Gardening, Home and Nature Thread, July 12

Some lovely alstromeria from Neal in Israel.

Which color do you like best? I currently have some that resemble the pale ones above in a florist's bouquet.

Edible Gardening/Putting Things By

I bought a fignomenal fig in fall of 2023--from Amazon! It was pretty tiny but it made through the winter under a grow light. It put out new leaves in the spring of 2024, I sent a picture of the tiny fig. I set it outdoors for the summer and it grew very nicely, maybe a foot tall by the fall. I took it in for the winter, again under a grow light. there it basically grew in place, so to speak. Once I put it outside again this spring it really took off, it's now in a ten inch pot. I'm pretty sure it's basically reached the mature size, it's even got a fig starting on it!
Lirio100

Sounds like a great fig for people where figs may be hard to grow. And yours looks great! An ornamental edible.

Ah, Nature

Hi KT, glad to have you back! Here's a couple of recent wildlife photos from East Tennessee.

1. Turtle. There used to be a number of turtles at this bridge on my weekend walk; I hadn't seen them in a while, so I was glad when I saw this fellow. He was obviously resting after racing with--

2. Bunneh. It's bunneh season here in east Tennessee, and I've seen lots of them, from the tiniest babies to this fellow here, obviously prepping for the next Turtle-Bunneh match.

3. Bug. A small-eyed sphinx. apparently quite common in the US, this is the first one I've seen. When their wings are fully open you can see the small eyes on the underwing.

Thank you for the Saturday threads!

Great photos! Love them all.

Puttering

Hi KT,

I happy you're back and I hope you are feeling better. That's tough being ill and in the hospital and I was thinking of you.

Your Saturday am threads are really interesting and I save the page so I can read all of your links.

I thought you might like this for the garden thread?

I cut my lavender and I made a wreath. I've never made one before but I've been wanting to try for a long time. I'm not very artistic but I believe watching someone is easier for me to follow along and execute the project.

I watched a video tutorial on YouTube. I think the second time I make one it'll be a little easier. I kept having to trim the stems. I should have cut the stems shorter for my prep. I also should have pre cut twine.

She used 5 stems per bunch and attached them counter-clockwise to a wreath frame. She started attaching them in an X shape and then filled in bare spots with more bunches of lavender, tying them to the frame with twine and hiding the twine and stems with more bunches.

I needed more lavender, I was about three quarters of the way finished and I realized I needed more and the bees were out so I made do with what I had. As it was there were always two bees buzzing on the wreath as I was tying it but I didn't get stung.

The tutorial lady of course made her own frame out of a branch. I used a 12 inch wreath frame from Amazon, it was about 2 or 3 inches wide and I believe it would have been easer with a single branch frame, not as wide and not as many bunches needed to hide the frame/twine.

CaliGirl

A great project for a beautiful lavender wreath! Thanks for all the details.

Gardens of The Horde

Katy,

I hope you're doing well. It's a lovely time of year, so I hope you spend a bit of your down time outside.

Attached are various pics I've been accumulating. Use them any time, or not at all!
I think some things are best en masse... azaleas and bridalwreath spirea are two.

Dirr, the guy who wrote the tree ID book most used in schools calls the fringetree the "landscapers Bradford pear". Heh

MkY

Well-placed plants, don't you think? What's in there with the azaleas?

Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

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

ktinthegarden at g mail dot com

Remember to include the nic or name by which you wish to be known at AoSHQ, or let us know if you want to remain a lurker.