During the daily morning garden tour I pointed out to Tommy the plants that would be dying soon. The primrose is already mostly frazzled, but Ive left it in the ground anyway. One reader said that if you plant primrose next to plants that grow taller, such as impatiens, the primrose might survive until the next year.
I have my doubts, but havent bothered to compost it yet.
The snapdragons will likely survive the winter, but the vinca rosea will wither.
The tomatoes are finally going crazy after we learned from Cass Mutters, farm adviser, that tickling the stems of the blooms will help the flowers to pollinate. Im hoping to get one good batch of tomatoes to make salsa for freezing before the plants keel over.
Time to celebrate
Today is the fall equinox, which is a good time to think about the changing of the seasons and what to do in the garden.
Its also a good excuse to have an equinox party think huge bash that would make Burning Man seem like a marshmallow roast.
We had a spirited barbecue last weekend (see blog entry at www.norcalblogs.com/sow there, Sept. 20 entry).
We still have a few more weeks before the weather really turns. I see this time as a chance to start over with a new set of plants.
I went to Rite Aid recently and was really pleased to see two giant racks of different colored mums. They had a magenta/purple, crisp white and some that looked like yellow daisies with orange centers, and several more.
I like to enjoy the potted plants indoors or on the doorstep for a couple of days before deciding where to put them in the ground.
Well, actually, I usually keep meaning to plant them for about a week and then Tommy puts them in the ground one day while Im doing something else.
Cockscomb goes wild
A gardener named Katie phoned up and said she had an unusual volunteer plant in her front garden bed.
A friend brought her a bouquet last year of flowers bought at the farmers market.
Among the blooms were the cockscomb, which has a furry bloom that resembles a roosters comb, thus the name. Cockscomb is also the name of the three-pointed hat worn by jesters.
Who knew?
After the flowers in her bouquet wilted, she placed the cockscomb on her patio table. The plant is somewhat messy and will drop tiny seeds, the size of poppy seeds, all over the table as the flowers dry.
Apparently the wind blew some of the seeds into Katies flower bed.
This spring the leaves started to sprout. At that point, she didnt know what the plant was, but the leaves were attractive and she was curious to see what developed. The dozen or so plants kept growing and growing and are now about 8 feet tall at their peak.
Usually the plant, also called celosia, will only be about 8-18 inches tall.
The flowers can last several months on the plant and have a velvety look to them. From some angles, the shape of the flowers looks like coral.
Katie lives in a quaint apartment complex where each person has a little area to garden in the front. Her neighbors think her volunteer plant is all the rage, and many of them have asked her to save them seeds so they can grow it next year.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockscomb
Boost
The energy drink name game contest was mildly entertaining. Sometimes in life something will crack you up and then you realize later that youre the only one who thinks its funny.
To prove this wasnt the case with energy drinks, I did some Internet searching and found a lot of people who apparently collect energy drinks.
I found a photo of an energy drink tower in someones bedroom (photo is posted on the Sow There blog). Some of the lesser-known names include High Octane, Rockstar, Crunk, Lightning Bolt, Bawls, Monster Energy, Rip It and Pit Bull.
Dad put on his thinking cap and came up with a few clever suggestions for different subcultures:
For the skater in your life: Rink Drink.
For roller derby girls: Pink Rink Drink.
For rednecks: Power Paunch.
Skateboarders: Skaterade.
Media personalities: Newscrewsbrews.
Chicoans: Buttejuice.
For manual laborers: Blister Juice.
There you have it. Great minds at work.
Sow There! loves people with extraordinary plants. For feedback, send to P.O. Box 9, Chico CA 95927 or hhacking@chicoer.com.
