DAHLIAS IN BLOOM

Dahlias delight the eye in our backyard, please the bees and sate the vase. What's not to like about them?

Dinnerplate. The plant itself would tower over me if it were not flopping over--I'm clocking 61 1/2" myself. Can you say "super-size me"?

Susan B. Kommen Dahlia

Cantaloupe Update

I bought a 6 pack of cantaloupe seedlings in mid May on my trip to Dobson in Surry County. Paid .99 at a country market--the original "Fresh Market"--the kind of place that sells flower and vegetable plants, fresh vegetables and fruits, hoop cheese, pork rinds, RC Colas, etc. all under overt closed circuit television surveillance. Kind of a "smile you're on camera" situation at the checkout counter with a photographic quality not unlike your driver's license.

You can see they're well underway (as is Jubal) on 6/12/08.


One month later, the vines truly hum with bees.


...and if you look closely, you will see fruit with the potential to become a divine melon with tan netlike ridged rind and a sweet fragrant orange flesh--in maybe another month. Stay tuned.

My Mother's Green Thumb

My mother is a master "rooter" of cuttings: gardenia, forsythia, rose, confederate rose, rosemary, wisteria, hydrangea, peach and fig--to name a few. This is a peach tree in her yard that she grew from a pit. Some of its blossoms are pink and some are white.

I think if we tested the dna on her thumb, the results would reveal something like rhizocaline, a powerful hormone that stimulates the growth and development of plants. Or, maybe it would reveal consistent attention to the details of gardening on a daily basis.


Below is a sample of some plants I have in my yard that she started.

gardenia

rosemary

confederate rose
(mallow)

fig

wisteria

forsythia

Mama is also a really good biscuit maker--more on that topic, later.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAURIE!

Celebrating the life of a special gardener

...it's not 52 degrees out...it's not the 52d day of July...it's not just a random number...

Fruits of Late June

What we're eating now.

peaches
blueberries
cucumber
sweet banana pepper
Parker's Whopper

Brussel sprouts

squash
plums