Sunday, November 16, 2008

What's Blooming on November 16




I'm a day late for Carol's blog, but today's roster of blooms will, perhaps, be more interesting, because we had the first frost of the season last night.
I harvested 3/4 of a five gallon bucket of tomatoes yesterday, and half a bucket of lima beans. There were many green beans too small to harvest, so I covered the row of plants with burlap, after giving them a good soak with the hose.


I will wrap the tomatoes individually in newspaper, to keep them from drying out while they ripen. We'll have fresh tomatoes for many weeks to come.


The temperature stayed below freezing for only an hour or so. There was frost damage to the sweet potato vines I have not yet gotten around to harvesting, to the tomato plants, the Cuban oregano, and to one of the datura plants. Far as I can see, nothing was actually killed. I have scores of little volunteer basil plants that came up under a rose bush. When I need basil for cooking, I pull up a whole plant. Maybe I'll transplant a few of these into containers, so I'll have fresh basil over the winter. Since winter here in central Texas last only a couple of months, and we can grow cool season crops through most of it, there is no great need to can or otherwise preserve food. The greater need for this comes in high summer, when everything either dies or goes dormant, save the heat-lovers such as sweet potato vines and okra. But potting up a few basil plants is probably worth the effort.


OK, here's what's still blooming:


Roses:

Maggie

Mutabilis (only a few blooms)

Clothide Soupert

miniature (five bushes still going strong, covered with blooms)

Knockout (this one bloomed profusely all thru the summer but is finally slowing down, has only a few blooms now)

Zinnias (still going strong)

Orange flowers from Great Outdoors in Austin (the flower look a bit like those of the golden shrimp plant, Pachystachys lutea, but the flowers and plants are different enough that I doubt they're closely related. I've pasted in a pic above.)
Salvia Victoria
Pavonia
Datura (in protected area, no frost damage - flowers delicate shade of yellowish pink - I really need to learn more names!)
Echinacea (flowering very nicely now that the weather has cooled a bit)
Penta
Marigolds
Mums (just a few still blooming)
Snapdragons (seedlings purchased from Fanick's nursery in San Antonio)
Viola
Petunia (old fashioned purple, very fragrant)
Canna lily (the ones in exposed locations suffered some frost damage, but the ones in protected areas are still fine)
Plumbago (planted along south side of wood fence -- survived the frost with no damage)
Bouganvillia (south side of fence)
Oleander (south side of fence)
Mexican mint marigold (Tagetes lucida)
Vinca minor
Orange cigar plant (Cuphea micropetala)
Green beans (I include these even tho I grow them for food rather than flowers -- the kind I'm growing at the moment [a French variety] make the loveliest lavender blooms.


Saturday, November 1, 2008

What's Blooming in My Garden Today

Maggie rose
Clotilde Soupert rose
Knockout rose
red salvia (volunteer, do not know species)
Indigo spires salvia
pavonia
zinnia
marigold
snapdragon (transplants from nursery)
fanick's perennial phlox
plumbago - blue & white
coral vine
vinca minor
penta
orange flowers from Great Outdoors (don't know name)
white & pink flowers from Great Outdoors
cigar plant
Tecoma stans (Yellow Bells)
Oleander
vitex (doesn't usually bloom this time of year, but shrub was stressed over the summer)
yellow & pink 4 o'clocks
garden mums

Harvesting:
tomatoes
peppers
sweet potatoes
butter beans
southern peas (Mandy, blackeyed, purple hull)
turnip greens
radishes
Barbados cherry
dandelion (wild)
chicory (volunteer)

Annual Food Plants Growing but not yet harvestable:
Broccoli
Cabbage
Spinach
Lettuce
onions
beets
green beans (fall crop)
squash (fall crop)

Perennial Food Plants Growing:
Pear (unknown varieties)
Peach (unknown varieites)
Peach (donut)
Plum
Cherry (Royal Lee)
Mulberry
Loquat
Tangerine
Apple (Pink Lady, Anna)
Fig (has many green figs, may or may not ripen before first frost)
artichoke
blackberries
dew berries
pecan (natives & unknown varities)
elderberry

Fruit / Nut trees I would like to add this year:

Asian pear
low chill peaches
Ein Shemer apple
jujube
paw paw (maybe, tho I don't think it will do well in our alkaline soil)
almond
persimmon (non astringent)
pomegranite
Doreset Golden apple
Himrod grape