The Gardening Tutor

Hahaha! The Gardening Tutor YouTube Channel has had 2,149,802 views since I started. Wow, it would be great if I made money on that. Ha! In the beginning I made it not monetized so people would not see ads. Then YouTube changed it to ads but said no money for me. :) Here's the Link to The Gardening Tutor Channel:

The Gardening Tutor Mary Frost is the sole proprietor of The Gardening Tutor, a Hands-On Individualized Gardening Instruction and Consulting in Santa Rosa, CA (Zone 9). When creating each video Mary wants you to feel as though you are right beside her as she goes along. For more FREE Gardening Tips visit our website: t...

This is just the sweetest looking combination in the fall garden right now. Dahlia, Cosmos, and annual Gaillardia. The birds are lovin' the seeds from the Cosmos too!

Do you get tired of all the seeds that annual morning glories produce? Me too. So, this year, around the end of August, I did an experiment. I cut the whole tangle of vines by more than half to see how the plant would respond. Within just a few weeks it was growing back in nicely and now it is way up at the top of the trellis again and full of blooms. Without All Those Seeds . . .yet. In the photo on the left, it had already been growing for a week or so. If I had taken a photo when I cut it you would see a straight across chop!

Four O'Clocks have Tuberous Roots. HUGE Tuberous roots sometimes.

The first time I smelled Four O'Clocks (Mirabilis jalapa) I fell in love. The fragrance is like the best powder ever. (Close to the smell of the house plant Peace Plant.) My mom grew them in the back yard, along a hot fence with concrete retaining wall. The seeds for my plants came from a neighbor. Every time I walked past his house his Four O'Clocks were filling the air with their scent, even when it was not in the afternoon. They reseed profusely and so they spread rapidly in my garden and I pulled the ones I didn't want. But in the last few years my plants are not fragrant anymore (it's not my nose, anyone who knows me knows I have a sense of smell like a blood hound!). About 3 years ago I was digging out a plant when I discovered that it had a HUGE Tuber! Yikes, didn't really want that. I'm wondering now if the plants that are coming back every year from the big tubers are the ones that are not fragrant. hmmmm? So, if you plant Four O'Clocks and you're pulling the ones you don't want make certain to get the entire root. Do you grow Four O'Clocks? Wikipedia has good information about the plant and a time lapse reel of a flower opening. Remember that all parts of this plant are toxic (so no eating it) and wear gloves to protect from the milky sap.

You may still be able to buy Daffodil Bulbs. You may even find them at a good discount.

Good Morning Everyone, can you guess what this is?