Monday, 20 August 2012

Pizza peppers...

I love thick-walled and productive pizza peppers.  One source is Territorial Seed, where they describe them as hot, but I haven't found them to be hot at all.  They're juicy and delicious. Totally Tomatoes may offer the same variety, hard to know.And they're certainly the most substantial...

Sunday, 19 August 2012

Looking forward to garden visiting

In just about a month, I'll be visiting gardens in Germany and the Netherlands for a couple of weeks on a self-guided garden study tour.I've been wanting to do this for several years, after I started learning more about the 'new wave' gardening trends practiced by Dutch, German, and English garden designers, creating naturalistic gardens, and often using many of our North American natives.It should...

Saturday, 18 August 2012

A gift of peppers

Coming back down from the mountains for the beginning of another fall semester, it was a gift to have a green and flourishing garden.  Yes, it's overgrown, the meadow is a mess (but there was a southern-bound monarch flitting around the scruffy common milkweed plants, too).  The zoysia lawn that came with the house is looking great, thanks to intermittent rains throughout the summer. ...

I don't love crape myrtles, but...

A crape myrtle in Ginny's back yard.I don't love crape myrtles (Lagerstoemia indica & spp.) because they are sooo over planted in Florida. Most species are native to India and other parts of Asia, but they certainly do well here and new varieties are released each year. The Atlas of Florida Vascular...

Wednesday, 15 August 2012

Tuesday, 14 August 2012

Scarlet runner beans and window boxes

The scarlet runner beans have been a standout in the front garden beds - the leaves haven't been bothered by anything and the flowers just keep coming. Bean production isn't high, but that isn't really the point with scarlet runners. They're lovely!Window boxesThe window box plants continue to look...

Monday, 13 August 2012

Foraging for mushrooms

The vegetable garden is continuing to produce.  Trays of tomatoes and tomatillos seem to be coming out the oven each day, with beans and squash to be eaten or frozen, too.But a weekend mushroom foray with our neighbor, who's a mushroom expert, found a variety of interesting mushrooms.The highlight...