What do you Grow?? The Garden Thread

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I can see your photos now, Grace. Beautiful and interesting. We have a fetterbush with blooms that look a bit like the blossoms the bee is exploring.

we use them on our blueberry bushes every year!
they're super cute, and not bothersome at all like some people tend to think
(really its the ginormous carpenter bees that get oddly territorial over our porch steps that are annoying lol)

We have big carpenter bees here.
They like to drill holes in the porch beams.

One of the things that grow over our property is a particular type of mushroom called Morel Mushrooms. They are a sponge looking mushroom and are very distinctive and not poisonous. They are a delicacy. My wife went outside an found several a few moments ago.

I built a trap to catch them out of a small piece of wood and a canning jar. It works fine.

^ Wow! they almost look like some form of coral: aesthetically appealing without being beautiful. What’s the flavour like?
(I’m expecting a bit nutty from the colours...)

They are hollow inside. She cuts them in half and soaks them in salt water to kill any small insects. Then she cooks them in sour cream with a little salt and pepper. And they taste magnificent.

Sounds delicious
I’ve done similar using button mushrooms with greek yoghurt and the addition of sherry, shallots and celery to make a veggie equivalent to stroganoff.

I'm envious, Jimmy. Morels are exquisite.

I haven’t found any morels out yet.Here we call them, “dry land fish”.Wash and look for bugs, dip in egg, roll in seasoned flower or meal.Jimmy’s way is also wonderful.
There is also a false morel that is toxic but the stem is solid and not hollow.
I have found some oyster mushroom lately.Mostly on beech,mulberry and strangely the old stump of a sick Althea( rose of Sharon).It made a whole pan full.
I like to sauté those in butter or sesame oil.
In the fall there are coral mushroom to eat, and they really do look like coral.
On a happy note,the Bleeding Heart I thought was dead is just now popping up.I hope it blooms this year.

^ that’s good news!
Ours comes up relatively quick once she’s started.
They do die back sooner than other herbaceous plants too.

That’s what mine did when it for hot.I thought it died on me.
White wisteria just getting going good.

^ (sigh) I have to do without a wisteria.
something about petals and mess

Beautiful

Yeah, our dicentra died back around mid-summer last year, but that was relatively late for how it responds to our climate.

They can be really, really aggressive.They can pull a porch loose from a house.
There is a purple one here that hardly ever blooms.Just grows a giant vine that tries to take over.I have been trying to kill it for years.Went our and chopped on it the other day.Next I plant to build a fire right on top of that rogue.
The white one has escaped to the woods, it looks like fairyland so it goes untouched.Especially in the moonlight.
I think there are more well behaved varieties than mine.
I think the Chinese is more invasive lol ( of course).Spreads like the plague.

I have a purple wisteria. Last year it bloomed twice. The spring bloom is really pretty. I cut it way back every year.

I also have a bleeding heart in a shaded area, but it still gets enough light to bloom.

I love morels and used to collect them in the spring when I lived up north. We would usually go out with friends to areas known for morel fruiting. The time to look for morels, it is said, is when the oak leaves are the size of a mouse's ear.

I have been replacing the lawn with gardens and native plants. This photo shows the native powder puff or sunshine mimosa. It is a ground cover that grows quickly and densely. The bees love these blooms, which are covered with tiny stamens which are covered with bright yellow pollen. The bees on these blooms have pollen sacks filled to bursting.

[url=[url=https://imgur.com/KcqeNUo][/url]]Sunshine Mimosa[/url]

The tall plant background right is black sugar cane.