Gardening, Puttering and Adventure Thread, Aug. 10

Hi, everybody! Hope everyone is safe from the storms and fires! Anybody taking precautions?

Today, Don in Kansas has some interesting thoughts on color and horticulture:

What color?

Horticulturalists see colors differently than most people. I’ve mentioned before that “coerulea” forms of orchids look lavender to me, not blue. Something similar happens with daylilies. This is “Hall’s Pink.”

Does that look pink to you? Parts of it may look a bit pinkish, but overall I’d call it orange.

What would you call it?

“Artist Etching” is generally described as “pink.” Judge for yourself.

Meanwhile, “Snowy Apparition” is called “near white.”

Not very “near” to my eyes. I’ve seen pictures online in which it does look very pale, but the plant in my garden is definitely yellow.

It’s possible that in a different garden with different conditions, or photographed at different times of the day under different lighting, the colors may be truer to their descriptions, but calling these “pink” and “white” is wishful thinking. Still, even though the colors are not as advertised, they’re reliable plants that bloom well.

I'm impressed that Don can grow all three of those to produce such perfect specimens.

Does anybody else grow one of these cultivars? What color is it?

If you click on the "Botany" or "Photo gallery" links at the bottom of Don's link above, you will find more enticing photos.

Edible Gardening/Putting Things By

Diana has pawpaws:

Buds:

Blossoms:

Fruits in June:

I found some growing instructions from Tyrant Farms for goumi berries. We featured Diana's last week.

Yes, you can eat Goumi berries! Perfectly ripe, vibrant red Goumi berries taste like sweet, tart cherries or red currants.

The under-ripe, orange-red fruit is still astringent so waiting an additional 2-3 days for the fruit to turn vibrant red and swell can make a big difference in flavor. From our experience, this is more likely to happen if you don’t have a toddler or child around who picks every single fruit the second it even gets a hint of red color! . .

Inside each Goumi berry drupe is a single, fibrous seed. Yes, you can eat the seeds, too! Goumi berry seeds taste like mild snap beans.

The trees or bushes have thorns and are related to Russian Olives. Like their relatives, they are nitrogen fixing. Interesting!

Apples, apricots and apricot leather, from a cousin.

The correct way to cut fruits

The first ones are tropicals. There are some different ways to cut more common fruits later in the video.

Farming, etc.

Nice views of rice fields

Using ducks to grow rice

Ah, Nature

Diana has a REALLY GIANT mushroom.

For contrast, here are some really tiny mushrooms.

And here's the inside of a mushroom cap.

Puttering

Don in Kansas does some specialty photography. Here's a post on stereo photography. Click on the link to practice crossing your eyes with a couple of different flower photos. Here is a non-stereo photo of an orchid from the same post.

Adventure

Avila pier

Pismo Beach

Gardens of The Horde

Mrs Bohunk bought this red shrimp plant in hope of attracting malachite butterflies only to find out they don't lay eggs on the red version of the plant. Fortunately it turned out to be amazingly hardy plant that is covered in long lasting flowers that occasionally attract a hummingbird. It's a year around bloomer here in SW FL and it's super easy to care for.

Dirk Bohunk

What's growing in your garden?

Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

If you would like to send photos, stories, links, etc. for the Saturday Gardening, Puttering and Adventure Thread, the address is:

ktinthegarden at g mail dot com

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Week in Review

What has changed since last week's thread? Gardening, Puttering and Adventure Thread, Aug. 3

Any thoughts or questions?

I closed the comments on this post so you wouldn't get banned for commenting on a week-old post, but don't try it anyway.

grain weevil safety silos https://x.com/Rainmaker1973/status/1820463519600627796

anti-desertification https://x.com/Rainmaker1973/status/1820428588476248238