Gardening, Home and Nature Thread, August 9

I felt like posting something from a cooler time period than today's 105 degree weather here:

Hi Katy -

Hope you are on the mend post-surgery. I'm sending good wishes and prayers your way.

Dogwood Daze - the dogwood blossoms were beautiful this spring. I thought I'd send this photo along before they fade away. Also, a photo of the first flower to bloom in my garden, the hardy Columbine.

The Pilot

From MkY in April:

I can't take pics like Don in Kansas, but I noticed that the dogwoods were particularly spectacular this year here (we're maybe 150 miles north of their natural range).

The white is the largest one in the State of Kansas.

Wow. Thinking about planting for next year?

Edible Gardening/Putting Things By

California isn't really "Hatch Chile" country, but this is a supermarket advertisement similar to others this time of year around here. Along with Hatch Chile rotisserie chickens and the like.

Have you got ripe chiles?

Ah, Nature

Removal of a hornets nest
pic.twitter.com/1jNYvdEo0N

— Science girl (@gunsnrosesgirl3) July 23, 2025

Ever seen anything like this?

Adventure

I Would Watch a 50hr Documentary on How They Built This 1500 Years Ago… pic.twitter.com/xIvXN0rzKc

— 𝕰𝖒𝕲 (@Emilio2763) July 23, 2025

The tweet above reminded me of this, received a while ago:

Greetings! Lurker and Gardening Thread fan "RS" here. For your consideration under the "nature" theme, may I submit a few pics from my daughter's recent foray into the Bavarian Alps. (She lives in Bavaria.) The mountain is called "Rotwand" and is considered one of Munich's "House Mountains." Anyway, keep up the good work and thanks for your contributions at AoS. Cheers.

That is a real adventure!

Gardens of The Horde

We had a question about growing four o'clocks in challenging circumstances recently. Here is an example of four o' clocks doing very well:

Hi KT,

Could you kindly post these pics on next week's garden thread? The flowers are at their peak right now and I'm just not sure how long they'll last. As I mentioned in my follow-up post, I have done nothing to amend the soil in our back yard, as it's nothing but deep sand and we're plagued with pocket gophers that tunnel through and ruin everything. It's a complete miracle that anything grows in it to begin with.

These pics are a little dark as I took them late in the day once the temps dropped, but you can see the vibrant colors. The pink lily like flower is Amaryllis Belladonna, which grow like weeds everywhere in the SF Bay Area.

Thanks!

Effie

So colorful! I am surprised that four o'clocks stand up to pocket gophers. Not surprised that amaryllis do.

Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

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

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Week in Review

What has changed since last week's thread? Gardening, Home and Nature Thread, August 2

Hoping CaliGirl is faring okay with the big fire.

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.

Giant Water Lily "Victoria Boliviana" leaf diameter can exceed 3 meterspic.twitter.com/iS9nIBIVr4

— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) January 21, 2025

posted by K.T. at 01:16 PM

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