Promise,

Is that a Monarch on a milkweed?

As far as the set-up, I'm having a good giggle. I can just see it now: A bowl of water smack on the top of the tower with a wick coming out of it and running down through the separate layers. Theoretically, I have no doubt that it's possible. I'm still trying to figure out a way to water from the bottom though.

Erica,

A Monarch on a milkweed indeed! I planted lots of milkweed this spring after stratifying it in the fridge. Now I don't know what variety of milkweed is where. I haven't seen a monarch in this area in since early spring. Unfortunately my camera wouldn't focus on the caterpillar.

Promise,

I got some milkweed seeds in trade, and tried to start them without stratifying. Unfortunately I didn't have much luck. However I now have the seeds in the fridge and in a week or so, I will give them another go. I'd be happy to feed the monarchs.

These pictures sure give a girl garden envy- I love that!! Todays peppers are:

1 happy Tobasco plant in a 3 gallon (or maybe 5 gallon?) planter

and a couple varieties of sweet peppers. 5 plants total (overhead view was the only way to get it to focus) in an 11 gallon rubbermaid bucket full of holes

I'm home (and the laptop is home) but I'm rushing out to catch a bus to a hour long preview. Chicago Fringe Festival runs through the Sunday after Labor Day.

Yippee ... I love the stuff Promise sent. I will post the photo and talk later. Promise, yes, I was here and it wasn't in the sun, and I put those babies right in water.

Well my photographer posted those. That explains the corner shot ... I wanted him to post the long, horizontal view. Hard to get good help, you know.

Those aren't ripe tomatoes! Tell her what they are Promise! Thanks.

Mary E.

Laura,

Great pictures. Looks like today's theme is going to be hard to judge!

Mary,

Have fun at the festival! And if those aren't tomatoes, they must be peppers of some sort. You have me curious!

Hahaha, Mary you forgot the pictures again :)

Updated Shipped/Received info:

Erica - Shipped
Shirley - Shipped & Received
Jayeanne - Shipped & Received
Mary - Shipped & Received
Promise - Shipped
Vina - Shipped & Received

Erica, glad youre enjoying the garden. Everything is generally droopier than I'd like, but its been WAY too muggy, buggy and busy to go lugging hoses all over the yard.

You ladies made it rough for me to score Wednesday's pepper plant theme. I was seriously expecting to see one of you with a monster pepper plant and the rest with scrawny ones, but as luck has it, you all had impressive plants. In the end, this one is simply too close to call, so I'm giving all three of you a point.

Updated points:
Laura - 2pts
Promise - 2pts
Mary - 1pt

Thursday's theme:
* Best herb garden. *

grrr ...
I tried to post after midnight, looks like I didn't hit submit.

photo 1 Those are Jalapenos, in a 10 inch bowl.
photo 2 Bhut Jolokia one year old
photo 3 wrong shot, but anyway that is the west end, and those are Sioux tomatoes and Melrose peppers. The red things on the ground are wooden balls to distract the squirrels and birds! Not ripe tomatoes!!

Hey those purple pole beans are flowering! Pretty!

Time to plant the Redhead Radishes.

I expect to post photos later. Mary E.

Mary,

Red wooden balls! That's ingenious! Has it worked to keep the critters at bay?

Herb garden!!! I have herbs everywhere around here. Unfortunately my Thyme, Dill and Cilantro have petered out for the season. I should go sow more Cilantro because it is a staple in my salsa. A generous friend dug up some mint roots for me recently, they are trying to get established. They look kinda pathetic, but I've heard mint will bounce back. Spearmint, Lemon Mint and Mint.

So this is my herb garden right now. I have cumin and espazote growing but you can't see them here.

Oh-My-Gosh! Mary, you have just made my year with this package! I've never received such a well decorated, thoughtful gift in my life!!!! I am really beside myself. My daughter kept asking if I was crying. I didn't even receive a gift this nice at my wedding or well... ya, ever. I'm very humbled and I can't thank you enough.

Seeds include: Purple Pole Bean
Pink Columbine
Dame's Rocket
Borage
Asclepias incarnata
Cardinal Climber
Redhead Radish

There are 3 well rooted plants, unsure of the varieties but would guess, sedum autumn joy, coleus, parsley?

There are beautiful note cards along with a "P" stamp. Rain chewing gum, mint chocolates, Mary Janes Farm magazine, droppers, Cracker Jacks, Lemon Zinger tea, butterfly and rose decorations.

Thank you so much Mary!!!

Promise,

Great herb garden and gift pictures! Looks like a wonderful assortment of goodies and a very happy daughter!

I have herbs scattered here and there in my front and back yard, but this is my largest consolidated area of herbs. It's a bit patchy. I haven't filled in all the squares yet, but here's what I have in the bed: english thyme, lemon thyme, orange basalm thyme, roman chamomile, blue spires rosemary, wild dagga, african blue basil, holy basil, french tarragon, mexican tarragon, echinacea, i'itoi onion, lovage, za'atar oregano, blood sorrel, hollyhock, salmon hyssop, creeping jenny, garlic chives, lemon balm, bog sage, purple volcano lyreleaf sage.

Updated Shipped/Received info:

Erica - Shipped
Shirley - Shipped & Received
Jayeanne - Shipped & Received
Mary - Shipped & Received
Promise - Shipped & Received
Vina - Shipped & Received

Erica I will not be able to post photos until tomorrow. Hope that's OK. Looks like Promise has rocked herb garden. Newbie herb gardener here, I have borage, oregano, parsley, catnip, mint, mojito mint, lavender and tiny baby Genovese basil and lime basil.

Promise

My sentiments exactly, when I opened your package. Here is the plant ID: The main one is Verbena bonairensis. This is new to me. I love Verbena hastata and so do the native pollinators, so I had to have this relative. The other two are: Are you psychic? Because I nearly sent an Autumn Joy sedum ... it wouldn't bend to go in the box! The other two are coleus and a pink yarrow.

The Frango mints and Cracker Jack are Chicago treats, CJ was invented in Chicago. Oh, and I love the QAL , very appropriate ... longer story. Love all of it!!!! Photo tomorrow.

Mary E.

Mary,

That's not a problem. As long as I know it's coming, I'm fine waiting to do point updates. Thanks for the heads-up.

You might be a newbie herb gardener, but it sounds like you have a nice collection so far. Look forward to seeing it!

We sent each other Asclepius incarnata and Rain gum, because gardeners need Rain.

The glass eyedroppers are for sharpie tie dye. Or for rescuing bunnies, squirrels, kittens. Or for ?

Running back to volunteer chifringe.org. another show. So glad I went last night. What a day. Parade. Rally. Promise's package !!!! food pantry volunteering. Show preview. Tired in a good way.

Mary E.

Today's herbs are picture 1, left to right: creeping thyme 'pink chintz' (surrounding the citronella), pineapple mint, apple mint (although I'm pretty positive half of it is really chocolate mint!) and orange mint, and picture 2, planted under the tomatos are lots of chives and some lemon thyme.

Yummy yummy!!!
~ Laura

Laura,

Great plants! That creeping thyme is particularly pretty. Love those tiny purple flowers.

Laura,

You have wonderful herb garden. Your mint collection is fantastic.

Erica,

Your herb garden has a nice variety of lots of stuff I've never even heard of before.

Mary,

The plants are doing well and in great shape. My daughter ate the Cracker Jacks, but I made her endure me singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" in honor of you. I did not know Cracker Jacks were made in Chi-town. Being in this group has taught me a lot of things.

Y'all are just great people. I've really enjoyed participating. Thank you Erica for hosting.

I'm not sure they are made here any more, but there is still a lot of confectionery in Chicago. Downtown, sometimes if the wind is right, you can smell the Blommer chocolate factory.

Being new to herbs, it is bewildering all this pomegrante rosemary, Dutch cilantro, bacon mint etc. OK, I had chives and catnip and mint before.

Erica, you have moved up on my send out list. I never received email from you, i.e. your address. I had sent you email, do you remember getting any from me?

Mary E.

California Wonder pepper: I won a pack as a door prize. Out of the six pepper types I started indoors, these were the only one to struggle with germination. I had only two of these to put in the garden and I eat sweet peppers. My partner last month also had trouble germinating California Wonder. Now it seems the plants have "fooled you" type Jalapeno fruit on them. They are next to the real Jalapeno, so I have to watch it picking them ... the pods look the same, one is sweet, one is hot. In the bowl photo, you can see the stems are different ... look at the two on either end of that row. The seeds I won, were not Baker Creek or Territorial, I'd like to point out. But from a good company.

I planted the two annums together, because I wasn't concerned with saving seed from either. Good thing, huh?

The red wood balls ... I got that idea because some people hang red ornaments on their tomato plants. The birds and squirrels get tired of picking at them and then leave the real tomatoes alone.

It seems to be working. I find them moved around, chewed in half, buried, half buried. I put them back. I buy another twenty.

I'm protecting the peas with Russian sage scraps and those glads Sheri sent me. So I put some of that all around the garden, too.

Mary E.

I think we can agree there are no California Wonder peppers in that photo of a bowl of Jalapeno.

Mary

Mary,

I have received your emails and sent you my address twice. I'll try again. If you don't receive it, please check your spam folder to make sure it's not going there.

Interesting pepper story!

Sorry for the late posting on this one. I usually post before going to bed, but I forgot last night.

Friday's theme:
* Best effort, by a plant, to take over the world (or at least all your garden space). *

Looks like Mary was busy posting all over the round robin forums! But now that I have her herb garden picture, I can award a point for yesterday's theme: Best herb garden.

My favorite herb, individually, was Laura's flower-covered thyme. However, the overall "best herb garden" goes to Promise, based on her large quantity of healthy plants.

Updated points:
Laura - 2pts
Promise - 3pts
Mary - 1pt

There are two more chances for points, so it's still anyone's game!

Erica
Yipes! Should I have those reposted in the correct thread? Or will everyone notice this blunder?

Mary E.

Mary,

That was definitely worth a good giggle! You don't need to repost the pictures here. I'm sure people will notice them. Hell, I got all excited because I saw a post titled "Tomatoes" on the round robin forum. I was ready to sign up for that swap!

"You don't have junk here, hooray!"

Might I suggest receiving your email address through Promise? That way I can email you direct and send you mine. Or perhaps Promise or my Maid of Honor Sheri could email mine to you.

Mary E.

"You don't have junk here, hooray!"

Might I suggest receiving your email address through Promise? That way I can email you direct and send you mine. Or perhaps Promise or my Maid of Honor Sheri could email mine to you.

Mary E.

Here Mary,

Erica Braun
1894 Lindo St
Benicia, CA 94510

It's a real bummer that you aren't receiving any of my emails. I got a few from you, which I tried to reply to, so I know I'm getting yours ok.

Btw, did you ever receive the prize pack I sent?

I received my amazing bridal pack today from Shirley! I was actually working outside in the yard when my postal lady stopped by. I immediately went from planting seeds, to planting out the treasures inside the box.

Here's what I got:
1) Something off my registry: Purple Daylily 'Flutterbye'
2) Something Old: Older Daylily 'Both Sides Now'
3) Something New: Audubon tote bag
4) Something Borrowed: Pulmonaria 'Mrs Moon'
5) Something Blue: Blue Gardening Gloves
Extras: Generation X Daylily & Yellow Twain Daylily

I'm in absolute heaven! A million thank yous to Shirley!

Updated Shipped/Received info:

Erica - Shipped & Received
Shirley - Shipped & Received
Jayeanne - Shipped & Received
Mary - Shipped & Received
Promise - Shipped & Received
Vina - Shipped & Received

COMPLETED

I feel like I'm spamming the hell out of our thread, but here's my last one (for now at least).

No one has posted a "best attempt to take over the world" pic for today, so I took a picture of my figleaf gourd plant. Hopefully it lead to some inspiration. I planted it in a pot outside my catio (marked "start") and it snaked through the lattice, creeped 8ft or so to the pomegranate tree, then worked its way to the very top of the tree (marked "stop"). I'm worried that soon, it will be growing on my roof!

Here's a close-up, so you can see it reaching for the heavens!

Erica,

No, the game prize hasn't found its way here yet. The zip code is only the next one north. First class mail, you would think they will solve it.

My plants are well behaved, so no photo tomorrow.

I had seen Garlic Mustard and Boneset on your want list, but they disappeared off the list. When I send the Nightshade, I will send some other things that might be interesting.

Mary E.

Erica,

No, the game prize hasn't found its way here yet. The zip code is only the next one north. First class mail, you would think they will solve it.

My plants are well behaved, so no photo tomorrow.

I had seen Garlic Mustard and Boneset on your want list, but they disappeared off the list. When I send the Nightshade, I will send some other things that might be interesting.

Mary E.

Erica,

No, the game prize hasn't found its way here yet. The zip code is only the next one north. First class mail, you would think they will solve it.

My plants are well behaved, so no photo tomorrow.

I had seen Garlic Mustard and Boneset on your want list, but they disappeared off the list. When I send the Nightshade, I will send some other things that might be interesting.

Mary E.

You're a sweety, Mary! Thanks so much.

I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that the pack I sent makes it there, or even back here. If it doesn't show up in the next week or two, I'll send you a replacement! The PO can be unnaturally slow. One time it took them a month to notify me that they were holding a package that had been sent to me with insufficient postage. If it takes them a month to do that, I wonder how long it will take them to deal with a wrong zip!!!

If you have ever had friends that work for the PO, you know the management does not encourage them to solve delivery issues. They hire detail oriented problem solver types and then ruin their sanity not letting them have at it.

Mary E.

Lose your sanity and "go postal!"

A friend sent a letter to me, from Idaho, correctly addressed. It was returned to Idaho marked "unknown at this address" ... I had been there fifteen years.

Rofl. That's a good one, Mary!

Mary, thats crazy! A few months ago I started mysteriously getting catalogues and stuff for my mom. She's lived in the same house I grew up in since about 1990.. and thats 800 miles away from here.

Erica, Thats one determined plant. I'm currently on a seek and destroy mission for the following things 1) 'wild' catnip plants, 2) the mysterious vine taking over next to the pond. "Leaves of 5 can't stay alive!" and 3) queen annes lace.

Currently all three battles are being lost simultaneously in this picture!!

re: red wood balls/Russian sage to protect garden

That one sentence should have read: I'm using the Russian sage scraps to protect the peas and those glads that Sheri sent me last month.

The other way sounds like I am using the glads to protect the peas. No, no, no. The birds want the peas, the squirrels want the peas and the glads and the iris.

Mary E.

I should probably try some of those red balls. I've had some critter (I'm thinking squirrels) munching on my lower tomatoes.