Gardening, Puttering and Adventure Thread, April 27

I love it when Sharon (Willow's Apprentice) goes on a photo excursion and sends us great images of plants. Perhaps we would pay more attention to the beauty around us if we focused like she does.

How is your weather? We have had a touch of an April Shower, while the cherries are ripening (not the best for the orchardists, but we have gone through so much drought).

Anything going on where you are?

Edible Gardening/Putting Things By

I sent a picture last fall of my tiny fignomenal fig tree. The little discolored leaf is the last of the leaves that lasted over winter. Maybe three weeks ago it suddenly took off and looks pretty healthy now.

The second is my baby tomato, it's a little leggy because I've just started being able to set it outside in the sun recently. When it's warm enough to plant outside I'll bury it some. It's a GMO purple tomato (has two purple snapdragon genes) from Norfolk Healthy Produce. They passed USDA and FDA regulatory requirements last year and offered seeds for sale. It's an indeterminate cherry tomato. I just checked the website and they've closed sales for this year but plan on selling again in Nov/Dec. Supposedly the two genes are intended to increase the amount of anthocyanins in the fruit. The seeds were pretty expensive so I hope the price will come done then!

Lirio100

Love that little fig tree!

The plant is coming right along. Let us know how the tomatoes taste! This is what they look like:

Art

A Daily Dose of History, April 26

By the time he was in his 40's, John James Audubon was prosperous and world famous. But not before having to overcome lots of adversity.

Born Jean Jacques Audubon in the French colony of Sainte Domingue (now Haiti), he was the illegitimate child of a chambermaid and a French sea captain/plantation-owner. His mother died when he was only a few months old and at age 6 Jean was taken to France, where he was adopted and raised by his father's wife.

Jean's father had hoped the boy would become a naval officer, following in his footsteps, but Jean was a failure at military and naval training. So, to keep him from being conscripted into Napoleon's army, Jean's father acquired forged identity papers for the boy and sent him to America. On the way over Jean adopted the anglicized version of his name: John James Audubon.

In America, after surviving a bout of yellow fever, John met and fell in love with Lucy Bakewell, eventually marrying her.

John was a brilliant and gifted man, but he failed repeatedly in business. By 1819 he was bankrupt and in debtor's prison. Lucy supported the family by working as a teacher.

As we all know now, John's true calling was as an artist and a naturalist. For nearly 15 years he had traveled around America, collecting and painting birds, while trying in vain to establish himself professionally.

Finally, in 1826, when John was 41 years old, his wife encouraged (and paid for) him to go to Europe to try to find a publisher for his collection of drawings. And there he became a sensation. His work was immensely popular, he had audiences with royalty, and his book The Birds of America became a smash hit. He is remembered today as one the greatest naturalists and nature artists in history. . .

The photo is of his drawing "Marsh Wren," which is in the Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Ah, Nature

Lots of these guys around today. Not very appetizing.

- fd

Google disagreed. Recommended that I respond that they were great!

Puttering

Flower arranging: Form, color, variety

Adventure

Recognize the flower?

Gardens of The Horde

A couple of weeks ago, we featured a photo of the front yard of a long time lurker in Washington State:

Thanks! That was fun!

You're welcome to stop by and visit if you ever find yourself in Kirkland. The picture I sent was the front yard. I recently added flower beds, patio, trees and pathways on my backyard hill.

More greatness on the way!

Here's a detail from the photo of the front yard, in case you don't remember:

Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

If you would like to send photos, stories, links, etc. for the Saturday Gardening, Puttering and Adventure Thread, the address is:

Remember to include the nic or name by which you wish to be known at AoSHQ, or let us know if you want to remain a lurker.

Week in Review

What has changed since last week's thread? Gardening, Puttering and Adventure Thread, April 20

Any thoughts or questions?

I closed the comments on this post so you wouldn't get banned for commenting on a week-old post, but don't try it anyway.

posted by K.T. at 01:15 PM

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