I stopped by the  Greater Dallas Organic Garden Club organic plant sale yesterday.  They offered vegetables, heirloom tomatoes, pass-alongs and hard-to-find plants. 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday April 12 at 1316 N. Floyd Road, Richardson. 

This garden club has been in existence for 21 years.  To find out more about them, please visit their website at Greater Dallas Organic Garden Club.  WHAT TO DO WITH YOUR HERBAL HARVEST will be the topic for their Thursday, April 24, 2014 meeting.  Join them  to hear Joy Lilljedahl of the Herb Society of America.  They meet at REI on 635 and Welch.  Refreshments 6:30, meeting start 7pm.

Loving Garland Green strongly supports organizations such as the Greater Dallas Organic Garden Club.  The Garland Community Garden has two plants in our new garden that came from this group:  our sunflowers and an heirloom tomato.

_______________________________________________________

Gardening is a great experience for people of all ages and from all walks of life.

If you enjoy learning, then I highly recommend the experience of gardening because you'll never be able to learn all there is to learn about gardening--regardless how young you may be.  In addition to learning, you will also develop a heightened awareness and respect for the connectedness of all living things.  Truly, gardening is an amazing experience and the wonderment of it is ongoing.  Following is a recent story of my ongoing experience at learning from the garden.

Among the hard to find plants, at yesterday's Greater Dallas Organic Garden Club sale, I saw Larkspur and purchased four small plants.  I can remember as  little girl planting Larkspur in my grandmother's garden.  

I wondered why we don't see Larkspur featured in the plant selections at local nurseries. After searching the Internet, I found my answer:  All parts of Delphinium, commonly known as "larkspur", are toxic to humans and animals causing skin irritation and severe digestive discomfort (even death) if eaten.  Death is through cardiotoxic and neuromuscular blocking effects that  occur within a few hours of ingestion.

I didn't bring larkspur to be planted at the Garland Community Garden. However, the plant kingdom is filled with toxic plants. A few that I can name off the top of my head include the  Poinsettia, Oleander, Morning Glory and the fast-growing castor bean plant. It's good to know the ones that are toxic to animals and humans--especially if you have children or pets who might gnaw on them.

It's also good to remember that all plants, like humans, have a reason for being. Somehow we are all interconnected and fit into a grander scheme of things. Take the Larkspur, for example: Despite its toxicity, it used for food by the larvae of some moth species such as the Dot Moth. And those "nasty" moths--where do they fit into the scheme of things? Moths are excellent pollinators, picking up pollen with their legs and wings and depositing it on flowers they visit.