We were walking in Meeks Park the other day and saw this plant blooming.  I had seen tiny ones in our neighborhood, but never one showing flowers and fruit.  I thought you might like to see it.

 

It is Jimsonweed.  Datura stramonium.  It is in the Nightshade family:  Solanaceae.  There are 85 genera and 2,800 species in this family.  They can be found in tropical and warm temperate regions, especially in Central and South America.  Many are poisonous, like Jimsonweed, but others supply food like tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and potatoes. Tobacco is in the family Solanaceae, as well as petunias and angel trumpet!  

 

Back to Jimsonweed.  Although it has many antispasmodic, painkilling, and narcotic properties, ALL parts of the plant are VERY POISONOUS!!   It can kill sheep or cattle grazing on it, and humans have died from eating the fruit (for its narcotic properties.)   Some people are even susceptible to dermatitis reactions from just touching the flowers or leaves.  The name comes from "Jamestown" where the colonists saw it growing near their homes in Jamestown, Va.  There is a story about soldiers sent to quell a rebellion in the Jamestown colony (1676) adding it to the cookpot, and spending the next 11 days in a state of incoherence.  YIKES!!!!

 

OK, we get it:  Look, but don't touch, and definitely don't taste!  Oh, yeah, it's also called Stinkweed.  That should be a clue to not touch or taste!   Consider yourself warned.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!

 

On Monday, driving through Suffolk, Va,  I couldn't resist stopping and taking these pictures of cotton.

 

Ever seen cotton growing?  From the highway, at 45 mph (OK, 60)  it looks like snow has fallen on the fields.  Up close, it looks like this:  fluffy, soft balls of white cotton fiber bursting out of a stiff brown capsule.  Like giant kernels of popped popcorn.  The fiber protects the seeds, and actually helps disperse them (much like dandelion seeds.)

 

For my curious horticulture friends, cotton is in the Mallow family, of the genus and species:  Gossypium hirsutum. Other plants in the Mallow family are Marsh mallow and Hibiscus.  The relationship is more obvious in the flowers;  hibiscus flowers and cotton blossoms are very similar. 

 

Cotton has been cultivated for thousands of years, used for its fiber, and its medicinal value.  Today, the seeds are also used in the production of oil for shortening, margarine, and cooking and salad oils.  

 

Cotton is widely grown around the world in subtropical and tropical areas.  China, India, and Mexico are the biggest producers, but cotton is also a major crop in Southeastern Va and NC.  There are miles and miles of cotton, soybean, and peanut fields.  They look very much alike as they grow.....until this happens.  Then "snow" only falls on the cotton fields.  It's really pretty!  Worth stopping to take pictures.

 

Back from the land of cotton.  Good times there are not forgotten.  

 

It was a wonderful trip, and good times spent with my mom and sisters and friends.  I am so fortunate to be able to go there, and live in my past.  And better yet, to come home and back to my real life.

 

I especially missed Jon,  but I also missed gardening in the mountains.  Our gardens are in great shape, and I'm excited about the change in the season. 

 

I'm still moving back in,  and catching up, but I'll be back in the swing of it soon, and blogging my little heart out!

 

Thanks for reading.  HAPPY GARDENING!!

Lee mentioned in a discussion this weekend that some of the dead deer in the area have shown the “blue” tongue disease. This is worth paying attention to because this particular disease can wipe out our deer population. 

Its called EHD or Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease EHD. There are two variant of it and as you can read further in the article below midges are the carriers of the virus. Anyone working in the yard these past weeks have been covered with these midges. Now no panic for us humans.  It does not infect us and you can eat harvested deer who have contracted this disease.

 

Here is an explanation from Cornel University from recent reports from Ny down to NC as they have confirmed the outbreak this year.

”EHD is a viral disease of white-tailed deer that is transmitted by the biting midge in the family Culicoides. EHD outbreaks are most common in the late summer and early fall when the midges are abundant. In deer, the symptoms of EHD include fever; small hemorrhages or bruises in the mouth and nose; and swelling of the head, neck, tongue, and lips. A deer infected with EHD may appear lame or dehydrated. An infected deer may die within 1-3 days after being bitten by the midge or the disease may progress more slowly over weeks or months. Frequently, infected deer will seek out water sources and carcasses are often found near water. Often, a large number of dead or sick deer are found in a limited area. There is no treatment and no means of prevention for EHD. The dead deer do not serve as a source of infection for other animals because the virus is not long lived in dead animals.

I hope you do.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!

I am going to Virginia Beach on Wednesday to see my mom and my sisters.  I'll take some pix while I'm there, to add to the blog, but I'm taking a break from writing.  I hope you are having a happy fall so far.

 

CU SOON!!!

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!

 

October is here and it's time to plant spring flowering bulbs.  

 

According to The Farmer's Almanac October 2 through 7 are good days to plant.  The best days for root crops are October 6 and 7.  I would consider flowering bulbs root crops, much like potatoes, onions, beets.  So get out those daffodils, tulips, lilies, crocus, and hyacinth bulbs.  It's time to get them in the ground.  Or pots.  That's my plan for red tulips:  in pots with purple pansies on top.  Then next April the red tulips will come up through the pansies.

 

It's also time to plant garlic bulbs.  Plant the individual cloves with the paper on, about one inch deep, pointy end up.  And over the winter new garlic heads will form and put up green growth in spring.  You can harvest the heads in summer when the green tops drop over, and you will never have to buy garlic again.  Just replant the cloves in October and harvest them in June!!

 

The picture is a small portion of this year's garlic harvest.  Some of it will get replanted.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!

 

I just learned that we can overwinter the corms of sweet potato vine!  The underground bulbs are much like sweet potatoes;  they just dont taste as sweet.  Sweet potatoes are way too much work to grow in the garden, but the ornamental sweet potato vines are so much fun to grow.  They are great in hanging baskets, or as fillers in planters.  And they come in several colors.  We love them.

 

Well... we don't have to buy new ones every year!   They are not perennial, but you can dig them up and save the "potatoes" by keeping them cool and dry.  I'm going to try it this winter by cutting off the green part and putting the potatoes in brown paper bags, and keeping them in the basement. 

 

I'll let you know if it's worth the trouble.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!

 

This is a very kind picture of a very nasty plant.  I'll post a more fitting rendition, when I get one.  But for now, this works for plant ID.  Poison ivy, Toxicodendron radicans.  I've also seen Rhus radicans as its botanical name.

 

Whatever name you call it, don't touch it!!!  Notice the three leaflets, and the vining growth habit.  In Girl Scouts we learned that you can shake hands with 5 leaflets, but not with three.  A similar looking vine is Virginia creeper.  It has 5 leaflets, and is harmless.   At a distance, they look similar, but up close you can see the differences.  

 

Both Va creeper and poison ivy are climbers, reaching 10-15 feet up into the trees.  They are both changing colors right now.  Va creeper is going red; poison ivy turning a sickly yellow-brown.  But later in the season poison ivy will turn a brilliant scarlet.  So far, I'm not helping much, but wait!!  Poison ivy growing up a tree has very distinctive roots.  They look hairy.  Noticeably hairy!  Most other vines don't have the fiber-hairy stems.

 

Every part of poison ivy carries the oil, Urushiol.  And it is this oil that causes inflammation of the skin.  People vary in reaction to the heavy oil, but the skin must come in direct contact with the oil or the smoke from burning poison ivy.  I have way too many stories about poison ivy to even start to tell, but let's just say I've become an expert at identifying it.  I can spot it at 100 yards at 55 mph.   It often grows alongside Jewelweed, with orange flowers, but you can't always depend on that for identification.

 

That's why I'm writing about it now.  I want you to learn to identify it now while the leaves are present, because once the leaves drop off it's more difficult to identify, but no less hazardous.  Figure out where it is, and avoid those areas. Pulling weeds and running into poison ivy roots can cause the skin reaction.  Brushing against the roots on tree trunks can still cause the reaction.  Be aware when you are burning yard trash, the smoke can really be bad news, affecting eyes and lungs.  No, really!!!  Know the enemy.   For me, it's poison ivy.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!

 

I'm not sure if this picture works, but it was the best I could get at the time.   Meet Paulownia tomentosa, Princess tree. This particular tree is on the corner of Stonebriar and Crabapple.  Several people have asked me what it is.  Or if those yellow balls are pecans.  They are the fruits of the tree, but not pecans.  I'm not even sure if the squirrels eat them.

 

The best time to spot the princess tree is in spring, when she's blooming.  The purple flowers are about 2 inches, in large clusters.  They are easy to see along the highway, even at 45 mph.  The trees are medium height, usually growing like a weed tree:  wherever its seeds touch down.

 

Right now, though, the tree sports huge heart shaped leaves, and these clusters of yellow nuts.  You can see last year's fruit too;  those clusters are darker, almost black.  And you can see next spring's flower buds in large clusters of velvety-hairy spikes.  

 

Princess tree is not a tree I would plant in my front yard, because it's a little messy, but it is delightful to see in our woods, and along the road.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!