Gardening, Home and Nature Thread, Jan. 31

When Iris Eyes are Smilin'

First week this season I've seen them selling them here.
Regards from Jerusalem,
Biden's Dog

So cheerful!

Edible Gardening/Putting Things By

By-Tor has been doing some pickling and fermenting lately, including for possible fair submissions.

Anybody else doing any fermentation or vinegar pickles? We could do a feature!

From 40 Miles North:

The rosemary gets more bees every day:

The sage looks healthy:

Not sure what kind of sage that is.

The only really new addition are the Blood Oranges:

Most of them are very tart, but I am hoping that will change. Lots of weeding this year. Take care . . .

You too. Hope your blood oranges sweeten up. They look fun.

Gardening News and Views

Martha Stewart on Growing Tropical Fruit Trees Indoors

Have you ever wondered if you could?

Farmers’ Almanac Saved Under New Ownership, 208-Year Tradition Continues https://t.co/LOEl35OBiT pic.twitter.com/Wh7QpHtJJu
— The Farmers' Almanac (@FarmersAlmanac) January 28, 2026

Have you ever consulted the Farmer's Almanac?

Adventure

From Neal in Israel:

In October, we visited Lodz, Poland. Not the best known tourist site, but my father's father was born there, and I've been wanting to visit for a long time. We missed the city's open air botanical garden because of rain, but did make it to the palm house a couple of days later. Under the palms there were some interesting flowering plants, and there was a special collection of hot peppers. The pepper pictured is called Dragon's Breath, and it is rated 2 500 000 units on the Scoville scale. Attached to the palm house, there's also a cactus hothouse and a small, but pleasant, outdoor formal garden.
That's it for the meantime. Hope your winter is going as it should. Here we've had an unseasonably hot fall, and real rains began only a couple of weeks ago, instead of in October. Keep your fingers crossed for us.
Best regards,
Neal

Dragon's Breath!

Great photos! Thanks for thinking of us during your interesting trip, even though you had to contend with rain. Good luck with getting some rain back home.

Gardens of The Horde

From 40 Miles North:

Hi KT, I hope you are doing well. I saw one commenter talking about 'the activity of his Amaryllis.' Does activity means total garden domination? A large part of my garden looks like this:

Would those be true Amaryllis? The pink ones?

The Irises and amaryllis don't typically have leaves at the same time, but this year they do, and the amaryllis are out of control. The grape vine is almost invisible. The fig trees don't even have leaves yet. On the other side of the grapevine, it also looks like this:

On the other side of the yard, the Gaillardia think it's late summer. I guess because it's 75 degrees during the day and 40 degrees at night:

I like it!

Anybody else got growth in their garden?

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.

Week in Review

What has changed since last week's thread? Gardening, Home and Nature Thread, Jan. 24

Any thoughts or questions?

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

Posted by: K.T. at 01:26 PM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 I like the green text!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes. at January 31, 2026 01:32 PM (kpS4V)

2 BOING!

Posted by: Biden's Dog sniffs a whole lotta malarkey, at January 31, 2026 01:34 PM (GHvvy)

3 Welcome to the evergreen Garden Thread!

Posted by: fd at January 31, 2026 01:35 PM (vFG9F)

4 Moisture laden

Posted by: Commissar of plenty and festive little hats at January 31, 2026 01:35 PM (Kt19C)

5 Gorgeous photos as always. We got a huge smack of snow overnight.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at January 31, 2026 01:37 PM (CHHv1)

6 It's gently snowing outside. Only garden-related thing is I ordered caladiums and elephant ears for spring planting.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes. at January 31, 2026 01:38 PM (kpS4V)

7 Not much gardening going on here. I burned the burn pile last weekend and it's still smoldering today. There is probably some good charcoal in there, but if I let it, it will eventually all burn up.

Posted by: fd at January 31, 2026 01:38 PM (vFG9F)

8 Good afternoon Greenthumbs and Snow Men

Posted by: Skip at January 31, 2026 01:41 PM (Ia/+0)

9 Nothing green here, a frozen snow covered landscape.
Noticed under my pine tree line holes in the snow where I can tell maybe 6 deer camped out sometime during the storm or week since

Posted by: Skip at January 31, 2026 01:43 PM (Ia/+0)

10 40 Miles N: The blood oranges WILL get sweeter as they grow. Thing is, they'll never get as sweet as will a regular Florida-type orange. Still, they're good and a nice change from the 'normal'. Also good (but maybe not user-growable) are the mandarines that Kroger & Walmart sell under the brand name 'Cuties' (but inspect closely b4 purchase for 'grey mold' on the skin).

Posted by: Dr_No at January 31, 2026 01:46 PM (ayRl+)

11 [looks out window]

5" of snow, 18 deg.

Nothing seems to be blooming...

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at January 31, 2026 01:47 PM (XeU6L)

12 Nothing green here, a frozen snow covered landscape.
Noticed under my pine tree line holes in the snow where I can tell maybe 6 deer camped out sometime during the storm or week since
Posted by: Skip
----
Across the ravine behind my house, I saw a flock of turkeys just sitting in the snow, and above-mentioned 18 deg. Not gathered together or anything, just with heads tucked in, one or two wandering around. Felt sorrow for them.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at January 31, 2026 01:51 PM (XeU6L)

13 Also good (but maybe not user-growable) are the mandarines that Kroger & Walmart sell under the brand name 'Cuties' (but inspect closely b4 purchase for 'grey mold' on the skin).
Posted by: Dr_No

Good advice. I've had my share of rotten mandarins.

Posted by: Tuna at January 31, 2026 01:51 PM (lJ0H4)

14 Mike Hammer, I have a gang of turkeys parked on the hill outside my back porch, hunched in the snow like fatalistic Russian peasants, waiting until the next time the Czarina feeds them crumbs.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes. at January 31, 2026 01:56 PM (kpS4V)

15 Mexican sage. Leucantha, I think.

Posted by: Tammy al-Thor at January 31, 2026 02:00 PM (Vvh2V)

16 Yikes! Just checked the thermometer, since earlier this a.m. temp has dropped from18 deg.to 11 deg.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at January 31, 2026 02:01 PM (XeU6L)

17 Mike Hammer, I have a gang of turkeys parked on the hill outside my back porch, hunched in the snow like fatalistic Russian peasants, waiting until the next time the Czarina feeds them crumbs.
Posted by: All Hail Eris
-------

Sad to see.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at January 31, 2026 02:02 PM (XeU6L)

18 Id love to grow those Dragon's Breath peppers because they're so pretty, but honestly I can't tolerate anything that hot (I read you can make your own "death wing" sauce 😆

. I guess I could hand them out to little bratlings on Halloween.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes. at January 31, 2026 02:02 PM (kpS4V)

19 I'll toss more peanuts at the turkeys, like the benevolent ruler I am.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes. at January 31, 2026 02:04 PM (kpS4V)

20 Great set of irises, Biden's Dog!

Posted by: 40 Miles North at January 31, 2026 02:08 PM (EaLNz)

21 76° in van nuys. Sunny.

Posted by: Commissar of plenty and festive little hats at January 31, 2026 02:08 PM (Kt19C)

22 I'll toss more peanuts at the turkeys, like the benevolent ruler I am.
Posted by: All Hail Eris
--------
My arm isn't that good, probably 100 yards away, and, I callously intend to eat the penuts myself.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at January 31, 2026 02:08 PM (XeU6L)

23 76° in van nuys. Sunny.
Posted by: Commissar of plenty
------
[supresses snide retort]

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at January 31, 2026 02:09 PM (XeU6L)

24 Sigh...
My crocus are usually popping up by now.
But...nuthin'.
Lots of damned moss though.

Posted by: Diogenes at January 31, 2026 02:09 PM (2WIwB)

25 I have a gang of turkeys parked on the hill outside my back porch, hunched in the snow like fatalistic Russian peasants, waiting until the next time the Czarina feeds them crumbs.
Posted by: All Hail Eris
-------

Sad to see.
Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at January 31, 2026 02:02 PM (XeU6L)

Wild Turkey > wild turkeys...

Posted by: Joe Kidd at January 31, 2026 02:10 PM (nbLIj)

26 We just need to pull out some dead stuff but right now it's too cold. Stay inside and eat pie, maybe surf some Caterpillar sites.

Posted by: Eromero at January 31, 2026 02:10 PM (LHPAg)

27 Thanks, Dr_No. I will hope for the best!

Posted by: 40 Miles North at January 31, 2026 02:11 PM (EaLNz)

28 Wild Turkey > wild turkeys...
Posted by: Joe Kidd
---------

Anti-Freeze

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at January 31, 2026 02:19 PM (XeU6L)

29 Tuesday forcasted to get above freezing barely, maybe more snow Friday and supposed to go to Lancaster then.

Posted by: Skip at January 31, 2026 02:22 PM (Ia/+0)

30 Central Florida zone 9b here. Overnight temps will dip into the 20s.

Damn near everything is going to die or die back.

Posted by: weew at January 31, 2026 02:22 PM (S4IL1)

31 Plumeria: goner
Bananas: doomed
Bougainvillea: bye bye
Hibiscus: who knows

Posted by: weew at January 31, 2026 02:30 PM (S4IL1)

32 Temps are going up to 62 this week on the western side of the Evergreen state. Grass is growing (errr) and waiting for the bulbs to start popping. In January.

Posted by: Major Healey at January 31, 2026 02:41 PM (abIsI)

33 About 80 degrees here in the Valley of the Sunstroke. Nice breeze, and sunny. Had a nice brekkie at Hacker's Grill, went to a few yard sales, got a few small items, including a nice Starrett depth gauge and a Chinese micrometer.

Now I am wont to putter in the shop, organizing tools.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at January 31, 2026 02:41 PM (8zz6B)

34 I'm going to start calling this the Envy Thread. I'm sitting here in an area where the temp. hasn't gone above 15 degrees in the last week.

BUT, we're getting a break on Tuesday. It's supposed to go above 20 F. I'm excited. But, still envious.

Posted by: Orson at January 31, 2026 02:42 PM (dIske)

35 Those peppers look fantastic. Heat is one thing, but flavor is the priority.

Mostly, bottled sauces bring the heat, but the taste is almost industrial, - too much processing and fillers.

Adding carrots to pepper sauce is heresy.

Posted by: Rev. Wishbone at January 31, 2026 02:44 PM (oT7pT)

36 Behold, aPharisee has spoken.

Adding carrots to pepper sauce is heresy.
Posted by: Rev. Wishbone at January 31, 2026 02:44 PM (oT7pT)

Posted by: Hokey Pokey at January 31, 2026 02:45 PM (YlWIZ)

37 From Boise area: lows 16-30 F, highs 36-45. Trend is toward daytimes hitting 50!, nights just above freezing. We did see an entire... skiff... of snow, when we woke on Wed., and that's all the snow we've had.

My amaryllis is opening flowers on its second bud-stalk. 2 open so far - definitely looks like 1 more coming, maybe 2.

The hyacinths in the garden behind the kitchen window are still on hold. I did find a few tiny tulip tips out front.

We'd better start planning the veggie garden and deciding what to start indoors, if the temps are really going to end up in the low 50's! I wonder whether it'll get down to the teens again in Feb., or if we are having the most absurdly mild winter I've experienced here (this is my 12th). That arctic blast that has hurt so many, didn't dip into the US until over in North Dakota, so Idaho got spared the worst.

Under Puttering: more hard cider and beer experiments.

Posted by: Pat* at January 31, 2026 02:49 PM (E7nk1)

38 Great photos! I’m not much of a gardener ( Spouse is more so) but I did get two pink hyacinths at the floral section of the supermarket. One I brought to someone, and the other one I am enjoying looking at and smelling. It lifts my spirits and reminds me that Spring is coming!. We will plant it in the Spring..

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at January 31, 2026 02:49 PM (YKjOc)

39 Hibiscus and gravy.

Posted by: Commissar of plenty and festive little hats at January 31, 2026 02:56 PM (Kt19C)

40 Oo.....Just saw the blood oranges. I love those things, but they don't show up too often at the grocery or farmer's market around here. When they do, however, I always grab half a dozen....and my next stop is always a nice cured ham.

Blood oranges, I have found, are great when throwing a Maltaise sauce together. It's like a hollandaise sauce, but a bit more tangy. Most recommend it as a sauce for asparagus or broccoli. But, if you add a bit of horseradish and white mustard to the Maltaise, it is a perfect gravy for a slice of ham.

Still envious...maybe even moreso now.

Posted by: Orson at January 31, 2026 03:03 PM (dIske)

41 If yer fruit is too tart, cook it! my mother would say.
So maybe cut up one of those blood oranges and throw it in a chicken stir fry.

Posted by: From about That Time at January 31, 2026 03:17 PM (qH+Wa)

42 I spent two hours tearing out an old grape trellis that mom had put in when I was in high school. I took the old grape trunks down to six foot trunks, and we took out all the old uprights and decking. I think we can get the rest of that yard area clear and put in a new trellis, deck and bench. It should take a couple of weeks at the most, more to get the yard back up to looking like a yard instead of a neglected lot.

Posted by: Kindltot at January 31, 2026 03:20 PM (rbvCR)

43 "Have you ever consulted the Farmer's Almanac?"

FTR, the Farmer's Almanac (since 181

is not the same as The Old Farmer's Almanac (since 1792). We pick up a copy of the latter every year for decades. Sometimes we even crack it open, to check the weather and planting forecasts, or the short essays.

And items like this (2025 edition):
Which four U.S. state capitals can not be accessed by the Interstate Highway System?

Posted by: mindful webworker - with frozen fruit trees at January 31, 2026 03:20 PM (j02Vi)

44 On today's episode of Gunsmoke: though drunk, Doc performs an abortion on Kitty. Hilarity ensued.

Posted by: Commissar of plenty and festive little hats at January 31, 2026 03:21 PM (Kt19C)

45 Lodz was one of the largest Jewish ghettos in Nazi Poland.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at January 31, 2026 03:23 PM (RIvkX)

46 "…since 1818" - bad enough Pixyware keeps hijacking combos like eight-close parenthesis to attempt to make smilies, but lately smilies.mu.nu doesn't even work, so you get the broken___ icon.

Of course, Pixy can't un-do the hijacking, or brazilians of emojis on past Ace posts would revert to… old-fashioned text?

Posted by: mindful webworker - with frozen fruit trees at January 31, 2026 03:24 PM (j02Vi)

47 They irises are beautiful. And if I were still into patio gardening I would plant the red peppers. Love the color. Would not eat!

Posted by: AlmostYuman at January 31, 2026 03:25 PM (bj34f)

48 "the broken___ icon" - IMAGE, you ignorant PI (Pixy Intelligence)

Posted by: mindful webworker - with frozen fruit trees at January 31, 2026 03:26 PM (j02Vi)

49 Due to the lack of snow in our mountains (where water comes for us in the summers), I have growth of spring bulbs...the leaves. Normally peeking through snow.

I am not having a nervous collapse (yet) if this weird winter does not impact my David Austin roses. I have over 30 and, boy, they better not die.

I am sure my spring bulbs will be fine. I hope.

Continue to pray for snow/rain through May in the Intermountain West.

Posted by: ChristyBlinkyTheGreat at January 31, 2026 03:29 PM (WONhk)

50 Oh, the Blood Oranges look lovely! They might need a wee bit of iron, though. I would recommend sprinkling some Blood and Bone Meal around their base, just to get some more color in their leaves. As to the tartness, they'll need another couple of months to get sweet. At least that's when mine were at their peak ripeness, in late March and April back when I had some beautiful trees in South Houston.

Posted by: Brewingfrog at January 31, 2026 03:59 PM (suBV/)

51 Late but had to stop by long enough to say how gorgeous those Irises are. One time my sons sent me Irises for Mother's Day and I thought they were so much better than roses. Of course purple is my favorite color.
It is really cold here and everything covered with dirty snow so appreciate the beautiful pictures.

Posted by: Sharon(willow's apprentice) at January 31, 2026 04:06 PM (t/2Uw)

52 Just checked the temp here. 81

Posted by: AlmostYuman at January 31, 2026 04:10 PM (bj34f)

53 Cold and snowy, though the sun has come out after snow flurries all day. Of course with a nice blanket of snow still on the ground I am pleased my over wintering garlic are tucked in nice and snug. I have ordered all my seed, and plotted out my gardens. February means time to start seedlings at the end of the month.

Posted by: Black JEM at January 31, 2026 04:27 PM (UVyKP)

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