Sandy's eggplant reminded me about seed saving.  And NOW is a good time to do it.  

 

When you have a plant like that: strong and healthy, happy in its environment, and producing fruit like crazy, you NEED to save those seeds for future planting.  The plant is telling you that it is well adapted to your climate, your soil, and your style of gardening.  

 

Eggplant seeds are really easy to save.  When you cut into the fruit to use for a meal, just scrape out some seeds onto a plate and let them dry for a day or two.  Remember to label your seeds, lest ye forget what they are (when you finally get around to planting them. Seeds tend to look the same after a couple years.)   Make sure they are very dry before storing them in a glass container.  We use pimiento jars, because they're a good size and they're free.  We also add one of those little desiccant packs that come in our vitamin bottles.  That seems to help keep them dry.  I've read that eggplant seeds will still be viable after 6 years, if stored properly.

 

Not all seeds last that long, but are still worth saving.  Like heirloom tomatoes, or those beautiful blue pumpkins.  When you cut into them, save a few seeds to plant in the spring.  Heirloom seeds will reproduce true to the variety.  Hybrid seeds, like Better Boy tomatoes may not.  They usually revert to the characteristics of one or the other parent plant, so don't bother with them.  But do try to save seeds from heirloom plants.  I've had good luck with butternut and spaghetti squashes.  And I've been growing pineapple tomatoes for the last 4 years, just saving my own seeds.

 

So, you see it's a good idea to reuse what Nature has given us, not just the gift of food, but the ability to grow it again for free.  Besides, it's fun to know that you did it.  Gardeners love "bragging rights."

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!

 

This is proof of the "never ending eggplant" grown by Sandy Bradley.  Not here in North Carolina, but in Florida.  She told us about this thing:  it's 2 years old, has survived a couple hurricanes,  and is still producing eggplants.  Yeah, well, I wanted proof!!  Not calling her a storyteller, but you know fishermen and gardeners...

 

If you enlarge the picture, you can see lots of purple babies.  THAT is an amazing plant, or maybe the case of an excellent gardener.  Really, Sandy, that looks more like a tree than a garden plant. 

 

I hope she will share some of her gardening secrets with us.  I'll get back to you.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!

 

This was at 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon, on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  My friends are travelling from Yorktown to Peaks of Otter, on the Parkway.  They do it every year in the fall to enjoy the fall color in the mountains.  Not quite OUR mountains, but the next best thing.

 

I do hope they send more pix so we can enjoy the scenery too.  

 

We ALL wish you safe and happy travels.

 

HAPPY FALL Y'ALL!!

 

Have you seen the Hickory tree in the meadow, near the gate?  It's starting to change to its fall color.  Be sure to notice it every time you go by, because it changes almost daily.

 

I don't know what kind of hickory it is, just that it is beautiful now, and will be for the next however long.

 

HAPPY FALL Y'ALL!!

 

 

 

When my sister Linda saw my picture of jimsonweed, her artist's brain remembered this painting by Georgia O'Keeffe.  Thanks for sending it.  I love that artist, and this painting.

 

It was painted in 1932, and it is Jimsonweed!  The painting is 48 x 40 inches.  She painted several different ones, some with single blossoms, some with multiple blooms.  All breathtaking!!!  One of the Jimsonweed paintings sold in 2014 for 44.4 million dollars!!!!  Sotheby's (the auction house that sold it) shows this painting as the one, but other sources differ.  So... I don't know.  Can't trust everything you read on the internet.  But it was fun exploring.

 

If you'd like to see more, go to Jimsonweed paintings

 

Thanks, Linda, for reminding me of Georgia O'Keeffe.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!

 

 

 

Nobody in their right mind would ever plant morning glory in their garden.  But we love it!!  So here it is growing up a tomato cage.  It planted itself, but we didn't pull it out.

 

Left to its own devices, morning glory would probably like to take over the world, but we keep it in check.

 

There are many varieties, ranging in color from white to dark purple.  I've even seen tiny red ones, and sky blue ones!!

 

Earlier in the summer we had the dark purple ones climbing up the side of the house.  They open in the morning, and fade when the sun hits them.  The reason they are so prolific is the number of seeds produced by each flower.  When the seed pods dry, they open up and disperse all the seeds.  These seeds overwinter and sprout in the spring.  And there are just too many to weed out successfully.

 

So we have learned to live with them.  As long as they're not choking my blueberry bushes, I'm OK with a few morning glories.  Besides, look how pretty they are!!!

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!

 

 

 

 

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.