All Choked Up

Sorry, couldn't resist that title.  Yes, it's about artichokes.

We've tried to grow artichokes before with limited success.  Cindy planted another one this year although she was afraid that our climate didn't have enough "chill hours" for the plant to flower, but the plant proved her wrong and has produced six buds so far.

Artichoke Flowers

Is this not a thing of beauty?

And it was even better for lunch.

Good-bye To Cousin Itt

Cindy planted an ornamental grass plant in a container next to the garage door  a couple of years ago.

It became pretty bushy and I started calling it "Cousin Itt" because it reminded me of the character in the Addams Family.

Cousin Itt flourished for a while, but unfortunately began to dry out and shrivel up recently, so Cindy pulled it out and replaced it with some new blueberry plants.

That's fine with me; neither we nor the bees eat the ornamental grasses, but we do like blueberries.

"Hold This....Again"

Our blueberry bushes are currently loaded with blossoms and unripened berries.  That makes the El Nino storm we are told will arrive tomorrow a matter of concern; we don't want to lose those berries.

So Cindy, a former Girl Scout, was prepared to take measures to protect them from a hard rain by putting a cover of shade cloth over the bed by clipping it to some wire frames she had installed a couple of months ago.  We pulled the cloth over the frame and it worked beautifully.

I think it should work as long as the wind doesn't get too bad; there are certainly enough clothes pins securing the cloth to the wire frame.

The Color Purple

Purple is the color that predominates in our garden at this time of year.  I don't think the iris have looked any better, although it turns out that they are probably doing so well because of an irrigation malfunction.  When Cindy checked the drip irrigation systems she discovered that one line was getting no water and the irises were getting lots of it.  No wonder they were happy.

Iris

The lavender is also in full flower at this time of year and the bees love it.

Lavender

Lavender Flower

I'm Not Sure What This Is, But It's Pretty

And a few other colors, as well.

The only drawback to this climate is that lilacs generally don't do well here because there aren't enough chill hours.