Wednesday, September 25, 2019

I Like Thursday #76

Wow has it been an exciting week.  I have been very busy and was kind of fussing when I realized it was only Wednesday. Wait Wednesday then it is time to write a post for my I Like Thursday to join the others at LeeAnna's Not Afraid of Color.

When I was chauffeuring my parents around the United States, we stopped to visit with Dorothy in New York, and she served iced tea.  I loved it!

I make up a pitcher and it seems to go way too fast.

The kids have a lawn and landscape service and a lot of people ask them to clean out the yard and start completely over.  We end up with a lot of very nice plants.  This gorgeous hydrangea came home to live in my yard.

Now to get a handle on all the weeds so that I can plant it.

Jerusalem Artichokes.  Have you ever heard of them?  Several years ago someone gave me a couple of these tuber looking things and told me to plant them.  Well they obviously love this spot and boy have they spread! 

You can't tell but these are 5-7 feet tall.  Per Gardentech.com

Also known as sunchokes, Jerusalem artichokes grow throughout the U.S., but warm temperatures in southern regions lead to lower yields.7 This perennial provides gardeners with sunny, yellow flowers and root-like edible tubers similar to potatoes. This native plant adapts easily to various soil types and soil pH. Harvest the roots after fall frosts, but leave plenty in place for the following year. Cook sunchokes as you would potatoes, or chop them for a jicama or water chestnut flavor in salads.

My small orchard has struggled the last couple of years.  I had quite a few pears finally, but many of them were eaten by squirrels.  I managed to salvage one.

If you have ever grown a fruit tree you know all the time that you have invested into them before you get any fruit. So I was quite thrilled.

No picture but I had 3 butterfly bushes.  One was dark almost black called The Black Knight, one was multi colored and another was white.  Well I read some misinformation and pruned them back this spring.  Big mistake.  The Black Knight and the multi colored did not return.  The white one I didn't get pruned and it did bloom.  Anyway the other day we moved all the chickens into the big chicken house, and I was cleaning it out.  I drug a wagon load of bird, chicken, and pine shavings out to the burn pile.  What was there at the top, waving tall and proud?  The Black Knight butterfly bush.  I went up, pulled it out easily and replanted it.  It is a wee bit droopy, but now is the time to plant butterfly bushes, and hydrangeas.


 I have read several books this last week while I am working on some projects with deadlines. 

Dear Mad'm about and 80 year old woman who goes to live in a cabin up on a mining claim on the Klamath River, not far from where my great grandparents lived.  This was in the 50's so it was quite remote even at that time there.  The best write up I could find about this remarkable woman was from Find a Grave.

Now head over to LeeAnna's at Not Afraid of Color and check out the other I like Thursday posts. 





17 comments:

  1. Lots of cool things to like. I must have read the same thing about butterfly bushes. Mine is gone now too.

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  2. Butterfly bushes will self sow like that so even though my main bush died off this year, I found a lot of seedlings as well. Your Jerusulem artichokes are fascinating! Enjoy your pear! Cheers!

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  3. As always, I enjoyed your pictures and thoughts.

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  4. So excited you got a pear! I sympathize about the fruit trees- my apple trees are still struggling, but my crabapple is flourishing and it makes me so excited to get to harvest the fruit now. I've heard of jerusalem artichokes (they were a plot point in a murder mystery I read) but never seen them and didn't know anything about them so it was cool to read about them! Have a great week.

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  5. How cool is that hydrangea. Thanks for the info on Jerusalem artichokes. I never knew what they were.

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  6. I didn't know about Jerusalem artichokes, although I've seen those flowers here and there. Interesting. That butterfly bush is beautiful.

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  7. Hi Colette! You are sharing a wealth of information this week. That Black Knight butterfly bush is just gorgeous. Maybe I should swing over to the plant center and see if they have any left, and get one planted this fall. I've never had any luck with them but I sure am willing to give it another shot. I sure wish I wasn't a whole state and Great Lake away from your landscaping peeps. My yard needs a good makeover or something. The ice tea sounds delicious and looks good too. ~smile~ Roseanne

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  8. Hello, Colette, thank you for sharing Thursday's gifts with me. I wish I had a space big enough for those sunchokes. They look so pretty and edible tubers sounds delicious. Your garden is looking beautiful and bountiful ... :-) Pat

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  9. Free plants! how cool. I have heard of Jerusalem artichokes, but never knew what they were. We had a pear tree growing up, and it was tough to get non-wormy fruit. Yay for your pear!

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  10. The Jerusalem Artichokes look really pretty! How fun that your butterfly bush survived in that way, too! Was your pear good? We have an apple tree in our yard - we will get a few to eat ourselves, but most go to the birds, bugs, and squirrels!

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  11. What splendid butterfly bushes...gorgeous colour. I enjoyed reading about your garden work...have never seen Jerusalem Artichoke but wow, what a lot of blooms. And did you eat your pear yet?

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  12. I love the Black Knight color. Ours are more purple. It’s great that you inherit such nice bushes in the cleanup process.

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  13. Congratulations on the pear! We have a couple of young apple trees that I've been waiting for for years!

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  14. Your yard looks so beautiful! That Black Knight is so unusual and pretty. I miss having fruit trees, but we just never planted any here. As usual, I love your Thursdays!

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  15. I didn't know Jerusalem Artichokes had yellow flowers that look like sunflowers. Something for me to consider next year. Our apple trees are loaded this year. A farmer friend told me that I ought to pluck one or two out of a cluster so that the fruit can ripen rather than fall to the ground because they're too heavy for the branch. That's another thing I'll consider next year.

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  16. Lots of fun facts here today :) Jerusalem Artichokes, huh? pretty yellows!

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