Bulgarian Carrot. It is an open-pollinated heirloom pepper that produces orange carrot-shaped peppers. They are mildly hot. I use them the way I'd use any hot pepper, which means DH eats them or I use them in salsa or jelly or can them mixed in with jalapenos.

The Bulgarian Carrot pepper plant gets about 15-18" tall and produces heavy loads of 3-4" long peppers that look like baby carrots. They are mildly hot, measuring about 2,000 to 5,000 Scoville Heat Units. That means that at their hottest, they're in the mid-range of heat you'd find in jalapeno peppers of various varieties.

When I grow them, they are hotter in flavor in hot, dry years. However, if I irrigate them heavily or if it rains a lot, they are not quite as hot.

Texas Hummingbird Sage is a salvia. (It is Salvia coccinea.) Hummingbirds and butterflies love it and so do some flying insects. I grow it in an ornamental border near my garden. The main plant gets about 12-18" and wide and sends up taller flowering stems that maybe get 2.5 to 3' tall in a good year. It reseeds vigorously for me and I love it. It is only cold-hardy to zone 8, but reseeds vigorously in my zone 7 garden. It doesn't need a lot of water, although I try to give it an inch of water a week if no rain is falling. I grow it in full sun and in part sun.

I have red ones, although there are some pink ones available. The pinks haven't reseeded for me.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Photo of Texas Hummingbird Sage

I also have a question------
A plant called Goliath Giller? a type of pepper plant obviously. However, I can find a few Goliaths but nothing that says Giller. Which Goliath are these?

The only question I remember right now is- How big does Black Cherry Tomato get?

Incahoots,

See the link below on info on Goliath Griller. This is my first year to grow it, so I cannot tell you if their description of it is accurate, but generally my results match the descriptions from Totally Tomatoes.

Tigerdawn,

They are large cherry tomatoes, so about the size of Large Red Cherry...or about the size of a typical fresh cherry (a cherry pie type cherry, not a cherry tomato, lol). Sometimes they get a bit larger and in low rainfall and high heat they may be a bit smaller.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Goliath Griller Pepper at Totally Tomatoes

Thanks! But I meant the plant itself...

Oh, lol

In my garden in raised beds filled with well-improved and fairly loamy formerly-red clay (now brown, loamy clay) the Black Cherry plants get about 7' to 8' tall and spread out 3' to 4' wide. They are very large plants.

The passion flower vines are they the maypop that are hardy?
And do they require full sun?
Thanks 4 the vine you brought me.

Seeker1122, the passion vine do require full sun, and yes they are hardy. The start I gave you is from a very old plant that was on the original homestead here. It does have a little bit of an attitude,as it likes to send out little shoots that come up where every they want to. I almost forgot, it also gets very large. A sturdy trellis or fence would be good. It's very drought tolerant once established.
Hope that helps,
lisak

Does the passion vine put out a lot fruit?

Kelly

Be prepared for it to literally be eaten to the ground some years because it is the larval food plant for the Gulf Fritillary butterfly larvae.

This species is generally not used for edible fruit as is Passiflora edulis. This is the species Passiflora incarnata which is native to Oklahoma.

It does have its unruly qualities, by wanting to cling to anything and everything in its path, and by popping up 10' away from where you originally planted it. I love the flowers and the caterpillars, so can accept its
"attitude".

The caterpillars won't kill it. In fact, it usually will produce new foliage after being eaten to bits. Not always, if it's the end of the butterfly season, but it will come back the following year.

The caterpillars are orangish with black spines. The spines are not sharp, nor is the caterpillar harmful in any way to humans. In fact, they are quite soft. I remember the first time I saw them, and I went "EWWWWW" and was afraid to touch them. But everyone assured me they were "touchable", and they were right.

I'm attaching a link to images of the life cycle of a Gulf Fritillary.

Susan

Here is a link that might be useful: Gulf Fritillary Life Cycle

Lisak thank you for the info. I think it's cool I got a baby off an old timer. I've wanted one for a long time glad I waited.
TREE

Ok, I got 2 of the sun chokes. Paula told me a little bit about them. I've planted them in full sun, but can someone tell me a little more about them? When do you harvest? How large do they get? Any info would be great.
Thanks,
lisak

Sunchokes- plant in full sun, water in, walk away.

Sun chokes I've just left them in the ground and in the middle of winter dug them up if we needed food. I could be wrong but before the army worm invasion of 09' thats what I did.
Of course I'm in the desert.

BettyCBowen- LOL!!!

lisak - they SPREAD as in the tubers multiply. They get tall, like 6' to 8'. They produce sunflower-like blooms that I'm told the birds LOVE. Harvest like Tree said - through the winter into early spring. Several years ago George (aka macmex) harvested some HUGE chokes early spring and posted pics. I can't find the thread, durn it.

I will warn you that gophers love them. They ate all I planted last fall, so line your planting area with something that will prevent that. I've heard that they can be cooked much like a potatoe, but I've only eaten them raw. They taste (to me) like a sweet waterchestnut and go great in salads!

Paula

At the Fling someone left a couple of Red Siberian tomatoe plants. I knew I'd heard the name so I kept one and gave the other to Pop.

I'm slowly making it thru all my planting now. I did some research but I'm confused about 2 things. The seed catalogs say it's determinate...dave's garden says it's indeterminate. Which? Also, would it be suitable to grow in a l-a-r-g-e pot or would it do better in the ground? Seems I have gone over my limit of plants so I'm trying to decide where to put them....(I know...no one is surprised, right?)

Thank you so much to whoever brought this little jewel!!!

Paula

Paula,

I hope whoever brought the plants will let you know which Siberian it is.

There are several Siberian tomatoes with similar names, so let's see if I can make it more confusing.

RED SIBERIAN: This is a regular-leaf indeterminate that produces oblate-shaped PINK slicers that vary from about 1 lb. to 1.5 lbs. (Hey, I didn't name it!)

SIBERIAN: This is an early determinate with rugose foliage. It produces large red cherry-type tomatoes that are egg-shaped and measure roughly 2" long by 1" wide. Like most determinates, it puts out flushes of fruit that pretty much all ripen at once. You should get 2 or 3 flushes of fruit, or maybe more depending on the weather, if you have this one.

SIBERIAN PINK: This one is early to mid-season. It is a determinate that produces round, pink cherry-type tomatoes that weigh an oz. or so.

SIBERIA: This is also an early type that is a determinate with rugose foliage. It produces small, round, red fruit.

To make it even more confusing, there is Sibersky Skorospely, which roughly (but not exactly) translates as "Early Siberian".

Are you confused yet?

Dawn

OH BROTHER!!!! Clear as mud...lol! Guess I'll just "have" to grow it and see what I come up with, right? Saved this to "my clippings" for future reference, along with my okra info!

Just a side note...and if I've already posted this on another thread...sorry. I'm tired and don't want to look, but...

About that Armenian Melon that BettyCBowen brought me...I asked for one just to grow something different and interesting. Turns out...that is the ONE type of cuke I've been looking for since January and just didn't know the right name!!! I'm so freakin' DELIGHTED to have this to grow!!!! I'm not a fresh-eating cucumber eater...yuck...but these I really, really liked a LOT! My Sis brought them for New Years Day dipping while we watched OU Football. Funny, I don't remember much about the game, but I remember how much I loved the taste of this!

Thru all the blur of the Fling...this "melon" and the Red Siberian are going to stand out to me....next to the new and old friends & the newly nominated tradition of the Mexican Easter Eggs. (Sorry, Seedmama! The traditional name escapes my feeble brain!)

I brought home a tomatoe labeled "Prize". It is in a black 4" pot with a white paper label. I remember talking to you about it at the swap, but now I can't remember what you said. Is it the same as "Patio Prize" Can/should I grow it in a pot? I'm finalizing my tomato planting map this morning so I can get things in the ground, hopefully starting tomorrow. I still have to finish the deer fence....

I think I have time to move stuff, so someone help me out. I have black cherry (2), Wyches yellow, freckled child, little Sun yellow, tumbling tom, snow white (3), & Mexican midget tomatoes. I have room in the ground for 5 plants, 1 large rubbermaid tote, & 4 large pots (dont know gallons, but it took over 2.5 bags of dirt that were 40 lb each to fill). Of those I've listed, which can go in pots and which should go in the ground?

Next question: I planted some of the purple garlic, and when I was out yesterday I noticed all the green shoots were wilty looking. Is that normal? Or have I already killed it?

jlhart76,The garlic should be fine, just make sure to water it. If it gets to wilted, don't give up it will probably come back from the bulb. It gets a little mad about being transplanted, but it should be fine. It really is very hard to kill.
Thanks everyone for the info on the sun chokes

p-mac, I hope the melon grows for you. I haven't put mine out yet but I'm going to get that bed ready this weekend.

I have the delice melon and Jing okra under a light, thinking I should wait a little. ...should I? I am SO excited about those too.

My garlic is wilty too, so I'm glad it will bounce back, thanks Ikeel.

I'm hoping I can keep track of which tomatoes are which, such a variety. Dale told me the Juan Flamme is really special, so I'll put it in its own spot.

(Just ran in to get oriole snacks together, there were two out in the garden this morning, so my second sighting this week. )

Haven't had a chance to put any of my fling finds in the ground yet. DH and I finally finished the rabbit fence last nite so I feel safe planting the lovely broccoli from Dawn (thank you!) and all the other goodies. Saw the Laura Bush petunia starts in the dixie cups were blooming today... amazing since they are only a few inches tall! This will be a great one in the garden I think. Thanks to whomever brought it.

I did have one or two unknowns that I will post about asap. We're remodeling a house and that chore is taking up my gardening time this weekend.

Well- it's not a plant, but what do I do? I was lucky to get the finch birdhouse for my doorprize. I would like to hang it, but was wondering if it needs to be in a certain place- protected, in the open, a certain height, etc. Looked at the garden web birding forum, but didn't see an answer. Any ideas! Thanks in advance.

Andria

I would like more information on the flowering quince please. I suppose it wants sun, but need an idea of the size. Is it just an ornamental or does it produce edible fruit?

I have a flowering quince that came with my house (where I've lived ten years) that does not get enough sun. Even though, it is easily 10'x10', and my husband goes at it with the hedge trimmer every year. It wants to be bigger and swallow the house. We get few flowers (because it's too shady, I think) and no fruit at all.

The flowering quince in my yard is probably 10x10', but was probably not trimmed for 10+ yrs. It does produce fruit, which I assume is edible. I haven't eaten it yet myself. It is in full sun and has not increased significantly in size over the last ten years. However it does have suckers/volunteers aruond the base. Most of the growth seems to be the suckers, not in increased height.

Quince fruit is not particular tasty fresh, but makes great jam or jelly. Quince is high in pectin, so you can make jelly using a no-pectin quince jelly recipe or you can make it by adapting your favorite berry jam or jelly recipe by substituting the quinces for the berries.

To make the quince jelly, you have to boil the fruit and extract the juice just like you do with something like peaches or plums.

I've linked the NCHFP's Quince Jelly recipe below.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Quince Jelly

Finally got most of my fling finds planted tonight, including replacement broccoli (aka Dawn's urban north broccoli outpost), garlic and several ornamentals. Also my pepper seedlings went in the ground tonight, too. Still have a few fling heirloom tomatoes but need to add compost and manure to the new spot for them.

I have something I was unable to identify. There were three black square qt(?) sized pots, and I believe they were labeled on the table underneath but don't remember the name. I recall they were some sort of shade item, green strappy leaves, maybe with lily in the name? I am having a hard time figuring them out, but picked them out thinking "Ah! Perfect spot under the elm tree for them." Now if I only knew what they were...

If that sounds familiar to anyone, it'd save me from dragging the camera out. Thanks!

It sounds like the Lily of the Valley that I brought home.

Yes, that's it Soonergrandmom! Thank you!

mrsfrodo, per the finch house - i doubled checked with "mr dody", and these were his suggestions: hang the nesting box 4-10ft. off the ground, preferably at a height that will be easy for you to reach so it's easier for you to monitor. can be screwed onto a house, barn, or fence post. it is preferable if the entrance hole faces away from the prevailing wind, but if that's not possible, they will still likey use it.

hope that helps, and i hope you have some "boarders" soon!

dody :)