Some of Roxana’s GORGEOUS crop.
Plant of the Week:
The Tomato
The Love Apple, the ‘plump thing with a navel’ (which is translation of the Aztec moniker for it), the Wolf Peach (which is the translation of the Latin botanical name Lycopersicon), the pomodoro…
the TOMATO!
Even though it has the presumptuous and annoying habit of demanding an extra ‘e’ when it goes to the plural form, we still love it.
Roxana has recently fallen in love with cherry tomatoes— what is more fun to pop in your mouth than a warm one?
It’s easy to grow, but there are so many things that can go wrong. The Missouri Botanical garden lists a cool dozen of maladies.
So depressing!
Viruses, blights, cracks, mites, blossom end rot, and of course that wonderful situation of the tomato hornworm caterpillar, which can either defoliate your leaves or become victim to mother nature’s revenge: parasitic wasp larvae.
The first situation is bad.
The second is revolting but somewhat satisfying in a less than wholesome way.
But as I said on the pod, tomatoes, along with basil for capreses and cilantro for salsa, are the one ‘vegetable’ that I grow every year, despite the fact that I am far from a veg gardener.
And this is one of the things I love about them the most.
Photo by Bryony Elena on Unsplash
No problems here! Another beautiful shot of the beautiful Love Apple in Roxana’s garden. Very inspiring. Notice how you do not see photos of any of my meager crop.
Painting and Plant Pairing
from
Karen Blair
You heard me mention my friend Karen Blair on the pod this week. Karen is a Charlottesville based painter whose work I know you would love. She is known for her joyous use of color and for exuberant mark-making, and her own garden and those of friends inspire the flowers and trees also prevalent in the paintings and collages.
My blueberries that the birds have not found. Yet.
I am so excited to start this partnership with Karen, and each week I will feature here one of her paintings with a corresponding garden photo! Follow this link to see more of her paintings.
Roxana Snediker in her Indiana garden.
Roxana of
Soil and Margaritas
I often ask my guests what inspires them to share what they do via books, Instagram, YouTube, blogs or podcasts. There are a lot of ways to share what you do in the garden.
Roxana provided the MOST charming and unexpected answer ever:
She would give anything to be able to ‘see’ her grandparents in the garden, and a big reason that she produces her content is to give a gift to her future grandchildren.
Pretty sure these are the Limelight Hydrangeas Roxana mentioned that will get to 10’ or more. What a beautiful row and love the heucheras holding them up.
Splash of blue in this pretty vignette.
Roxana and I had such a fun discussion that went off the rails almost immediately with a deep dive into tomatoes, but then rambled its way organically through her background, her garden, her inspiration, her favorite tool (NOT what you would expect) and ended up with her sage advice about how your garden should make only one person happy, and that is you.
Links:
How happy is this scene?
Roxana talks about the joy that gardening brings her. It’s easy to see why it does!
Coffee Time!
Please consider supporting Into the Garden with Leslie my buying me a cup of coffee.
OR! Becoming a member of I’m into the Garden too!
I will send you some LH Gardens gear if you become a member!
Next Week
Brad in his Ohio Garden— right after creating a new bed!
Brad of Garden Evolution!