Saturday Gardening, Puttering and Adventure Thread, Sept. 16

Hi, everybody! Above, a beautiful garden surprise from Sharon(willow's apprentice):

Last fall I bought two beautiful azaleas in full blossom at Home Depot to put in the large planters on my terrace. This spring, the red one was covered in blossoms but the pink one literally had one flower and lots of buds that looked black and crumbled when you touched them. The plant looked healthy though so thought I would keep an eye on it and see what happened. I looked up every azalea disease and couldn't find anything wrong with it.

Well, last week I walked out the door to find the plant with flowers and loaded with buds ready to burst. Turns out it is an Encore Azalea which can bloom several times Spring and Fall. I think I must have failed to keep it watered during a pretty dry winter and that is why it failed to blossom in the spring.

It was like getting a surprise gift from Mother Nature.

The purple one which is next to the azalea attracts these bees for the entire time the purple flowers are in blossom. It always seems strange because my terrace is a concrete island surrounded by buildings although there are lots of plantings in the communal space, see birds once in a while but not a lot of insect activity.

Your Azalea is a survivor! I am not used to seeing azaleas bloom this time of year.

And the bee traffic to the purple flowers shows that you have one of those "plants for pollenizers". Great photo.

Anybody want to identify that flower? The bee?

Edible Gardening/Putting Things By

In A Guide To The Foods Of Rosh Hashanah, the first foods mentioned are apples and honey, representing a sweet new year.

As we have noted before, choosing a rootstock is as important as choosing your apple variety in many climates.

The socialists at Fedco Seeds have started taking orders for next year, for the tree, shrub and perennial part of their catalog. They are geared to northern climates. As far as apples go, they carry some interesting heritage apples, crab apples for eating (we talked about this last week), interesting apples (Frostbite), storage apples and bitter cider apples.

Men’s Cider T-shirts: “It’s Always OK to Be Bitter” from Fedco Seeds https://t.co/9acdMDlJEe pic.twitter.com/VbMrjMhY6a

— DrinkingCider (@DrinkingCiders) April 1, 2017

Probably not the perfect apples for Rosh Hashanah, but we do have some cider makers among us.

"new or back after long absence"

Quince
Saskatoons
'Major Wheeler' Honeysuckle
American Chinquapin
Sweetgum
Northern Pin Oak
'Snake' Willow and Dappled Willow
'Agincourt Beauty' Lilac

New Fruits, Berries, Grapes & Hops!
New Crabs and Roses!
New Heathers and Ericas!
New Daylilies, Irises, Peonies!
More Native Plants!

"Crabs and roses".

I think this is the first I have seen of the 2024 catalogs, except for bulb catalogs. How about you?

They like selling to growers. But they sell to individuals, too.

Preparing Beehives for Winter

We have some people out there who have beehives, and some who are thinking about getting them. There are a lot of sources of information on caring for bees. This one is centered in Oregon:

Winter is coming. Our bees may not be headed for an epic battle against white walkers, but the winter months are a terrifying prospect in their own right. Fortunately, honeybees are excellent planners; they have been preparing for this since the end of last winter! The colony's life cycle revolves around two things: swarming (to spread their genetics) and stockpiling enough honey to eat through the longest, coldest nectar dearth of the year.

As beekeepers, our winter preparations generally begin at summer's end as temperatures peak, humidity decreases and the nectar ceases to flow. The build-up period is over, and it is time to winterize and help our bees get ready for the cold months. Everything we do is meant to support what the bees are already doing, keeping in mind that interfering too much can be counter productive.

Here in Oregon, our honey harvest falls at the end of August. The bees have stored about as much as they're going to before winter hits, giving us a chance to evaluate their food stores and decide how much we can responsibly take from them. It is good practice to not harvest from first-year colonies, and for established colonies, the harvest amount will vary by location depending on the length of the winter season. We recommend finding out the general harvest guidelines from experienced beekeepers in your area. . .

Local honey is the best.

Just in time for Rosh Hashanah.

Don't steal.

Stealing Apples

Ah, Nature

Should you keep moles in the lawn?

Did u know?I don’t understand the aversion to moles in gardens.They are gorgeous,soft black little animals who help keep soil-based insect larvae numbers under control & their digging actions help aerate soil, keeping it in good condition.Why can’t we just celebrate those tumps? pic.twitter.com/aGb8qc2sgJ

— Cath HODSMAN, Insect Art (@CathHodsman) March 1, 2023

Puttering

Learning to relate to your food:

Gardens of The Horde

Anything going on in your garden? Should be cooling down in ours next week.

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? Saturday Gardening, Puttering and Adventure Thread, Sept. 9

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.