Where I Ask the Internet to Help My Sister

This is a brief message from one of my sisters. This is butterfly gardening sister(BGS) and she has a fennel problem.

BGS asks "Hey, I have a question for you and all your gardening buddies. My bronze fennel is croaking. Why? It's wilting and dying within a day, one after another. They aren't trying to go to seed or anything. In the past they have been fine with being wet or dry and never wilted. Is there something in my soil?"

Aunt Debbi here, I know that regular fennel sets seed and dies back in hot weather. I've not grown bronze fennel, but thought it was a perennial in zone 8a. Any ideas what could be going on?

Hey, I think I can just nickname my sister BUGS. Now that's fun. Bet she thinks twice about visiting this blog again, teeheee.

The hardy hibiscus have begun to bloom. This first picture is of Texas Star. Earlier this year, I discovered that these plants can grow in wet or dry conditions. In my yard they only get rain water. At the Outdoor Education Center in Kaufman, they are planted in the bog and are wet all of the time. Both sets of plants are doing just fine, but mine bloomed earlier. In defense of the Education Center plants, they were just planted last fall.


This is Moy Grande. I wish there was a kid handy to show you the size of that flower. When they say as big as a dinner plate, they are not kidding.

Finally, these are my volunteer zinnias. They come up on their own every year. I do save seeds from the yellow blooms because they don't seem to reseed as well as the others. The rest just get tossed in the compost pile and come up where ever they want.

Another Great Cook Joins In

Silence Dogood over at Poor Richards Almanac responded to my little interview, answering my questions and giving us a lovely summer recipe. Go on over and check it out.

There is still time to join in. Here are the questions one last time.

At what age did you begin cooking?
Who taught you?
What type of food is your favorite?
Where to you get your best ingredients?
Do you know any cooking tricks?
Will you share a recipe?

Now I have to figure out what I want to ask Our Friend Ben. Do you think we should finally get to the bottom of his sock aversion?