Kathy...Gardening on the Radio

I'm sitting here writing a post about a favorite gardening show...Here is the flower that I feature in this post. Nepeta...a favorite blue in the garden. This is how Nepeta looks when grown in full sun. It grows very fast. I haven't found it to be invasive. I wish that I had better pictures to show of my Nepeta. I was mainly trying to get a picture of the statue and you can see Nepeta just a bit in front of it.

This was the first year for the Nepeta. I will show better pictures with my new camera this year.I just wanted to give you an idea of how it looks in a shadier setting.

A few years ago, I got interested in a gardening show on WGN in Chicago. It was on the air on Saturday nights with Kathy, of the Kathy and Judy Show. It was the kind of show that you could call in and ask questions.I sat there, glued to the radio with a notebook in my hand to take notes. I believe that there was a big audience for that time of the weekend. She would tell her audience about the gardens she had visited, garden centers around the Chicagoland area, new products on the market, new plants for that particular year.Kathy was an avid gardener who got so excited about plants. She could make plants sound so delicious that I would find myself seeking out new garden centers all through the growing season. It was a show that I didn't want to miss and when we had plans for Saturday night...I almost wanted to just stay home with Kathy and the radio. Sadly this program is no longer on the air, along with the many gardening programs on TV. HG TV was another favorite...but not any longer...the garden shows are gone.

I was thinking about Kathy the other day, when I was cutting the dead debris from my Nepeta. She loved Nepeta. She told us when hers was blooming. I can't describe the plant the way she did.....all I know is she sent me out looking for this beauty. I have two plants here in my garden today. I noticed that a certain black cat takes a stroll across my wood border almost everyday. The kitty always stops at the Nepeta. She sniffs it and rubs against it...I can almost hear her purring. The variety that I have is Walkers Low ..... closely related to catnip. It is called catmint, however. I think that catnip has white flowers. This plant has a beautiful blue-lavender color. When I see it from the house...it is a very hazy blue color right beneath my Statue of St. Fiacre. The Saint was placed in the middle of the two plants, when I planted it. Last year, I could hardly see the statue, so I moved it to the side. The fragrance is mostly from the leaves. A nice fresh scent. It likes full sun, but does well at the edge of my woods. It established itself with very little watering. This plant would be wonderful with lilies. Oh, I wish I could describe it like Kathy. Why do they do that to all of us gardeners? Tease us with a year or so of good garden programs and then take them off the air?

Balisha