THE-PERKINS JOURNAL
Thursday, June 2, 2005 - B1
spreads out rate. It
has lavender to purple flowers that
cover the entire plant in the early
spring and again in the fall The
Ifyouhave foliage is light green with whorls
trying to of narrow leaves that are similar to
your plant a succulent.
!want to consider a FdlglLsh I - Actually, I hesitate
weeds, to recommend this one, but after
groundcovers that careful thought the attributes out-
and keep weigh the disadvantages with this
plant. This thick-leafed, evergreen
plant for groundcover does great in shady
shade locations, locations. On the ground, it will
it becomes mound to a height of 12 inches.
back. Creeping It can be aggressive after its first
inches tall andyear in the ground and cover areas
:around our place
just trying to get
I work elsewhere
husband Art is the
root crops. As I bent down to
check out the beet planting, I
was struck by the beauty of the
tops. The way the deep purple
marbling mixes with the green is
quickly. It will climb trees and
buildings if left untrained. Please
make the effort to keep this plant in
its boundaries. Traditionally aplant
with dark green foliage, many new
variegated cultivars are available at
most nurseries. English ivy has no
pest problems and it has the best
drought tolerance of any shady
groundcover.
- There are many low
growing forms that inhibit weed
seeds from germinating. Junipers
are evergreen and do best in full sun
locations. "Blue Rug Juniper' is a
blue colored juniper that will spread
4-6 feet across, while maintaining a
height of only 4-6 inches." Parson's
Juniper' is a green, 18 inches tall
juniper that has a spread of 6-8
feet.
M -. - - " " : - This
is a tough group of plants that do
well in locations with full to little
shade. They do best with morning
sun and afternoon shade. Larger
varieties, like 'Big Blue', will
grow 1-foot tall and wide. Dwarf
mondograss only grows 2-3 inches
tall and wide. These plants spread
by underground runners and can
easily be transplanted to fill in
new areas.
- This evergreen
I do really quite lovely. I dug my fin- ing out sap leaving unsightly
to mentally gers down into the soil and to my white spots, plus they taste really
is so much surprise, the beetroots were a lot bad if you accidentally eat one.
bigger than I thought they would But they are very beautiful and
nay favorite time be. Roasted beets with onions as I completed my walk through
is so green will definitely be on the menu this section, I remembered that
the vegetables we tonite! Just up from the beets we often get some good with
weeks ago are are the kale and broccoli raab the bad.
rather tasty plantings. We discovered Sometimes, our garden just
through the kales and raab a few yearstakes an unfair punch below
ago as a result of sugges- the belt. A few weeks
the rhubarb tions from our ago we had a group of
doing as well farmer's market cabbage butterfliescome
Y does. We grow customers. They through the greenhouses.
rhubarb- not are a wonderful Normally we ignore
mostly because ingredient for soups these since they usually
we can grow. or risottos, but on this cause minimal damage. Some
about day they were more basic fare time later we noticed the holes in
the stalks are for our favorite insect pest, the the foliage and the worms on the
My kids like to harlequin bug. Harlequins are flowers. They ate right through
rhubarb but it is brightly colored orange and my snow peas and snapdragons.
black shield-shaped insects. They ate more snow peas than
Creek are all of the They damage the plant by suck- I did! I paid my kids a nickel
groundcover has a larger leaf than
V'mca minor. It will grow 12-18
inches tall and is a fast spreader
It does best in shady locations,
but will tolerate some sun. There
are both solid green cultivars and
variegated forms. Vinca major
has shown less susceptibility to the
disease and webworms that attack
Vinca minor.
- An evergreen
groundcover with dark green,
shiny leaves and blue flowers in
the spring and fall. This plant will
reach 12 inches in height and is a
fast grower. In recent years, Vmca
minor has come under attack by leaf
apiece for the worms, which they
fed to the chickens, but in the end
it made no difference and I was
out a lot of money. However,
the songbirds on our farm had a
great time with the worms. They
learned to fly into the houses and
help themselves to the smorgas-
bord - free for the picking.
South of the main garden
were the strawberries and I bent
down to pick a few of the last
of this year's crop. Sweet and
juicy, strawberries represent the
best of the spring garden. Still
traveling from flower to flower,
pollinating bees make their way
back and forth from the patch to
the hives. They ignored me as
I sat and watched them become
heavy with pollen, marveling at
their industry. Other creatures
inhabit the strawberry patch - the
ever-present sowbugs, predatory
ground beetles, and the box turtle.
He comes back every year and
helps himself to a few berries
which we are glad to share,
I look over the whole garden
and although I am by myself
I am certainly not alone. The
bugs, earthworms, blue birds,
cardinals, and family of red-
tailed hawks all share this space
with armadillos, squirrels, rabbits
and even a badger. I occasion-
ally see the animal neighbors, but
not often. If you have a patch of
garden, take the opportunity to go
out and just sit in it. You never
know what you might see.
Astri Wayadande and her
husband, Art Bisges, grow small
fruits, cut flowers, and vegetables
to sell at the OSU-OKC farmers'
market. You can visit their web-
site at blueskyeberryfarm.com or
ask questions by writing to Astri
at astri99.hotmail.com.
spot disease and webworm, so the It is less susceptible to Euonymus
spraying needed every 14-21 days scale problems than other evergreen
has made this a high maintenance Euonymus. There are a number ot
groundcover, varieties available, sporting dark
-- An green to variegated leaves. One
excellent evergreen groundcover of the newest variegated varieties,
for coveting large areas in sun or 'Moonshadow',isablendofgreen,
part shade. It will spread out 3-6 creme and yellow, with wine-red
feet wide and stay 6-12 inches tall. highlights in the winter.
Know what really turns me on?
Cool.t
No, not cool that you know or don't know the answer, but COOL is
the answer I am impressed with a lot of things - superior intelligence,
extreme talent, good looks, great sense of humor, natural smile (WAY
UP THERE), personality, good carriage, power, concepts beyond my
comprehension, and a whale of a lot of other things people possess. But
the thing that really turns me on is COOL.
If you really must fall apart, do it after you have handled the crisis.
There are so many things in the course of a day, a week, a life, when
you can just LOSE IT. If you aren't able to handle it with a bit of calm and
class, you probably won't be invited back into the inner circle.
There are a few places that are just a set up for those who can't keep their
cool. Airports are one of them. The traveler is not usually as challenged as
the guy that is supposed to PICK UP the traveler at a designated spot. It is
time sensitive because the exact an'ival time is inexact There is no place
to park unless you want to go to the parking garage, make the trek to bag-
gage pick-up and after you hook up, you either have to make the voyage
back to the car with luggage or again have to get in the cue to pick them
up (standing by their bags on the sidewalk) without much time or space. I
have been there on one too many occasions and by the time your 'picker-
upper' finds you, you are both steamed and thinking the whole idea might
have been a misser. What a great way to start or end a vacation.
Cell phones have done a lot to ease the problem but it doesn't really
erase it because the cool-free character can usually make a production
out of that.
OR, see if this tings a bell with you someone is taking a shower and
in the adjoining part of the bath the toilet is flushed. The' showerer'jumps
THROUGH the glass door of the shower to escape the hot water. Not
cool. It is entirely possible to live past the hot water surge without extreme
danger. The same can't be said for jumping through a glass door, even
though they are shatter proof. 'Cool-ly' moving out of the way of the water
would definitely have been the better choice. NOT COOL.
How about this?? You see a little too late that there is a paper bag in the
street. You SWERVE and barely miss it. The passenger gets a whip lash
and the driver gets a rashing but you miss the bag. Now even if the bag
had explosives in it which is rare, laying right by that dumpster the bag
flew out of, it just might have been wiser to take a chance on it just being
an old bag full of hamburger wrappings and you could have slightly turned
the wheel and missed it completely or taken a wild chance and nan over
it. Either would have been a much better choice than to risk life and limb
for everyone with those wild maneuvers. NOT COOL.
So, if defensive driving is in your blood and it takes your full concentra-
tion, just drive all by yourse If. All of those wild antics might add to your
enjoyment and make the trip go faster (smoother would be out of the
equation). And you might also make your destination on time. - 4otally
frazzled and NOT COOL.
Have you ever been HERE??? You make an innocent telephone call to
someone and the reason for the call is not earth-shattering anyway but you
want to talk about it. Ring - ring - ring - no answer. P'me, just as you start
to hangup someone yells, HELLO !- WHO ISTHIS??. Click. Not cool If
they were too busy or unable to talk right then, how are you supposed to
know that? Just don't answer the freaking phone ffyou can't talk. It is a
communication devise over which you have a bit of control. The call was
well intended, poorly received. How could you have been so insensitive
to call right then about almost nothing? Didn't mean to push the panic
button and I certainly don't need to talk to you NOW, So please, the next
time you are tempted to lose your cool, be prepared to lose a lot more
than your cool. You might be taken off the Christmas card list. DRAMA
IS OVER-R/WED. COOL IS SEXY.
Charlavan Baker Hart is a Perkins High School graduate and former
Miss Oklahoma. She currently resides in El Cajon, California. She may
be reached at charlavan@cox.net.
