A Seed Saver's Garden

[heirloomgal]

@Pulsegleaner I received a gift from an Italian lady today who lives nearby. It's a plant she called 'Italian parsley', and I think it may actually be from Italy, but it doesn't look like parsley to me, it looks like tarragon or rosemary. It doesn't taste like either though. It's also a perennial apparently. This is all info that may have been bungled up on it's way to me, but for now it's what I have to go on. Any idea what plant it could be? I'll post a pic if that helps.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

I think I already found it
https://www.thespruceeats.com/all-about-italian-parsley-995727

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Actually, those look pretty much like mine @Pulsegleaner. I'd say those are Honey petunias. What kind of temperatures have you been getting? 70's?

I find it so interesting that you see green in there. I looked and looked to see if I could grasp some green tones, but I can't! It's like those pictures that were everywhere in the late 80's early 90's, where it was all repeating patterns with no apparent image, until you look at it a certain way. I remember going in to those picture places with friends who would exclaim 'I see a woman in a chair!' or 'a man riding a bicycle!', and all I could see was a bunch of repeating patterns.

Pretty picture!

Temps? We've gotten a few days in the 70's (and higher) but actually it's still been unseasonably cold most days up here and, especially, most nights. I'm still wearing pants most days, and long legged and sleeved pajamas pretty much every night (and bear in mind, my long "pajamas" tend to be a sweatshirt and a pair of what are essentially sweatpants, plus socks.

Oh, you meant Magic Eye pictures. Yeah, I remember those. The trick was to sort of let your eyes go out of focus.

And they were a bit greener when we got them than they are now.

Incidentally, that small yellow blotch on the ground below the hanging basket is one of those yellow and black violas I mentioned (I think we're down to three now.)

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Forgot one update.

Yesterday, mom needed some stuff at Target, so, taking advantage of the fact we were on that side of the parking lot and in no hurry, I went and checked on the status of that cider apple tree I mentioned so long ago (the one I was pretty sure was totally dead now).

Unfortunately, the answer to the question of whether it is still there (or if there is a second one is...…..I don't know.

There ARE two apple trees there. One is clearly NOT the right one, it's one of the ones that is all crabapple (glossy leaves and blueberry sized fruits on long stems)

It's the second that is the grey area. The leaves certainly LOOK like those of a Malus domestica. But, at least this time, that is pretty ,much all I can say since the tree is JUST leaves this year, there is no sign of any developing fruit, or even signs it made any flowers. I DID find and retrieve one "hag apple" (fruit that managed to remain attached to the tree in a withered state over the winter), indicating it must make fruit SOMETIMES. But not this year apparently. Looking at the withered one, it's hard to tell. It seems a little smaller than what I remembered (though still bigger than the fruit of the other one, maybe large grape sized) and the stem seems a bit long for a true apple. Plus, based on the appearance, I think this one was red when it was ripe (the one I was thinking of was green, with a slight red blush.) It MIGHT be one of the other ones I saw originally that was behind the fence at that time (if the one I was watching DID die completely and get removed, the one behind it might have used the space to grow a bit more and make it over the fence. But I have no way of knowing.

 

[heirloomgal]

We've gotten a few days in the 70's (and higher) but actually it's still been unseasonably cold most days up here and, especially, most nights.

Okay, that makes sense looking at the colors of your petunias which lean to the yellow spectrum. Your cooler weather will have influenced that, they'll probably pink up for you when your temps increase.

Oh, you meant Magic Eye pictures.

Magic Eye pictures!! Yes!! That's the name of them! I've been trying to explain these to my kids and could not for the life of me remember what they were called, and they could not understand what I was talking about. As soon as I googled 'Magic Eye Pics' the patterned imaging came up right away! Cool! I can finally show them what I was talking about!

So the name for a little apple that has withered over the winter but remain attached to it's tree is called a 'hag' apple? I googled that and came up with a cider variety of crap apple tree called a 'Hagloe'?

 

[heirloomgal]

Couple garden pics.

Remnants of my compost pile. It's funny how it turned out; I pulled all the raspberry canes from my garden years ago when I realized they weren't productive enough to take up the space. Not thinking, I threw them on the compost pile. The ninebark seemed to die from wet feet in the spring thaw, that went in there too. All the weeds. And all these years later their remains live on. The canes slithered to the side of the pile and FINALLY became really productive (the best variety survived it seems), the ninebark came back to life on dry land. And unwanted plants, like yellow loosestrife and wild iris, are adding a touch of colour amid an ocean of green bush at the back of the garden now.

Tzimbalo flowering. Hope it makes fruits, I'd like to see what they taste like.

I think I've planted this little pink perennial half a dozen times over the years. It never comes back, if it even makes it through the summer. But I finally have found a spot where it survived the winter, and came back 5X the size it was last year.

The Money Plant is...full of money! lol

'Zagadka Dolinyi Roz' or 'Mystery of Rose Valley' sauce tomato actually has some fruit on it. I'd call that pretty early for a cooking type. And the transplant was tiny when I put it in 3 weeks ago.

'Red Fox Carlin' pea is turning out to be an interesting one. Not the type of foliage I was expecting, clearly has some hyper tendrils.

The package of Fingerprint Favas I ordered in spring had a measly 10 seeds. Only 8 sprouted. So, it's going to be a teeny harvest of favas this year and I'll need to regrow them to get any decent amount. Plus, they don't all express fingerprints so I'm hoping I get at least a good percentage. I'll say this, we're on our second week
of temps of about 90 F (not back to back though) and they have stood up really well to the heat. They were wilting at first exposure to that heat, but now they stay turgid all day. Shade hits them about 4. Given my hungry roaming bear, I've lightly caged them up to be a little less eatable.

'Bill Jump' peas from @Zeedman , first time trying these. I like the colour of the dry peas.

The 'Shu' peppers from @Jack Holloway seem to have quite a diminutive habit, and each plant has a different degree of variegation. I've been plucking flowers like crazy but am on the verge of giving up, since they are such tiny plants thus far I'm not sure they'll gain the typical size of pepper plants.

Ahhhhhh....one of my favorite *sightings* in the garden. A kid out there raking debris and picking weeds without being asked. Clandestine photo.

 

[heirloomgal]

I think I already found it
https://www.thespruceeats.com/all-about-italian-parsley-995727

It looks like this @Pulsegleaner , doesn't seem to fit any of the descriptions in the article.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Well, that appears to be tarragon.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarragon

 

[Branching Out]

It is so fun to see the unique plants that you are growing from seed in your garden-- and I especially love the sapling forest. You inspired me to 'plant' large branches for some of my pole beans to climb on next to our sitting area, and they have become a serene and lovely focal point for our deck. I selected tall thick branches that flare out at the top, very much like a large fan-- so good chance they will even help to keep the late afternoon sun out of our eyes in a few weeks, once the bean plants fill in a bit (either that or they will fall over under the weight of the crop...time will tell ). One of the most unexpected side effects is that we have hummingbirds and other small birds perching on or flitting about the branches, so if we are still we are able to watch them from up close. I made a second small 'forest' out in the garden, and may just try using those 8' tall branches as a trellis for pickling cucumbers, or as tomato poles.

 

[heirloomgal]

It is so fun to see the unique plants that you are growing from seed in your garden-- and I especially love the sapling forest. You inspired me to 'plant' large branches for some of my pole beans to climb on next to our sitting area, and they have become a serene and lovely focal point for our deck. I selected tall thick branches that flare out at the top, very much like a large fan-- so good chance they will even help to keep the late afternoon sun out of our eyes in a few weeks, once the bean plants fill in a bit (either that or they will fall over under the weight of the crop...time will tell ). One of the most unexpected side effects is that we have hummingbirds and other small birds perching on or flitting about the branches, so if we are still we are able to watch them from up close. I made a second small 'forest' out in the garden, and may just try using those 8' tall branches as a trellis for pickling cucumbers, or as tomato poles.

Another side perk of the pole branches is...the top quality avian fertilizer!