Dear Dee and Mary Ann and Gardening Friends Everywhere,
Greetings! As I write this letter, I smell the distinctive, strong scent of my night bloomer, Epiphyllum oxypetalum, which bloomed this evening for me.
I’ve been so busy outside that I just noticed the flower bud a few days ago, and then this evening I decided to check to see if it was getting close to blooming, and there was the flower.
I’m glad I saw it, though I’m sure if I hadn’t thought about checking on it, I would have eventually smelled it. It has a rather distinctive smell and reminds me of an old lady, a grand, elegant old lady, who puts on way, way too much perfume.
I’ve posted about the Queen of the Night before. It dominates the corner of my sunroom year round so it only blooms once or twice a year for me. It is fun to watch it literally open in one evening. I can’t think of any flower that looks quite as elegant or quite as mysterious as this one.
Anyway…
Out in the vegetable garden, I’m weeding out tons of purslane, which is neither mysterious nor elegant. It’s everywhere, like it is every year, and I’m pulling it out as I can, in between thunderstorms, which seem to be a regular event this past week. This morning I pulled purslane out of the raised beds as I suckered and tied up the tomatoes, some of which already have blooms.
The green beans also look good, and so does all of the squash. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a squash blossom this week and maybe some tiny squash.
The corn is up and already knee high as you can see in the corner of this picture taken Sunday morning.
For the most part, everything looks good in the garden, except cucumbers. I sowed seeds for those late and none of them came up, so I sowed some more seeds on Friday night. I hope those come up or I might have to – gasp – go buy some cucumber plants somewhere, if anyone even has them at this late date.
There will be no more lettuce in the garden this year, unless I sow some for fall harvesting.
By last week, it had pretty much all bolted so I pulled the last of it out and tossed it on to the compost pile. This week, I’ll probably pull out the pea vines, as they are mostly done now, too.
Whoever said that time stands still in a garden was nuts. Time seems to be moving quickly in mine. Lettuce and peas are done and now I am waiting for squash. Didn’t we all just plant our gardens?
And already, it is time for another Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day tomorrow. I just hope for clear skies this evening, so I can take some pictures for my bloom day post.
I hope your gardens are flourishing and your weeds are withering…
Hortifully yours,
Carol
You are right Carol – seems like I just planted the lettuce and radishes and spinach. They are all done. I planted a bunch of cucumber seeds and only three came up. Maybe it's been too wet – we have had lots of rain.
Eileen
I've missed the first two of my Queen of the Night blooms. I am able to keep mine outdoors, but now I have made sure to move it next to the front door so when the next blooms open, I at least will see them in the morning when I go to get the morning paper.
You are so right about time not standing still in a garden. It seems as if time is getting away from me right now.
Jan
Always Growing
What a beautiful Queen of the Night. It is so hard to remember to keep checking everything at this time of the year but we must because things are happening everywhere.
So happy you didn't miss your Queen of the Night blooms! Weeding seems to be the order of the day here, too–that is when the garden isn't too muddy. Last night we had a gully-washer so I'm hoping nothing got drowned.
Hi Carol,
What a nice picture you've posted of your "Queen of the Night" flower – or cactus, as it actually is. Hope you didn't loose too much sleep waiting for it to bloom.
BTW, I liked your post so much that I wrote a short post about on my own blog. Hope you like it 🙂
Best,
Anette
Carol, Your vegie garden is looking wonderful…I like the layout and the lavender bench is a good spot to survey the Veggie Kingdom. gail
Time moves so fast spring through fall and then grinds to a halt in February. Glad you got to see your grand old dame flower.
Dee
I have never seen your night bloomer. It is really beautiful. It would be a shame to miss it.
Carol-
did you know that Purslane is edible? It is high in linolenic Omega-3 and has more beta-carotene than spinach. Maybe instead of fighting it as a weed, you need to consider it another crop!
How lovely to be writing while your Queen of the Night fills the air around you Carol… hopefully not too much like a grand old lady with too much perfume. Your veggie garden looks so fabulous … I am green with envy. I can see you work very hard and long outdoors. It appears you have only those plants you choose to grow. What a concept! Lovely!! ;>)