Saturday Gardening Thread [KT]

Don in Kansas went to the botanical garden last month. It was a cloudy day, but he saw some ducks, among the Victoria amazonica. Plus some other nice things.

The unusual flower above is from a Gomphocarpus physiocarpus plant. Has some other names. Heh. Check Don's post for a butterfly that, earlier in the spring, might lay eggs on this plant. Plus some other great photos.

Check out the sidebar on Don's blog page, too.

Here's what a Gomphocarpus plant in Wisconsin looks like with seed pods. They can be cut and used for arrangements. Grows pretty tall in the South, where it is perennial. Can grow kind of big even in the North.

Tropical or Mexican Butterfly Weed, like Gomphocarpus, continues to bloom into fall. Here's a yellow one at the Cincinnati Zoo. Could be the Silky Gold cultivar. More photos at the link.

The Zoo is aflutter with migrating monarchs on their way to Mexico. Look for them all around the zoo but they especially like the Mexican butterfly weed across from the World of the Insect building.

Seemed like a Milkweed Beetle looking over the leaf in that photo, too. But Hank Curmudgeon thought it was a Milkweed Bug. He saw four clues. What is your guess?

Have you got milkweed growing in your yard? What kind?

Seen any migrating Monarchs?

Weather

Hurricane Florence triggered new leaves and bloom on trees at Patch Farmstead. Hope recovery goes well from the latest hurricane, too. Anybody have a report?

My cousin with the geraniums had some repeat bloom after the plants were stripped by that hail storm a few weeks ago.

And now the plants have been returned to the basement for the winter. The oldest is estimated to be more than 10 years old.

I dead head them, trim them, and clean them all up. I water them every 3 to 4 weeks with some miracle grow added. A few of them bloom during the winter, but they all grow big leaves. When I take them back out the winter leaves usually fall off with the new growth in summer.

A tarantula tried to join the geraniums. Hank Curmudgeon thinks it is a Desert Blond Tarantula.

Wildlife and Wild Places

Illiniwek sent in the following from his farm not long ago:

These deer spotted me in the living room and ran off to the other side of the pond. They are two sets of twins from this spring, that now seem to roam together without their moms.

The green patch right in front of them is the deer resistant mix from last year that performed nicely this year. I mowed it a month ago, and it came back nicely, but the few new blooms barely show up here

I have more than one cousin. From a hike another cousin and his wife took in Big Cottonwood Canyon in Utah about a week ago:

On another trip, they saw Kokanee Salmon spawn in a stream. Interesting fish. A landlocked version of the Sockeye Salmon.

The ones pictured below were perhaps near Lake Tahoe, where they had a festival last week. If you are in the north, you might check for spawning fish somewhere near you. They are being stocked in various places now. Story: man unknowingly catches world record fish and cooks it before he gets credit.

Gardens of The Horde

Atomic Playgirl sent in the following fun photos:

My SO and I don't have a backyard we can garden (too steep), but for the past three years we've rented a 10x40 plot in a local pea patch. Last year we build raised beds, and this is a photo from two weeks ago of the garden.

Besides a lot of tomatoes, we grow things like zucchini, cabbage, beets, peas, different kinds of beans, asparagus (our second year with it), and a favourite, mouse melons (Mexican gherkins), which we then pickle. They're in the second photo as little sliced things on top of tomatoes from our garden.

They are a fun little plant, and the melons look like miniature oblong watermelons; they taste like a mild lemony cucumber/watermelon rind mix and one plant produces enough to pickle two pint jars worth for the fridge.

Thanks for the garden thread! Love it. =)

If you would like to send information and/or photos for the Saturday Gardening Thread, the address is:

ktinthegarden
at g mail dot com

Include your nic unless you just want to be a lurker.

posted by Open Blogger at 12:53 PM

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