Welcome back to another episode of Lost In The Farmer’s Market! It’s
that prime season where the spring’s cool day time temperatures are tapering
off and the first real challenge of summer’s heat and humidity are beginning to
limit one’s ability to garden for as long as was possible during the spring.
This is a time of some of the most violent and brief pop-up thunderstorms which
help in keeping our gardens reasonably well stocked in water and green due to
the delivery of atmospheric nitrogen. Amidst all that the mosquitoes, fleas and
ticks become a problem as well so we break out the repellant and appropriate attire
and hope for the best while performing the usual garden chores with the aim
being a better harvest. Yes, indeed it
is late spring and we’re getting a taste of the heat of summer. With all that
we get a chance to see some cool things in the fields and, to kick off today’s
post I have some interesting photographs from the field.
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| Charadrius vociferous - Killdeer |
I spotted this bird on the Fayetteville Technical Community College’s
main campus, I’d seem them running about on a nearby grassy area before but it
seems now the campus has a breeding population of Killdeer. This one has
decided to nest in the pine straw not far off a loblolly near the construction
site so I can presume it is very used to people. For note Killdeer are a native
medium sized plover, they are named onomatopoeically after their primary call.
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| Santolina rosmarinifolia – Green Lavender cotton/Santolina |
So all the types of santolina are in bloom right now but the green type
which is more minimalistic in form is striking because of the ration between
bloom and foliage. You can see compound flower which identifies it as a member
of the daisy flower clearly here. The flowers of santolina are literally the
center of a daisy with none of what we might call petals.
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| Santolina chamecyparissus – Grey Lavender Cotton / Santolina |
The grey form is also in bloom, keep in mind mature stands of santolina
tend to bloom from mid-April through June. Both are incredibly drought tolerant
once established and will survive poor soil neglect and are evergreen and
aromatic but have no known culinary uses. The primary use for santolina is as a
natural alternative when paired with Cedar as a clothing moth repellant.
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| Asclepias curassavica – Scarlet Milkweed |
Milkweed is a diverse group of plants that all are pollen providers or
hosts to a number of butterflies. Scarlet Milkweed may be an attractive magnet
plant for Humming birds due to its incredibly red blooms which have yellow
centers. For those who wanted to know what the difference in bloom is between
Scarlet and common milkweed look below at common Milkweed.
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| Asclepias tuberosum – Common Milkweed |
To be fair this stand was grown from seed and is about six years old,
but what a show! This specimen will be blooming hardcore for another few weeks
to a month. Common milkweed is perhaps the most orange thing in any given
garden short of an African marigold and yet it is one of those temperamental
perennials that hates being transplanted due to its deep taproot. Once it in
and established, generally a milkweed when provided with annual compost and
spring fertilizer will grow into a potentially large deciduous flowering hedge
every year. The plant that the seeds for the one photographed came from reached
four feet in height.
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| Salvia verticillata ‘Purple Rain’ – Liliac Sage |
Originally this battered specimen was found on the distressed plant
rack for $3.00 it was fairly beat up. But being planted in a partial shade bed
for protection from summer heat it’s finally recovered it seems. Only time will
tell if it’s a long-term success or not but I do know Sages LOVE cold winters
as all varieties of sage on premises rebounded incredibly after our last harsh
winter. Honestly…with a name like purple rain how could a ex-DJ like myself not
buy if only for the chance to make Prince Jokes.
But now we move on to the closing of this overdue post*. I do have some
very good news, I’ve managed to work out a trade partnership with the pepper
lady. As some of you might remember Laura Bradley used to be a market vendor at
the Farmer’s Market and stopped attending. She never stopped growing horticultural
curiosities and now I am bringing her organically grown GMO-free exotic pepper
plants and spices to the City market! This is one hell of an event because now
you can hit up the booth and find things that no one has seen before. Starting with
the Wednesday market you can expect to see Turmeric plants, and a new variety of
pepper plants such as super-hots like Naga Jolokia, and Chocolate Scorpion. We’ll
have strong hots like Trinidad Congo and Red Fatali. For those not into the
burn there is a selection of low-hots such as Aji Pineapple, Aji Limon. The
selection is random and always super good. But don’t worry if you want regular
peppers we’ll have that, and the usual array of garden favorites.
*Another will be posted for the
last weekend of May shortly.
