Flower Photos

I have been working on a project for work this week that has restricted my outdoor time. I have gone over to see the cows a couple of times a day. Other than that, I realized I haven't checked my worms for weeks and weeks. I had given them a large quantity of comfrey leaves, and since then have left them alone.

Comfrey decomposes incredibly rapidly. At first, I wondered if all the worms had died (no creature can live in its own excrement). But when I emptied their worm bucket, I found worms and more worms. I had intended to try to skim off the compost and leave the worms, but I found myself anally looking for each little egg. I don't feel terribly generous about my worms: I want them all for me! So I gave that up, put some new bedding in their bucket, made sure to break apart large clumps so they had some more air, and packed them all back in.

When I went to the flower and herb farm on Monday, Isaiah and I were pleased to see a large quantity not only of our beloved hibiscus, but also a very large mint planting. We have a mint planting, too, right outside our window. Sometimes the Leghorn chicken will scratch there, or Shadow will dash through, and the scent of mint wafts through the window. (Actually, that hasn't really happened for a few months: we've been a bit too fond of the A/C for that.)

There was also little patches of "explosion grass." I don't think we have exactly that green plant here, but we do have a reddish version, almost like a delicate fireworks display. Probably good in flower arrangements.

I'm afraid I'm almost too territorial of my flowers: I don't want to cut any of them to bring them inside, though I bet I would like it.

Our goldenrod has just started to blossom. When I have more than one plant, I think I will harvest a few blossoms and make a tincture. Goldenrod is supposed to be good for cleansing the kidney. Apparently, if you don't process your emotions, the kidney somehow does so (and though I buy it, I don't know that I could persuade most doctors that there is a physiological effect).

The okra that I planted late in the season, after I had seen local okra in the stores, has grown phenomenally well in the greenhouse. Some of the plants are almost shoulder high. But no blossoms yet; no fruit. The fruit is coming, though! I saw evidence today.

Speaking of fruit, Phil and I were commenting recently that there have been few such colossal failures as the 1000 raspberries we planted last year. Though not all 1000 have died, I would be surprised if we got even 20 fruits out of the lot of them. I snapped a photo of the one ripe one, then ate it. Delicious. Just ... single.

One of the things I was reading today was about how important it is to push orchard soils to be fungally dominated. Looking back, our soils had lots of wild berries and goldenrod when we moved, definitely more bacterially dominated. I haven't seen any mushrooms growing in the orchard, even where we mulched with wood chips (that day will come!), but I did see a few mushrooms sprouting in the nursery. Ah! They are doing well.

My gladiolas, although overall disappointing, have now had a few more blossom. Maybe it's only three or four plants out of the 50, but I like that hint of color.

I learned on Monday that a zinnia is quite different than I had thought. In my mind, a zinnia was a cosmos: delicate, few of petal. No. Zinnias are bold, strong, beautiful. I have several colors in the garden, but the scarlet is the most striking.

Did you know that calendula (as in calendula cream for burns) is more commonly called marigold? Marigolds are good to plant all around a garden, to prevent pests. I don't have them growing all around my garden, but I hope they will gradually self-sow.

And I am consistently impressed with the wonderful productivity of my fuchsia globe amaranth. The color and little white stars never fail to delight me.

I hope they delight you, too.