Pumpkin Peppers

It's almost time for pumpkins.  I've already made the first pumpkin pie of the season and today my DH and I were out looking for some carving pumpkins for Halloween.  We didn't find it yet, but I did find these "pumpkin" peppers in the gardens.

I guess I must have missed them somehow, so now they've over-ripened and turned these fantastic shades of orange, gold and red.  I think I'll leave them for Mr. Rabbit.

I just love it when Mother Nature takes care of the seasonal decorations!

City Waterfront, Country Waterfront

I was down at the waterfront in midtown yesterday.  The amount of equipment they have right on the waterfront never ceases to surprise me.  Aside from the boats and docks and all, they have the cranes there for moving freight and then there are the dredgers.  The Hudson has a lot of silt that builds up pretty quickly - at least I think it does considering that they always seem to be dredging.  Quite the busy little waterfront.

Today I was down at the waterfront up by our bucolic manor.  It was busy in its' own way.  You know, what with the water flowing down the river - and then more water - and then some more water.   Bust little waterfront.  Yup.

City vs country...which to choose?

Sunny Flower Day

Today might be one of the last warm days of the year, so I thought I'd have a little fun with my Jerusalem artichokes.

Okay - that sounds a little strange...

I thought I'd have a little fun playing around with a picture of my Jerusalem artichokes in Photoshop.

Much better...

These are the second to last vegetable from our gardens - the last being the Brussels sprouts, which hopefully will be ready just in time for Thanksgiving.  Even though the Jerusalem artichokes practically take over the entire garden in the spring and I have to weed them out of everywhere like mad to keep them contained in their little section, I keep them around for this fantastic display in the Fall.

I love walking through the parterre and having their sunny flowers dancing in the breeze way above my head.  It makes me feel like a kid again - running through meadows, picking flowers, months of vacation time and convincing my little sister it was her turn to do my chores.  (Sorry sis!)

So when the sun came out this morning and it warmed up like August, I just had to play --- even if it was only on the computer.

A Rose By Any Other Name

I don't know what it is about some of the flowers in our gardens, but they make me want to take out everything from the background except for the bloom.

Maybe it's the brilliant color.  But probably it's the way that the light shines through the petals.  It looks like they're absorbing the sun directly.

This rose looks to me as if it is made out of porcelain.  Its' petals seem so delicate and fragile.  Even though I know that it would take a bit of effort to tear them - and I'd probably get pricked by a thorn when I tried.

I never had much luck with roses before I found this Knockout Rose.  They would get black spot or aphids would eat them to the stem.  I was really good at growing rose canes, not so much at getting blooms.  This one blooms from May through --- well, as long as the weather holds.

All in all, this Knockout Rose lives up to its' name.  It's October and there are still a lot of blooms growing.  Some parts of the bush have gotten a bit of mildew, but the overall plant is thriving.  That's what I like about disease resistant rose bushes most of all.

Oh - and a Midnight Muffin Madness note.  My DH is bringing pie tomorrow (pumpkin - I'll post), so the muffins will resume next week.

Country Roads

I went for a little drive and decided to take a shortcut.  Normally, I don't take shortcuts because I never know where I'm going to end up or if I'll get stuck driving down a 1-way road over a mountain with washed out gullies on either side of the pickup with barely enough road left for my pickup to drive on and no possible way to turn around.  Yikes!

 But this time I got lucky.  After surviving the impossibly narrow road up one side and down the other of a mountain, it leveled out and there were some beautiful fields and farms to calm me after my stroke-inducing drive.

The colors were so rich - perfect Fall golds and burgundies.  And the best part?  I found a way home that didn't involve going back up that mountain road!

Saving Seeds

My DH keeps telling me that with the amount of plants we have out in the garden, surely we should be able to get more of them simply by harvesting the seeds and growing our own plants.  I keep telling him that not all of the seeds that these plants we have are going to sprout and create new plants.  He keeps telling me that even if we get 10 plants for every 100 seeds, we could be "ahead of the game" and soon have thousands more plants.  So I told him.  Okay.  Go for it.  I'll harvest the seeds and he can grow them.

I took a little ziptop bag out to the garden and pulled off a bunch of seed heads - making sure to leave enough for the birds and other little creatures.  Then I brought them inside and said - here ya go!  Then he pointed out that they needed to be cleaned up and sorted so we would know where to put them when all of the seedlings started sprouting.

First up is the echinacea - purple cone flower.  I really like this one, but we only got 3 blooms this season and it looks like they are being crowded out by the rudbeckia - black-eyed susan.  It would be great if we could get a few extra of these.

So I pulled everything off of the cone and start separating out the seeds from chaff.  At first I carefully pulled apart all of the little black specks that looked really seed-like and set them apart.  Then I decided to look up what the seeds looked like and found out that I had separated out the wrong thing!

These are echinacea seeds.  Not that little black spec that would require a magnifier and tweezers.  Just the big beige thing.  You have to refrigerate these for 2 weeks, then put them on top of the soil, give them light, make sure they don't dry out, and they will sprout in 10-20 days.  But you won't get any flowers until the 2nd year.  So we should probably wait until March before we grow these ones.

Next up is the rudbeckia.  I have big ones and small ones.  This time I looked up what the seeds should look like before I spent an hour pulling them apart with tweezers.  See - I learn!

For these ones, you plant them 6-8 weeks before the last frost and then refrigerate for 4 weeks, then take them out and put them in a warm spot until they germinate.

These are hemerocallis (daylily) seeds - a mixed bag of whatever hadn't been eaten yet.  There weren't very many seed pods this year, but I think I got enough for my DH to play with - I mean plant.  These can be planted right away and raised indoors during the winter.  Just plant 1/4-inch deep and they sprout in about 2 weeks.  Plant up as they grow and then bring them out in Spring.  They'll flower in 2 or 3 years.

The hosta plants gave a lot of seeds per pod, so I only picked a few.  These seed pods were also sparse.  I think the rabbit or the squirrels were having a bit of a feast.  They should be easy, just plant and 2 weeks later they should sprout.  If you leave the lights on for 3 months or so, they will really take off.  Well, at least the 20% of them that actually grow.

I had to get some hollyhock seeds as well.  I know that they will fall off of the plant and self-sow at its' base, but it seemed wrong to leave it all to chance, so I grabbed a few pods.  Put the seeds in the freezer for a few days, then next Spring, sow them outside.

The final fancy one is canna.  In January, nick the seed opposite the scar, then pour boiling water over them.  After they start crackling, add cold water until it is lukewarm.  Let them soak for 24 hours and then plant them.  The plants will sprout in a 1-3 days.  Freaky - a sprout in a day.  I should look up what type of environment these plants are from.  Boiling water, growth in a day to survive.  Sounds harsh.

So here they all are - nicely separated.  All that remains is to put some powdered milk in the bags to absorb any excess moisture - apparently rice doesn't quite do the trick - and then freeze or just place in a cool place as each one needs.

And there you have it.  In 2 or 3 years, maybe 20% of the seeds will be plants out of which 5% will grow and flower.

I'm sure that saving endangered seeds is a good thing.  I'm not convinced about it when it comes to common plants.  Either way, my DH will have fun trying and it will be good practice.

Canyons

Stuck on a crosstown bus in the middle of an intersection can be frustrating - stressful - and worrisome. Especially when I'm trying to catch the evening train.

Then the bus driver announced we would be sitting there for about a 1/2 hour and we shouldn't bother asking to get off, because there was no way he was going to open the doors in the middle of the intersection.

What to do?

Stare at the passers by and the people stuck in taxis heading downtown.  Call my DH and let him know I missed the train.  Watch the raindrops make their way down the window.

At least I'm not getting charged by the minute for the privilege of being late.

Next time I'll get wet and walk.