Gardening, Puttering and Adventure Thread, August 24

Do you ever see something in the garden that looks almost like it came from a dream?

Hey KT,

I thought the garden horde would like to see this. My stepfather sent me this from his back patio in Wisconsin. I have never seen one before and in fact, never knew they existed. It is an albino hummingbird. Amazing. I have fed hummingbirds for thirty years and have never seen one, so I imagine they are pretty rare.

WeeKreekFarmGirl

You can see the Bee Balm that attracted the hummingbird better here:

Here's a pretty good, basic article on Bee Balm and Wild Bergamot. Some types are susceptible to mildew, so check for climate adaptation. They are natives, and all are attractive to hummingbirds. Have you ever grown it?

Edible Gardening/Putting Things By

Hi KT,

Here's a pic of the white okra that I'm raising for seed (200+ ft from the other okra in the veggie garden). It's actually a cream color, but there's a lot of green reflected under the leaves.

Miley, okravangelist

Looks great! I think it would look better in some dishes than green okra.

Birdhouse Gourds: The largest of these is about 12" long. Not an edible gourd, but used for craft projects such as birdhouses, once they've dried out.

We like to experiment with 4 or 5 new plants every year.

Miley

Big crop! Fun!

Loofa: We've got a nice crop of these, some longer than others.

Miley

Let us know what you do with them. Ever grown the type that are used young as a veggie?

Marie Thérèse Tamini

This is how sun-dried tomatoes are made in southern Italy... no chemicals .

Adventure

Kayaking on the Salt River in Arizona. Nice place to be in August in the desert.

Gardens of The Horde

From Liz953:

I bought my house 10 years ago and this hosta was here, planted against the north wall of my shed. I live in a flood zone on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay, and this hosta has been repeatedly flooded over the years with brackish/salty water. And it keeps coming back strong. The tallest stems are about 40 inches. And it blooms in August with pure white flowers.

They are gorgeous - just right for that space.

Here's a picture of a giant Dutchman's pipe vine flower here at Bohunk Botanical Gardens.

To appreciate this flower it is necessary to see the front and back. The bloom is about the size of a hand .

The flower is pollenated by flies and gnats that travel down the throat of the flower to the chamber in the back of it. They get trapped inside but the plant doesn't eat them. Instead it feeds them and places pollen on them. When the flower dies they escape and go on to pollenate another flower.

The plant is highly toxic to humans and pets if ingested. Dutchman pipe vines are the host plant for pipevine swallowtail butterflies...except this variety, which we recently discovered is also toxic to them. sigh.... So now that it bloomed, Mrs Bohunk wants it replaced with another variety that her butterfly babies can safely feed on.

Dirk Bohunk

That is a remarkable, remarkable flower. But if you're trying to raise Pipevine Swallowtails, here's some information on native pipevines, some of which we've featured before. Now that we've seen that big flower, go ahead and rip it out! The butterflies will be worth it.

More from the University of Florida on Pipevines and Pipevine Swallowtails

Aristolochia species are commonly known as pipevines or Dutchman's pipes because the flowers of some species are shaped like tobacco pipes (Figure 13). They are also known as birthworts ("wort" is Old English for herbaceous plant) because of their historical use in child birth. The name Aristolochia is derived from the Greek roots aristos (best) and lochia (delivery or child birth) (Crosswhite & Crosswhite 1985, Flora of North America undated). All Aristolochiaceae are believed to contain pharmacologically active aristolochic acids (Chen & Zhu 1987).

Although they are now officially banned in many countries, Aristolochia-derived herbal products or parts of the plants themselves are still used in many areas of the world for various conditions including snake bite, gastrointestinal problems, respiratory problems, wounds, infectious diseases, and fever . .

Virginia snakeroot, Aristolochia serpentaria L., has been used for many medical applications . . and preparations made from it are still for sale online. An extract of the southwestern pipevine, Aristolochia watsonii . . was the main ingredient in the snakeroot oil sold by traveling "snakeroot doctors" at medicine shows in the Old West during the 19th century . . .

All of our native species of Aristolochia within the range of the pipevine swallowtail are documented larval hosts . .

Aristolochia tomentosa bud Credit Donald W. Hall

Various exotic Aristolochia species are planted as ornamentals because of their unusual and sometimes beautiful flowers. Some of these may be too toxic (or too distasteful) for pipevine swallowtail larvae and may be "death traps" for the larvae.

As Dirk and his wife have discovered concerning the fabulous, exotic pipevine above.

Much more at the link. Including mimicry between pipevine swallowtails and black swallowtails, other swallowtails, red-spotted purples and . . millipedes?

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. 17

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.