Today’s warm weather was a fluke, but nonetheless I spotted the first sign of spring in the garden — a few early shoots pushing up from bulbs that were planted last autumn.
First Sign of Spring
Category: Plants
Fall Color
Autumn color in the big city as the tiny trees growing in the fence planters prepare for winter.
Runner Bean Harvest
I planted the runner beans too late in the season — we did get some nice vines, and some lovely flowers, but by the time they were getting ready to set fruit it had already turned cool, and in the end there was only one actual pod that was large enough to harvest, yielding just four beans — hardly enough to be worth cooking, so I’ll set them aside to dry and be planted next year… hopefully a little earlier this time!
Final Tomato Harvest
Last of the little yellow pear tomatoes from my windowsill.
Late Tomato Harvest
Last of the beefsteaks.
Late Night Planting
How is this my life? Planting daffodil bulbs at night, in the rain.
Total of ten sidewalk treebeds successfully planted tonight, with between one and four dozen daffodil bulbs each, plus a sprinkling of wildflower seeds from a field in the Hudson Valley that we visited this summer. Thank goodness I’m almost done with the autumn planting!
Runner Bean Flowers
Late blooms on the scarlet runner beans planted in mid-summer.
Morning Glory Color
I love the intense colors of the morning glory assortment outside my office.
Purple Cayenne Peppers
I love the deep purple hue of these cayenne peppers, still abundant as the autumn harvest from my garden draws to a close.
Persicaria
This plant blew into the garden from somewhere a few years ago and is now well established. It appears to be a member of the Persicaria family, probably P. maculosa, “Lady’s Thumb,” a member of the knotweed family.
Some sources report that P. maculosa produces a yellow/green dye (with an alum mordant), although one source says red/brown.
