Calm Before the Storm

We had a big windstorm last week that blew pretty much all the beautiful fall foliage to the ground.  Luckily I took some pictures of the garden in its fall color prime before the storm.

Brilliant blueberries.  If I remember correctly (which isn't as likely as I would like it to be), these are 'Jersey' blueberries.

This is about as ripe as the bananas are going to get!

Musa basjoo

Had I watered this Himalayan raspberry over the summer, it would be looking a bit more presentable.  Yes, the berries are edible.  They are pretty good - they taste like apples.

Rubus lineatus

Maybe I should make some figgy pudding?

Ficus carica

Hydrophobia at work on the leaves of Melianthus major.

Melianthus major

Melianthus major

A Red-foliaged Castor bean plant (Ricinus communis) extends the season up until the first hard frost.  This one is 10' tall and still looking fantastic heading into mid-November.  I order the seeds online and plant them directly in the ground in a sunny spot with good soil in mid-April.

Ricinus communis 'Carmencita'

The greenhouse is filled to the brim.  The white flower on the left is a brugmansia (Angel's trumpet).  The pink-flowered (actually pink-bracted) plant on the right is Bougainvillea glabra.

Here's hoping my next post is not of me wrapping Christmas lights and blankets around all the borderline-subtropical plants before an impending arctic freeze!!!

A Happy Accident or Two

Opuntia engelmannii

Opuntia cacti, or prickly pears, may be considered to be scrubby weeds in the southern US but they are a prized possession here in the Northwest - at least by the people weird enough to grow them.  I've heard the new growth is edible but I haven't been brave enough to try it yet (they seem to have micro-spikes on them).  I think I'll just hold out for the prickly pears.

Solanum aviculare

In addition to about 12,000 other phases, I'm currently in a "big annual" phase.  One of the best big annuals for our area is Solanum aviculare or Kangaroo Apple.  The many purple flowers give way to miniature eggplants in shades of green, orange, and then red.  Its dark burgundy stems contrast incredibly well with the lush green leaves.  It grows quickly - to 10' in a single season.  Just go online and order some seeds, then sprinkle them around in a sunny area that will get watered and stand back!  If the summer is warm enough, the fruit will drop to the ground in the fall and seedlings may sprout the following year.  I believe the seeds have to go through a fermentation process like tomatoes.

Dahlia imperialis

When I was potting up a tree Dahlia (Dahlia imperialis) a couple weeks ago, a section of one of the main stems broke off.  So I took a shot in the dark and stuck it in a bottle of water.  I was floored about a week later when I noticed some roots starting to form at the base.  Two for the price of one!

Finally....a few figs on a fig tree no bigger than a stick.

Ficus carica