Gardening, Home and Nature Thread, Sept. 27

Long time lurker and megafan of the site.
Here's our nonfunctioning fireplace we filled with various gourds and pumpkins from several years ago. "May the pumpkin spice be with you!"

xoxo
The Pumpkin-nator

Gorgeous!

Happy Fall K.T.!

Not my container garden, but it was so pretty I had to stop and take a photo! The essence of autumn (JMHO): purple mini-mums, campfire-colored coleus, orange calibrachoa, creeping jenny; even a little ornamental kale.

The perfect complement for the beautiful fall weather we've had lately.

The Pilot

Happy Fall!

Happy Fall to All! We are now into the Fall Colors Season. And below, a photo featuring a new plant for next year, Sweet Caroline sweet potato vine 'Medusa Black". I guess you might carry this one over for Halloween! Courtesy Kim Mixon.

Are you planning a trip to see fall leaves this year? Where?

Few places in the country are as good for watching the fall colors as Vermont. With a drought impacting virtually all of the state, though, this year’s fall leaf season may look and sound a little different.https://t.co/tPgMAYCZMo pic.twitter.com/7U1l7h6ONd

— The Weather Channel (@weatherchannel) September 20, 2025

Maybe in Florida?

V

Edible Gardening/Putting Things By

Sadly, we're in the runoff zone for our neighbors' pond, and with lots of rain this year, some of our plants weren't very happy. The half of this medlar tree on the downhill side must have had its roots die, but the main (uphill) section still looks good. Remaining fruit is huge and seems fine.

The quince trees are loaded with large fruit, which should continue to grow a bit more. They grow on the ends of new branches, so they often overload them and hang down quite a bit.

We still have a ton of wild grapes on the vine. Seedy and more tart than sweet, as you'd expect.

I make plenty of noise walking on the local trails,
but a few deer didn't clear out before I rounded the corner. In fact, the mother (I assume) stamped her foot a few times and stepped towards me, so I chose a different path...

Moron Analyst/Intrepid/Ackbar

Sorry about the problem with the Medlar tree. Glad you got some other fruit!

Saffron Crocus

Marie-Reine Demollière

ENLUMINURES EUROPE - VIe - XVIe s. - ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS EUROPE

Saffron, originating from the Orient, has been cultivated for a long time and recommended by Hippocrates for its stimulating and antispasmodic virtues. In the days of triumph, the Romans sprinkled saffron powder in the streets and party halls. Isidore of Seville ( Ét 636) describes saffron (Crocus sativus) in his Etymologies.
Used to dye fabrics, its bright yellow can also be found in medieval lighting or on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
A saffron plant (Zaffarano) painted in its natural habitat by Gherardo Cibo in a botanical watercolour notebook circa 1564.
In the background, in a mountainous landscape, two peasants kneeling with their basket are picking the precious flower.
In this manuscript, Cibo also collects texts from the Discorsi of the Siennese physician Pietro Mattioli ( Dans 1577).
London, British Library, ms Additional 22332, f°160r, 26.5 × 19.5 cm

Le safran, originaire d’Orient, est cultivé de longue date et recommandé par Hippocrate pour ses vertus stimulantes et antispasmodiques. Les jours de triomphe, les Romains jonchaient de poudre de safran les rues et les salles de fête. Isidore de Séville († 636) décrit le safran (Crocus sativus) dans ses Étymologies.
Utilisé pour teindre les étoffes, on trouve aussi son jaune lumineux dans les enluminures médiévales ou sur le plafond de la Chapelle Sixtine.
Dans un cahier d’aquarelles botaniques, un plant de safran (Zaffarano) est peint dans son milieu naturel par Gherardo Cibo vers 1564.
À l’arrière-plan, dans un paysage montagneux, deux paysannes à genoux avec leur panier cueillent la précieuse fleur.
Dans ce manuscrit, Cibo rassemble aussi des textes tirés des Discorsi du médecin siennois Pietro Mattioli († 1577).
Londres, British Library, ms Additional 22332, f° 160r, 26,5 × 19,5 cm

You may be able to grow the world's most expensive spice in your yard if you live in Zone 6 or above. They bloom about this time of year. You may want to plant the bulbs in a wire basket to deter burrowing rodents.

You might also consider Autumn Crocuses. To avoid being poisoned, remember that toxic Autumn Crocuses have 6 stigmas, while true crocuses have 3. Here's one blooming before it got put into the ground. This is a garden cultivar called The Giant. Sometimes they are sold like this, for people to set on the windowsill to bloom without any potting mix or anything. But many of them are hardy to Zone 5 in the garden, and generally more pest-resistant than true crocuses, some of which also bloom in fall. That's because they contain colchicine.

While you're planting fall-blooming bulbs, maybe you can plant, or map out, some spring-blooming ones, too. Got any in mind?

As mentioned above, the Autumn Crocuses are famous as sources of Colchicine (poisonous, but it has its uses). The famous use of colchicine in botany is to induce polyploidy:

. . . colchicine is also used for inducing polyploidy in plant cells during cellular division by inhibiting chromosome segregation during meiosis; half the resulting gametes, therefore, contain no chromosomes, while the other half contains double the usual number of chromosomes . . . and lead to embryos with double the usual number of chromosomes (i.e., tetraploid instead of diploid). While this would be fatal in most higher animal cells, in plant cells it is not only usually well tolerated, but also frequently results in larger, hardier, faster-growing, and in general more desirable plants than the normally diploid parents; for this reason, this type of genetic manipulation is frequently used in breeding plants commercially.

When such a tetraploid plant is crossed with a diploid plant, the triploid offspring are usually sterile (unable to produce fertile seeds or spores), although many triploids can be propagated vegetatively. Growers of annual triploid plants not readily propagated must buy fresh seed from a supplier each year. Many sterile triploid plants, including some tree and shrubs, are becoming increasingly valued in horticulture and landscaping because they do not become invasive species. In certain species, colchicine-induced triploidy has been used to create "seedless" fruit, such as seedless watermelons (Citrullus lanatus). Since most triploids do not produce pollen themselves, such plants usually require cross-pollination with a diploid parent to induce fruit production.

You just might be able to create your own tetraploid plant at home. Might want to leave breeding the triploids to the professionals. Not that you can't grow some triploid plants in your yard. Had good luck with seedless watermelon? Ever grown orange watermelon?

Gardens of The Horde

Good evening, Katy!

Our ‘Sweet Autumn Clematis’ went into full bloom this year as it always does on September 15th, bigger than ever – the two ‘arms’ now measure 33 feet end-to-end!

We think it’s 13 years old; it was a tiny thing in a shady spot on our property when we moved in 11 years ago, so we moved it to a sunnier spot. But then it started to take over a very nice Japanese Maple tree, so we moved it to this perfect south-facing spot where it is now, maybe 6 years ago (?). Anyway, we give it lots of 24-8-16 fertilizer in the spring and early summer, then 2 doses of 15-30-15 and a final dose of 10-60-10 starting in August.

The view from the sidewalk is much, much better this year, too. We get a lot of foot traffic past our corner down to the park at the end of the block; lots of dog walkers and of parents with carriages or toddlers.

Hope you're continuing to recover okay -

MrJimm

Thanks so much! Love the cultural particulars. What wonderful growth you have encouraged!

Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

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

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Week in Review

What has changed since last week's thread? Gardening, Home and Nature Thread, Sept. 20

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.