardians at the cutting edge of fashion in the 19th century used to collect them, going to exceptional extent to track down these exotic species of flowers. Will this mysterious flower once more, at the dawn of a new century and a new millennium, become a source of artistic and philosophical inspiration? The black rose bouquet is also the beloved flower of Art Nouveau designers at the previous turn of the century.

The reality of the black rose is that it does not really, naturally exist. The so-called black tulip is actually very dark purple and the black rose is, in fact, very dark red. These flowers are quite popularly used in "Gothic type" environments or as a black rose bouquet in a wedding where the color palette is of a darker form. There are other less common cut flowers which occasionally occur in "black" forms - they all ooze decadence, mystery, fascination.

With their very unusual velvety soft petals, looking at a black rose bouquet will make you think of the comfy soft cushions of a luxurious and exquisitely decorated winter room. The scent of this mysterious black rose makes you float away to your favorite imaginary exotic place that is filled with the lovely aroma of these gorgeous black beauties. You can imagine, laying on a bed of black rose petals being fed by a gorgeous harem of worshippers fanning you with a big feather plume.

Creating a black rose bouquet is not simple, nor is it impossible either. To keep up with the dark, mystical feeling of the black, one of the greatest groupings is black roses mixed with ivy berries. They are available at the florists throughout the winter. The red-black color of the rose, with the blue-green black of the very creates a perfect harmony. Ask your florist of the darkest roses they have. See if they have "Black Magic", "Barkarole", "Black Beauty" or "Baccara" black roses. A completely black bouquet is very dark but impressive. It does, however, set off an air of somberness. Adding in glowers or greens with a red or brown tint can enrich the black color and give the bouquet a little more pizzazz and depth. You can also add some hypernicum or chili pods to give the bouquet a firey red tone. If it is around the holidays try putting a little sparkle into your bouquet by adding silver spray painted leaves. It will really jazz up your dark black rose arrangement.

Matt D Murren owns and operates http://www.rose-bouquets-guide.com Black Rose Bouquets. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Matt_Murren http://EzineArticles.com/?The-Black-Rose---A-Magical,-Mythical-Beauty&id=1581623

Happy Halloween and Happy Gardening!

Fall Planting Tips: 3 Flowering Herbs to Plant Now In Southern California Gardens

It is a lucky cook who is able to pluck a few fresh sprouts from a nearby herb plant to spice up a dish on the stove. Here are a few fabulous herbs that do well in drought tolerant gardens. Fall is a perfect time to plant them, so get out there already!

Here are a few posts you may have missed featuring herbs for Southern California or other arid gardens. All three are perennial natives of the Mediterranean, so they match our western climate well. All grow in part shade to full sun either in the ground or in containers.

Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis)

Height: Up to 6 feet, but usually shorter, varieties are either upright or trailing.

Flowers: Winter and early spring, usually blue, but white and pink varieties can be found.

Rosemary has deep green, fragrant, leaves like pine needles. Mature rosemary branches have an interesting thin papery covering that looks like peeling bark.

In Victorian times, rosemary was used as a symbol of remembrance and carried by brides on their wedding day.

Cooking with Rosemary: Rosemary tastes good with meat, in soups or stews or with vegetables either fresh or dried.

Cut whole branches for stuffing into chickens or turkey. Save a few branches to put around your finished bird on the carving plate.

Bruise a few springs of rosemary and place them in olive oil or melted butter for dipping with French bread.

Layer slices of bread with fresh rosemary, wrap in foil then warm slightly. The essential oils will seep into the bread and the springs can be eaten raw.

Rosemary can be used to decorate your dishes; drop a fresh sprig on mashed potatoes, sliced meat dishes or soups and stews.

Read more about rosemary here…

Common or English Thyme (Thymus vulgaris)

Height: 12 inches tall and up to two feet around.

Flowers: In late spring to early summer, in white or pale pink.

English Thyme is a low-growing small shrub with 1/4 inch long leaves. They make nice groundcovers and also look dramatic spilling over the edge of garden urns.

Other varieties are good for use around paving stones where they can be brushed to perfume the air. Other unique aromatic varieties include; cocoanut, lemon, orange and caraway scented thyme.

Thyme is a classic ingredient in Medieval knot gardens. In ancient Greece it was used to give courage and to say someone "smelled of thyme" was a rich compliment. Thyme was burned to cleanse and purify temples and is said to be a favorite plant of elves and fairies.

Cooking with Thyme: Use thyme either fresh or dried. It goes well with poultry and eggs and adds rich flavor to soups, stews and sauces.

Read more about thyme here…

Culinary Sage (salvia officinalis)

Height: Three feet tall and almost as wide.

Flowers: In summer with blue or light blue flowers.

Culinary Sage is grayish green with square and woody stems. All parts of this plant are aromatic and usually covers with short hairs. Sage grows in full sun to partial, dappled shade, and are hardy to about 20 degrees.

Sage is a beautiful plant in flower, mix a few plants in your flower bed for added color.

Sage has been associated with longevity and wisdom since ancient times. It has also been used for blessing and protection, the Romans called it herba sacra, or Holy Herb.

Cooking with Sage: Try this hearty herb with beef or chicken. Fresh sage is great stuffed into chicken or turkey roasts and you can use the whole branch.

Pineapple sage is a close relative and adds a lighter flavor to food, tasting good with chicken or fish.

Read more about sage here…

The Southern California Chumash used the native white sage in religious ceremonies. Read more about our native Chumash peoples at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, http://www.sbnature.org/research/anthro/chumash/health.htm

Read all my herb posts here…

How To Dry Your Fresh Herbs: Hang them upside down in a cool dry place. Wrap branches with cheesecloth (or paper) or hang branches inside a large paper sack to keep off dust and insects. In a pinch you can just wrap them in paper towels for a few days. Keep dried herbs in airtight containers.

Happy Gardening!

Fall Planting Tips: 3 Flowering Succulent Plants For Drought Tolerant Gardens And Containers

Succulents are plants that are able to store water in their stems and leaves, enabling them to live for long periods of time without water. They are similar to cactus but without the thorns (usually). This is a very large grouping of plants with many different colors, leaf shapes and growth habits. Most succulent plants flower during the year too, many during the dead of winter when little else can be coaxed into flowering.

In containers succulent plants will stay smaller and are often used as bonsai. These plants are also easy to propagate with leaf or stem cuttings. Fall is a great time to root cuttings. When the ground is moist after a rain try planting your branches in the ground where you want them to grow. Or try a few new varieties from the nursery. Some dependable plants you should consider for your Fall Planting list are:

Crassula Ovata or Jade Plant

Height: Up to 8 feet, smaller in containers
Flowers: Pale pink flower clusters in winter

Crassula ovata or Jade plants are shrubby plants that make excellent choices for dry gardens and container plants. Jades have thick, deep green leaves sometimes tinged with red on the edges. The leaf shape, like the name ovata implies, are oval from 1 - 2 inches long.

Crassula ovata develop thick, fat trunks that have an aged look and will eventually grow up to 8 feet tall. In late winter jade plants get 3 inch clusters of light pink to pale salmon flowers with five petals.

Depending on container size, Jade plants will stay smaller. They make nice patio plants. Read more posts about crassula ovata here…

Crassula Tetragona or Bonsai Pine

Height: Up to 4 feet, smaller in containers, used for bonsai
Flowers: Tiny creamy white flowers with a flat top on the tips of the branches

Crassula tetragona are drought tolerant succulent plants that look like pine branches with fat needles sticking out the sides, or perhaps a green bottle brush flower. These unique crassula are often used in bonsai containers to look like pine trees.

In the ground, they grow up to 4 feet tall. The plants will branch at the tips and can be used as a low, informal hedge. Crassula tetragona leaves are about an inch long and about 1/4 inch thick. Leaf color varies from green to deep, bluish green. These succulent plants can take full sun to light shade, love heat and are easy to root and grow. Their bristly leaves make a nice contrast to the oval leaves of Jade plants. Read more posts about crassula tetragona here…

Crassula Capitella or Campfire Plant

Height: Spreading mat up to 8 inches tall, good for containers and hanging baskets
Flowers: white on the tips of branches

Crassula capitella is sometimes called crassula erosula and has common names like Red Flames or Campfire Plant. It has bright, lime green leaves with flaming orange red tips. These plants can take full sun to light shade, but they seem to change color depending on the amount of sunlight they get. When grown in shade, they are bright apple green most of the year. Full sun brings out more red on the leaves.

It gets tiny white flowers on upright stalks in early spring. Crassula capitella spreads by runners and will eventually form a mat about 6 – 8 inches tall. They are great for hanging baskets or draping over a sloping garden. Read more posts about crassula capitella here…

Read all my posts about the diverse Crassulaceae family here... Happy gardening!

Fall Planting Time: Four Flowering Shrubs for Dry Southwestern Gardens

Fall is just around the corner and for gardeners in the southwestern US it is a great time to think about planting perennial shrubs. This is also a great time to plan out your landscape for next year including preparing for more drought! Planting in fall brings a little extra free water from the rain and milder temperatures for new transplants who are trying to get established.

You can still grow beautiful trees and shrubs in a low-water garden. Here are a few of my favorite flowering shrubs. They all have beautiful blooms and are all drought tolerant too. I have written about them before, so I'm providing a quick rundown of the basics and a link to longer articles about each plant. Happy gardening!

Toyon or California Christmas Berry

USDA Zone: 7 - 10
Sunset Zone: 5-9, 14-24
Height: 25 feet. Good screen shrub
Flowers: White, followed by festive red berries

Toyon is also called California Christmas Berry or Christmas Holly or Heteromeles arbutifolia. These beautiful shrubs are prized for their bright red berries and deep green leaves.

Toyon grows to about 25 feet tall and almost as wide. They make good screen shrubs for dry gardens, but you can also trim them into multi-trunked trees or standards. They have white flowers which are attractive to bees, but the show stopper comes just in time for Yule when the bright red berries ripen against the green leaves. See more photos and read more about Toyon…

Chilopsis or Desert Willow

USDA Zone: 7 - 9
Sunset Zone: 3B, 7 - 14, 18 - 23
Height: 30 feet tall. Unique flowers and growth habit
Flowers: White, pinks and purples

Chilopsis linearis, or Sweet Desert Willow make a great alternative for traditional flowering cherry trees in dry gardens anywhere in the western US. The exotic flowers can appear from spring to fall and drip in giant clusters. Each flower can be about three inches long and an inch wide with colors ranging from white or pastel pink to hot pinks or deep purple. Like cherry trees, they are deciduous, but Desert Willow develop exotic seed pods with cottony down before giving up for the winter. They can be left as large shrubs, or trained into multi-trunked trees.

Desert Willow requires little to no water once they are established; only 10 inches according to the USDA. Desert Willow can grow up to 30 feet tall and up to 20 feet wide and are hardy to 3 degrees. Their shiny leaves are thin and up to 5 inches long, with the traditional willow look. The shrubs are pretty even when they are not in bloom. See more photos and read more about Desert Willow …

Acacia

USDA Zone: 7 - 10, depending on species
Sunset Zone: Depends on species
Height: 20 feet tall, as shrub or tree
Flowers: White, cream to yellows

Acacia trees can grow up to 20 feet tall. They are drought tolerant and most varieties are evergreen. Flowers are clusters of small powder puff flowers in colors from white to yellow. The bright yellow varieties are striking and bloom in the winter. Acacia tolerates heavy clay, alkaline soils. See more photos and read more about Acacia…

Crape Myrtle or Lagerstroemia

USDA Zone: 7 - 10 depending on species
Sunset Zone: Most hybrids 7 - 10, 12 - 14, 18 - 21
Height: 30 feet tall as shrubs or small trees, good fall leaf colors
Flowers: White, creams, pinks, purples either pastel or bright

Crape Myrtle: Their Latin name is Lagerstroemia and the most common kinds sold here are l. indica or a hybrid of l. indica and l. fauriei (Japanese Crape Myrtle). They are also called Crepe Myrtle, or Crapemyrtle. These deciduous trees can bloom anytime from spring through fall. Colors come in bright white, dusty pinks, neon reds onto pink and purple shades, plus everything in-between.

Lagerstroemia can grow up to 25 feet tall and in the fall their leaves change color into deep oranges and reds. They do well in hot weather and withstand some drought once established. Crapemyrtle has smooth, tan bark that can peel off in sheets and provides visual interest even when it doesn't have leaves. These plants can be left as shrubs for a border or screen, or trained into standards or multi-trunked trees. See more photos and read more about Crape Myrtle…

Garden Fresh Baked Tomato & Zucchini Recipe with Parmesan Cheese

Are you blessed with an overabundance of fresh tomatoes and zucchini this summer? Here's a great recipe that uses lots of each. It is a recipe I adapted from a Jeff Smith recipe he credits to Italy.

The baked zucchini can either be served in boats or cups; if you have small zucchini cut them lengthwise and hollow out the centers. If you have large zucchini cut them lengthwise and scoop out the centers to create cups that stand up.

Save the insides to add texture, flavor and richness to soups and stews. I throw my zucchini innards into the freezer until I am ready to cook them up in something savory.

This makes a hearty side dish or a great vegetarian main dish.

Baked Zucchini and Tomatoes with Dill and Parmesan Cheese

4 large, fat zucchini
OR 6 - 8 small zucchini

2 TBS Oil or Margarine
2 (or more) crushed garlic cloves
1 Small Onion, chopped or minced
2 (or more) Cups Fresh Diced Tomatoes
1/4 Cup Red Wine OR Juice OR Broth
1/2 Teaspoon Dried OR 1 Teaspoon Fresh Dill Weed
1/8 Teaspoon Sugar
Salt and Pepper to Taste
1/4 Cup Parmesan cheese (leave out for vegetarian version)
1/4 Cup Breadcrumbs (optional)
1/4 Cup Red Wine OR Juice OR Broth

If you use small zucchini cut them lengthwise and hollow out the centers. If you have large zucchini cut them lengthwise and scoop and out the centers to create cups that stand up. Place in a greased, deep baking pan.

In a saucepan use the oil to sauté the garlic and onion until soft. Add the tomatoes and cook for about 3 minutes. Add the broth, dill, sugar and salt and pepper and simmer for 5 more minutes.

Pour the tomato mixture over (or into) the zucchini to fill them. Pour remaining sauce into the baking dish. Sprinkle the parmesan cheese and breadcrumbs over zucchini dish and bake at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes. Serve with bread to soak up all that extra sauce!

Drop by my cooking website at http://www.MomsRetro.com to find more recipes, kitchen tips, apron humor and retro art. Happy gardening and happy cooking!

Awesome Aechmea Bromeliad Flower Performance Continue!

Just in time for Friday Floral on theGardenPages; the flowers on my Aechmea just keep getting better. I showed you the prickly pink flowers when they first emerged from my Urn Plant. Now they have continued flowering with added features! The blooms develop what look like extra flowers consisting of deep blue petals deep inside the enormous main pink flower. They developed about a week after the flower first opened.

I have been gardening for decades, but this may be the plant that pushes me into a botany class -- just so I can identify all the crazy parts on this flower! I opened one of the blue blossoms; they are three petals surrounding a stamen. They secrete a clear sticky substance the ants seem to like. The plant is outdoors in a corner of my patio so the ants aren't too much of an issue. I am hoping they'll get bored and leave when the flower and nectar show is over so I don't have to get the chemicals out. For now, there's enough beauty on this plant to go around for everyone.

The light pink on the initial blooms has aged somewhat. It now has darker, hot pink spots on the petals and stem. It looks like it was 'distressed' by a craftsman. Either that or Monet dropped by to add a few impressionist highlights late one night.

Those of you with critical eyes should be able to a few brown spots on the leaves of my Urn Plant. This is from too much sun earlier in the season. Normally this plant gets a few hours of morning sun, but as the summer has progressed it got more sun in the afternoon. They like partial shade and that extra sunlight in the afternoon was too much. I have shifted the container a few feet so it is shaded in the afternoon. The leaves have greened up, but the spots will remain. Actually, after it is done blooming the entire 'urn' will die, but leave small pups to continue the show next time.

A fourth, smaller flower has emerged. It is what I would call a single flower, it is much smaller than the other three gargantuan flowers, but no less beautiful. The flowers do not have a scent, but with this summer show who cares? Happy gardening!

Texas Ranger; Brave Bloomer in Hot Dry Gardens for Friday Floral

This brave plant currently blooming in 100 degree heat is called Texas Ranger or Leucophyllum frutescens. It is also one of the oddest plants I have grown, but more about that later. After a few years of getting established it is really blooming this year. Most Leucophyllums have purple flowers with more of an open bell shape. Both have small, oval silvery leaves. This leucophyllum is called "Green Cloud" and is known for its little red, straight tubular flowers. I love them and so do the hummingbirds!

Leucophyllum frutescens is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Texas Ranger is also called Texas Sage (no relation) or Cenizo.

I planted this shrub because it was evergreen, drought tolerant, heat resistant and takes full sun. It is part of my Back 40 Section; where my landscape goal is to have plants that survive completely off rainfall alone. I am jealous of English gardens so I also wanted something that would flower. My southern California garden has heavy clay, alkaline soil and Texas Ranger was just the man, er, plant for the job. I think it has earned a star this year.

There is an odd thing about this plant. It is very sticky and doesn't feel like a normal shrub when you touch it. If you push your hand into it you will hear the branches crackling as if they are breaking. Then your hand will be sticky with essential oils. It smells sort of grassy and green.

It is classified as a shrub, but it has a thick viny growing habit. The word 'cloud' is pretty accurate; it sort of cloaks the space around it with branches. The tips point up, but they bend slightly under their own weight. Texas Ranger can grow up to 8 feet tall and 4 feet wide. My plant has slowly enveloped a tall barrel and the plants growing out of the top of the barrel.

This would be a good screen plant to grow on a chain link fence. It needs support to grow up, but in time it would form a solid screen. They are also useful as borders and can take shearing.

Most leucophyllum varieties are hardy in USDA Zones 10. I found seeds of Leucophyllum scrophulariaceae and Leucophyllum frutescens from my favorite seed bank, J.L. Hudson, Seedsman here...

Try to stay cool out there and don't forget the sunscreen; keep a spray-on bottle next to your gardening gloves so you don't forget. Happy gardening!