Look at this beautiful chrysanthemum we bought today at Gracie's Nursery.  

 

I know you've seen them on the right on your way to Blairsville.  Christina plants seedlings in June and July and takes care of them until they sell out.   They always have the most beautiful mums.  She works magic with chrysanthemums.  You should stop and look at them up close.  Gorgeous.  

 

We saw some in the Walmart for 20 dollars.  They were pretty, but they were all yellow and mostly fully bloomed.  Then we stopped on our way home at Gracie's and bought this one for 27 dollars.  It has 3 different color flowers, and it is just starting to bloom.  It will be beautiful for another whole month.  

 

We parked it right outside the front door, so we can see it a lot.  Love this time of year.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

We love to do something with all our produce.  So, we eat some and preserve some.  These are my go-to books for Home Preserving:  Ball Blue Book and Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving.  I wrote an article a few weeks ago about canning apple sauce and tomato sauce.  We use a pressure cooker for most of our canning, like tomatoes and green beans and pickles.  And so far, these resources have been enough.

 

Recently, a friend in Virginia sent us a link to a fun site about dehydrating garden produce.  The site is Rose Red Homestead.  I started watching a video, and was thrilled with some of her recipes.  We have a simple dehydrator that we use to make blueberry raisins, but now I know lots more than I did about blanching, dehydrating, and preserving foods.  I learned how to dehydrate celery, onions, apples, potatoes, and so much more.  Hey!!!  I can dehydrate peppers!!

 

The presenter also cited the USDA source that she uses for reliable information:  National Center for Home Food Preservation.  Good to know.

 

If you are interested in dehydrating garden produce, or Farmers' Market produce, or even good deals from the grocery store produce, go to Rose Red Homestead

and enjoy a new way to preserve food for your pantry.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

Wow!!!  We have peppers.  I don't know why I planted so many, except that we have the space, and this year we had so many successful seedlings.

 

I planted lots of sweet red bell peppers, and Giant Marconi, (they are sweet too.)  I like the sweet ones, especially roasted on the grill.  I also planted way too many Anaheims,  pictured above.  They are the ones you use for Chile Rellenos.  And 4 Jalapeño peppers, because Jon loves them.  I don't like hot peppers, I don't even like to touch them.  But I can grow them all day long, and this year they are doing so great!!!

 

The good news is:  they freeze well, so we can save them til spring when the cilantro comes up, and make salsa.  

 

Our garden is happy still, even though it's been a little cool the last few nights.  I hope your garden is doing well too.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

It bloomed about 10:30.  Isn't it gorgeous?  Yes, it is!!!  It is always exciting when this happens.

 

The flower is about 8 inches across, and the pinkish petals in the back curl backward.  So the whole thing is enormous, and very fragrant.  I could smell it as soon as I opened the door to step outside.  I wonder if the right kind of moth to pollinate it lives around here.  If any do live close by, I'm sure they could smell it too, and came running.  I didn't stay up long enough to see that.

 

I did stay awake for the grand opening though, and it was so great, I had to get Jon up to come see it.  He said he was glad I did.  

 

We had three big bloom nights this year, but this is probably the last one.  I knew you'd like to see it.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

I am so excited!!!  

 

My Night-blooming Cereus is getting ready to bloom again this year.  This is a beautiful stage in itself, but when it blooms, it takes your breath away.  

 

Sharon gave me a cutting of her plant years ago, and it has been blooming for the past three years.  This is a good story:  Sharon got the plant from her grandmother, who brought it with her to Norfolk from Okracoke, NC, before Sharon was born in 1950.  So, her plant is over 70 years old.  

 

The plant itself isn't what you would describe as lovely, but the blossoms are so breathtaking that it doesn't even matter.  I am continually cutting mine back, and trying to contain it, because it lives in the basement all winter, and it takes up a lot of space if you don't cut it back.  

 

I will try to get another picture when it blooms, if I can stay up that late.  The bloom opens about 11 pm, and wilts by 4 am.  It looks like it might do it tonight.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

You know that Autumn is here when the Goldenrod blooms.  Bright patches of yellow everywhere.

 

My National Audubon Society Field Guide to Wildflowers lists 20 different species in the index!!!  Wildflowers in Color tells me that more than 100 species of goldenrods grow in North America, and over 24 species can be found in our eastern mountains.  

 

Goldenrod is in the Composite family, a huge family of plants that includes asters, dandelions, chrysanthemums, thistles, sunflowers, Joe-Pye weed, and many others.  When you look at the flowers, it's easy to understand the "composite" part.  Lots of little flowers make up the big showy flower heads.

 

Goldenrod often gets blamed for seasonal allergies, but it is Ragweed that causes hay fever.  Ragweed is also in the Composite family, but it has dull yellow flowers, and pollen that is spread by the wind, making it the principal cause of hay fever.

 

So, now you can enjoy the goldenrods for their bright and cheerful flowers all along the highways and byways.

 

HAPPY FALL Y'ALL!!!

 

Yep.  It's happening.  Fall is in the air, and the trees are starting to show color.

 

The first tree I notice showing fall color is the Sour gum or Black gum, Nyssa sylvatica.  This one is just across the road from our house, but I've seen Black gums all over the neighborhood with leaves changing color.  You can see scarlet leaves scattered all over the tree.  You can also see the dark blue berries.  

 

You may have heard these trees called Tupelo, Nyssa aquatica.  Same genus, just different species.  Tupelo is more at home in lowlands and swamps.

 

Lumber of Black gum is useful for furniture, boxes, crates, veneer, and paper pulp.  The berries are favorites of Black bear, and many species of birds including ruffed grouse, prairie chicken, pheasant, and wild turkey.  

 

You may see other trees showing fall color:  like the Dogwoods, looking a little pink at a glance when we go by at 45 mph.  Up close you can see their bright red berries.  

 

I love this time of year, when there are beautiful sights everywhere.  And we still have a month to go before they reach their peak.  

 

 

HAPPY FALL Y'ALL!!!

 

We saw this patch of New York Ironweed at the edge of the parking lot at the Murphy Ingles.

 

We've seen it all around town, and on the highways, all the way up the Blue Ridge Parkway.  It's easy to spot, because when it blooms it stands erect, about 3-9 feet tall, and the flowers are this electric purple color.  My Wildflowers in Color book says:  Each plant consists of many heads of purple or rose-purple flowers, there being 20 or more small, tubular blossoms in each cluster.  The aggregate of flower heads tends to appear flat-topped.

 

Be on the lookout in your travels.  They are so pretty!!!

 

HAPPY ALMOST FALL!!!

 

 

Look how beautiful Jim and Nancy's hydrangeas are.  

 

To tell the truth, these are the ones the deer have not gotten to.  They net the entire bush to keep the deer at bay, but I think these must have been out of their reach.   Aren't they gorgeous.  

 

OK, here's the story about hydrangeas.  If the soil is acid, the flowers are blue.  If the soil is alkaline, the flowers are pink.  And if the soil is neutral, the flowers are white.  Since these are purple, I'm guessing that the soil is in flux between acid and alkaline, but not completely neutral.  Anyway, these purple ones are the best.

 

I remember hydrangeas in Nanny's back yard, and a story about Granddaddy hammering rusty nails into the ground to turn the flowers blue.  Whatever he did, it worked.  Those blossoms were as blue as the sky.  I've also heard sweet stories about little girls playing bride with Nanny's hydrangea flowers.  

 

I bet all Southern girls have sweet memories involving hydrangeas.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!! 

 

LOOK!!  The Devil's Walking Stick berries have gone purple.  They are so pretty at this stage.  

 

Look for them in your travels, before the birds eat them all.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!