Native perennials at my local hardware store

A great selection of perennials

I was delighted to find a wonderful selection of native perennials at my local Ace Hardware (on Merrimon Ave.) in Asheville today.

I guess I'd missed them before -

Lawrence, the staff member in charge, doesn't have a lot of space, but as he told me, in our nice conversation about gardening with perennials, he tries to turn over plants every couple of weeks, so clearly I'd just missed these late-summer flowering plants before, as I'd have headed down the hill by now in past years, for the beginning of the
academic year.

He had a who's who of my favorite 'fall' perennials for pollinators, mostly native.

I snagged a couple of Liatris squarrosa and two small Husker's Red Penstemon (Penstemon digitalis).

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Immature butternut squash

Hmm, I'm thinking my butternut squash experiment is a winner.  I don't have room for regular butternut squash vines to ramble all over the garden, nor do I have room to store mature butternuts through the winter.  I've been musing about squash growing for ages.

My friend who has a large kitchen garden on her property out of town has already harvested over 80 mature butternuts -- she started early in the season.  That's a LOT of squash for the two of them to eat, even if pies are part of the equation....Maybe I'll get some of the "extra!"

But I've been growing a miniature climbing butternut from Renee's Garden.  It's a new release and is attractive on a low trellis in front of the garden.

I was thinking that it might be tasty green (as well as being resistant to squash vine borers, the nemesis of Southern summer squash growers).  My experience with summer squash is 3 or 4 squash, and then the vines collapse (at least without row covers, Bt, foil, picking out the borers, etc.).

immature miniature butternut squash (with blueberries for scale)

And what a lovely alternative these immature butternuts have proved to be.  They're not zucchini or yellow squash, to be sure, but have a delightful dense texture and faint butternut flavor when harvested green.  Delicious sauteed with onions, mushrooms, and garlic, or flash-roasted.

Even when they're bigger (having escaped the gardener's notice) -- at about 4 inches long (close to their "mature" size, any way, instead of 2 inches (like these), they're delicious, too.

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A monarch, pipevine swallowtails, and goldfinches

There was a monarch visiting the Heliopsis and Joe-Pye in the pocket meadow in front of the house today. 

I didn't manage to get back out quickly enough to get a picture, but as I did come out (with iPhone in hand),  a goldfinch was feeding on purple coneflower seeds, and left quickly, with my approach.

This monarch was out on the Blue Ridge Parkway yesterday (my gardening companion's photo).

When I was picking beans later in the day (a twice a day activity), a pipevine swallowtail drifted by, accompanying all of the usual flower visitors in late afternoon.

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A welcome bit of rain and tree frogs

Thunderstorms passed through this afternoon and evening, bringing some welcome moisture.  It's been continually dry for weeks now, warm (and hot) sunny days in succession.

Fortunately, my perennials are pretty tough, but still, the Joe-Pye and Phlox need water after a week and half of heat and no rain. Not to mention the veggies!

The rain today brought out the nocturnal symphony -- tonight, largely the chorus of tree frogs, I think, in the forest ravine behind the house.

Lovely.

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Ready for fall vegetables

One drawback of planting late is that my tomatoes, squash, and beans are still going strong. It continues to amaze me how disease and pest-free that they've been this summer.  No bean beetles, squash bugs, cucumber beetles, etc.

late summer beans and squash

 There's just now a bit of powdery mildew developing on a few squash leaves, but nothing disfiguring so far.  Hooray!

But, happily, the three "loser" tomatoes were all in the same bed -- a cherry tomato masquerading as a Sweet Million (NOT), a Pantano (maybe OK), and a "black cherry" that was totally not what I'd grown before.  These were all bought from a small vendor at the WNC Herb Festival, so perhaps weren't what the grower thought they were, or perhaps were OP grown out versions (at least in the "Sweet Million" case.)

So, I pulled them all up today to be able to sow some fall greens, beets, and turnips.  It's still a bit early, perhaps, but no reason not to turn over the beds (the black cherry was the only plant still producing much, and they weren't really all that tasty fresh, and I've got LOTS of tomatoes already roasted and frozen, with more to come....)

I added a tall layer of composted manure (it was Black Kow, which looked like an excellent addition for hard-working beds) and worked it in-- so I'm ready to plant!

ready to plant fall vegetables

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A lovely cyclamen

We figured this would be one of the 1-month "florist" cyclamens - bought in full flower at the hardware store right around Valentine's Day.

Amazingly, it's flourished, and continues to produce new flowers and leaves, both reflecting the nice light in the kitchen, as well as careful care (my gardening companion loves houseplants).

Backlit this morning, the young leaves and flower buds were striking.

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An evening rainbow

Woody and I looped up through downtown this evening, and were treated at the beginning with a complete rainbow.  (The photo didn't capture the entire arc). 

rainbow towards the north sky

Magical.

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