Best tomato for 2015

Every year I try different tomatoes; I'm always searching for that perfect tomato that seems to allude us all.

This year my best performing tomato is the Martinos roma.  I started some from seed and also purchased two from the Birmingham Botanical Garden sale. 

The plants are marvelous; compact and sturdy, resistant to blight (so far) and extremely productive.   One of my criteria for the perfect tomato plant is the ability to pollinate even during our hot summer and these romas haven't missed a beat as our summer has stoked up.

The fruits are a good size for a roma and very meaty.  They are wonderful in salads and sliced on sandwiches.  I will be making tomato sauce soon and expect them to make a thick sauce.

I'll be growing these tomatoes again next year.

Harboring an invasive

Many years ago a neighborhood acquaintance gave me a few plants that she called "Butter and Egg" flowers.  I thought they looked fun because the flowers looked like snap dragons, which is the flower of my earliest garden memories.  Snap dragons don't grow well in our hot Alabama summers so I thought that these little perennials would make a wonderful substitute, and they have!  My little patch of butter and egg plants takes care of itself and reminds me of my early childhood in my grandma's Minnesota garden.

This year has been a good year for my Butter and Egg flowers so I decided to share them in a blog post.  As is my custom, I usually do a little research before I write to make sure that what I share is accurate.  Much to my total shock I learned that my lovely little plants are actually considered a noxious invasive species in many states.  Linaria vularis is a native of Europe and Asia that escaped North American cutting gardens and has made itself at home from Canada to Mexico.

I had no idea that I've been harboring an "invasive alien" (according to the USDA plant database).  In fairness to my Butter and Egg plants, they have been very polite in my garden. 

Precious memories

Grandmother Etta's 80th birthday with her daughters.

My husband's grandmother loved day lilies long before there were a million varieties and groups dedicated to breeding them.  She had thousands of day lilies creating a colorful border almost completely around her property.  She had figured out that they would cross pollinate and delighted in the variations that developed in her backyard.  Every once in a while there would be a new variety at the garden center which she would proudly add to her collection.  Her favorites were the orange ones with triple blooms and a burgundy/yellow variety because she was an FSU alumnus.

When the time came for us to move from Tallahassee to Alabama, Grandmother wanted me to bring a reminder of her gardens to my new home.  We dug up dozens of day lilies in the early spring, not knowing what varieties I would get.

My day lily garden is more than 20 years old.  I know there are many more colorful varieties available than the ones I have, but each morning,  as I eagerly look for new day lily blooms,  my day lilies inspire precious memories of one of the best gardeners I've ever known and one of the dearest friends I've ever loved. 

Wild flower of the year

My definition of a wild flower any flowering plant that some person hasn't genetically altered.  I'm sure there is a real definition somewhere but this one fits my backyard. 

The wildflower standout in my gardens this year is the Carolina wild petunia.  It isn't actually a petunia but its flowers look like small petunias so somewhere in time, the name stuck. 

Carolina wild petunias are extremely hardy--you will see them growing in ditches or woodland margins.  They thrive with or without rain, are happy in almost any kind of soil and require no special nutrients.   They are officially a perennial but reseed politely in the garden.  They bloom all summer with bright, one-inch purple flowers that do look like petunias, but without all the work of dead heading and watering that true petunias require. 

According to the National Wild Flower Database, seeds and plants are available for purchase but I have never seen them in a garden center or in a catalog.   I rescued my first wild petunias out of a ditch and transplanted them into my shade garden.  They have spread themselves about and are a welcome addition anywhere in my gardens. 

I nominate the Carolina wild petunia for the 2015 Wildflower of the Year!