Spanish Lavender, Lavandula Stoechas ‘Otto Quast’

Spanish lavenders don't mind acid soils, light watering will encourage root to establish during the first year. After a year, water it once a week until it is over 100º, then water them more frequently. Don't mulch the trunk, use pebbles/ small garden rocks to replace mulch. Test the soil for dryness down to a depth of at least an inch. Spanish lavenders love the radiant heat, bloom during summer, trim off the dead blooms as it will help shape the bush and encourage new growth/ blooms.

Height: 2-3 Ft
Characteristics: Full Sun, evergreen, drought tolerant when established
Hardiness: Perennial in zones 8-11
Uses: Dried Flower, ornamentalThis is my 1 year old Spanish lavenders
Spanish Lavender - Lavandula stoechas ‘Otto Quast’


Family: Lamiaceae (lay-mee-AY-see-ee)
Lavandula stoechas 'Hazel'
http://everything-lavender.com

Gurney's $25 off plants & flowers & trees

http://gurneys.com/default.asp?eid=081506&sid=506365&gclid=CPHYkorKyJsCFcZM5QodkUPhLA&bhcd2=1247147136

I came across this special offer by Gurney's Seed & Nursery Co.

Save $25 when you buy $50 or more!

Check out their BOGO asparagus and other daily sales. I order some patio dwarf size lemon, Pomegranate, and orange plants. Some of the patio blueberry and lime plants from previous year purchase still doing good in the garden.

http://gurneys.com/search.asp?ss=&c=0&t=s&sb=2

This Week Harvest

The cherry tomatoes are still very productive, it's a bit too much for us, so we have to give some away. Here are the mixed produces from my organic home garden, what are you harvesting this week?

The squash is doing quite well, it grows so fast on these two months

Do you think the squash looks like the image on seed pack?

Butterfly Exhibit

We went to an exhibit to see the wonder of exotic butterflies. The butterflies will surround visitors as they flutter about sipping nectar from plants, perching in the sun room and landing on visitors. The tour guide reminded us to make sure we didn't walk out the room with butterfly on our t-shirt :D
Here are some scaly winged butterflies with close up…




See..their homes are hanging on the tree?

Landscaping - Increase Property Value

Gardening not just good for the health, soul and spirit, it is also a great investment that can increase property value. Florida Nursery Growers and Landscape Association did a research with these findings:

* Increase the resale value of a property by as much as 14%
* Property sale six weeks faster than other homes
* A patio can raise property value 12.4%
* A landscaped curb can increase 4.4% and hedges can add 3.6% property value
* Low-maintenance quality landscape increase in resale value by as much as 15%.
* Properly select plants can lower heating and cooling cost by as much as 20%.

A variety of studies reveal that:

• Edge the flower beds could increase the home value by 1 percent
  
• Planting mature trees can increase property value
• 'Water-wise” landscaping - add water saving plants in a landscape and matching color mulch can increase long-term financial benefit
• Nourish the grass, make sure it is green and healthy
• Scatter mixed color flowers throughout the landscape and cut back the jungle shrubs.

Here are some beautiful landscapes from the downtown home garden:








7 landscaping tips

Increasing Home Value

Landscaping for Increased Property Value

Planting Mature Trees to Increase Property Value

Landscaping Investment - Increase Property Value But How Much?

Don’t Curb Your Home’s Appeal – Invest in Landscaping to Raise the Resale Value

"Mulch" Improved: Homeowners Spruce Up Landscape and Increase Home Value

How To Increase Property Values With Landscape

Sculpture and Wildlife Garden with Butterfly Weed, Hydrangea Arborescens...

Wild hibiscus from the sculpture garden
This is the sculpture garden in front of the Museum of Natural Sciences

Water garden

Hydrangea Arborescens 'Annabelle' needs less water than regular hydrangea




Butterfly Weed

Hydrangea quercifolia 'Alice' or Panicle Hydrangea 'Grandiflora'?


Hydrangea Arborescens 'Annabelle' mixed

Garden Sculpture

Visit the Museum of Natural Sciences - Whale

We went to the Museum of Natural Sciences, you can see the real whale skeleton on display with free admission. It is very interesting, hope you will enjoy it too.


A Real Trouble Story
This Sperm Whale washed ashore at Wrightsville Beach in 1928 and soon began decaying. It raised a stink that cleared the beach, becoming a health hazard as well as a public nuisance. Locals gave the whale nickname “Trouble,” :-D and it lived up to its name - particularly for the Museum, which wanted the whale’s skeleton for display. Moving the whale wasn’t an easy task. First the 54-foot, 100,000 pound whale had to be towed to an uninhabited beach. Towing cables broke and the wale was nearly lost in the rough sea. Once onshore, the whale washed off the beach and onto a nearby shoal where it stayed until stripped of most of its flesh. The bones were buried for a total of 16 months so that natural processes could remove the rest of its flesh…


More Trouble
Trouble’s bones were buried on the beach for six months and again at the Fairgrounds for ten months. Natural processes removed the last remnants of rotting flesh.
What Is Sperm Whale?
Capable of hour-long dives more than a mile deep, Sperm Whales are deep-sea dwellers and are seldom seen inshore unless stranded. They use specialized teeth to capture food but not to chew it – these whales swallow squid, sharks, fish, and other marine animals whole.
See how large the whale size compared to human beings