Tangled Branches: Cultivated
happenings in and around my zone 6b gardens in northern Virginia and in central Virginia
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Ping
I'm still here. Beautiful fall weather has descended and I just don't feel like sitting in front of the computer. I haven't even done much photography lately; I'm content to just enjoy being outdoors before it gets too cold. And the vegetable garden is still producing. I've been drying peppers, freezing peppers, eating peppers, and making hot sauce. I like peppers. Here's a photo I did to accompany some given to my in-laws. 
I asked the spouse if he could ID them for his family and he said no, hence the photo guide. 'Bulgarian Carrot' was new to me this year, but has become a favorite. Thick walls, hot, and early. A real winner.
Here's something I never saw before - a walking stick (insect).
I think the correct ID is Northern Walking Stick (Diapheromera femorata), but let me know if I'm wrong. Ordinarily, they should be in the woods eating oak leaves, so I'm not sure what attracted it to our front door.
Leaves are starting to drop and the deer are munching their way through the woods. You see things that were hidden before. These Euonymus americanus fruits for example. 
E. americanus is apparently a deer favorite because we have many many wild plants of it in the woods and almost all of them get chewed off as soon as they attain any size. They overlooked enough of this one to let it produce a few fruit capsules.
I wish I knew more about mushrooms. We get a progression of them spring through fall. I keep thinking that I'm ignoring free delicious food through my ignorance at identification, but fear of making a mistake has kept me from sampling any. I need an expert to come here and guide me. 
These were huge and obvious and the only ones of their kind I saw as I meadered through the woods yesterday. I have no idea what they are...
7 Comments:
My photos of Euonymus americanus did not turn out well and when I went to take another the deer had already eaten them. Thank goodness they have moved on. I know what you mean about wanting to get out and absorb all the fall you can.
Donna
Mother Nature: Your deer move on? I hope ours learn that behavior. They seem to have moved on to the vegetable garden and ornamental plantings lately - things they never bothered much before.
It sure feels like we'll have an early frost this year, and then there should plenty of time for looking at the world through the computer ;-)
Lovely poster ID of peppers. I simply love its "Old Herbal" quality.
Your peppers look gorgeous. I have some 3 inch seedlings now-October is our seed sowing time.
Love that E. americanus (Hearts Aburstin') but have reluctantly
thrown in the towel after multiple
attempts to transplant from the wild and one from Woodlanders.
And now I know why!
I keep forgetting to visit your blog as it always ends up at the bottom of my blogroll due to some wierd html coding. Nice peppers. You could make a poster for your kitchen from that.
All: I've been remiss in not responding to comments. Time to fix that!
Sylvie: You've planted an idea! I may try to make some more plant portraits in the style of old herbals. Thanks!
Nicole: That's almost exactly opposite of when I start peppers seeds - usually in March or April here. Hoping to enlarge the collection again next year!
Steve: Yeah, the deer will break your heart every time. I can just imagine the thicket of euonymus we'd have here if it wasn't for them. I do have one larger plant that I ordered from Niche Gardens a few years ago (planted where the deer can't get to it) and that one is about 4 or 5 feet tall now.
Tabor: This blog is such a relic! Blogger didn't even have a comment feature when I started. Some cold winter day I need to spiffy it up with all the modern features. I thought I had fixed the feed discovery problem, but I guess not. Thanks for the great idea about using the pepper photo as a poster!
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