Mary Claire Rowe

Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor and his "more power" adventures with machinery on the long-running television series "Home Improvement" gave viewers a humorous view of the life of an "Everyman," obsessed with the idea that the more powerful a tool, the better it was for any project. Of course, it was such a popular program, because we could see ourselves in the situation, and laugh at our folly.

My non-gardening husband, who is my gardening "enabler," and I found ourselves in a similar quandary recently. We have been talking about ways to reduce our "footprint" on the earth, and re-cycling is first and foremost on our list of home improvements to make.

I have a good example before me, because when re-cycling first became available here, my mother would make bi-monthly trips to the re-cycling center to return magazines, newspapers, aluminum cans, and plastic containers. She and her generation realized early the value of saving and conserving. They were the young adults of the World War II era and had lived through a time when re-using, and saving resources was vital to our country.

What a different situation our society would be in today, if we had not forgotten those lessons! How many "ga-zillion" tons of trash would not be clogging our landfills?

We waited six months for a large re-cycling container, which the city of Tyler is now providing to interested homeowners. We had tried the little blue box some time ago, but it wasn't all that satisfactory for our use.

It was just too small for the volume of trash generated by just two people, two dogs, and two cats. It seems everything is wrapped in paper, or plastic, and once unwrapped, it is startling to see the volume of trash involved.

We installed a two-part, under-counter trash container some time ago, and we are well into successful trash-separation. Even so, it takes at least one trip a day to the trash container to accommodate all the paper, aluminum, and plastic. However, so far, so good!

We recently bought from the city two composting bins for garden waste. No matter how well-planned the garden, there is always a ton of clippings, weeds, dead limbs, leaves, vines, and volunteers to remove. For years I would bemoan the amount of greenery being sent away. I could fill eight trash cans in a good-gardening morning with ease. I knew I wanted to compost, but other than throwing some things into a pile and hoping for the best, I was a miserable failure.

Now, with the proper equipment, I have delusions of success. I am pretty sure I can follow the instructions for successful composting: layer dry material, green material, vegetable waste, and soil; moisten; protect from soaking rains; turn occasionally, and "voila!" wonderful compost for the garden.

I have started with small, leaf-covered tree limbs, which I chopped into smallish pieces. We looked at these limbs and thought that it would take an awfully long time for those to break down into soil.

We thought about a nice chipper-spreader to speed along the process. We shopped and shopped and nothing seemed to fit our needs. Most machines were way too big, and way-too pricey for making compost at home.

But worse than that, they were gasoline-powered, and required a pull-to-start action. Age and common sense told us that protecting our environment by composting, and then buying a large gas engine to help it along, might not be the most successful earth-friendly move to make.

In addition, reflecting on the joy of engine-starting with a pull-action rope was definitely not the best thing to do for our personal happiness. "More power," we decided, was not for us.

So, we will be composting in the old-fashioned, earth-friendly, hassle-free way, and let the passing of the seasons gently work on the process. Perhaps next spring, we will have some nice, rich compost to add to the flower beds, and that will be nice.

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FLOWER OF THE WEEK: Hamelia patens 'Firebush' is a full-sun loving, heat-tolerant, root-hardy perennial that will bloom from summer to frost. It has been designated as a Texas "SuperStar" by Texas A & M University, which means it will be a great plant for most of Texas.

It will grow well in almost any well-drained soil; and it has no disease or insect problems, if grown in full sun. It was found growing in the Yucatan near the amazing pyramids, and was used by locals for medicinal purposes. In our part of the world it is grown for its amazing beauty. It is covered with bright red blossoms with orange throats and it does look like a bush about to burst into flames. It will take part-shade, but might not bloom quite as well.

It is a butterfly, hummingbird magnet, and in the fall the foliage will turn a lovely bright red. Go to http://texassuperstar.com/plants.html to learn more about Firebush or any SuperStar plant.

"What's Blooming In Our Garden'' is a regular feature of the

Tyler Morning Telegraph

Garden Page. It is written by Mary Claire Rowe, a Master Gardener with the Texas AgriLife Extension Service and focuses on flowers and plant life around East Texas. To share your comments on gardening, write her in care of the

Morning Telegraph

.

Hamelia patens ‘Firebush’ is a full-sun loving, heat-tolerant, root-hardy perennial that will bloom from summer to frost.
(Photo Courtesy Mary Claire Rowe)