Gilmour Spray Nozzle and Flexogen® Hose Review and Giveaway

When the 4^th of July happens around here, it seems like summer is half over. Of course, this isn’t true, except for the school kids and that was a long, long time ago for us. There’s a lot of summer left in the garden too, and one thing that we’re sure to be doing in the hottest and driest part of summer for us here in NW Ohio, is some watering.

Recently, the Fiskars people contacted me about trying some of their products. I’ve always been a fan of Fiskars and somehow missed the fact that they acquired Gilmour, maker of garden watering products, back in 2014.

Among the things they sent me to try were these Gilmour products: 

Of all the things I received to try, the Super Duty Thumb Control Watering Nozzle was my favorite. In their description, they talk about a nozzle having “the right heft” to it, and I have to wholeheartedly agree. This just feels right in your hand. And it’s really easy to control with that thumb lever.

The nozzle head itself has eight spray patterns: Flower, Sweep, Garden, Shrub, Clean, Soft Wash, Rinse, and Jet.

It has stainless steel connectors so it doesn’t corrode and get hard to disconnect from your hose. They also sent me some Quick Connect components though, so I don’t even have to unscrew the nozzle to remove it. I just pop it off.

The Quick Connect set makes it easy to take the nozzle off and on from the hose.

Oh, and it comes with a lifetime warranty, too. I. Love. This. Nozzle.

They also sent me a Flexogen® Super Duty Hose. If there’s one thing that I hear gardeners complain about, it’s hoses. First of all, they don’t like heavy ones and secondly, they hate how they kink. I’ve complained about these very things myself.

The Flexogen® IS lightweight AND it honest-to-goodness DOES NOT KINK. I can't believe it, but it's true. Now this is saying something, because we have really low water pressure. I've had hoses that are supposed to resist kinking under pressure, but when you've got low water pressure, it's hard to make a product that simply won't kink. But Gilmour has done it.

The other thing is, this Flexogen® hose really is pretty lightweight. As someone who suffers from degenerative disc disease in my neck (as so many my age do), I appreciate how much lighter in weight this hose is than some. There's nothing I hate worse about water hoses than dragging one around that behaves like it was a 50-lb. boa constrictor.

Flexogen® hoses have eight layers and have been tested and proven to be the strongest and longest-lasting hose in its class. It's made with heavy-duty brass couplings to hold up well under use.

Also, the polished exterior resists dirt collection, unlike some other hoses I’ve tried. Of course, it’s gray, so it wouldn’t show much dirt anyway, but still. It's my new favorite hose!

It's a GIVEAWAY!

Now, the folks at Fiskars and Gilmour have been so kind to offer both the Super Duty Thumb Control Watering Nozzle AND a Flexogen® hose to one of my readers. If enough people enter, they’ve said they might give away two sets! So enter now and tell all your friends and neighbors. The more people that enter, the greater chance there will be two sets to give away! (And no, I do not know what the tipping point will be. LOL)

This giveaway will end with a random drawing on Saturday evening, July 9^th, at midnight EDT. All you need to do to enter is to fill out the Rafflecopter form. That’s it. But if you want bonus entries, check out the extra options when you fill out the Rafflecopter form. There are lots of ways to get a bonus entry!

a Rafflecopter giveaway    

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*I received these products from Fiskars/Gilmour for the purposes of reviewing them and hosting a giveaway. As always, I won't say anything about a product that isn't the truth from my own personal experience with it. I have received no other form of compensation for writing about these products.   

February Lilies, Wine & Chocolate

I just wrote about how much I enjoyed that big bunch of tulips back in January, and then along came FedEx two Saturdays ago with another familiar brown box from Stargazer Barn! I could hardly wait to get this one open to see what was inside.

Lilies this time, and though they were still in bud, I had grown this particular lily in my own garden once upon a time and knew how beautiful they would be. I remember when I bought my bulbs in 2005, 'Starfighter' was advertised to be an improved version of the famous 'Stargazer', undoubtedly the most beloved of all Oriental lilies.

The Carolina sphinx moths (Manduca sexta - the ones whose larvae are hell-
bent on destroying your prize tomatoes) loved my 'Starfighter' lilies as much
as I did. They visited the lilies at dusk when they were in bloom. (2006)

One of the improvements of 'Starfighter' over 'Stargazer' was said to be extended vase life. Now that it's been nearly two weeks since the lilies arrived from Stargazer Barn, I can tell you that the vase life is pretty astounding for a cut flower, especially for one that traveled some 2,500 miles or so to get to my house.

Stargazer Barn ships overnight so your flowers arrive as fresh as possible.

The original 'Stargazer' lily was bred back in 1974 on the very ground where Stargazer Barn is now located. That was a pretty memorable year for me too, as I was 16 for most of it and graduated from high school that spring. (Yep, that's me, grinning and clutching my diploma as we left the gymnasium on graduation day.)

I cut about an inch off the end of the stems of the 'Starfighter' lilies and put them in water in the provided galvanized French-style vase, along with the flower food powder that came with it.

There was also some Bear grass included, if I wanted to jazz up the bouquet a little bit. An informational card showed a couple different ways to use it and I chose to loop mine all fancy-like.

The lilies came wrapped in floral paper and were tied with this red
burlap "ribbon." I know it was included because it matched the lilies, but
it was also pretty much perfect for my kitchen color scheme too. Bonus!

As I said, the flowers were in bud when they arrived, but it didn't take them long before they began to open. As each opened, their intoxicating fragrance got more intense and it reminded me of how wonderful it always is to be walking through the garden in summer and catch a whiff of my own lilies.

Photo from Dick Taylor

These 'Starfighter' lilies are part of the Stargazer White Collection, which includes not only a dozen stems of the lilies, but a bar of that yummy Dick Taylor craft chocolate. This time it was Madagascar, which was dark chocolate with a hint of molasses, orange and raisin. (How do they do that?) This particular variety has won several awards, including being a  2015 International Chocolate World Final Bronze winner.

But that wasn't all! Also included was a bottle of Stargazer Barn's own 2014 Chardonnay. It's also won its own awards, including most recently, a Silver Medal in the 2016 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition.

I admit to not knowing a whole lot about wine, other than I know what I like and what I don't. I don't like a dry wine at all. I prefer white and those that are on the fruity, sweet side, but not too sweet. This one was good, and I say "was," because it didn't take too many evenings before it was gone.

This was really a special gift package and with Valentine's Day right around the corner, if you act quickly, you could send this anywhere in the lower 48 in time for it to arrive on Saturday. They don't charge extra for Saturday delivery and like I said, standard delivery is overnight. (No Sunday or Monday deliveries.)

 
Here's a code for Free Delivery: yummy. I'm not sure when that code expires, but I know it's good for this Saturday's delivery if you get your order in quickly. Not only that, the Stargazer White Collection is on sale right now for $79.99.

I counted the number of flower buds in this bouquet and there are 30 all together. They have continually opened up over the course of the last 12 days and only just today, I snipped off two of the earliest to open. There are still a few that are just now opening, which makes for an amazingly long-lasting fresh cut bouquet of American Grown flowers.

The entire first floor of our house smells like summer and the huge blooms are just so gorgeous that I stop to look at them every time I walk by. Thank you, Stargazer Barn, for this beautiful gift.

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I received the Stargazer White Collection from Stargazer Barn free of charge. No other compensation was given and I'm happy to share these beautiful flowers with you. Perhaps they will be something you might want to send to someone else or enjoy in your own home.

A Gift of Tulips in Winter

It was the coldest day of the year so far (23°F, with a low of 1° overnight) in mid-January, when our doorbell rang. Our house faces west and it was windy, so you can imagine the blast of cold air that greeted me as I opened the door to receive a box from the FedEx delivery man.

I knew when I saw the box that what was inside it was going to be like a breath of spring - just what I needed.

TULIPS!

These flowers were packed very well, with a zip-tie around the flowers
and through the box so they wouldn't move around during shipment.

I'd met the folks from Stargazer Barn when I was at P. Allen Smith's Moss Mountain Farm in Arkansas last May during the 5th Annual Garden2Blog event. They provided oodles of gorgeous fresh blooms for our Field to Vase Dinner we had at the farm on our last night there. It was a magical evening...

One of the best things about the event was getting to wear flower crowns.
Here, I'm with my co-writer and best bud, Jenny Peterson.

Stargazer Barns is a California-based grower of fresh-cut flowers, which ships throughout the U.S. Most of our cut flowers in this country come from South America, but in recent years, American growers are taking back as much of the industry as they can by raising awareness that we can and do grow gorgeous flowers right here in our own country.

The Slow Flower movement has Debra Prinzing to thank for getting the ball rolling, with her publication of both The 50 Mile Bouquet and Slow Flowers (2012 & 2013, St. Lynn's Press). I encourage you to read Debra's explanation of what "slow flowers" means.

Now that you have an idea of the goal and purpose of buying American Grown flowers, just take a look at the flowers I got - 24 'Ile de France' long-stemmed tulips - complete with a galvanized French-style vase, three Tulip Perfume fragrances, along with a bar of Dick Taylor craft chocolate!

This is how the tulips looked when they arrived. In just a couple of days
they opened up, and lasted more than a week.

These are what you get when you order the Sensory Seduction Collection. The flowers are beautiful enough, but with the other items it makes for a really special gift.

Stargazer Barn grows their own flowers in Humboldt County, California, and the other two gifts in the collection are also Humboldt County businesses. I love how they've collaborated to create an All-American gift package.

 

The chocolate bar is almost too pretty to eat! Almost...

'Lemon Sugar', 'Mandarin Peony', and 'Coconut' spray bottled scents
come packaged in their own ribbon-tied box.

Stargazer Barn is certified by Veriflora™, a third-party organization which uses a strict set of standards to govern sustainable growing conditions, protection of local ecosystems, energy efficiency, waste management as well as worker wages and conditions.

There are many other options for sending a gift of flowers (and more), and through March 1, 2016, you can use the promotion code flowerhouse to receive 15% off your order (excluding tax and shipping).

I'll be back in a few days to share more luscious flowers and gifts from Stargazer Barn, but for now, enjoy the spring cheer of these tulips!

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I received the Sensory Seduction Collection from Stargazer Barns free of charge. No other compensation was given and I'm happy to share these beautiful flowers with you. Perhaps they will be something you might want to send to someone else or enjoy in your own home.

Life's Too Short Not to Chia

Ch-ch-ch-chia!

Sing it with me now! When you hear that song, which Chia Pet® pops into your head?  Though it seems as if these quirky items have been in existence forever, it's really only been since 1982 that they were widely marketed. That's an entire lifetime for my younger daughter, so I suppose to her, they HAVE been around forever.

Even so, it took me 33 years before I owned one. Yep, I succumbed to the holiday hype. You've got to admit the commercials are catchy. Tacky too, but that kind of part of their appeal...

Watch Chia Pet commercial on YouTube

The terracotta figures have run the gamut of incarnations:  Ram, Bull, Puppy, Kitten, Teddy Bear, Tree, Bunny, Turtle, Herb Garden, Pig, Frog, Hippo, Guy, Elephant, Kid, Professor, Clown, Cow, Lion Cub, Dinosaur, Elmer Fudd, Taz, Tweety, Mr. T, Shaggy, Scooby-Doo, Homer Simpson, Bart Simpson, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Shrek, Donkey, Garfield, Cat Grass, Sylvester, Marty, Po, Presidents Obama, Washington, and Lincoln, Sponge Bob, Liberty, Hello Kitty, Santa, Snowman, Romney, Gingrich, Paul, Gnome, Coco Crisp, Willie, Uncle Si, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Mickey Mouse, Flower Garden (Winnie-the-Pooh with paperwhites), Chef's Garden, Zombies and Minnie Mouse.

Whew.

So which one did I get? Hello Kitty, of course.

I have followed the instructions, first soaking the terracotta Hello Kitty planter for an hour. (I actually soaked it overnight.)

Then I soaked two teaspoons of the included chia seeds in ¼ cup of water - again overnight, though the directions say just an hour. This helps soften the seed coat, enabling germination.

The mixture became a gel-like paste, which made it easier to spread and adhere to the terracotta planter. The mucilaginous paste is inherent and is the seed's way of making sure that it will have enough moisture until it germinates. Once the seed germinates, it will need to get its moisture elsewhere - in this case, by watering daily.

There's a little hole at the top of the planter, which you need to pour water into each day, to make sure the terracotta stays hydrated. This is how the chia will get the moisture it needs for growth.

I put it in a location that gets bright light - in our house, a south window because it's winter and the quality of light here in the north isn't the best in other locations of our house.


In about five days, give or take, I'll see sprouts beginning, and in about two weeks, they should be grown enough that I can clip them and add them to my salads.

Now lest you think this is all nonsense, chia sprouts are GOOD FOR YOU. You can eat them. Chia (Salvia hispanica) is used as a nutritional supplement in its seed form, added to smoothies, either ground or whole. They're rich with omega-3 fatty acids and high in the B vitamins, niacin and thiamine. The sprouts make salads healthier and more interesting.

Don't you want to chia too? Of course you do. Because you're secure in your own gardening skin and you don't take yourself or life too seriously. You want to cross that Chia Pet® off your bucket list. So just do it.

Better hurry though, because Chia Pets are only available in stores during the holidays. If you're lucky, you might get a great deal on one right about now. And while you're at it, you should just pick up a few of them and gift them to the people high on your list. Or low on your list. You decide.

Ch-ch-ch-chia! Because life's too short not to chia.

A Taste For the Exotic: A Holiday Giveaway with Longfield Gardens

From my earliest days as an honest-to-goodness gardener, I've been fascinated with unusual bulbs. Tulips and daffodils are nice, of course, but those quirky ones that you can't find just anywhere always grab my attention.

I've grown quite a few tropical bulbs over the years, in summer and winter, depending on availability, including Scilla peruviana. It's an unusual one, but not so much as its cousin, Scilla madeirensis, commonly known as Giant Madeiran Squill, which until now has not been available to the general public. If you wanted to see it, you either had to view it at a botanical garden or in its native environment.

Found on the Portuguese islands of Madeira, off the coast of northern Africa in the Atlantic, this beautiful and rare species of hyacinth is only hardy to Zones 9-10. It is easily grown in containers as a houseplant and is now being propagated commercially in Israel. Longfield Gardens sent one to me in a kit a couple of weeks ago so I could grow it for myself.
 

Everything I needed was contained in the kit: a birch bark container,
potting medium, a nice-sized bulb that was already showing signs
of growth, and some decorative Spanish moss to top it off.

I've grown bulbs from Longfield Gardens before
and they've always been some of the biggest
and healthiest bulbs I've ever seen.

All I needed to do was pot it up and water it, which didn't take me more than a couple of minutes. (Instructions for planting are found on the website.)

The bulb itself is somewhat pretty, foretelling the bloom color. It will first produce strappy foliage, sometimes freckled, and it should begin flowering in about 4-6 weeks - maybe in time for Christmas or New Year's!

Planting and care of Scilla madeirensis is similar to that of amaryllis.

Longfield Gardens' photos show its bloom to be a beautiful shade of lavender blue. Bulbs typically begin to bloom at a relatively young age (around four years), and hopefully I'll see some offsets form as it matures over the next few years.

The flower stalk has a bottlebrush silhouette that will
reach about 15" in height.
(Photo of Scilla madeirensis courtesy of Longfield Gardens)

A GIVEAWAY! 

Would you like to grow one too? Longfield Gardens has graciously allowed me to give a gift kit away to one of my readers. All you need to do to enter to win is to leave a comment to this blog post, telling me the most exotic flower or bulb that you've ever grown. If you've never grown anything you consider to be exotic, then tell me what you've always wanted to try, but haven't just yet.

Be sure to provide a way for me to contact you, should you be the lucky winner. (You can include your email address by spelling out "at" and "dot" to avoid spambots.)

At midnight on Black Friday, November 27th, I'll randomly pick a winner and contact you so that I can get an address for shipping. Longfield Gardens will then send you a gift kit in time for holiday planting. Good luck!

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UPDATE: Congratulations to Louise Hartwig, whose comment was picked by Random.org as the winner of the giveaway. Thank you to all who entered! If you still want to grow this great bulb, you can purchase it here.

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Photo of Scilla madeirensis courtesy of Longfield Gardens

Further reading about Scilla madeirensis: 

http://www.longfield-gardens.com/article/All-About-Scilla-Madeirensis

http://blog.longfield-gardens.com/topic/indoor-bulbs

http://blog.longfield-gardens.com/grow-this-an-exotic-fall-blooming-bulb

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I received a complimentary kit to grow Scilla madeirensis for the purposes of introducing this unusual bulb to my readers. I agreed to do this at the request of Longfield Gardens because I've had good experiences in the past with bulbs I've received from them and I can recommend them because of those experiences. The free kit was the only compensation I received for writing this blog post.

I Went to a Garden Party...

Actually, I was the host for the garden party. I've been wanting to do this for several years now, because I could think of nothing more delightfully summery than to stroll through my gardens with friends, as we sipped on drinks, and chatted about the weather, families, flowers... anything, really. And this summer, we did it.

Photo by Susan Pieper

With the unpredictable weather we'd been having, I knew I was taking a real chance that it would be suitable on July 23rd for spending the day outside, but that's what faith is for, right? And it could not have been lovelier.

Nearly 20 of us gathered in the backyard and by the day's end, looking back I think I can say it was the highlight of my summer, eclipsed only by grandson Maverick's birth two weeks later. ❤

The Tower Garden provided plenty of leafy greens for our salads, and
celery for the Bloody Marys.

This summer was the first time I'd ever used a Tower Garden, and my intent was to serve a meal using the bounty from it and the rest of my garden, with a little help from the grocery store. Meghan Fronduti, my Tower Garden connection, encouraged me to do this and with Meghan in your corner, you think you can do just about anything.

My girl Jenny flew up from Texas for the party and she was such a help to me in pulling this off. I don't "do" parties, but if I can get Jenny to help me again, I just might do another one!

The Menu

We strolled and chatted and shared laughter and stories, and then settled down next to the pool for Curried Tuna Apple Salad on a bed of lettuce from the Tower Garden.

I made bite-sized biscuits containing petals from Calendula grown in my gardens out back. I used my friend Teresa O'Connor's recipe, and while the orange petals didn't really add flavor to the biscuits, they made them look pretty. They do add antioxidants and Calendula is often used as a more affordable substitute for saffron.

Not just a pretty face in the garden!
#edibleflowers

Various drinks were served, including water infused with cucumbers and strawberries (from the garden). There were Bloody Marys, with celery sticks harvested from the Tower Garden. This was a first for me for growing celery and while I had my doubts as to whether it was possible to grow it in the Tower Garden, it did beautifully!

For dessert, we had miniature cheesecakes, topped with blueberries from my Brazelberries® Peach Sorbet™ plants, grown in our Berry Barn.

After we finished eating, we all retired to a shady spot under one of our 200-year-old oak trees for a fun White Elephant type of gift exchange. In this instance, I provided the gifts, mostly from the bounty of swag bag items I've received over the years.

Photo by Meghan Fronduti

One member (not naming any names) liked her gift so well that she hid it and gave the stink eye to anyone who even looked her way with the intent of stealing it. It was all in good fun.

Crescent Garden provided a couple of containers that I fell in love with at
P. Allen Smith's Moss Mountain Farm in April. This one is "Eye Am" and it's
available in several colors.

The table arrangements were simple Ball jars filled with local wildflowers that
Jenny and I cut from the roadside nearby that morning - black-eyed Susans,
Queen Anne's lace, ironweed, and wild lettuce.

There's always a cat or two patrolling Our Little Acre.
Photo by Marsha Ross

The entrance to Max's Garden
Photo by Marsha Ross

Several people wore garden hats, including Marsha Ross and my mom.

Thank you, Meghan, for taking this photo of Jenny and me. We rarely get
our picture taken together, for some reason.

 

The day was warm and the pool was tempting, so Angie Bidlack, Sarah
Messmann and Kara Fritz took advantage of it.

The new kitchen saw its first party as the bar lived up to its name.

It was a beautiful afternoon with so many lovely guests, I'm not sure we could duplicate it, but I'm giving it some thought for next year. Thank you to everyone that attended, because without each and every one of you, this little get-together would not have happened.