Blog Archives
Fruit Blooming
A week ago, most of the fruit was barely beginning to bud out. A week later, much of it is in the beginning stages of blooming!
The black currant has some interesting purplish buds.
I think the red currant is going to be loaded with fruit this year! The only question that remains is…will the birds get them first, or will I?
Pineapple Sage
After being gone for a week, I was happy to see that the Pineapple Sage in our herb garden is blooming. If you don’t grow many herbs, or if you are just looking for something that is going to have great color in the fall for your garden, I would highly recommend pineapple sage. It is not winter hardy here, so treat it like an annual. It grows best in the summer, but it needs the shortening days of early fall to initiate bloom.
As an herb, it is a bit more of a challenge to use, probably because of its thick leaves and rather fuzzy leaf texture. That can be a bit unappetizing. But…it has a lovely scent and nice flavor if you can get past the texture.
If you are looking for some other great “sages” for fall flower color, check out the Autumn Sages – Salvia greggii. Autumn sage is grown as a perennial farther south, and it is pretty low maintenance – not much water needed. Here it will need to be treated as an annual, but it gives great fall flowers!
Friday PhotoEssay
Things are starting to go down-hill as we reach the middle of August, but I think I still managed to get some great pictures to share with you this week.
Our Fall Bearing raspberries (sometimes called Everbearing) are starting to produce well this week. Unfortunately we don’t have enough plants to produce enough berries for a raspberry pie! Well…maybe we would if I stopped snacking on them every time I’m out in the garden. But then, I’m sure the robins would get anything I don’t eat!
We had a friendly green grasshopper hanging out (hiding?) on the celosia earlier this week. If you want to see something pretty neat, click on the picture to get the full-size photo and check out his googly eyes!
The Celosia is finally starting to bloom. This is just the beginning. These flowers should get much bigger and quite stunning in another couple weeks. I’ll keep you posted.
The radishes we planted on Tuesday are starting to come up. I love radishes! They are as close to instant gratification as a gardener can get!
The Pampas grass that is our entryway windbreak started flowering this week. It is gigantic!
Our huge prostrate rosemary plant is blooming. Rosemary blooms are a relatively uncommon occurrence, so we’re excited to see them.
Have a great weekend!
Friday PhotoEssay
This container is the “centerpiece” of our container garden. It has really come on nice in the past week!
This African Blue Basil is a beautiful addition to any garden. It is almost too pretty to be edible!
The winter squash are finally starting to bloom and set some squashes!
These ornamental peppers are providing a great display!
The Swiss Chard is looking great as well. Now if it only tasted as good as it looks…
The cannas in the lattice garden are starting to show off their blooms.
Have a great weekend!
The Hosta Garden
The Hosta Garden on the north side of the Demonstration Garden is looking absolutely gorgeous right now, so I couldn’t resist sharing some pictures with you.
Mouse Ears Hosta
The Mouse Ears Hosta in context. Aren’t they cute?
These hostas are full and lush!
Some hostas are supposed to have a wonderful fragrance when blooming, especially in the evening.
The Demo Garden Blog 