Page Four

Crape Myrtles are excellent specimen trees, as well as natural privacy barriers. Many customers choose to line their driveways with this stunning tree.

Others use them as attractive focal points at the corners of their foundation plantings. Also an exceptional choice to plant in groupings at the corners of your property.

The crape myrtle is valued mainly for its long period of striking summer flowers. Large clusters of red flowers appear on the tips of new branches beginning in early summer and continue into fall.

The deciduous crape myrtle is among the longest blooming trees in existence with flowering periods lasting from 60-120 days. Crapes come in heights as short as 18 in (46 cm) and as tall as 40 ft (12 m). Leaves are alternate and smooth, but leaf size depends on variety. Flowers are borne in summer in big showy clusters and come in white and many shades of pink, purple, lavender and red. The fruits that follow are brown or black. When mature they dry and split releasing disk shaped seeds. Depending on variety, crapes grow as large shrubs or as trees that may be either upright or spreading. Large varieties are very fast growing and can put on several feet in a single growing season. Many types have interesting bark that exfoliates in thin flakes exposing lovely cinnamon or gray inner bark. Crapes tend to produce many suckers that should be removed as they appear if you want to maintain them as trees with distinct trunks. They are enthusiastic reseeders so you may find yourself pulling up baby crapes throughout the summer.

A perennial herb from Europe.

Has pinnate, toothed, mid-dark green, scented (not particularly pleasent) leaflets. Bears small flat heads tightly packed with tiny yellow flowers which have no ray petals.

Flowers July-October.

Likes a well drained soil in full sun, will self seed everywhere when happy.

Do not use Tansy when pregnant. Tansy is a herb to be used in moderation only as it can be toxic in large doses. It may also irritate sensetive skins.

The leaves were once used to preserve corpses from corruption. It was used as a strewing herb in public areas as a form of disinfectant and insect repellent. It deters flies and a bunch of flowers and leaves hung up in a room will keep them away (will keep most things away including any visitors with a sense of smell if too much is used). Fleas also dislike Tansy smell and can be rubbed on a dogs coat to repel them.

It has a culinary use, bearing in mind not to use much of it, in salads, eggs, some cakes and puddings. It was also used as a digestive aid in very low amounts.

Tansy's medicinal uses, in times past, was to rid stomach worms from children, treat jaundice, hysteria (it has stimulant properties), nervous conditions, as a rub on varicose veins, muscle sprains and rheumatic joints. It was also used to treat epilepsy but it can cause a fit as well as alleviate them.

The leaves are full of potassium and a valuable addition to the compost heap, this is good because if you grow Tansy you are going to have a lot of it.

Foxglove is a bienneial plant with soft, hairy, toothed, ovate and lance-shaped leaves in a basal rosette. The life span of the plant is 2 seasons. The first year growth remains in a basal rosette of leaves. Second year growth produces flowering stems, 3 -6 feet in height. Flower spikes have purple to white spotted thimble-like flowers which hang down and last about six days. The earliest known name for this plant is the Anglo-Saxon "foxes glofa" (the glove of the fox). It derives its name from the flowers which resemble the fingers of a glove and possibly from a northern legend that bad fairies gave the blossoms to the fox to put on his toes, so that he might soften his tread while he hunted for prey. First year growth has been mistaken for Comfrey (Symphitum officinale) with fatal results. Although, ingestion of this plant can be fatal at any time during the life of the plant, it is most toxic just before the seeds ripen. The upper leaves of the stem are also more toxic than the lower leaves.