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Greetings!
What a change from last summer! It's so nice to have periodic rain, just like we used to. Even if it doesn't rain exactly on my garden, I take great comfort that it's raining somewhere in the vicinity. I haven't forgotten last year's unending series of hot, windy days.
 | | Delicious |
By now, much of the spring frenzy is over and it's time to enjoy the garden a bit. The kids are enjoying the long hours of evening daylight, and the mockingbirds are raising a ruckus almost every night.
It's a good time to put the finishing touches on that special container arrangement, or maybe add something unique to your flower garden. Here are some of the plants that are new at Papershell this week. Click the name of the plant for more information about each.
Don't forget -- each Wednesday we offer painting classes for children ages 4-10 years with Cecilia and Guillermo. Get in out of the heat for a while, have a snack and let the kids learn to paint a weekly masterpiece!
 | | Baby Giraffe on 6/27! |
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Join us for a spot of tea!
No, not sun tea -- manure tea! We're excited to carry Authentic Haven Brand manure & alfalfa teas, packaged in an environmentally friendly tea bag. These soil conditioner teas can be used on vegetables, herbs, flowers, lawns and even compost piles! Haven manure tea products are 100% organic and collected from range land that is never treated with herbicide or pesticides. Before packaging, the manures are composted for at least one year and are completely safe to use in your own garden.
 | | Refresh your garden! |
To brew tea, simply put a tea bag in a 1-5 gallon container, add fresh water, cover and let steep for 1-3 days. Then use in a watering can or sprayer to build a strong root system, start seedlings, apply as a drench or foliar spray or liven up the compost.
 | | 3 varieties, 2 sizes |
We're stocking horse tea, cow tea and alfalfa tea (no manure there!) in convenient singles and economical 3-packs. Give it a try -- your plants will appreciate the boost! You can read more about Annie Haven and her manure tea products at her website, here.
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"Why Don't You Sell Ladybugs?"
It comes up from time to time. A customer will ask if we stock live lady bugs to release into the home garden. I'd like to take a moment to explain why we don't sell them, nor recommend them for pest control.
 | | Convergent Lady Beetle |
The lady bug most commonly advertised for aphid control is the Convergent Lady Beetle, or Hippodamia convergens. Although lady beetles are natural aphid predators, the kind you buy in the store or order from a catalog typically fly away soon after being released. Convergent lady beetles are gathered in huge numbers from their California and Oregon overwintering sites and their natural behavior when winter is over is to fly away to seek food. They leave your garden too, when they warm up from their time in the refrigerated bag.
 | | Asian Lady Beetle |
Lady beetles only provide long-term aphid control if they reproduce in your garden, because the larva are voracious eaters who don't fly away. The adults in the red net bag cannot reproduce until they feed, and since their instinct is to fly away to feed, they usually reproduce in someone else's garden. Even worse is what happens when lady beetles are released into a garden that's been chemically treated: these unfortunate insects awake to a poisonous state of affairs!
I also find it troubling that these insects are harvested in such vast numbers from their native overwintering sites, refrigerated and then transported via jet plane to stores across the country. That doesn't seem like a green solution for pest control to me! There are plenty of people out there who swear by lady beetles though. So many that many of the beetles currently being sold as Hippodamia convergens are actually Asian or Harlequin Lady Beetles, or Harmonia axyridis. These imported insects may become a nuisance as they overwinter in houses and buildings.
 | | Chinese Mantid |
By the way, those egg cases from praying mantids don't work either. Mantids are highly indiscriminate in their appetites -- they eat pests, beneficial insects and even other mantids! Most of the larva that hatch from the egg case do not survive due to starvation, cannibalism and predation. Because they are also very territorial, only one mantid usually ends up in the vicinity of the egg case anyway. The egg cases you see in the store or in catalogs are usually Chinese mantids or Tenodera sinensis and not native in any case.
Want to control pests in your garden? First, refrain from using insecticides. Try to conserve your native population of beneficial insects. You can find out how to do that by attending Diana Liga's class this Sunday, Creating the Garden Insectary. See details at right.
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Tastier Tea from Hibiscus!
Back to the tea! Periodically this spring, we've served the beautiful red tea made from the calyxes of the flowers of Hibiscus sabdariffa. This annual hibiscus is very easy to grow and produces abundant flowers and seeds. The flowers begin to form in October when the days begin to grow shorter. In fact, you should be prepared to protect your plant from frost if you haven't harvested your flowers yet.
 | | The young plant |
Planted in full sun, the Hibiscus sabdariffa or Flor de Jamaica gets about 4-7' tall and about as wide. The beautiful flowers are yellow and enclosed in a little cup-shaped base called the calyx. This is what you harvest to make teas, jellies, preserves, sauces and even beer!
 | | The calyx |
Save a few of the seeds and replant in late February for another new crop of this beautiful and useful shrub.
We have plants available in 1-gallon containers and a few left in 4" pots!
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Please stop by and visit! Have a glass of world-famous lemonade (or a beer!) -- we'd love to meet you!
Sincerely,
Elizabeth Barrow
Papershell: A Garden Gallery
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Acrylic Painting For Kids Wednesdays this summer 2:00-3:00pm Artist Cecilia Campos Merino leads this weekly workshop for kids ages 4-10 years. Each week, student artists will complete a new 16x20 acrylic painting on canvas. This workshop is $35 per week and refreshments are provided. Call (281) 232-4485 or email us to sign up.
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Art Lessons for Adults Thursdays this summer 1:30-4:00pm Artist Suzanne Stevens offers art instruction for adults, including oil painting, acrylic painting and drawing. Classes are appropriate for all skill levels. Download the Supply List here. Lessons are $150 per month (4 lessons). Call (281) 232-4485 or email us to sign up.
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Build Your Own Rainbarrel Sunday, July 8 2:00-3:30pm Harvest that rainwater yourself! We'll show you how to build your own rainbarrel for a fraction of the cost of those catalog models. Once you've seen how it works, you may choose to buy a kit containing almost everything you need to build your own. The class is $10 and the optional hardware kit is $10. Participants receive a coupon good for 15% off that day's purchases. Class size is limited and reservations are suggested. Call (281) 232-4485 or email us to sign up.
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