Karmic-Dragonfly

The tomato plants are doing very well in the seed snails! The plants are doing nicely!

The closest snail to the camera was basil -- I think I planted the seeds too deep! So not much happening there.



Hoping within couple weeks, I'll be able to harden the tomatoes off and transplant them to the planters!

Tomatoes and peppers (basil?) have sprouted!





After I said peppers, I started to think that it would really surprise me if the peppers (second picture) had sprouted so quickly. They usually take their own sweet time.

It's very possible those in the second photo are basil, because the other container like that one doesn't have anything sprouted yet.

As you can tell, I'm not the best at labeling, becuase I know I'll be able to tell when they get a little larger.

Cold happening tonight. First time this Fall that it will be in the 20s (28F/-2.2Cish). I have some Ground Cherries out back -- these are seeds I put down last Spring. They took a long time to germinate and are loaded with fruit, none of which is ripe yet. I covered the plants with old bedsheets in the hopes that the plant and fruits get a bit more time to ripen. I'm pretty sure I saw a bit of yellow color, so I think they are ripening finally.

A late Monarch on the Asters yesterday --


Last week was fairly busy -- back to the home county to visit both sisters for their birthdays - within 2 weeks of each other date-wise. This year was the time when the first sister reached 60 years old, and it bothered her a bit. I took presents and brownies, and it was good to see them.

Mom is...vacant...tired. She will talk and smile, but she is fading. At 83, she's in the upper range of the age that members of my family usually arrive.

Then another friend here had his birthday this past weekend, so pizza, salad, cake, drinks. Also a nice time!

I force Amaryllises to bloom every winter, then take them out in the summer for sun and repeat the process the next year.

Here's a rather dramatic photo of Amaryllis 'Rosalie', which is blooming now.

You might remember from the early spring that none of the seeds I planted survived to be able to transplant -- I believe I overwatered, so I had to buy all my veggie seedlings this year.

I've been getting a decent number of cherry tomatoes, and several larger ones. I've had enough fruits to satisfy my craving for fresh off the vine tomatoes!

The basil plants are pretty big, and I'm getting plenty of Shishito peppers - which I cut up in my eggs each morning. I have also selected the one which will provide the seeds for next year:



I'll slice open to get the seeds tomorrow morning, and cut the flesh up for eggs.

Hopefully no one burns my flag like last year, omg. But I have put an extra camera up. And bought extra flags just in case.

This is a picture of Brazilian Vervain (Verbena brasiliensis) in the front yard. I strongly prefer native plants, but it seems the native bees will feed off of this. I am watching to make sure.

This lilac bush was a volunteer plant that I transplanted from my Mom's lilac bush many years ago. This is when I like them, when they are just opening, and provide a really nice scent!

I used to go to this particular trail at the river maybe 2 or 3 times a year, often during the heat of the summer. Lately, I've been going once, maybe twice a week, from winter into spring. I had no idea that this trail had so many spring wildflowers!

Called "ephemeral" because the wildflowers bloom briefly, and then the green part of the plant only lasts maybe a few weeks longer before it disappears. So in the heat of the summer, I would never have seen them.

For example, I had no idea there were Virginia Bluebells on this trail! I love the native Bluebells, and mine in the yard are beginning to bloom.



Then there were these plants. I had seen lot and lots of these leaves growing along the trail and wondered if they were Cranefly Orchids. But the back of the leaves didn't look right, and there were none of the expected bumps on the leaves. When I saw some of them blooming, I was able to search and found that these are Yellow Trout Lillies.







I thought these were really cute "daisy-like" flowers. No idea what they were, so another online search led me to the name Bloodroot. Evidently, toxic to eat but can serve as an insect repellent if applied to the skin, and if you don't mind turning your skin red. They are in the poppy family.





And some Cutleaf Toothwort --


Speaking of that name...."wort" or "wyrt" in Old English just meant "plant".


And last but not least, the cute little flowers that grow in a lot of areas here. Called "Spring Beauties" --



You might have noticed in the photos how bad the English Ivy is -- invasive and spreads everywhere!

The weather has been weird...I know we are in a "new normal" so to speak...

But it's hard to think that we've gotten nearly twice the rain we normally do in winter...my snow crocus started blooming in January....my daffodils are nearly finished, and now I see the Virginia Bluebells are up and nearly blooming at the beginning of March!


I always look forward to the neighborhood's ornamental plums --

...like February needs another day -- I'm being awfully hard on February lol

More Amaryllis blooming --