FIRST FLOWERS OF LATE SUMMER 2015

Pineapple sage? I've never seen that before I don't think. Post it up!

Jeff--

Among the many herbs and veggies that "Bonnies" (at my HD) carries there was
always Pineapple sage among all the other sages.

Sunce I have watered them all a hundred times-I can tell you that this saage
grows leggy and a bit floppy. Kind of "messy"...
At the store--I never saw them in bloom.... Gita

http://theherbgardener.blogspot.com/2010/06/how-to-grow-pineapple-sage.html

Oh that's pretty.

We've had one for several years. It is one of the plants that comes inside for the winter. The leaves smell nice.

I think I may try to freeze some leaves and the flowers.

I will try to get a picture of mine growing, it has not gotten leggy, more bushy. I'm sure if I tried to bring it in the cats would chew it up.

Hey it looks like it's coleup's birthday today!

Happy Birthday to one of the most knowledgeable gardening people I know (and a fast researcher when a question has been posed).

Catmint, if you have a sunny spot, try bringning your pineapple sage inside... cats mostly leave "herbal" smelling plants alone.

Here's a DG article I wrote about Sages, including Pineapple Sage, with LadyG's poundcake recipe: http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/2948

Judy... is this true ? :) Happy Birthday and I second the motion raised by Catbird. Your head is full of useful information, unlike mine which is full of useless information... like what is the average number of peanuts in a snickers bar or the distance from Jupiter to Uranus.

My pineapple sage plant.
Jill, do you have any suggestions for freezing sage leaves and flowers?

Leaves, I'd coat in olive oil and put into freezer bags... flowers, I'm really uncertain... I think we once discussed freezing them in ice cubes but don't know if anybody tried doing that and thawing them. They would probably freeze better baked into pound cake! :-)

Judy---

In honor of your Birthday--this Monarch Butterfly swung by my garden today,
filled up on some nectar from my NE Asters, and left me a message to wish you a
VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!! I said i would....Tee--Hee....

It circled and circled for a long time--and then came down to my place to have a
quick lunch and then, I guess, took off for places unknown.
He really did circle many tines--but always landed back on my Aster.

In pic. #1 you can see his long proboscis sucking away on the yellow centers of the bloom.
I did not expect a Monarch this late in season....

Gita

Jill--

I remember the discussion on freezing in ice cubes.
I think I posted and asked what was the best way to preserve fresh parsley?

I did chop up the parsley , fill the tray cubes with it and then pour just enough
water over them to cover. When frozen--I put the parsley-cubes in a zip-baggie.

Can't give you any reports on how they came through all this as I don't think
I only used the frozen Parsley in soup--as mine is always available fresh in the garden.
They do overwinter--so i can just run outside and snip some.

G.

Happy Birthday, Coleup/Judy!

I didn't even know you could eat pineapple sage. Mine is full of flower buds now!

Birthday wishes to you, Coleup.

My Pineapple sage overwinters outside in its container, I hasn't bloomed though so maybe I'll put it on my unheated porch and see if I can get it an early start next Spring.

Like SSG, I too love Goldenrods! Here are some pics of the solidagos I have in my garden areas.

http://www.chicagobotanic.org/plantinfo/goldenrod

1 Little Lemon (12-24 inches) and noid wild (6' plus) These have an end plume bloom

2 Three varieties that bloom all along their unbranched stems

3 'Fire Works' branched stems with long spears of flowers at end, some as long as 18 inches. Grows 3-4 foot x 3-4.

4 caesia...grows well and blooms in even part shade conditions for me, Great at woods or bed edge. Leaves have stayed really dark green.

5 All together.

Happy Birthday, Judy! I hope you had a fun day.

Wow Robin what a cake! I'm imagining it tasting like Ladygardener's Pound Cake ! As delicious as the nectar rich flowers fueling the Monarch migration back to Mexico.

Gita, the rain, storms and wind directions have stalled the Monarch migration along the East Coast until today! Perfect weather for flying onward. So glad you were home and out and about to see your visitor today. It is really cool to have them circle back and really drink deep. Thank you.

Thanks, Cam. I love useless information! I also love finding uses for previously useless info or finding people who can use what I bring to the table! The shortest distance between two points is a straight line but life is a journey where we are 'off course' 90 % of the time or more. Hey, you're pretty good on that weather radar stuff!!

Thanks Pat and Loretta and Muddy. As to the 'fun day', I have to say how beautiful the day has been...from brilliant star firmament pre dawn and then the sun just at the angle that bathes everything in beautiful light. I imagine my birth to have been on such a day. And, truly, I can't remember a bad weather Birthday!

HaHaHa, I thought I was going to be a year older today than I am...so this entire year I will be younger. Like thinking it's Wed but it's only Tues I feel like I have been gifted and extra or bonus year!

And, heard on early morning radio "So many stories, a lifetime full. When an older person dies, it is like a library closes."

This beauty eclosed today, too. It's magic.

Happy Birthday Judy!

Happy Birthday! I'm glad you had a lovely day.

Sally, the monarchs you entrusted to our care were greatly enjoyed by the kids on the block. All but 2 eclosed and were released. We watched a couple of them unfold their wings -- what a treat! (The remaining 2 are very dark and I don't think they are still viable.) Let me know if you need the cat cage back before the seed swap or whatever time we're together next.... it looks like it could be collapsed and mailed. ?

Thanks so much Jeff and Jill!

Happy Happy Coleup, Hope you had a good day.

Coleup, that is an awesome shot of the monarch coming out of the chyrsalis!

TeeHee, I did have a good day with a twist that had me playing in mud and water all afternoon! I posted this on the Plant Addicts thread
"Just yesterday morning after a fine start to my birthday, I noticed that my driveway parking area had not dried out and infact seemed wetter after all the rain and down slope drainage should have cleared. There was even a trickle of water across my drive to the ditch.

I called the Water Dept as they had recently made repairs to the old service line on my street and alerted them to a possible leak. The supervisor said he'd be over in a couple hours. I didn't think much more of it as when they did the repairs I had them check and verify that when I had all of the fixtures in my house turned off that my meter did not show any usage at all.

As I waited outside I began to investigate the wetness further and to my dismay found pools of standing water/muck about 40 feet up from my meter just where my water line angles over to my house. I poked around with a metel pipe and soon found a gusher above my line on the part of the meter that I have to pay for plus any repairs. The last water line repair, in that same area 25 yrs ago cost almost 3K. I started calling plumbers for estimates but the two I called were scheduling work for end of Oct! I packed as much clay into the area and then put a heavy log on top trying to slow the flow and went in the house and filled the bath tub and lots of water bottles so I could at least have the Water people turn off my service while I tried other plumbers.

By then Wayne was back from second job and neighbor and Harold from Water Dept came to investigate. Harold, bless his heart was just so great and helpful! So, now that we have a 4x4x4 foot hole above the water line leak and some guidance on repairing and another nice couple of days, I think Wayne and I can DIO do it ourselves! And since it won't be cold for a long while we can take our time filling in the hole and (Plant Addict Alert) selecting a shallow rooted shrub to plant there! Either that or I'll have my first water feature!"


Loretta, not my picture but from this site full of other incredible catterpillar to butterfly transformations
https://monarchchaser.wordpress.com/about-monarchs/

Edited to correct my oops. Thanks Loretta!

This message was edited Oct 8, 2015 7:04 PM

Haha!! I saw that too.

I'm sensing a bit of Zone envy? Or is it just that you all are above the Mason Dixon Line? HaHa

What I meant was that there is plenty of time between now and when an exposed water line may freeze! So we can leave repair area open until we are sure it works as we are DIO. Even if it leaks a little we can still have some water service and no extra unused water charges and a lower bill if we do need to call in a professional since we've done all the digging. (of courde that means getting a repair person willing to use our hole!)

A few more of the future site of blooming shrub and flowers....after repair is complete (Pic 4 options for joining new section to old who knew there were so many kinds/sizes of plastic pipe and fittings!!!) and 8 large recycle bins of "soil" are amended and replaced.

"You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one...."

Hey, if anybody hasn't done the survey for the upcoming homepage changes, I think it's the last day. http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1406649/#new The more of us that put in our 2 cents, the more we're likely to like the result. For example, I'm hoping we can alphabetize our watched forum list. :-)

Hey--coleup---I used to have that kind of a hair dryer--as in pic. #4

I need a new one--the one I had "blew up" and had all kinds of glass rattling inside.
I could not get it unplugged fast enough.

Yes! I dry and mouse and curl my hair every day (not when I am just home)--
You can call me the "Aging Glamour Puss"......

G.

Read it again, coleup!

Dahlia 'Loverboy'. This looked sad all summer and is finally blooming for the first time.

what a reward for your patience!

Much better late than never, SSG ! Beautiful !

WOW!

I'm thinking of trying some dahlias again this spring... either ADR or Ednie. I'll see if Ednie has any assortments...

Nice color on that dalhia SSG.

Assorted Asters making their own bouquets.

Nice to see things are still blooming out there. Here's a couple from today.

Salvia koyamae - hopefully this one comes back next year. My Salvia glabrescens Momobana didn't make it back from the winter :-(
Tricyrtis hirta
Rabdosia longituba
Montauk Daisy - from Jill
Monkshood from Gita

My Monkshood is not doing any better since I moved it in the spring to
the new location. Thought it would like it better. Nope! Still not doing well...

I give up on it! I can live without it! G.

a yellow Salvia, well, I never... what exposure for that Montauk? My big clump has no sign of buds.
I gave up on the Monkshood too.