Have you noticed the Devil’s Walking Sticks in the neighborhood?  Some have gone from light green and yellow flowers to red stems with purple berries.  They are in varying stages right now.  

 

We have noticed that some are still in the green flower stage, and others with stems that are just starting to go red.  We have also seen several with dark purple berries, and other ones with red stems and no berries left.  Birds love them.

 

I hope you notice them on your walks and drives through the neighborhood.  I’ve even seen a few on the highway going toward Blairsville.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

Are you familiar with the Princess Tree, Paulownia tomentosa?  

 

You’ve probably seen them around;  they grow like weeds.  They are big, and have big heart shaped leaves.  And when they bloom in the spring, the flowers are strikingly purple, standing up above the leaves, in big clusters.  That’s when they are prettiest.  Well, this last spring we had an untimely freeze, and the Princess trees didn’t bloom at all.  

 

That’s why I got so excited when I saw this tree.  It is in the neighborhood, on Stonebriar near Clifford’s hill.  And it has set flower buds:  see the brownish buds standing up above the leaves?  Hopefully they will bloom next May.  I will show you again.

 

 

FINGERS CROSSED!!!

 

Here she is:  A cabbage white butterfly, flirting around my broccoli plants.  She is only about 2 inches across, but I thought you might like to see what all the hoo hah is about.  

There are no flowers (for nectar) on the broccoli, so I imagine her intent is to lay eggs.  The adult females lay the eggs under the edge of the leaves, and when the caterpillars emerge they eat the leaves.  See those holes in the lower leaves?

 

That’s what we DON’T want.  I don’t mind the butterflies, but the caterpillars do a lot of damage.  So all the Brassicas get Dipel dusted after every rain.  The butterfly isn’t poisoned, but the caterpillars die when they ingest the dust.  Sorry…

 

 

HAPPY SUCCESSFUL GARDENING!!!

 

Remember all that dill?  Well, I took it out a couple weeks ago.  And apparently some seeds dropped on the ground, because this is baby dill coming up in the same place as the other dill.

 

Cool!!!  A second crop of dill.  We love it.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Even though those little ones may not have enough time before the frost, these plants set fruit a couple months back.  They are almost ready to harvest.  That bottom one is the right color, and its plant is dead.  And the two upper ones are still a little green, and their plants are still alive, so I’m guessing they can hang in there another month.  

 

Aren’t they beautiful?  We love butternut squash.  

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

Look how cute these butternuts are.  I’m not sure they will have enough time to get big and ripen before the frost, they need about 90 days.  Hmmm, that would be Thanksgiving.  Well, maybe…

 

I planted them on the north side of the tomato cages, so they don’t block the sun.  But the tomatoes are finished, so they can climb the cages freely, and hog all the sun they want.

 

Anyway, I just love watching them grow.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Look how beautiful this is.  It is called Malabar spinach.  It’s not a true spinach, but a vigorous vine with edible leaves that taste like spinach.  The best part is that it grows in hot weather, where spinach likes cool weather.

 

I’ve never planted it before, but we are trying it this year.  And so far, it’s doing great.  It has climbed to the top of the trellis, and started moving sideways.  We’ve already picked a bunch of leaves, and it is still pretty.  I love those red stems.  

So with this plant we can have spinach up til the frost.  Yay!!!

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

 

These hot cherry peppers crack me up.  They don’t hang down like normal peppers, they stick up.

 

Anyway, I don’t like to eat them, or even touch them, but Jon does, so we plant them every year.  Besides, they are cute.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

My friend was telling me about a trip she made to WalMart to buy two small pieces of fabric:  1/4 yard each.  The yard goods person only wrote down the price per yard for the fabric.  When she got to the cashier (a young person) he couldn’t figure out how to do the math.  Whaaat?  It took several other cashiers to figure it out.  Wow!!!

 

We were lamenting the lack of skills in young people nowadays:  namely math and social skills, but also homemaking skills like canning, sewing, and fixing things.  

 

I think it is all WalMart’s fault for luring us into buying cheap stuff, and then just throwing it away and buying new, cheap stuff.  Made me think of this meme.  Not sure they’re the same thing, but kinda…

 

I love our homesteading skills, as limited as they are.  We love growing and cooking our own food, canning it, and fixing things when they break.  We can also manage a little math and good conversations.  

 

 

HAPPY SUMMER!!!

 

This one didn’t try to get away.  It was busy with a ladybug, but still posed for its photo.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!