 Est. 2008; bringing nature & gardeners together Dec 12, 2025
|
|
NURSERY NOTES: Visit the Natural Gardener tomorrow (Sat) 10 - 3 pm to enjoy its "Holiday Mercadito & Loteria." Games, prizes, tamales, cakes and herbal products aplenty. Spend more than $100, and you'll receive a $20 gift certificate. T.N.G.🌿
The wonderful companion-ship of Tillery Street Nursery and East Side Succulents is at end. As you could probably guess, new development has claimed their lot. Tillery Street moves to 914 Shady Lane, less than a mile from its current location, and opens Feb 1. East Side Succulents is now further south, on Sherwood Road near Sunset Valley. East Austin Succulents 🌿
LEAVE THE LEAVES: the Xerces Society offers many, many reasons for allowing our gardens to overwinter in a scruffy style. Xerces ❦
_______________________________________________
GARDENS OF TEXAS: Pam Pennick's new book features 27 inspiring private gardens, from the prairies of north Texas, down to the Rio Grande Valley - with gorgeous photography by Kenny Braun. ($50) BookPeople.
_______________________________________________
LE JARDIN PLUME: This diaphanous garden in France, created by self-taught gardeners Patrick and Sylvie Quibel, is just as much of a joy in winter, when cobwebs and dew draw a golden filigree between the tops of grasses, bare trees and the stripped structure of rose bushes, writes Ben Benton: World of Interiors ❦
THE AUSTIN GARDEN relies on readers for support. Whether annual or monthly, all donations are welcome. At present 7 % of readers fund this newsletter. Many thanks in advance. PayPal link ❦
 photo: Chris Winslow The Miracle plant Kalanchoe
by Chris Winslow
Howdy everyone. This is Chris from It's About Thyme.
I guess it's about time to say hi to my gardener friends who might remember that hole in the wall garden center in Manchaca ; - )
Diane and I now live on Live Oak Peninsula just north of Rockport. We have Copano Bay to our west and north and Aransas Bay to our east.
It is a land blessed with flocks of shore birds — whooping cranes, roseate spoonbills, blue and white herons, ibis, ospreys, brown and white pelicans, sandhill cranes, and countless species of ducks.
Recently I had a visit from a family member who has a wife from Bolivia. They brought her mother who immediately started checking out my collection of plants, mostly plumeria, desert rose, pride of Barbados, and Indian curry leaf.
She saw a kalanchoe, that I refer to as the mother of millions, and claimed it as a cancer cure used extensively in her home country. That sparked my interest because of a recent bout with cancer. (I'm fine, thanks to MD Anderson Cancer Center.)
I went to the computer and looked up Kalanchoe pinnata and found a world of healing that this miracle plant is used for: headaches, skin diseases, inflammation, healing wounds, cough relief, memory improvement, diarrhea and dysentery... as well as treatment for cancer.
As for cancer, its phytochemicals participate in the regulation by halting the growth and proliferation of cancer cells. It is cytotoxic to cancer cells - meaning it kills or damages them.
My next trip to the computer was to see if Amazon had products made from this Kalanchoe. There were dozens of products from ointments, powder, to dried leaves.
Nicole's mom said some common uses in Bolivia were teas, powder, dried leaves, compresses, and the juice of the leaves.
Kalanchoe pinnata is an easy to grow succulent that propagates from plantlets that grow on the leaf margins. It likes at least 1/2 a day sun and watering when completely dry. It has outrageously beautiful flowers in the winter time lasting for months.
It goes to show you never know the power of the plants that are growing in your own back yard. I am a firm believer that all plants have something to offer. Beauty, nutrition, and disease cures just to name a few.
Happy gardening from It's About Thyme! ❦
 |
|
IT'S ABOUT THYME LEGACY PUBLICATIONS.
CONTACT EDITOR DARREL MAYERS |
|
|
