Wildflower Wednesday August 28, 2013

Welcome to my Wildflower Wednesday post, to see other wildflowers click on the link for hostess Gail's Clay and Limestone blog, this month she is featuring Blue Mist Flower, formerly Eupatorium coelestinum, don't you hate those name changes.   I wanted to grow this for the beautiful flowers, and ordered one from Prairie Nursery along with some other plants, but they all grew but this one, however, 5 tiny seedlings emerged in the pot, and grew, and assuming they are the correct plant are now 6" tall and I just planted them out, so perhaps next year they will bloom.   Prairie Nursery is sending me a replacement in the fall.   Gail's lovely photos are giving me a bad case of plant lust.  A problem with it is that it likes moist to wet soil (great for a boggy place!) but with the PNW dry summers, not so great, but I'm planting a couple by my leaky lawn hose bib where the ground tends to be soggy.

This month I'm featuring Holodiscus discolor, commonly known as Oceanspray, Ironwood, or Cream Bush.   It blooms in late spring. with a frothy cascade of tiny 5 petalled fragrant flowers attractive to butterflies and other insects.   It is common along roadsides since it tends to move into disturbed ground.   Mine are at the edge of the woods along one side of my property.

The wood is very dense, so was used by the Native Americans for arrows, knitting needles, and joining pegs.  Mine tend to flop, so I have cut back or propped them.

The spent flowers tend to turn brown and are not very attractive, best trimmed off if time permits.

Thanks for visiting, Hannah

Blue Macro Mandarin Orange Mellow Yellow Monday, August 26, 2013

Happy Monday!   I'm linking today with the following memes-

Blue Monday hosted by Smiling Sally

Macro Monday 2 hosted by Gemma Wiseman

I Heart Macro hosted by Laura

Mandarin Orange Monday hosted by Lorik

Monday Mellow Yellows hosted by Gemma Wiseman

I hope you are not tired of my quilt photos from the local county fair, none of which are mine, because here are a couple more-

A new native wildflower is blooming, Gilia capitata-

The only butterfly I seem to be able to get close to this year, I think a Woodland Skipper, so friendly-

And the caterpillar of a Cinnabar moth-

or cameras are macro

-Hannah

August Vegetable Report

With the tomatoes finally starting to ripen, I'm ready to give an August vegetable report. To see what others are growing, click on the link for the Backyard Farming Connection.

Also linking with From the Farm blog hop, click on the link.


To compare with my July garden, click here.

A favorite paste tomato for taste and texture is Heidi, which weighs in at 2 oz (57 gm) here also with my favorite summer squash, Crookneck, 12 oz (340 gm), which has a delightful buttery nutty flavor and creamy texture.

But for yield, and also a tasty squash surprisingly tender at the large sizes which it attains, an Italian striped squash called Cocozelle, at 1.5, 1.75, and 3.75 lb-

The large one is still tender at this size-

My favorite crop is probably beans, I grow some heirloom beans and some commercial varieties.   Even more than squash and tomatoes, nothing one can buy in the grocery store can compare with home-grown.  I save seed every year, which means fall is characterized by a lot of bean shucking and sorting.   I also grow runner beans, which are a different species than regular beans, and require pollination.   They also leave the seed leaves, or cotyledons, in the ground when they sprout, and have large rough pods only tender at earlier stages. They typically have red flowers and purple to black seeds.   I have been growing a great runner bean called Insuk's Wang Kong Bean, brought over from Korea, and named after a Korean woman, Insuk, which sets better in heat than most runner beans.  But this year I am experimenting with growing white seeded runner beans which also have white flowers, to see if the beans are more tender and/or flavorful.   It has not been a good experiment because for some reason the flowers are not getting pollinated as successfully resulting in much reduced yields: runner beans have been my highest yielding beans some years because of their big size.   Here are the flowers and stubs where beans should have set on-

So, that is a disappointment, but at least the rabbits that suddenly decided to eat my bean seedlings last year have not done so much this year, though voles are nipping off my pole beans in one bed, going down the row,

even after my usual ploy of wrapping the stems in aluminum foil.   These vines are very vigorous, they are an Italian yellow shrimp bean called Anellino Giallo.  It is so sad to see them shrivel up, loaded with beans.  Below is a selection of some beans I am growing this year, from the top, a mystery pole bean that showed up in some rows of bush beans, heirloom Yer Fasulyasi romano bush, Red Peanut (AKA Old Joe Clark), Anellino Giallo, Grandma Robert's Purple Pole Beans,  Speedy bush beans, Uncle Steve's pole beans, Super Marconi pole beans. and a mystery pole bean that showed up in a pack of bush beans, and at the top, pale purple with shiny black seeds with white speckles.

The first crop to yield was cucumbers, here Tanja, which I grow on a trellis as well.   I like to grow parthenocarpic cucumbers, which don't need to be pollinated.

On the fruit side, my best early apple is a large red called Prince William, one of the Purdue early apples (whose names contain the letters PR).  It frequently has no damage from codling moths since it develops before the moths are out laying eggs on the fruits.

I hope you are finding the time and space to grow some vegetables and fruits, beyond compare.

-Hannah

Blue Macro Mandarin Orange Mellow Yellows Monday, August 19, 2013

Welcome to my Monday post, to view other posts, click on the links below, I'm linking with:

Blue Monday, hosted by Smiling Sally

Macro Monday 2, hosted by Gemma Wiseman

I Heart Macro, hosted by Laura

Mandarin Orange Monday hosted by LorikArt

Monday Mellow Yellows, hosted by Gemma Wiseman

I'm showing more quilts from the local county fair, none of which are mine-

Details of lower left, inverted, which includes all the criteria-

Portion of a blue quilt made by sewing 8 identical triangles together to make a pinwheel-

A beautiful peachy rose named Crepuscule-

Platycodon 'Hakone double'-

Trumpet lilies-

Cardoon bud and flower-

Sculpture for BFA art thesis, Noelle Winiecki, Marylhurst College-

Thanks for visiting, -Hannah

or cameras are macro

Foliage Follow-Up, August 16, 2013

Welcome to my Foliage Follow-Up post, to see more foliage click on the link to hostess Pam's Digging.

Something silver- Santolina-

Something yellow- Jasminum officinale 'Aureum'-

Something supposedly variegated, Lunaria annua 'Variegated White'-

Something edible- Cutting Celery-

Thanks for visiting, Hannah (click on the link above for Digging)

Garden Blogger's Bloom Day August 15, 2013

Welcome to What's Blooming Now, for other posts click on this link for hostess Carol's May Dreams Gardens.  A few roses are still blooming, like Red Ribbons-

Apricot Nectar-

Marie Pavie-

Sweet Chariot mini-

Queen of my roses, Zephirine Drouhin-

My 10 year old Phlox paniculata, which the deer don't bother-

It has done so well that I bought more Phlox this year, Purple Paradise-

and Coral Flame-

Yarrow 'Cassis' and Hardy Geranium 'Rozanne'

Annual Browallia has amazed me with it's blooms and bushy habit, a real keeper-

Agastache rugosa has a lot of presence in the garden at 4 feet or more-

Oregano makes delightful dense clumps and thrives in poor dry soils and on our ramp.

Anemone japonica and tomentosa are beginning to bloom,  Platycodon 'Hakone Double' bloomed for the first time, Echinaceas, Gladioli, Honeysuckle, Rose of Sharon, Musk Mallow, Nasturtiums, Larkspur, Liatris, ever-blooming Daphne 'Summer Ice', a few straggling Clematis, mints, Crocosmia (Montbretia), and Fireweed are also blooming.

I hope you are having a great summer,  Hannah