Jason Reeves - in the garden

What are the chances of seeing a doe, fawn and a fox all within 30 feet of each each other. Just outside my office looking toward the barn at the Ellington Agricultural Center in Nashville. Doe and fawn circled in red and the fox circled in yellow.

Photos from Mike & Sue Toole’s garden, Huntsville Alabama, hardiness zone 8.

Photos taken on Friday May 29 as part of the Dixie Regional Hosta Convention in Huntsville Alabama hosted by Hosta Society of North Alabama.

The Tools grows their hosta in pots. It help prevent voles from eating their roots and without the root competition from trees they grow faster and larger in pots. See Saturday evening May 30th post for details on growing hosta in pots.

I was in their garden the same day in 2017 leading the Madison County Master Gardeners on a garden tour of Huntsville. It was great to see them and their garden again.

This finishes up my post from the Dixie Regional Hosta Convention. Hope you’ve enjoyed these gardens and they have provided you with inspiration for your garden.

My dash decorations for today. I enjoyed them on the way to church, then to my mother’s and now will enjoy them on the way home.

Daylily blooms only last one day and do not need to be in water once they’ve opened. Obviously if it was sunny outside and you parked for more than a few minutes they would melt. I have been adorning my dash with daylilies since I was in grad school in the late 90’s. When they were in flower and I would make the five hour drive from my parents to grad school, I would lay them on my dash and enjoy them on the way back to Knoxville.

You can enjoy their breathtaking beauty indoors by simply laying them on the counter. Just remember to be sure and throw them away before you go to bed, otherwise by morning they’ll be slimy and hard to clean up.

If you’re interested in knowing what cultivars each one is, scroll down on my page and watch the Facebook live I did this morning walking around my collection at the farm.

Herb and Terry Lewis’s garden, Huntsville, Alabama, hardiness zone 8.

We visited on Friday, May, 29 as part of the Dixie Regional Hosta Convention hosted by the Hosta Society of North Alabama.

The Lewis’ designed their garden as a bird sanctuary with water sources and plants providing food and shelter. I visited their garden for the first time in May in 2017.  It was beautiful then but really has matured into a beautiful sanctuary.

A reminder to keep a close eye out for bagworms. This morning I noticed hundreds of bags worms on a 'Lucky Find' western red cedar (Thuja plicata) I have growing in a pot on my deck.

Is it just me or the bag worms seem to be worse the last few years? The only time I have used an insecticide in recent years is for the control of them, canna leaf roller and fire ants. Two years ago there were thousands of them on the eastern red cedars growing around my barn at the farm. By the time I noticed them they had done quite a bit of damage and it took several applications over a couple weeks to kill them all. Thankfully I caught them before it was too late and they did recover but it took some time.

This morning I spent about 20 minutes picking dozens off my Lucky Find but now that I’ve come home from the farm for a late lunch I found another 50 or more. They are so difficult to see particularly when they’re small.

If bagworm are in small enough numbers and you can reach them pick them off and step on them or drop them down in soapy water. If you choose to treat they are easiest controled while they are small and young but often times go overlooked until they're larger and harder to control. Spinosad and products containing BT are naturally derived insecticides and less harmful to wildlife than some other insecticides. Others mentioned in the publication below work but both naturally derived insecticides and conventional insecticides work best when applied when the bagworms are young (best when 1/2 inch or less). The more mature they get the more difficult they are to control with any insecticide.

Keeping a close eye on your conifers, Japanese maples and sweetgum (yes they like plants other than conifers) over the next 8 to 12 weeks is crucial.

Always read and follow pesticide (herbicides, insecticides, miteicides, fungicides, mollusicides, algicides etc.) label directions carefully whether organic or conventional. For more on bagworms. https://landscapeipm.tamu.edu/ipm-for-ornamentals/bagworms/

What a busy, fun, productive eight days it has been. It a tarted last Friday in Huntsville, then my job in Nashville with two days off work speaking in Arkansas, back to Nashville and then Madison County Master Gardener graduation in Jackson.

It is going to take some time to get caught up on posting photos. I still have two more gardens to post from Huntsville but wanted to share these from the Arkansas State Master Gardener Conference in Conway just north of Little Rock.

The conference was attended by 508 Master Gardener from across the state of Arkansas. What an amazing conference they put on. It was a combination of garden tours, workshops, lectures and great food. The event was held at the Conway Expo Center and was hosted by the Faulkner County Master Gardeners. They did an incredible job of transforming the center into a beautiful setting. The state Master Gardener office and the host county start planning three years in advance for these conferences and it shows.

There were numerous speakers from several states. I spoke three times as did my friend Jared Barnes formally of Union City Tennessee. Jared is professor of horticulture at Stephen F Austin University in Nacogdoches, Texas. It was great to catch up with him, his wife Karen and daughter Magnolia.

Photos from Ray and Jean Burgess’ garden, Huntsville Alabama, hardiness zone 8. I was in their garden the same day in 2017 leading the Madison County Master Gardeners own a garden tour of Huntsville. It was great to see them and their garden again.

Photos taken during Friday morning’s tours as part of the Dixie Regional Hosta Convention in Huntsville Alabama hosted by Hosta Society of North Alabama.

The Burgess grows their hosta in the grounds as well as pots. Without the root competition from trees they grow faster and larger in pots. See Saturday evening’s post for details on growing hosta in pots.

Stay tuned this week for more photos of other wonderful gardens we visited.