Encore Please!

When we first looked at our house, the description read that there were Encore Azaleas. I lived in Central Texas most of my life and wanted azaleas (red ones) in my gardens. I think they are beautiful. The soil in central Texas is not acidic and contains a lot of limestone, rock and clay.

To properly grow azaleas, you have to have acid in the soil. It can be done in central Texas, but it is not easy. I had every "Texas Gardening" book known to man and I followed the directions. I had to dig 5 feet down and 4 feet around the area and completely replace the soil and treat it with acidic plant food. So I did all of this and planted red azaleas that turned out to be pink. Augh! Not that I don't like pink, I just wanted red ones.

If you know me, the sun is not my friend and I tend to get hot, turn red, not sweat and pass out. A hit with the water hose and a splash brings me back, but with a headache that is unimaginable. You know, the kind where no one can even walk on the carpet in the room you are resting in to recover. Lights out!

After several attempts at Central Texas Azaleas, I gave up. I even talked to my favorite flower market and questioned why they even sold them. I'm a determined woman, so me giving up on this was a big deal! My brother lives in, Texarkana, and he always has the most beautiful azaleas. (Secretly aggravated me to death!)

After reading about the Encore Azaleas, I searched my gardening books and the internet and could not find what the Encore was all about. Deep inside, I wished it meant that they would bloom more than once a year. I was afraid to let myself get overly excited about this wish. It would be a big disappointment...like the "Pink" azaleas that Pooped out. Poopie Pink is all I think when I recall the hard work, passing out and the headaches. I had to train my daughter, Katie to splash me with the hose. She was a real trooper about it...I can't believe it never scared her. That poor child must have thought it was all part of gardening. LOL!

I'm happy to report that hard work and perseverance do not go unnoticed. I now have beautiful red azaleas that grow all around the front of our home. And, the Encore...well Hello, August...they bloom again! ParTay in the garden!

The Mysteries of the Yard on the Square...Fall Foliage and the Beasts!

Example A


Example B


Example C

Mystery...sometimes it's a really wonderful thing in life. I do like to know what's going on most of the time with a twist of the unknown for excitement. But, there are mysteries that are maddening to me at this point. One happens overnight...I can find no logical explanation. If I try to catch it happening...I get nothing. This mystery also brings out a fit of OCD in me that can't be hidden. I find myself peaking out the windows...slipping around the garage like an undercover FBI agent... But to my demise the mystery remains.

My yard gets mowed every other Tuesday at this point. The cool air at night has slowed the growth of the grass in preparation for fall. Once my lawn is mowed and pampered it looks like green velvet. You just imagine rolling all over it and then popping a couple of benadryl to fight the allergy attack that will follow. This is why we only fantasize about the rolling around in the grass.

So you ask, "What are the mysteries?" Let me share my madness! Every Wednesday morning my yard is covered with fall foliage...leaves are everywhere. Example A: A Green tree with NO dead leaves. Example B: My yard covered in dead leaves (okay, let's call it fall foliage so it sounds better). Example C: Close up of Large Fall Foliage in it's perfect Brown wonderment!

Where are the leaves coming from? They are in my backyard as well. I look all the way up the street and down...NOT ONE yard has a single leaf on it. Their trees are also green. My neighborhood has a POA office that will send you a letter if you have weeds. I'm terrified that it will also arrive if you have leaves (and when I clean them up...they are back the next morning!) This letter of shame as I refer to it, absolutely can't show up in my mailbox. I would be mortified. This summer, I have stayed after the flower beds to keep them weed free. Another mystery unveiled itself as well.....

All my life I have heard the word chigger. Funny word...but, with all the pastures, woods and ditches I have played in during my life while growing up, I have never experienced a chigger. It sounds harmless enough and having not had one I was under the impression that a chigger was a very rare bug or pest...whatever you want to refer to it as...I have my own definition that's not fit to share with others.

Well, first time out in the flower beds...4 days later...I have this weird looking patch above my ankle...never in my life has something itched as bad as that patch. In a wild fit I searched the internet and discovered to my regret that it was chiggers. I treated the little patch and nearly lost my mind before it healed over the course of the next month! I spent a little time out there again 2 weeks ago and I was dressed from head to toe and had on rain boots that hit me at my knees. I sprayed so much "Off" on me that I am sure to have some sort of lung disease later in life. I'll be on the TV show, "Mystery Diagnosis" and will recall the fit of over spraying "Off". My OCD made me re-apply with frequency. Four days later a patch on my forearm...looked like a spider bite or even a snake bite....two marks in the center like a pair of fangs. It itched like a chigger family with out of town relatives had used me as a host for their family reunion. It's still driving me crazy...I bought a bottle of "chigger tox" on the last round. I have applied it over and over.

It still rages on...mentally I'm going with spider or snake. Two things that I believe the world could do without...spiders and snakes make my skin crawl and give me nightmares. However, in reality I know it's the dreaded chigger. It's an itching sensation that could send the weak to the mental ward with padded walls. A single chigger brings fear...you can smell the fear in me when I check out my flower beds. Yet another mystery though...my beds have been sprayed with every insecticide known to man (due to the fear)...and when I prefer spiders and snakes to a chigger...if you know me...then you know this is serious business.

Thus, the mysteries of my yard are great...I've posted proof of the "mystery of the leaves" on the square. I dare not post a picture of my "snake bite" for fear of angering the chiggers and awakening the Beasts of the yard.