It's been an exciting time since the launch of midsouthgardens.com in mid-July.

The site has been visited by more than 750 individuals, most of whom have come back two to three times.

Many people have bookmarked the site or added it to their "favorites" list.

Although the content is aimed at Mid-Southerners, the site has also been visited by people in South Korea, Great Britian, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Nigeria, Sweden and Germany.

To make midsouthgardens.com as relevant to area gardeners as I possibly can, I need feedback on the topics you would like me to explore.

The more interactive the site becomes, the more useful it will be to everyone. If you can answer a question from a gardener in the Forum, I hope you will take the time to share your experience and expertise.

Some people have told me they are a little confused on how to navigate through the blog in the center of the page. There are two scroll bars. The one closest to this article will take you through the blog. The one on the extreme right hand side moves this entire page.

Only three or four articles are active on the blog at any time. The rest are automatically moved to the Archives, which is accessible on the left margin.

Please send your comments to chris@midsouthgardens.com or click on the "Comment" button.
And thanks for visiting the site. Come back often!

I have mushrooms sprouting in my Bermuda lawn as well as in my flowerbeds (particularly under bushes near the trunk). What causes this and how can I get rid of? Thanks!

Lou Ann

In reading "Last Child in the Woods," a thought provoklng book by Richard Louv, many quotes and passages on the importance of nature in our lives rang true with me.

But one was especially on target and should be for everyone grew up in Memphis.

Poet T. S. Eliot , who grew up beside the Mississippi River in St. Louis, said: "I feel there is something in having passed a childhood beside a big river which is incommunicable to those who have not."

I, too, grew up in St. Louis just one block from Bellerive Park, which is situated high on a limestone bluff overlooking the Mississippi River.

As a child from about age 5 to 11, I spent most of my summer days there participating in organized sports and arts and crafts programs.

Whether I was playing checkers, making a potholder or playing volleyball, the river was always there.

It sent cooling breezes up the bluff and provided endless fascination in the barges and other boats making their way up or down the river.

Everyday we saw the giant excursion boat, the S.S. Admiral, on its southward journey and again after it turned north to go back to its downtown docking point. We waved to the people on its top deck and they waved back. We could hear the calliopy, too.

Motor boats zipped up and down in front of us as well, sometimes pulling a water skier or two.

The view across the river was of pastoral country and agricultural land in Illinois and, thankfully, that has not changed.

In dry years the sandbars on the Illinois side would be huge. Boaters would pull up and sunbath on them. Other times, the river was so high the sandbars were invisible.

When I was too old for the kids program at the park but too young to drive, I would often walk up there with a book a hand and sit on a bench and read. As I looked up from time to time, the familiar view would fill me with a sense of peace and calm.

(click on "more" to see photo of the river from Bellerive Park)

Do you know a local nursery where I can get the giant red mustard that was in Dr. Dirt's article this summer in the BHG Perennials? Would I have to order seeds, or will a nursery have seedlings?

Melissa Bridgman

To further follow up, I found pots of giant red mustard with 2 plants in each at the Home Depot in Collierville when I was there with my mother. They were about $1 each. -- Melissa

I am wondering if any of my fellow gardeners can recommend any landscape design software?
A. Davis

R-A-I-N, that's how.

In Germantown, the rain started as we were eating dinner Thursday night. It's been dry so long I almost couldn't believe I was hearing the sound of water hitting the roof and windows.

Would it be just a tease, I wondered, enough to make it even more humid but not enough to do our parched plants much good at all?

When I awakened very early this morning, I could still hear the sound of a gentle, soaking showers. I could imagine the shrubs, trees, lawn and flowers saying, ah-h-h--h-h.

Let's hope this rain is a sign that the drought and extreme heat have broken. Summer conditions will continue well into September, but we all pray the 100 plus temperatures are behind us.

Gardeners feel renewed vigor and optimism when the earth is moist. So if it's time to either add to your iris collection or start a new one, be sure to attend the rhizome sale from 9 a.m. to 4 pm. Saturday (Aug. 12) put on by the West Tennessee Iris Society. It will be held at the Pickering Center, 7771 Poplar Pike in Germantown.

And while August isn't a good time to plant most perennials, it's ideal for irises. Members of the society will be glad to fill you in on the best way to plant. Or visit this web site http://www.irises.org/growing.htm

Gail Banks, president of the Memphis Herb Society, has a country garden and Victorian home in a once rural section of DeSoto County.

Her herb garden is surrounded by a iron fence and filled with all kinds of culinary herbs and an arbor covered with Carolina jessamine.

An old iron bedstead frames a collection of perennials and annuals. On a "night stand" next to it, Gail has attached a teapot, tea cup and saucer, just one of the clues to her love of tea and giving tea parties.

You can read more about her favorite way to entertain in a story I wrote for the Wednesday Aug. 9th edition of the Commercial Appeal's Food section.

Gail also grows lots of old-fashioned roses and she uses the petals to flavor cakes, jellies, jams, tea sandwiches and beverages.

Visiting Gail at her home is a delight for the senses. You will see her inviting front porch and lovingly executed decor; you can smell her roses and, no doubt, the aroma of something she has baked just for you; you will hear her soothing southern accent and feel the warmth and hospitality she exudes.

Here are a few of the photos I took while interviewing Gail for the Commercial Appeal.

You can read the story at http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/lifestyle

I've been in Memphis for 22 years now and I've never found a good source of full flowered cannas. I've bought different plants from different nurseries and grown them well, but I've always admired the flowers on other's plants, in strangers' yards or even commercial plantings. We've recently moved and I wanted to try again to get some plants. I haven't noticed as many plants in yards as I remembered years ago. Do you have any names of growers in town that I might communicate with about trading or purchasing plants. I'm looking for full flowering forms and either dwarf or small to medium ht. One location could use a max of 5'. Thank you for any help.

Alan Jaslow

Can anyone answer a question for me? Every year I have lovely fall anemones. I spray neem and sometimes dysyston to prevent the inevitable. Just when I think it wont happen this year...BAMM! Beatles eat them up. Ugly grey beatles. What can I do? Over 10 years of this now. Oy. Help! Diane

My crape myrtle (planted last year) has not set any buds yet. The big pink ones outside my office are not blooming well either. Would love some feedback on why.
Kitty J.