My family and I just recently went to the Cockrell Butterfly Center at the Houston Museum of Science.  Every time that I go there I have an amazing little adventure into a small version of a tropical rain forest.  There are so many butterflies flying in the Center that you can't possibly keep up with them.  They also have a large variety of insects and spiders along with one very large green iguana. Here are just a few of the pictures that I was able to take.

                                                                     Scarlet Peacock

                                                                    Idea leuconoe           
                                                 Rice Paper also called Tree Nymph

                                                                     Owl Butterfly
                                                                    Caligo memnon

                                                        

                                                                 Mimoides ilus branchus
                                                                 Mimic Kite Swallowtail

                                                      
                                             

Product Review- Drinking Water Safe Water Hose

I know that the last product review that I did was a soaker hose but it is that time of year where we are starting to water more often and I was in need of new water hoses.  I have quite a few vegetables that I grow mixed in with my regular flower beds so I decided to get this water hose that is drinking water safe.  It is from Apex and I did get it at Walmart.  I paid almost $11 which is the going rate for a 25 foot hose.  I have looked at the website for Apex and can't seem to find this hose on their site, however, you can find it at Walmart.  http://www.walmart.com/ip/Apex-5-8-x-25-Boat-Camper-Hose/15914127
I have only have this hose for about 3 weeks and I love it.  It is a great hose and I feel safe using it on my vegetables and fruit.  It is lead free and it has a coupling for easy attachment to the faucet.  This one gets a thumbs up from me.
Apex also has another hose called the "Healthy Habitat Water Hose".  This water hose is drinking water safe.  It is lead free and phthalate free.  It also has a reduced water flow rate to conserve water.    It is made from less material making it lighter when you need to move it around the yard. (This is a plus for me since my yard is very large.)

"Healthy Habitat Water Hose"

BottleBrush Bush

I have to admit that this is one of my favorite plants.  I love, love, love the Bottlebrush plant.  This plant is truly  a carefree plant with little to no worries about diseases or bug problems.  It will flower several times a year here in the south, (I live just outside of Houston, Texas).  The Bottlebrush is great for covering things and blocking views, such as a fence, or blank wall, or a bright light from a neighbor's flood light attached to the back of their garage.  The last example is what happened to us.  The light was so bright that it lite up over half of my backyard and shined into my son's bedroom window.  We put up a bottlebrush to screen out the light.  It grew nicely over a short period of time and is beautiful when it blooms. 
Another great thing about this plant is that there is very little pruning involved in taking care.  It is best to trim it to shape it.  Try not to take out too much out of the center of the plant.  

The ins & outs of the Bottlebrush:

Scientific name: Callistemon rigidus
                        This is native to Australia.

Growth Habit:  Zones 8-10
                        Grows 8 x 6 feet; the average growth is 6 x 4 feet (but I have seen it grown to about 11 feet)

Flower:  Bright red spikes near the tips of the branches, each flower sessile, in axil of floral leaf.  Many   
              bristlelike stamens one inch or more long.  Flowers grow in a mass in the shape of a bottlebrush,
              hence the name.  It flowers in late spring and early summer and then again in the fall.

Foliage:  The leaves are a gray-green leaf scattered along woody stems.  Each leaf is 2 to 5 inches long and
              about 1/2 inch wide.  They have a midvein that runs through the middle.  The tips of the leaves are
              sharp-pointed.  The new foliage is showy being reddish green.

Pros:  -Drought tolerant.
          -The bottlebrush plant attracts hummingbirds and butterflies, as well as bees (this is a good thing).
          -Bottle brush have wonderful flowers that are very showy when in bloom.
          -These shrubs and small trees are salt tolerant, which makes them great for near the beach.
          -Non-toxic to dogs, cats, and horses.
          -Very little care to keep this plant a beauty, mild pruning.
        
Cons:  -The bad thing about these plants is that they will freeze when there is a severe winter.  I personally
           have not lost any of these plants but they have died back to the ground during a hard winter.
           -If you don't trim them occasionally, the ends of the branches can bend down instead of staying
           upright.  The flowers tend to be heavy and makes the branches droop on smaller branches.
           -Bottle brush plants do not want to be in poorly drained soils.


Other common varieties:  -'Little John'- a dwarf red
                                     - 'Splendens'- a scarlet-red
                                     -'Hannah Ray'- an orange-red
                                     -Callistemon citrinus- Lemon bottlebrush lemon-scented leaves; red flowers.
                                     -Callistemon viminalis- Weeping bottlebrush, red flowers.
          

          
                        

White Gaura (aka Whirling Butterflies)

Here is another one of my favorite spring/summer flowers.  Gaura lindheimeri is a great plant for the a spot in the front of the garden. Gaura lindheimeri is also called Whirling Butterflies.  It grows about 2-3 feet tall flower spikes while the foliage is shorter than that.  The plant gives an airy feel to the area.  The flowers will bloom upward on the spikes. Gaura blooms from April through November.  The leaves are a dark green about 2-3 inches long to 1/2 inch wide with the upper leaves smaller.  Gaura likes rich clay or sandy soils of prairies, pinelands, moist edges of ponds, lakes and seepage areas. 
Gaura can and will form into groups or colonies.  The flowers are visited by numerous species of insects, especially small bees and beelike flies.  A great plant to have.  It has little to no trouble with insects and diseases.  I have had this plant for many years and I love it.

Plains Coreopsis

This is one of my favorite Texas wildflowers.  It is called Plains Coreopsis.  I have also heard it called tickseed.  It usually blooms here from late March until summer.  It has perfect timing here because it starts blooming right when my bluebonnets are looking very ugly while I wait for them to go to seed.  The plants are usually 1-2 feet high.  The stems are solitary, leafy, and multi-branching.  The flower heads are about 1 inch across yellow with a red-brown spot in the middle.  Sometimes they may be all yellow or all brown.  The leaves are 2-4 inches long.  It mainly grows  in moist area in prairies, pastures, and fields.  This is one of my all time favorite spring/summer wildflowers.  It blooms for a really long time.  And it even lasts a long time when you are having extreme weather conditions.  This is a must have for wildflowers.

Finally getting the garden cleaned up

My favorite place in this whole world is my backyard.  I have a pretty big backyard where backyards are concerned but up until a few month ago I was not able to do much gardening for about 1 1/2 years.  To put it gently, I had a dog that was just not right for our family that wouldn't let me garden. It sounds weird but it is true.  We rescued this dog when he was just 2 months old.  He is a chocolate Labrador and when we got him we were so happy.  We had just lost our second dog in 2 months time to cancer and thought that it would be great to have new life in the house to help the kids grieve. We had our other dogs for 16 years and 11 years and we really couldn't figure out what to do to bring our spirits back up. 
So the new dog, Ziggy, turned out to be a big handful.  I had raised our other dogs from puppies and knew it was hard work but this time it was different.  I almost felt like we had a "Marley" dog.  I spent countless hours watching dog training shows, reading dog training books, and researching online what could I do to get this dog to fit in with our family.  Ziggy would constantly jump up on the kids and scare them, he would jump up on the counters and grab anything he could get his mouth on and tear it up, he would chew up the kids toys, even chew books, and the grossest part is that he would eat his own poop.  This is only a small part of the things he would do.  I worked with him constantly and played with him at least 3 times a day and nothing seemed to work to get him to calm down.  It was so bad that we had to keep him either outside or in the kitchen.  And towards the end of his time with us he would even jump over the baby gate to keep him in the kitchen.  It was really horrible.  We couldn't live like that anymore.  My kids were even afraid of him.  I kept asking myself- my family and the dog have to have a better life.
Now to the gardening part of this story.  When I would go outside to try and work in the garden Ziggy would take my tools and chew them up.  He would grab any plants that were in pots and chew them up.  So much for starting seeds for the garden.  He would even dig up the plants that I had just planted.  And he would trample on plants constantly.  I found myself putting the dog inside the house just so we could go outside and play.  The whole time I would worry if he was getting into something in the house. 
We had him for over 1 1/2 years and nothing I did was helping the situation.  I didn't know what to do.  I decided to put him up for adoption.  I made so many calls to vets offices, and kennels, and adoption agencies (which I decided was not the right option in this situation).  And I couldn't get any responses.  After 3 months I again was stuck.  After much trying I need to get some results because things at home with him were only getting worse.  So I put him up for sale.  I hated doing this  because I only wanted to find a home for him and I know there are so many dogs that need adoption.  Funny thing is that the very next day after I posted my ad I had 4 replies.  I went through them and talked to everyone trying to find the right fit for Ziggy.  I did love him and only wanted the best for him.  I ended up picking a single guy from Austin that had another dog already.  It turns out that he fell in love with Ziggy.  I did make the right decision and gave Ziggy to him without charging him.  It didn't feel right to charge him for a dog that needed a home.
After he had Ziggy for several weeks we talked to him again and found out that when he takes Ziggy to the park and Ziggy is around other kids he gets a bit crazy.  And my kids were around him constantly so he was always wound up.  Ziggy is doing really good and I am so happy for him.  I had always had dogs my entire life and never thought I would give one up but for us it just wasn't the right fit.  We have since adopted another dog, this one is a 5 year old girl black Labrador.  And it is a wonderful fit.  She is really calm around my boys and she has free run of the house and yard.  Almost everyday since we found Ziggy a new home I have worked outside in the yard.  I had missed it so much and it had missed me.  My yard was in terrible shape.  When I get a few more areas cleaned up I will show you some before and after pictures of my great clean-up.  But the best part is being able to go into my favorite place and relax.

Feed those tomatoes

Don't forget to feed your tomatoes.  Tomatoes and Peppers are heavy feeders. For tomatoes you can add 1-2 Tablespoons of fertilizer per plant every 3-4 weeks.  I however also feed my plants every 2 weeks with a foliar food and spray it right on the leaves. Make sure the leaves have enough time to dry before it gets dark so you don't promote diseases and fungus.  Also, remember to stake your tomatoes while they are growing tall.  You don't want to lose any of those precious tomatoes.  I was going to say precious fruit but then there goes that debate about tomatoes being a fruit or a vegetable.  I personally don't care if they are a fruit or a vegetable.  I just like to eat them either way.
If you want to read more about how to grow tomatoes here is lots of great information on them, Easy Growing Tomatoes