You learn something new every day.

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arugula, clematis, corn, cucumbers, elder, iris, radishes, roses, tomatoes, tulip

The iris ‘Hello Darkness’ opened its first bloom of the season this morning. It’s been chewed on by something since spring began, and I assumed it was slugs. This spring has been pretty dry and today we finally had a storm that’s been building for two days; the first rain in at least two weeks. After the storm I found a lot of snails on this iris.

This was a bit of a surprise, because I’ve never had a problem with snails before – the birds usually get them, so it’s the slugs I battle with. But as I was leaning in to pick them off, I noticed the flower was fragrant – which I certainly hadn’t noticed last year. It was a pleasant surprise.

The spring weather has made some unusual combinations. This spring was pretty cold before suddenly going warm, so it really has felt as though we went straight from winter to summer. The cold beginning meant that many plants and flowers were held back, and when it turned hot and everything suddenly started growing…there was no rain. The Siberian iris ‘Blue King’ has only just started budding out blooms.

In another first, the rabbits have been attacking the tulips. The little buggers just nipped the flowers off neatly and left them on the ground. Every single one of my new ‘Paul Scherer’ tulips got deadheaded prematurely. The ‘Paul Scherer’ is a new “black” tulip I planted last fall to compare to the’Queen of the Night’ tulips, which I’ve had a long time. Honestly, I’m hard pressed to find much of a difference other than the ‘Paul Scherer’ opened a day earlier. Perhaps in future seasons when they’re better established, more growth differences will become apparent, but the two varieties seem very similar in appearance.

What else…there seems to be a lot of dieback on the elder bushes (Sambucus canadensis). Winter was mild, so I doubt it’s that. I wonder if I’m seeing the effects of two dry springtimes in a row?

The western blue clematis (Clematis occidentalis) finally seems to be getting on with it. This is the third season I’ve had it, and the last couple years it didn’t seem to do much except sit there; last year there were maybe two flowers. This year it’s finally putting on some decent growth and starting to scramble up. There were three or four flowers earlier in the season.

I planted out the blue corn and the lemon cucumbers yesterday. Normally I would wait another week before planting those out, but as I said, the weather has been hot and there’s no expectation that will change. The first of the tomatoes (San Marzano) went out a few days ago; the rest (Black Krim and *ahem* Hans Gelbe Topftomate) will go in containers. I think the few radishes should be ready for picking in a week or so, and then I will sow sugar beets in that spot. I need to check if rabbits will attack arugula before planting any in the ground; right now they’re all in pots.

This Saturday is my Master Gardener group’s spring plant sale…guess who looks after the plants before the sale? Tomorrow we take the plants to the venue and set everything up. i don’t mind hosting the plants (if nothing else, it means I get first pick of anything that comes in), but it will be a relief to get it all gone.

“…and your father smelt of elderberries!”

Tags

elder

The elderberry harvest has begun…or at least, harvest of the two elderbushes (Sambucus canadensis) in my garden has begun. One of them consistenly flowers and fruits earlier than the other…probably because it gets a little more sun…so while that one is pretty much picked over, there’s always a week or so before berries on the other one ripen.

This year I’m torn between making jam or wine. I’m not good at making jam, but I’ll never get better without practice (or perhaps I’ll never get better no matter what). I don’t seem to be good at making wine either – an attempt earlier this year to make wine of my black raspberry glut resulted in raspberry wine vinegar. (Elderflower wine, on the other hand, is easy and I always get good results with that.) But this is the first year I’ll actually have enough elderberries to try making wine.

Decisions decisions.

Odds and ends.

Tags

calla lily, Eastern black swallowtail, elder, hellebore, lavender, poppy, robin, rue

It’s been a rainy day here today, which means it’s been a lazy day here today, garden-wise. I don’t place much faith in rain forecasts unless they predict at least a 90% PoP (possibility of precipitation)…which they did for today, so yesterday there was a mad scramble to get stuff done.

Last year I blogged about some caterpillars I raised, with pictures at each stage. Yesterday I noticed a couple Eastern Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes) caterpillars out in the garden, which is one of the types I raise. Usually I get them on the carrots (Daucus carota), but this year I was so late starting the carrots that I expected to find them on the dill (Anethum graveolens). So obviously I had to be wrong about that and found them on the rue (Ruta graveolens) instead.

I’m really not sure why I planted rue…I make no use of it, but it’s right in the middle of the other herbs, and the yellow flowers do look nice when the lavender, chives, and sage are in bloom too – all purple flowers. I’m more permissive of volunteer seedlings than I really should be, so the first picture below shows one of the caterpillars on a small rue plant that popped up in the pebble skirt/border around the herb bed. The second picture is a caterpillar on the main plant.

The one on the main plant is slightly larger, despite how they look in the pictures. The quadripartite blob at the top of the second picture is a rue seedpod/fruit forming. I don’t think I’ll bring these inside – they’ve obviously managed just fine on their own out in the garden. Now that I know they’re there, however, I might search for a few eggs to raise.

Yesterday I harvested some of the lavender (Lavandula angustifolia). I’d really hoped to be able to pick some elder flowers (Sambucus canadensis) too (for making elder flower wine), but just didn’t have the time, and more rain is forecasted for tomorrow. They were in perfect condition for picking yesterday too. Sigh.

What else…oh yes, the hellebore. I decided to try growing a black-bloomed hellebore this year (Helleborus x hybridus ‘Winter Dreams Black’). It didn’t arrive until May, so it had already flowered, as expected. Sometime after, it sent out some new growth and imagine the surprise when it flowered too. Right now there are two blooms on it; not quite as dark as they should be but I’m not complaining.

Some ‘Black Peony’ poppies whose seeds I simply scattered are starting to blossom. Unlike the ones I had last year, these really are about as dark as they should be, an extremely deep purple. Unlike the supposed ‘Schwartzwalder’ calla lilies, which continue to flower burgundy. Oh well.

And finally, a pair of American robins (Turdus migratorius) had built a nest in the lilac tree (Syringa vulgaris) earlier this year…right in the branch I’d fully intended to remove because it’s hanging too far over the steps. I saw three eggs before, and at least one of them has hatched. This is going to be interesting. Last year a pair nested in the Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) and for three weeks after the eggs hatched, I kept getting divebombed.

From spring into summer.

Tags

arnica, butterfly pea, cucumbers, elder, giant blue hyssop, okra, roses

Actually, more like straight from winter to summer. It hardly felt as if we had a spring this year.

Well, let’s see…everything that goes outside for summer is out and the bay window looks bare now. Somehow the ‘Lemon’ cucumbers are blooming already (cucurbits always open with male flowers first) and I really really hope the beetles stay away this year. The elder flowers (Sambucus canadensis) are set to open, the roses are opening and the American arnica (Arnica chamissonis) is in full bloom. There’s a slight lull in the general blooming at the moment; there usually is during the phasing of spring into summer.

I spent most of my garden time today and yesterday weeding. Now we’ve had some regular rainfall, the ground is soft enough to get everything up by the roots; living on clay means when it’s dry, it’s also hard as a brick and attempts to weed simply result in the top growth coming off and leaving the rootstock behind to haunt you again. My point? My index finger and thumb are sore. Wah.

Besides the weeding, I also planted out the ‘Red Burgundy’ okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) plants yesterday, and a couple of butterfly peas (Clitoria ternatea). The last of the overwintering Eastern Black Swallowtail chrysalides eclosed and flew off today, and I’m quite certain that the caterpillar I found feeding on the giant blue hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) last month is going to turn into a moth. Oh, and I gave a couple of the bonsai a much-needed pruning.

Spring continues.

Tags

elder, elder shoot borer, hops, pineapple sage, roses

Finally, some rain. And by some, I mean three weeks’ worth in two days. This has got to be the driest, hottest spring I can remember; last year’s spring was pretty dry too, but nowhere near as hot. For two weeks we’ve been teased with thunderstorm weather, but no actual rain until a couple days ago – the clouds just passed straight on.

Anyway, now with some heavy rain to settle the ground under the new trellis, I could finally plant the three hops (Humulus lupulus) vines. I grew them from seed last year, so they haven’t flowered yet and won’t until next year or even the year after…so I don’t know yet if I’ve wasted my time on them. Hops plants are either male or female and only the female flowers are useful (to humans, that is). There’s no way to sex them until they bloom (except possibly by DNA analysis?), so I hope out of three seed-grown plants, at least one is female.

Hm, what else…oh yes, the pineapple sage (Salvia elegans) just began blooming and holy crap, what a colour. If it keeps flowering through summer, this place will be a hummingbird paradise…okay, it’s just one plant, but still. The new rose (Honey Perfume) is planted too, and all the rosebushes are set for their first flowering of the season. All except the one that accursed rabbit destroyed. I swear, there’s never a coyote around when you want one.

Talking about pests, the elder shoot borer moth (Achatodes zeae) is early this year, or so it seems. I found and destroyed three today, all on the same plant.

To do: plant the cucumbers and potatoes, clear out the periwinkles (Vinca minor) invading from the neighbour’s yard, disbud the new strawberry plants, wire and plant the grapevine.

I’m not good at titles.

Tags

dahlia, daylily, elder, juniper, maple, raspberries, sedum, tomatoes

Well, I’ve had a look at the potted plants that have been overwintering in the garage and although it’s to early to say for sure, most of them seem in pretty good shape. A lot of the very hardy plants have already started sprouting, such as the sedums and daylilies (Sedum spp. and Hemerocallis spp.) The baby junipers have also started greening up. An interesting thing about a lot of evergreen conifers is that when they’re very young (say 5 years old or less), they go brown in winter. Everything that’s already sprouted is now outside under plastic domes.

Had a look in the backyard today and boy, those rabbits have done a number (and that number is two). They’ve chewed on everything they could reach, including a potted Norway maple (Acer platanoides) sapling that I left outside hoping winter would kill it (it was a donation to last year’s plant sale even though Norway maples are on the do-not-want- list). They even clipped the wild raspberry canes (Rubus occidentalis). And I’m pretty sure they had a go at one of the elderberry bushes (Sambucus canadensis)

Unfortunately I left the ‘Arabian Night’ dahlia tubers in the garage too long and they rotted away. I won’t say I’m not disappointed, but I’m not devastated either. In fact, I’d already ordered a new kind (‘Karma Chocolate’) before I’d even inspected the old ones.

And most recently, I got seeds for ‘Lemon’ cucumbers and ‘Black Krim’ tomatoes at Canada Blooms on Wednesday. I’m a little nervous about the cucumbers; last time I tried, a couple years ago, there was a terrible cucumber beetle festival. They’d always been around in small numbers because of the pumpkins, but the pumpkins don’t seem to be as bothered by them. Actually, it’s not even the beetles themselves that are the real problem; it’s more the bacterial infection that the beetles pass on to the plants. Anyway, I stopped growing cucurbits entirely for two years. I think I’ll hedge my bets and try growing a couple in pots in the bay window.

(Almost) the end of summer.

Tags

beetroots, elder, elecampane, hops, Japanese beetle, marsh mallow, poppy, potatoes, radishes

Well, summer’s nearly over, or autumn’s nearly here depending on how you look at it (I personally don’t count it as over until the equinox, September 23rd this year). The last of the potatoes and beets are in. I immediately sowed some more beet seeds as an experiment to see if I might get a small crop of baby beets by late autumn. Assuming the weather co-operates. I really ought to sow some radish seeds too…those have a short enough growing period that there should definitely be something out of that.

Unfortunately the last batch of elderberries (Sambucus canadensis) I picked got shoved in a corner and forgotten about for a week and now they really don’t look appetising at all. Compost heap for those. At this rate there’ll only be enough for one pot of jam. Used to be I dreaded the end of summer because it meant I had to go back to school. Now it means I have to spend ages dealing with my produce…which is entirely my fault, of course, but when you spend hours breaking your back and sweating and swearing at squirrels, it’s a little annoying to remember that you’re not quite done even when you get back indoors.

It’s been a cool summer this year and it’s cooling down pretty quickly as autumn approaches. That probably means a really cold winter. It usually does. One good thing about the chilly nights is that the Japanese beetles (Popilia japonica) don’t seem to get about as much.

The ‘Black Peony’ poppies gave an interesting show, but it didn’t last for long. I know I did start them late, but it looks as if they’re done flowering already. If any seeds come from them I’ll keep them and reseed next year, but I’m not ordering more. They were nice to look at, but nowhere near as dark as I’d hoped, and two flowers per plant seems sparse.

To do: sow the radishes, harvest the elecampane (Inula helenium) and marsh mallow (Althaea officinalis) roots, install the framework for trellissing the hops (Humulus lupulus) next year or maybe the year after. Damn but those buggers grew fast.

Bits and bobs.

Tags

aster, beetroots, bottle gentian, elder, onions

The bottle gentian (Gentiana andrewsii) is open. And by open, I mean not open. Bottle gentian flowers never open; they remain looking like oversized purple buds. It takes bumblebees, which are heavy and strong enough to force their way into the flowers, to pollinate them.

Harvested the last of the onions today. Fresh onions are good. And a few beetroots. Also the elderberries (Sambucus canadensis) are coming in. Now all I need are some Grue Goo and human bones to grind into meal for elderbury pie. (Don’t mind me, it’s from an old computer game.)

The mystery eggs on the sky-blue aster (Symphyotrichum oolentangiense) have hatched, but I’m no closer to an ID for them. The caterpillars are still tiny and don’t look like anything I’ve been able to find pictures of, but often caterpillars will change appearance and behaviour dramatically as they get older. Of course, there are larvae that look like caterpillars but aren’t.

Elder flower wine.

Tags

elder

Someone asked me how to make elder flower wine* and I figured I may as well put the method here. It’s enough to warrant a post on its own.

This assumes you have access to elder flowers of the right species. The one in my garden is the native Sambucus canadensis; in Europe it’s usually S. nigra. They may be variants of the same species; the taxonomy is still disputed, but for now they’re officially two different species. Around here the flowers usually start in late June.

On a dry, sunny day, pick about fifteen elder flower heads. This is a rough number, as the inflorescences will be of varying sizes. If in doubt, be generous. Inspect the heads and shake or brush off any debris or insects, then cut off all the stems as is practical. The stems and stalks of elder are toxic. I don’t wash the flowers, and I’ll explain why in a bit.

Bring one gallon of water to the boil, then remove from the heat. Add 700 g of sugar (about three cups), and the zest and juice of two lemons. I prefer to use sugar that’s at least somewhat refined, because elderflower wine has a delicate flavour and you don’t want to overpower it by using ‘strong’ dark sugars. There’s no reason you couldn’t use honey, but again, use a milder sort. As for the lemons, I find two are good for this amount of brew, but you can certainly use more (and you can just throw the whole things in after you’ve squeezed out the juice). You can also use oranges, or both. Stir well to dissolve the sugar, and allow to cool somewhat; it should feel uncomfortably but not unbearably hot if you stick your (clean!) finger in.

Now add the flowers. Elder flowers host a natural yeast that will provide fermentation, so you don’t need to add any yeast. This is why I prefer not to wash the flowers: most of the yeast would be washed away. Stir well. Ideally, all the flowers will sink and be covered by liquid, but this isn’t always the way it goes. Cover the container and leave in a warm spot for two days.

After two days, strain the liquid and decant into clean/sterilised bottles. Cap and leave in a warm spot for at least two weeks. Two weeks is the minimum: it will be perfectly drinkable but the longer you leave it the better it will be. I don’t know what the shelf life is, because it never stays around very long in this house. It will probably keep for longer in the fridge.

When opening the bottles, be careful. If everything has gone right, it will be very fizzy. I’ve heard it compared to a Frontignac, but I’ve never drunk any so I can’t say.

* I don’t know WHY because he never will.

Butterflies in my house.

Tags

Eastern black swallowtail, elder, jewelweed, monarch

Well, it seems that I’ll be doing two butterfly diaries this year after all.

The Eastern Black Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes), which I shall henceforth refer to as the EBS, favours as its larval host plants various members of the Apiaceae/Umbelliferae family. For most gardeners, this means carrots (including wild carrots, a.k.a. Queen Anne’s Lace, Daucus carota), dill (Anethum graveolens), rue (Ruta graveolens), and parsley (Petroselinum crispum). I’ve always found this rather ironic, because while the EBS is native to eastern North America, none of those plants I just listed is native.

In my garden, the mother EBS are usually attracted to my carrot patch. However, I started my carrots late this year – over a month late – so I figured I wouldn’t get any EBS. Wrong. Apparently a single feathery five-foot-tall dill plant was more noticeable or more desirable (or both) to a mother EBS than two square metres of six-inch-tall carrot plants. (Yes I know I mix measurement systems. Deal.) The caterpillar I found today looks to be two or three days old, and I’ll make the guess of two days.

Interestingly, from a couple experiments in past years, it seems that although the EBS has several host plants, the caterpillars prefer to eat whatever plant they first fed on.

Here’s the little darling, on a bit of dill. At this stage the EBS caterpillar is typical of swallowtail caterpillars on this side of the world: black with a white patch in the centre (called a saddle) and pretty knobby/spiky. The posture is also typical, wth the front segments held in a sort of hump. The overall impression is similar to a bird dropping. In some species, especially the more tropical ones, the caterpillar retains this disguise all the way, but the EBS doesn’t. In a couple of instars it will turn light green with black and yellow markings.

Here’s the monarch on Day 9. It’s still in the process of ecdysis.

 

 

 

 

And here it is from today, Day 10. It’s well over an inch long now, and loves its food. It had just finished its last ecdysis, because I found its old face just underneath. I’m not kidding; at the beginning of moult the old face falls off and it walks out of its old skin. The old skin often gets eaten (depending on species), but I suppose the face is too tough, or falls out of reach.

Hmmm…what else…OH YES! The jewelweed (Impatiens capensis) is flowering! I know it takes a special sort of mind to get excited about what is essentially a wild-growing weed, but the fact is I’ve wanted this plant in my garden for years now. And not just a few plants, but for it to maintain as a self-sustaining population (so I don’t have to go tramping through the woods gathering seeds [ethically!] every year, considering it’s an annual). That remains to be seen, but for now I’m thrilled. Thrilled.

And the elderflower wine was delicious.