I was born the same year as Barbie. Apparently in the eyes of my cousin Star, this put Barbie and me on an even level. Star was three years old at the time I was hatched and the first Barbie rolled off the assembly line. My uncle and aunt's house was only two lots away, so Star and I grew up more like brother and sister than cousins.

I can only envision that she bided her time until I was old enough to walk, so that I would be interesting enough to start playing with, hard-core Barbie style. By the time I was 5, I was old enough for her to dress me up in her clothes. I was like the uber Barbie, with fully bendable joints and superior motor reflexes. I did everything she wanted, as my fear of her and my love for her were fairly equal.

She could not, after all…make the other Barbies wear her one piece bathing suits and fetch her Kool Aid and Little Debbies on command. At 5, I was also thoroughly capable of sneaking bed sheets out of the linen closet to make tents for Star. She would stand by impatiently as I threw the sheet over the clothesline, staking the corners and sides down with halves of clothes pins…clothes pins split into halves by being stretched open until the metal springs disengaged and flew like little catapults.

Star would then hold court inside the sanctum of the tent, recounting her version of what she understood to be the mystery of the “birds and the bees” illustrated by references to Robin and Batgirl, and with visual aids provided by the plastic haired Barbie and GI Joe.

The plastic haired Barbie was always the evil Barbie that carried on in this manner. The real haired Barbies were all goody goodies and cared about nothing but fashion, bitchin 60’s hairdos, and cruising in the pink Barbie dune buggy.

If the evil plastic haired Barbie ever wore clothes, they were skin tight mid 60’s Fredrick’s of Hollywood inspired masking tape garments, accentuating her curves, revealing most of her breasts, and barely covering her non-stuff. The real haired Barbies would spend the night neatly tucked away together in the Barbie Playhouse, while the evil plastic haired Barbie spent the night under the bed, rubber banded in a compromising position with GI Joe.

At 5 years old, I made no judgement calls. I liked the evil plastic haired Barbie as much as the processed and accessorized real haired ones.

My attention, shortly afterward; however, turned to GI Joe. Even when his jeep was careening down the giant drain pipes that prevented the Chicamauga Creek from flooding our home, ablaze from gasoline from the lawnmower and matches stolen from my dad’s dresser, he still jumped out when the jeep hit a rock, surviving and lookin good.

******The Rolling Stones "Miss You"

"All of us have voices in our heads, whispering insanities. Rep. Cynthia McKinney's problem is that she lets hers speak."  Slate.com

In the political sitcom that is Georgia, Cindy plays the crazy next door neighbor.

In this week's episode of "I Love Cindy".... wacky Cindy cold-cocks a policeman on Capitol Hill.  Classic, side-splitting slapstick of the kind we have come to expect of her.  Hilarity insues when we then see her rant about it on morning news shows.  (Insert laugh track here)  This episode is rated P for paranoia.

In Atlanta, as in most of the south....we don't keep our crazies locked away behind closed doors, we proudly display them.  Hell, we even send some of them to Congress! 

 http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/03/31/mckinney.police/

******Mott The Hoople "Roll Away The Stone"

The first week of April. From now thru fall, my sick obsession; my idée fixe,...is gardening and the outdoors. My whole sleep cycle changes. I go to bed decidedly earlier, and wake up with the sun in most cases, to soak in the early morning serenity in the Doghouse gardens.

I take long, winding routes to work and back home again, driving up and down the streets in Midtown and Virginia Highlands; either getting ideas from the incredible plantscapes in front of the old stately homes, or smugly congratulating myself on the fait accompli I have achieved in the four years of raising the gardens at the Doghouse from nothing.

Constant and compulsary trips to garden centers and specialty nurseries will now consume whatever moments that are not spent working or sleeping. Garden catalogs will litter the loo, the dining table, and the porch. I will be covered in dirt, and will leave trails of earth throughout the house on a daily basis. Chemical plant foods and pesticides; however, will not consume all available space on the kitchen counter surrounding the sink, as I have sworn not to dump chemicals into the earth here at the Doghouse this year.

And of course, this year I will be blogging about it and featuring plants that I find worthy of comment and generally boring you all to tears. I fear I may be going mad! Wah..ha..ha..ha.

Anyway…so much happens here the first week in April. The city is now ablaze with azalea, dogwood, red bud, tulip, iris, cherry, phlox, and Japanese snowball blooms. The city is also ablaze with pretty, half naked people running, biking, and skating. I love this time of year!

I wanted to share some photos that Marc is taking of the April grounds here at Doghouse Estate. I think he has an incredible eye. Granted, I may be prejudiced….but here goes…. (My angel PolarB at the Inner Sanctum inspired me to post these)

*


The first bud on the David Austin rose bush. (Rex is in the background under the shade of his favorite lingustrum shrub.) These "designer hybrid" roses are going to be the most difficult to care for organically. They are primadonnas...I don't care what any catalog or plantsman says. Succeptible to disease, and bitches about being planted in close proximity to other plants except Clematis, these divas require special care, usually through chemical prompting, to thrive. My garden guru Alison mixes up a "witches brew" of benificial fungus for the dogwoods and Monarda...so I guess I will be relying on her witchy concoction for the David Austin this year.



The Grape Hyacinths in containers in the Azalea border.



The old tool box from a flea market in Alabama, in the herb gardens, planted with "May Night" Sage and Gaillardia.



The culinary herb garden going crazy. The medicinal herb garden is in the background.



A bloom on the "Japanese Snowball" Viburnum. The thing is huge this year. These shrubs were a favorite of my grand-mother Jessie. I planted this one in tribute to her.



The muscadine vines starting to leaf out from dormacy. These will bear fruit for wine in the fall...lots of it! We always uncork the first bottle at the Thanksgiving table.



Rexall Tucker Johnston, who loves to help dig; and as a result, really really needs a bath.

*******New Order "Everything's Gone Green"

Things are just always funnier when a monkey is involved.

I have definite favorite plants in the gardens, and our Banana Shrub "Michelia Figo" is one that gets an A+. If you live in zone 7 and below, I can't recommend this fragrant shrub enough!

If you are any kind of gardener at all, plant one and you will thank me later. I just noticed that the blooms are about to pop open on ours, and will scent the entire yard with a "banana pudding" or "banana popsicle" fragrance for weeks. Evergreen too...so it stays great looking all year. The glossy green foliage doesn't dull or rust in winter.

I love having a lot of plants for fragrance in the yard. Plant these near entrances and walks, so you can enjoy the fragrance. Other fragrant plants that are doing well in the Doghouse gardens are...

Gardenias...we have seven shrubs of three varieties that bloom at various times. When just even one blooms, it fills the air with that familiar scent that makes you stop and sniff.

Russian Tea Olive...we have one planted in the back of the border on front and one next to the porch rail in the side yard. Evergreen, easy to grow and vigorous. The blooms to me smell like honey and lemon and the slightest breeze fills the porch with their scent.

Rosemary...hard to beat the earthy, spicy smell of this plant when you brush against it or crush the leaves between your fingers. Gracie loves to wallow in the two Tuscan Blues flanking our front steps. I can tell she has been out in the rosemary patch when she runs in and gives me kisses. She loves "putting on rosemary perfume". Tuscan Blue is the best for landscaping...our 4 year old shrubs are 4 feet by 4 feet now, covered in blue blooms, and looking great. The best culinary variety, in my opinion, is Barbeque Rosemary. Yummy, subtle flavour..and the stems are sturdy enough to be used as skewers.

Lavender...doesn't do well in the hot humid south, but one variety "Provence" is recommended for this climate. Those of you in USDA zones 7 and above can grow them like weeds, and I am jealous. The leaves and flowers are remarkabley fragrant and dry well, retaining their scent. I have planted 7 in the past 5 years and only one has survived.

Sages...especially pineapple sage. Easy to grow, requiring little attention or food, provided you supply them with a few hours of sun and really good drainage. Along with pineapple, we grow bergarten, black, lemon, golden, and indigo spires sage. We always tuck a lemon sage in the kitchen window box for easy access when cooking.

All herbs make great fragrant additions to the garden, and can be grown in a dedicated bed, or intermixed with perennials and annuals. I aint even gonna attempt to list the ones in the herb gardens at the Doghouse, because it would be too long and crazy. We have three herb gardens...medicinal, tea, and culinary.

But, for real...that banana shrub (Michelia Figo), is the prize winner for fragrance. Plant one if you are in the suggested USDA zones, give it a little shade, and some love...and you will be amazed.

Here is what www.floridata.com has to say about banana shrub...

"The banana shrub is so called because of the distinctive, sweet banana scent of its flowers. These are formed within interesting fuzzy brown bracts that form a 1 in (2.5 cm) cigar-shaped bud. From these, small off-white flowers burst forth from late spring through summer. The blossoms are about 1.5 in (3.8 cm) in diameter with each of six waxy petals delicately outlined in dark red. Banana shrub is an evergreen woody plant with multiple stems and much branching. Left to itself it assumes a rounded open form reaching 15 ft (4.6 m) in height and almost as wide. The oblong, glossy green leaves are 3-5 in (7.6-12.7 cm) long by 1-2 in (2.5-5.1 cm) high.

Location
Originally from China, banana shrub was introduced to United States in late 1700s and is one of the classic evergreen shrubs of the old south.

Culture
Prefers acid, fertile, well drained soil with plenty of organic matter. Not particularly fast growing. May be pruned after blooming, but is most impressive when allowed to grow to natural size and shape. Although scale might develop, it is easily controlled. Nursery specimens of banana shrub tend to look scraggly, but containerized plants thrive once they are liberated from their pots.
Light: Sun to shade. The shrub assumes a looser more open form when grown in shade. Individuals grown in sunny situations tend to be more compact with denser foliage that is lighter and more yellow green.
Moisture: Average.
Hardiness: USDA Zones 7 (marginal ) to 10.
Propagation: From cuttings during warm weather.

Usage
Banana shrub can be used as a hedge, just as you would viburnum (Viburnum odoratissimum) or ligustrum (Ligustrum japonicum) and is a good alternative to those species. It can be incorporated into a mixed shrub border or used as a free standing specimen. The only down side to using it as a hedge is that it is not as fast growing as some other shrubs. In the long run, however, it is superb for this purpose because of its large size, flowers, and rich green foliage.

Features
Banana shrub is a beautiful and interesting large plant that is especially useful in shade gardens where it can serve as a background and windshield for smaller woodland plants. The fragrant banana scented flowers are fascinating in form and fragrance. When grown as an understory plant under the canopy of taller trees the open branching structure provides excellent perches for songbirds in pursuit of prey."

******The Wallflowers "Three Marlenas"

AND*****Big Audio Dynamite "The Globe"...oh hell yes