The purple tomatillos have decided to start fruiting which makes me happy. I’m hoping there is a lot of tomatillo salsa in my future! The purple variety is new to me and I haven’t grown tomatillos in many, many years, so this will be a relatively new experience for me. Have you grown tomatillos? Got a good tomatillo recipe?

Done! Come see! I wish I could invite you to have a cup of coffee and sit on the bench. If you know me in real life this is definitely a possibility if you come by to visit. I’m sorry for the brain farts a few times—I seem to have trouble focusing on what I’m saying and recording at the same time. If you can take 5 minutes out of your afternoon, click play and let me know what you think.

Planting garlic isn’t a quick turn around for reward in the garden. Taking nearly eight months or so from planting to bulb up enough to harvest, it is one plant that makes you wait but the reward is always great. Welllllll….if your planting has gone well. So far we have never had a good garlic harvest, unlike my brother who seems to be the garlic king. Two years ago we grew garlic in the community garden we were part of, and some of the garlic bulbed but then the garlic just did not cure well. Last year I planted elephant garlic along the side of the house where our flower…

It’s the season for magnolias to be fruiting and opening up to show their candy sized red seeds. This is our ‘Little Gem’ and all of the other species trees in the area are doing the same thing. Someday in the future our short 4-5′ tree will be tall and grand….someday.

We have a new section of garden to plant and one of the areas includes a shady spot under our fig tree. Because that area is also semi-protected, being on the south side of the house, it means we can plant some not-so-cold-tolerant species like this ginger. Chris and I were dazzled by this ‘Dancing Ladies’ ginger, Globba winitii. And the same species, different variety, called ‘White Dragon’. I’m thinking we may end up trying to find some cold hardy ground orchids to put in as well, maybe a cymbidium or the like. But I’m loving the tinge of tropical and Florida that I can bring into our garden! Now,…

Chris called me out to the garden the other night to say a really cool and interesting fungus was coming out. All it takes is a good rain like we had on Friday for all of the interesting fungi to come up around the yard, especially in the wood mulch in the garden. It was mostly fully developed on Sunday and it wasn’t until I was up close and taking photos that I noticed the flies. I did not notice a smell that would attract the flies but after doing my Google search for identification I determined that since its common name is stinkhorn, that they are normally stinky. My…

Carolina anole sleeping (until I woke it up) on our baobab tree. Bumblebees are drinking heavily from the white firewheel flowers. After growing all summer the Brugmansia are finally going to flower. A new addition to the garden, chocolate plant—Pseuderanthemum alatum. Isis sleeping in the front flower bed. Starfish cactus sending out a bloom. I’m over at Sprout Dispatch today writing about what’s in the veggie garden. Come say hello!