2006 was a wild year! Steady cold through winter. Cool and rainy in spring. Blazing hot and dry in July. Cool and rainy in August and September. 60s on Thanksgiving. Single digits to start December followed quickly by 50s. Nuts!
Not a good year for vegetable crops, but a great year for liles, irises, blazing stars, and spider lilies.
Banner year for pests. They were out in droves. Voles, rabbits, and grasshoppers kept me frustrated and fighting January to December.
This was the year that greening entered the conscience of mainstream America. Even Bush is talking about alternative energy and environmental issues.
Check out the list and then give me your comments about this wacky year and the Moss Award Winners.
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Catergory |
Winner |
Attribute |
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Best Potential Green Energy |
Coal |
Surprise! New designs for coal plants sequester carbon underground. New filters and scrubbers remove much of the mercury, sulfur, and other pollutants from the smoke. Plus, coal is plentiful and local. |
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Greenest Business |
Michael Repkin Designs |
Michael installs green roofs. Green buildings, parks, and roofs are going to help revitalize many urban areas. Reach Michael at merbio@aol.com, or www.michaelrepkindesgins.com |
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Best Nature Trip |
Hollywild |
This exotic petting zoo in Inman, SC is fun! You get to see, feed, and smell all sorts of creatures. Don't miss the 100 lb capybaras or the bison. Mind your fingers around the emus. And watch your back around Domino! |
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Best Demonstration Garden |
San Antonio Botanical Gardens |
Environmental landscaping is critical in Texas. They don't have water to waste. SABOT exhibits many designs and plants that homeowners can use. Plus some neat statuary and pools. |
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Best Garden Tool |
CobraHead weeder |
Handy, simple, effective weeder |
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Best Fruit |
Jonagold apples |
I first bought Jonagold from my guy Adolf in September. Juicy, crisp, and sweet. They are similar to Honeycrisp, but ripen a little later and cost about half the price! |
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Best Vegetable |
Butternut squash (actually a fruit with seeds) |
Butternut squash grew well, even on the roofdeck. We discovered that squash harvested at a smaller size had better flavor and was less stringy. |
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Worst Animal Pest |
Voles!!! |
They were ruthless and relentless this year. Lilies, crocus, tulips, toothworts, trilliums, sedges, parsley, tomatoes, sunchokes, and sweet potatoes. I am scarred. |
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Worst Insect Pest |
Grasshoppers |
We nearly had swarm. What started out as cute little nibblers in the roofdeck containers, became chomping monsters that defiled the area. By July there was only one way to handle them: rough. |
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Best Tree |
Bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) |
This is favorite of mine. Seeing centuries old specimens along San Antonio's Riverwalk made the choice easy. |
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Best Shrub |
Lacecap hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla) |
This shrub is at Grandama Sarah's house. James has done a good job of leaving it alone to do its thing. |
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Best Container Planting |
Basket-of-gold barrel (Aurinia, Sedum, Tulipa) |
This barrel of basket-of-gold and sedum is incredible. Structure and presence year round. Beautiful blossoms for weeks in spring and fall. The only thing I do is deadhead twice a year. Low maintenance, big results. |
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Best Perennials |
Basket-of-gold (Aurinia saxatile) |
I agonized on this one (phlomis, aster milka, virginia bluebells). But basket-of-gold made it through a hot,dusty July without a drop of water. Plus its hairy leaves were one of the few roofdeck plants not munched by grasshoppers. |
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Best Lily |
madonna lily (L. candidum) |
This tempermental lily put on a fabulous show this year. It seemed to relish the July heat. |
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Best Hellebore |
Ivory Prince Hellebore (Helleborus x "Ivory Prince") |
This hybrid exhibits the best traits of its parents. Colorful, palmate foliage. Lots of flowers. And hardy as a rock. Ivory Prince is a four season plant. Its buds are as beautiful as the flowers and the leaves always add interest. |
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Best Aroid |
Devil's dung, voodoo lily (Sauromatum venosum) |
Sauromatum flourished this year. The mottled foliage is decorative but the fly-attracting flower is the real prize. Devil's dung is an accurate common name. It smells similar to Mr. Burns according to Bart: like an elephant's butt! |
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Best Bulb |
golden fairy lily (Chlidanthus fragrans) |
Golden fairy lily finally bloomed! This container bulb sent up sweet scented, daffodil yellow flowers in May. Outstanding! |
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Best Annual |
Nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus) |
The nasturtium bloomed from June til frost. She reduced her leaf and flower size in July, but went back to normal in September. The queen of the bumblebees (really she had to be close to 2 inches) visited regularly |
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Best Houseplant |
Corn Plant (Dracena) |
Dracena are typically thought of as only foliage plants. But their powerfully fragrant, evening opening flowers made them the favorite |
