PBS Forum

This happened many decades ago and in a different state. A bluejay was caching peanuts-in-the-shell in my garden. It would fly in, scrape a little hole, poke in the peanut. Cover it, cock its head to examine the site, perhaps adjust things, and fly off for another peanut.

After it left a titmouse (sparrow size little gray bird, also with a crest) would swoop down, uncover peanut, carry it off to a nearby branch. And eat it.

P.S. My friend grows her peanuts etc in the open garden, not under glass.

About 3 or 4 peanuts into this routine the bluejay got back while the titmouse was thieving the peanut. Oh such squawking, such a contretemps!

I confess I was laughing. But from inside the house, behind a window, so the birds did not notice me, intent as they were on their issue.

P.S. My friend grows her peanuts etc in the open garden, not under cover

A friend here in New Jersey crops peanuts. In 2019 she dug them in early in October. The tops of the plants had just been blackened, kissed by frost.

She also grows sweet potatoes. And artichokes. As well as tomatoes and green beans and green peas and more.

Some people are just very skilled.

One thing she does which amuses her granddaughter - when the pumpkins are just forming she gently scratches the child's name on the rind. As the pumpkin grows this becomes a brown "scab" on the orange pumpkin. Personalized pumpkin.

I knew someone who planted all his tulip bulbs upside down, thinking that roots emerged from the pointed portion of the bulbs. They all did flower the following spring, somewhat later than expected. Shoots up / roots down. Geotropism. Definition: "the growth of the parts of plants with respect to the force of gravity. The upward growth of plant shoots is an instance of negative geotropism ; the downward growth of roots is positive geotropism."

My F. imperialis have, over time, made offsets. And Lysenkoism aside, I assume the offsets have appropriate vertical orientation of shoots and roots.

Catalogs - and books - persist in the "plant them sideways" nonsensical advice.

Corms replace themselves annually. True bulbs add internal scales while outermost scales wither. But do not, as far as I know, replace entire storage unit.

Good thing plants have a better idea of what they are doing than what we assume they should do.

My Fritillaria imperialis were planted sometime around 2006 here in New Jersey. I did not plant them sideways. I have heavy soil.


They are perhaps not flowering as well as they did the first year but do flower every year.

They start coming up in March. Sometimes they get snowed on, lay over, straighten up when temperatures moderate. 

This has been a rather dry summer. It will be interesting to see what happens next year.

Once again I have come across the advice to plant Fritillaria imperialis sideways. Yes, there is a large-ish hollow where the previous season's stalk has shriveled away. BUT it seems to me that roots pull down,  shoots stretch up - and over time the bulb will likely correct its alignment.

Better to plant with suitable drainage. Or perhaps lay a summer cover over the area.

Any thoughts, comments, suggestions or advice?

It is at about this time of year when rain is forecast that I move all the pots of dormant Rhodophiala out of the greenhouse. They then hurl themselves into flower in about a week's time.

But I had a thought. So today I moved four pots out. Will wait for the next forecast and then move another four, And again, and again.

This way I'll have an extended period with which to enjoy them, rather than one mass display.

Any comments?

An image from September 2023

Always good for a news alert: Titan arum in bloom  at Edinburgh Botanic Garden

https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/cz9x9pkq5wvo

Those blue daffodils are sort of scarce too, David.

Even if not uncommon, I enjoy these flowers around town that I photographed today. Beautiful.

And the daffodils I photographed in March, continuing to grow and bloom even overgrown with wisteria and other weedy plants in an abandoned place - may we all continue to thrive and flower.

My bad. I shall try again, as suggested

Aha! That worked. Thank you David.

I don't exactly remember so will try to send Bulbocodium vernum image again and see what happens. Image is 396 X 391 121KB Here goes . . .

Yes. Error is as follows

The message has the following error or errors that must be corrected before continuing:
The message exceeds the maximum allowed length (65000 characters).

Have deleted image. Will try to post text / no image

With the weather flip-flopping from pleasantly mild before the calendar flipped over to spring on March 19, and now back to winter-y chill (I've again been making fires in the wood burning stove) I wanted to post a picture of Bulbocodium vernum that's nicely flowering in my garden. But I keep getting an error message so you'll just have to take my word for it.

Sixty-five years ago or thereabouts, let's say end of the 1950s, I would occasionally be riding on public transportation in the summer, in Brooklyn NY. And would see a man wearing short sleeved shirt, with a tattooed number from the Nazi death camps on his wrist. I knew what it was. But I never talked to him.

And one time about the same time frame my father was talking to my mother about a man at the place where my father worked who would sometimes have fits, disturbances, crying out. I asked why, and my father said it was because the man would remember what had occurred in the camps and could not bear it.

Yesterday I received a similar message from the Hobby Greenhouse Association:

          This issue marks a new era for HGA with going with an all-digital format/delivery system. We have reduced our membership rates to $10 per year and $18 for 2 year memberships to reflect the lowering of overhead of printing and mailing the paper copy.  This was a very difficult decision for the HGA Board as everyone loved the paper copy.  The loss of our printer and being unable to find another printer forced us to make this decision.  We hope you will stay with us through this difficult time.  We have a lot more indoor plant knowledge to share along with the articles members submit to help others grow their plants to their full potential.
          Enjoy the Fall Magazine as you ease into the next season.  Stay safe and healthy.

Interesting! We see these webs on the lawn for a brief period in late summer. Have always referred to them as "handkerchief spiderwebs." Now I know more.