Author Archives: Regina

Hi. I’m Regina Fierke. Welcome to our garden. I have a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Microbiology, but for now I’m just a mom and a gardener. I garden with my husband, our six-year-old daughter, her two older brothers (when they are forced to) two dogs, two cats, a bearded dragon and a small flock of chickens. I guess you could call us suburban homesteaders.

Recently, I have been asked by a lot of friends (and even some casual acquaintances) how I have made my garden, so I thought I would start this blog.

First off, I have to admit that I’m a lazy gardener. If there is a way to do something with less work (especially if it turns out to be environmentally beneficial) then that’s what I do. I’m also cheap. I prefer propagating and getting “pass-along plants” to spending a lot of money. I’ll share some of my cheapest and laziest tips and tricks as I go. And, of course, as an environmentalist, I try to go as organically as possible.

My second admission is that I don’t plan a whole lot and I don’t naturally have a green thumb. I don’t plant things that require meticulous and unending care. I’m constantly putting things in, moving them around or yanking them out. I have veggies and flowers (with a fair amount of weeds) all growing together. The garden is never “finished” but it is always a wonderful inspiration.

My third admission is that, even with as much as I garden, I have yet to make myself get out in the August heat to plant a fall garden. Fall is the very best season for gardens here in Texas, but it does take the dedication to brave the August heat and carve time away from back to school preparations to get it planted. Everything perks up in the fall and you usually don’t have the bug problems then that you have in the spring. I swear – this year will be the year.

Our garden has been the source of so many wonderful things to eat and make. We have grown our own sponges, giant platter sized sunflowers, birdhouse gourds and so much more. We have had so many wonderful birthday parties here including a garden tour party that featured a floral alphabet hunt and a cake decorated with flowers from our garden. We have built “sunflower houses” and taken a safari through our own backyard. We have also been certified as “Monarch Waystation number 741” by the organization Monarch Watch (monarchwatch.org).

I hope you enjoy your visit.

Regina

May 18 0 comments
Garden Clippings

Masters

“Man masters nature not by force but by understanding.” – Jacob Bronowski — Weather When Posted –Temperature: 70°F;Humidity: 39%;Heat Index: 77°F;Wind Chill: 70°F;Pressure: 30.19 in.;

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May 18 4 comments
Trowel and Error, Uncategorized

What’s the big deal about invasive plants?

I have been given a lot of plants over the years that I have decided to remove from my garden either because they simply started crowding things out (whether it was native or not) or because I found out that it was on an invasive species list for Texas. A lot of people confuse aggessive […]

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May 15 0 comments
Potpourri

What’s Blooming Today?

Roses – There are still a few roses going here and there and most of the roses are working on replacement blooms after the first big flush. ‘Homestead’ trailing purple verbena – still has a few blooms on it, but it is just about done. Easter Lily – It finally showed up! ‘Gulf Coast’ Penstemon […]

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May 15 0 comments
Herbs

Lamb’s Ear

Lamb’s Ear is such a cool herb!  The scientific name is Stachys byzantina and it is native to Turkey, Armenia and Iran.  The silvery evergreen leaves are soft and furry and almost feel like velvet.  It’s grown more for the texture of the leaves, but it does also produce tiny purple flowers on tall stalks […]

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May 15 0 comments
Perennials

Royal Tapestry Yarrow

Yarrow (Achillea spp.) is an upright lacy perennial with flat-topped clusters that is originally from Europe.  Everything I have seen says to plant it in full sun, but I just moved mine to bright shade because it looked like it was getting a little burnt.  We will see if that does it. Yarrow is very […]

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May 14 0 comments
From Garden to Table, Great Garden Inspiration Books, Roses, Uncategorized

Candied Rose Petals

The kids gave me a book for Mother’s Day called “The Little Big Book of Roses”.  It is a collection of recipes, tips, literary excerpts, facts, lore… a little bit of everything.  I love it! One of the recipes in it is for candied rose petals.  Here it is… Candied Rose Petals Candied rose petals […]

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May 14 0 comments
Roses

Glowing Peace Rose

Look at this rose!  It does almost seem to glow doesn’t it? The “Glowing Peace” was introduced by Meilland in France in 1999.  It is a hybrid tea and won the ‘All-American Rose Selection’ in 2001.  This rose is very disease resistant and will grow on a tall bush to about 4 feet.  Each 3-inch […]

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May 13 0 comments
Perennials

Daylilies

I love daylilies!  They have got to be one of the easiest flowers to grow in Texas.  The daylily (Hemerocallis) is a tuberous root perennial.  The leaves look sort of like grass and the flowers bloom from late spring until fall.  Daylilies are incredibly disease resistant and they are drought tolerant, but they will multiply […]

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May 13 0 comments
Organic Garden Solutions

The Scoop About Poop

Guess what we did this weekend!  Go ahead and guess.  I’ll wait. We scooped poop.  A lot of it.  We had to clean out the chicken run and, because of one thing or another, we were running a bit behind schedule.  It really should have been done at least a month earlier, but this was […]

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May 12 0 comments
Garden Clippings

In Grandmother’s Garden

In Garndmother’s garden the hollyhocks Row upon row lifted wreathed stalks With bloom of purple, of pearly white, Of close-frilled yellow, of crimson bright. In Grandmother’s garden the roses red Grew in a long, straight garden bed, By yellow roses with small close leaves; Any yuccas – we called them Adams and Eves! Threaded with […]

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