Independence Toast

Here's a toast to Independence!

This was my breakfast. It's toast with sweetened ricotta cheese (would also work with cream cheese), blueberries from the farmer's market, and strawberry jelly. It's very sweet! And festive!

Next post: Vegas after sundown.

Beautiful, Sunny Las Vegas!

I'm back! My vacation (a trip to Las Vegas for the Electric Daisy Carnival) was a blast. I saw some of my favorite bands live, I learned about the culture of Vegas and desert life, and I got a bit of a tan. But more importantly, I saw a lot of neat plants. We spent quite a bit of time roaming the Strip, and I didn't get to bring my camera for those outings, but I did see a few plants of note.

This is my first view of Las Vegas, taken as soon as we got out of the airport. Already I saw how different the landscape would be from that of my home. By the way, that sign said "LIMO PARKING ONLY." You don't see that much in Missouri.

This is less of a shot of the desert than a mere oddity. This baby rubber plant (which looks like it might be a cutting) was growing right outside the door of our hotel. It seems to be tolerating the heat just fine.

Palm trees are also not common to the Midwest, so it was neat to see them everywhere in Vegas. This one is going to have some trouble when it gets tall enough to hit the overhang.

There were several Lantana plants around Vegas as well. These are present but uncommon in the Midwest, but they obviously can deal with the desert as well. The amount of money in Sin City doesn't hurt, since it has a tremendous water bill but doesn't care.

I believe this bush is a cycad, closely related to pine trees.

I really liked the burnt orange bark on this tree. It definitely belongs in the desert.

These agaves might be the first I've ever seen in person. They're certainly the largest. Seriously, these guys were about four feet tall.

Another palm for your enjoyment. To me it looks rather silly sprouting out of this bush, but what do I know.

These are Opuntia! There are a few cacti like this in the Midwest, but never this big (with the exception of the Eastern Prickly Pear). I wanted to chow down when I saw these, but that would be stealing from the hotel (or the Havana CigarBar), and I didn't have the proper equipment anyway.

More Lantana. These come in some great colors. I was looking them up on the Web one time and saw a picture of a cluster of blooms that faded from pastel pink to bright yellow. This individual is more like a sunset blend.

 

A close-up of the Opuntia.

I can't readily identify this cactus. Cylindropuntia, perhaps? Either way, it's new to me, and I always love discovering new plants.

This palm was the tallest around our hotel. Also, note the completely cloudless sky. It stayed like that almost all week. In addition, George Wallace is a popular dude. We saw his face all around town.

This photograph highlights a peculiarity I was very interested in: these are rosemary bushes. Rosemary grows well in dry soil, so it makes sense that they could thrive in the desert, but these suckers are everywhere! It's great! You walk down the Strip, pass by a fancy restaurant, and all the while you're smelling rosemary because the sidewalk is lined with these bushes. It really improves the overall ambiance of the place. Whoever had that idea was a thinker.

Note the grass here. Note my comment above about Vegas's water bill. I can't even imagine how many zeros are on that thing.

 

I'm not familiar with this bush either. Any ideas on what it is?

A similar bush.

There are a few more sights from Las Vegas that I'd like to share, but that will have to wait. Also, I know this post is really late, but the Internet at my house has been problematic (to say the least). Fortunately, a new company has set up Internet, and it seems to be working better. Hopefully this will not be a problem in the future. Thanks for reading.

Next post: Las Vegas at night.

And The Winner Is...

Me! And my friend, Kristin. You see, I am about to embark on a week-long, cross-country vacation, so I'm feeling pretty good at the moment. But, in exchange, I am going to miss a very special milestone: my first homegrown tomatoes.

Yesterday I noticed that my tomato plant looked like this:

See those green orbs of goodness? Those are baby tomatoes, and they won't take long to ripen because my plant is a Yellow Pear tomato, so the fruits don't get very big. My friend, Kristin, is taking care of my plants while I'm gone, so she'll probably be the one to enjoy the first harvest. I'll post her review of the tomatoes if this is the case.

In less fortunate news, part of my tomato plant looks like this:

The yellowing (or chlorosis) and necrotic spots on the lower leaves lead me to think there's some sort of fungal problem going on, but I can't quite identify which fungus is attacking. When I return, I'll investigate further and probably invest in some fungicide.

To end on a good note, look how big and healthy my thyme is! For a long time, there was basically just one stem.

Next post: not for a week or so. Sorry!

Fruit Ahoy!

There's a special time in every edible plant's life when it approaches functionality. That time is coming for two of my favorite crops.

 

Here are the first two tomato flowers I found on my tomato plant. There are a few more now. Thank goodness tomatoes are self-pollinating.

 



My chard also looks like it's coming along better now. It's recovering from whatever was hurting it. I'm a little surprised at this chard. It was supposed to be 'Rainbow,' but the stems are only one color. Either it's an extremely unlikely coincidence, or I just got a variety of red chard. It doesn't concern me too much, though--the nutrition and taste are what I'm after.

Next post: knocked out by roses.

Garden Experiment One: Progress

Good news--it seems that all my purslane cuttings are doing well! I may never have the answer to my research question of whether rooting cuttings hydroponically or in soil is more effective, but I'll have a new green to put on salads and sandwiches. A free new green, at that.

Here's a very blurry shot of the roots. They're probably an inch and a half long. I was just happy they rooted at all.

Here are all six cuttings, looking even happier now in their new home. I believe that the soil cuttings have also taken root, since their appearances never dwindled. Hopefully all these plants become established and take off soon. Next week I'm taking a vacation, so maybe they'll be dramatically bigger when I return!

What luck have you had with cuttings? What have you taken cuttings of?

Next post: fruit on the horizon.

Flowers and Food

Sadly, this post is not about edible flowers (someday!). This post is a mixed news report from the past few days.

First, I visited some relatives in the southern part of the state over the weekend, and they had some marvelous irises. I'm a sucker for irises in general, but these were particularly spectacular. They looked more purple than blue in person.

The area had a late frost, which might explain why the flower stalks aren't upright.

The flowers are still wonderful even so low to the ground.

My other news is that when I returned from my trip, I found that my purslane cuttings in water had started developing roots! You can (sort of) see them below as squiggly lines in the water. I suspect the cuttings in soil are getting roots too, since their aerial portions are not nearly as haggard-looking as the indoor plants..

Maybe all six cuttings will grow into thriving purslane plants! Stay tuned to find out.

I think I'll keep these three cuttings inside until their roots are slightly more robust, then plant them outside. Since I don't want to dig up the plants outside, the results of my experiment may just be determined by which plants end up the healthiest. We shall see.

Next post: tomato madness.

What My Plants Are Up To

Too infrequently do I get a chance to really study my plants and evaluate their conditions and activities. But the other day, I was fortunate enough to observe lots of new changes.

 

 

First off: my purple shamrock is flowering! When I bought this plant, all its peers at the farm were flowering, but since I like these plants for their foliage, I chose the one with the nicest, biggest foliage. Maybe this one's just a late bloomer. The flowers are pretty (though blurry--my apologies), and a lot closer to lavender than they look here. 

 

Interestingly, all the flowers here are nestled underneath the leaves. I've never really seen a plant do that before. Usually they want their flowers as high up and visible as possible to encourage pollination. I wonder what advantage this flower placement confers to the purple shamrock.

The evening after I first saw these, I noticed that the blooms had closed up. I thought they might be one-day blooms, but I was mistaken. They just close up at night and open again the next morning.

In less joyful news, it seems that something is eating my Swiss chard. It looks a bit better now than it does in this picture, but some of these leaves look like they're really not doing too well. Do you know of any pests that really like chard? I hear they're fairly rabbit-proof (and I don't think we have rabbits around here anyway).

Also, we've had a lot of rain recently. As in, more rain than I expected to get all summer. This hasn't pleased my desert rose, but look at my sage go! It's huge, compared to when I got it! It's already started to form a woody stem, as you can see in the picture. I'm a proud mama.

The peppermint and lens flare are also enjoying the rain.

How has the weather affected your garden so far? Do you have anything that's struggling?

Next post: another exciting development.