Tangled Branches: Cultivated
happenings in and around my zone 6b gardens in northern Virginia and in central Virginia
Saturday, October 06, 2007
Season of Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness
 | Despite the fog, just about the only mists around here are from my sweat and tears as I haul water to thirsty plants. Thankfully, we have cool cloudiness so far today, but tomorrow and the next several days are predicted to be hot. No rain. But you already knew this if you've been reading any garden blogs from the central to eastern US. |
| Well, I've got something here that I bet nobody else has. Is this the world's cutest potato or what? I dug up the last of the potatoes yesterday and this was among them. |  |
| We're not doing too badly in the mellow fruitfulness department, considering the drought, although these aren't what immediately comes to mind when you think of fruit. | ||
 Euonymus americanus |  Passiflora incarnata |  Viburnum prunifolium |
 Quercus coccinea |  Ilex verticillata |  Chasmanthium latifolium |
And now I'm off to work on the potager, where more fruitfulness awaits...
Updated October 8 with captions on the "fruitfulness" pictures.
14 Comments:
I feel bad for all of you on the east coast because your drought is well beyond what we've here in the midwest. You have my sympathies.
And, yes, that is a very cute potato!
Carol at May Dreams Gardens
Carol: This must be payback time for the summers when I never got out the sprinkler even once. We had been getting some rain every now and then during the summer (not enough), but here in central Virginia the last rain was Sept. 14.
There's another cute potato that I didn't photograph yet - looks something like a mouse.
Your potato looks like a miniature Buddha. I love it!
Sorry to hear about the lack of rain. It gets to be a big chore dragging around hoses. This year we were relatively lucky, although fall is well advanced and most of the leaves on the trees have fallen.
I like your fruit pictures - is that a Turkestan Burning Bush as well as a passion flower vine?
That IS a cute potato! Did you ever see "The 13th Warrior?" It reminds me of a less-well-endowed version of the bad guys' little "mother" icon, only with a head. But then, that may just be because I saw it last night for the first time and it's fresh in my mind. lol.
Now that truly is a cute potato. Does it have a name yet? ;-)
It's getting colder here, temperatures during the night dropping to 5 C and during the day around 15 to 18 C. My central heating is working fulltime now and my garden is quickly winding down.
Kate: We still have leaves on the trees, but a lot of them are turning brown and dropping - the woods are starting to get that see-thru look.
The fruit that looks so much like your Turkestan burning bush is a Euonymus americanus aka Strawberry Bush aka Hearts-a-Bustin'. And the next one over is a passion vine fruit - Passiflora incarnata. I understand the passion fruits are edible, but I think I'll let the squirrels have them. Maybe I should update the post with IDs.
Blackswamp Girl: I haven't seen The 13th Warrior, but I think I know the kind of mother goddess figurine you mean. Does it look something like the Venus of Willendorf? Just rearrange her a little bit and voila!
Yolanda Elizabet: Oh my, if I gave the potato a name, I'd never be able to eat it. I'm going to have a hard time as it is - thinking I'm sacrificing the Buddha or the Mother Goddess. ;-) I may have to find a way to preserve the thing instead. Or maybe I could sell it on eBay?
Ms. Willendorf is pretty close. I believe this one's legs were cut off at the thigh a la Venus de Milo, and she also had no discernable head/face. But yup, same idea! :)
I vote for the Venus of Willendorf that Kim mentioned. Maybe you should sell it on Ebay!
Aha, I finally get to see your strawberry bush fruit and I can see why you planted it. What a beautiful image. I see a few more blurred images in the background so I guess it produced a number of fruit. The one we saw in Asheville had one lonely fruit on the plant but it was in deep shade from the towering trees.
Lovely photos, esp Euonymus americanus. Some passion fruits are edible,and some not. And they are inedible until fully ripe. Then we make passion fruit drink, which is a favourite, and passion fruit sorbet/ice cream. Also press the pulp through a strainer and let the juice drizzle on ice cream or cheesecake. In the upscale restarants passion fruit cheesecake is quite expensive.
Ki: I left Venus of Willendorf in the garage, unprotected, and something nibbled on her. Not too bad, but I think this is going to damage her eBay prospects ;-)
There are about 20 or so fruit capsules on the E. americanus - last year I think there was one. I've only had the plant for 2 or 3 years. Mine is in the woods, but in a fairly bright spot near the edge. I posted on Picasa 5 images taken from different angles, but didn't write here about all of them.
Nicole: I wonder how to judge ripeness in the passion fruits I have here? I don't recall them ever turning another color or anything like that, but maybe our growing season isn't long enough to ripen them properly? I imagine they don't have much flavor, compared to the tropical varieties, but passionfruit cheesecake sounds delicious.
Entangled: they must be fully yellow or purple to be ripe. Maybe yours don't ripen or is not an edible variety.
I checked and yours is edible when ripe-it turns bright orange:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passiflora_incarnata
Mine are Passiflora edulis
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Nicole: Thanks for the passionfruit info. If they need to be bright orange to be ripe, then mine have never ripened. I'm guessing that we don't have a long enough growing season for that. But as warm as it's been this year, I'll keep an eye on them - you never know.
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