Friday's theme:
* Best effort, by a plant, to take over the world (or at least all your garden space). *

Here is our current game's point count:
Laura - 2pts
Promise - 3pts
Mary - 1pt

This theme reminds me of Michael Pollan's book, BOTANY OF DESIRE about how plants use people.

Lol. I watched a documentary about plants a few days ago and it turns out that there is a flower that looks just like a type of bee. It even gives off hormones, which make it more desirable to the boys than females of their own species. The male bees are so enamored by the flowers they they spend more time mating with them (which acts as a means of pollination for the flower), than with the female bees.

I have no doubt that some plants have indeed developed ways to use people, as well.

Happy Saturday, everyone!

Friday's "Best effort, by a plant, to take over the world (or at least all your garden space)" winner is Laura, by default!

Current point count:
Laura - 3pts
Promise - 3pts
Mary - 1pt

Here is Saturday's theme (last chance to score a point):
* Best garden mutant - anything growing in an abnormal shape (a lemon with a nose, a carrot with legs, etc). *

Something has been going on with gardenweb thread. Since the beginning of joining this thread, the only person it tells me has posted is Mary. I was checking on Friday for the theme, but I never seen it.

Either way, the plant I would have submitted is no longer in this location because it did take over the garden. So this picture was taken about a month ago.

These were both getting close to as tall at the house. The weather knocked their massive sizes over. Now I'm drying the Amaranth and I've cut apart and saved the seeds from the Lions Tail and relocated what was left.

This cold is finally starting to lay off. DH and I are planning on doing some canning today. Boy do I have mutant for you! lol Have a great Saturday Y'all!

I have something trying to get in the house and a mutant. Photos later. Muggy and thunderstormy here.

Yesterday I had to catch up on eating and sleep, never made it to Fringe Festival, but I'm going today.

The three plants Promise sent me are Wandering Jew, pink sage and fuschia. And so many seeds! Twenty eight hand folded, color coded envelopes! Mix of flowers, butterfly things, herbs, veg ... love them. She designed and sent custom mailing labels and return labels. There was also a chocolate bar, Rain gum and a delightful little chipmunk ... it is on the gum in the photo. See it in the mysterious non-swap tomato thread. Promise thank you for the wonderful bride gift.

Erica, milkweed is tricky to get going. Took me three years of winter sowing. Once you have it, it stays and increases. Doesn't like being transplanted, yet I have seen it done by a newbie.

Mary E.

One photo is Ipomoea sloteri / Cardinal Climber. There are six planted, climbing up twine tied to the air conditioner and inside, up the window. Looks great from the dining room. 'taking over'

The other photo is my brockle faced petunia. It was a stowaway with the daisy. 'mutant'

Promise,

That's a great picture of your amaranth and lion's tail! I have to admit that I was surprised you didn't post yesterday. I decided that it must of been because you were out doing something fun for labor day weekend. I have no doubt that GW was doing something weird for you. When I went back through the posts to copy and paste the shipping update, as well as the point update, I was seeing multiple copies of posts by Mary, which I know weren't there before.

Now that we're near the tail end of our picture posting, I have to say Promise that you're my new gardening hero! Your vertical beds, your square-foot/repurposed beds, your herb garden, your amaranth and wild dagga... we could have shared the same brain when designing our gardens and deciding what to plant!

Mary,

The pack you received from Promise, looked great! I didn't notice the mailing labels, but what a wonderful idea - both creative and practical.

That's for the info on the milkweed, as it is a weed, I assumed that it should be easy to get started. Now that I know it's tricky, I'll be more conscientious next time I try to start it.

I look forward to seeing all the mutant photos later today!

Thusly

Red flowered vine

and the mutant ... whew !!

one eating the house, one mutant .... Mary E.

I'm new to round robin exchange. I enjoy gardening. I thought gardening was going to Home Depot or walmart and picking the flowers they sold but it's so much more! I like carnations, gerbers, roses, and many other flowers, it's endless haha

Nicole from Rosemead ca
Huynhnicole@hotmail.com

Howdy Nicole,

Did Shirley get back to you about joining? Are you officially an OBF member now?

Mary,

And you said your plants were well behaved! That cardinal climber looks very happy where you have it. Looks like it might be planning to move into your dining room. Pretty petunia. I didn't know they vined like that, or maybe that's what makes it a mutant!

Nicole,

I just got your email. Looks like you are indeed an official member now. Welcome! Welcome! Welcome!

We're just finishing up our last game for the month. I've been assigning themes and the ladies have been posting pictures appropriate to the theme. Today's theme is: Best garden mutant - anything growing in an abnormal shape (a lemon with a nose, a carrot with legs, etc). Feel free to post a picture, if you have something growing in your garden that fits with that. I've actually found this to be a great way to get to know more about the members.

I've been debating about how to handle Friday's scoring. Since, Promise and Mary both posted their "best effort, by a plant, to take over the world" pictures today, I want to take that into account. GW was buggy for Promise, who never saw my theme, and Mary normally posts a day late. Laura has already been awarded a point. Because of Friday's weird circumstances, as well as my late posting of the theme, the most fair thing I can think to do is award a point, across the board, for anyone who posted.

Updated point count:
Laura - 3pts
Promise - 4pts
Mary - 2pt

Today's mutant theme point wont be calculated until tomorrow, so at this point, it looks like it's a race between Laura and Promise.

Mary LOVE your beautiful petunias! thought I would share with you my petunias grown from seed this year =) love all the photos!!

Thanks Erica for such a FUN swap!

Jayeanne

Jayeanne,

Thanks for participating in the swap! Great petunia pic. Thank you so much for sharing.

Bluee welcome, I love roses, too.

Jayeanne, yours are very sharp. Petunias are something I like to see other places, I don't like that sticky way they fell if you try to deadhead them. I only have this one strange one, that hitchhiked in. For the photo, I removed a couple of the solid purple blooms, and that's my hand trying to face the mutation one
toward the camera phone.

Erica, the Cardinal Climber is growing up on the inside of the upper windows, between them.

Mary E.

I went through my yard looking for mutants, but my "round" lemon (middle) was the closest thing I could find. Occasionally I end up with weird shaped lemons, but there wasn't anything really good on the tree right now. Figures!

Mary,

Your climber sounds awesome. I leave my windows open in the summer, and they would have probably wiggled through my screen by now and found their way inside!

Mutant Black from Tula

Mutant Green Pepper

My mutant is a midget, weirdly bulbus, slightly yellow cucumber, Its overripe cause I kept hoping it would get bigger, but its not much larger than a golf ball, as you can see compared to its cucumber brethren. Also, itty bitty wings!

Whoa! To go out in the yard and pick lemons!

Cool photos. everyone. Going back to Fringe now.

Mary E.

Aug 31st. The month is officially at a close. All of our August brides have shipped and received their packages. I want to thank everyone who participated in the swap and games. I've loved looking at everyone's pictures. It's inspiring to see what fellow gardeners are doing.

There is one last order of business, before I pass OBF on to next month's hostess. I must declare a "garden mutant" winner! There was one picture, in particular, that I was super excited over. I had to refrain from commenting on it... didn't want to ruin the surprise. This person posted two pictures. The first was impressive, but the second seemed to have a discernible shape -- two hands clasped together! Congratulations to Promise for the best garden mutant: a bell pepper formed in the shape of two clasping hands!

Here is our final point count:
Laura - 3pts
Promise - 5pts
Mary - 2pt

Promise wins the game!

Laura, what kind of cherry tomatoes are those in the photos? Now that I have black, pink and yellow, I wish I had some red ones, too. I'm learning how to save wet seed, practiced on Kumatos.

Promise, congrats! I loved your amaranth/dagga photo, I never saw dagga before.

Mary E.

Mary,

If the pack I sent ever makes it to you, I'm pretty sure I added Tommy Toe Tomatoes. They are a very nice heirloom, red cherry. This is my second year growing them. They are productive and tasty, and they will continue to be on my "grow these" list next year. (If the pack I sent ends up lost for all eternity in PO hell, then I will be sure to resend that one).

Erica, look at my trade list. No point in sending Nightshade by itself.

Mary E.

Mary,

Thanks! You're a sweety. If your Sioux Tomatoes or Melrose Pepper seeds are ready, I'd love to try some of those. If not, I'm super happy just to get the nightshade. Thanks so much!

OK, you are third on my Post Office list and moving up another spot, when PO reopens.

Neither of those are ripe yet. Is it preferable for either or both to ripen on the plant, if you are saving seeds? I could send whole peppers in the mail, but tomatoes IDK. I will be saving seed from five different Sioux plants. These are big green heavy things.

I will include some medicinal locals. I have a "Midwest Medicinal Plant" book. Maybe you've seen it, oversize paperback.

Mary E.

Mary,

You're awesome! As far as saving seeds, I definitely let the fruit ripen on the plant. I'm pretty sure peppers don't continue to ripen once picked, and if you pick them green, the seeds wont be viable. Tomatoes might be a little more forgiving, as they do ripen once picked, but I still let them ripen on the plant when I want to save seeds.

Your local medicinals sound amazing! I'd be super happy to get some from you. And your book sounds great, but I think I might be too far west for it to be appropriate for me. I usually look up everything online. PFAF is a great website. It has tons of info about the medicinal uses of herbs. I do have some herb books though and "The Bay Area Forager." Honestly though, your book sounds like something I'd really love.

You girls are so wonderful. :)

Promise- congratulations on the winning mutant. That is quite the tomato.

Mary- those are just grape tomatoes. I dont know what variety, sorry.

I totally forgot to share the story of Something Old!! A few weeks ago I found a small box at the bottom of my regular jewelry box. It was full of trinkets and costume jewelry I'd never seen before. Nothing special looking. So I start asking mom about all these costume rings and things I couldn't identify, and if she knew where the box came from, but she had no idea where any of it came from either. Then something catches her memory...

This locket.

8 years ago grandma's apartment complex burned down entirely. No one was hurt, but grandma lost everything. In her closet she had a queen size comforter bag FULL of 7 generations of pictures, all burned away!! Mom hasn't seen this locket since she was younger, so there is still no telling how I ended with it, but inside are two pictures.

Oh, Laura what a wonderful find, how special!

Oh, Laura what a wonderful find, how special!

Oh Laura that story is so beautiful! I got teary eyed. It has been a pleasure sharing the wonderful month of August with y'all.

Laura,

What a magical story. Like Promise, I was teary-eyed. Thank you so much for sharing.

Laura-Wonderful story about the locket, so very glad you found it.

Shirley

Erica,
My August bride game prize just came, thank you so much. What an adventure for all those tomato and herb seeds. Very useful items, pens and notepads. Thank you, grand hostess.

It is the oddest thing. I put a note on the mailbox to ring the doorbell and turned on the OHare/Midway delay news. What can one say except no flights out until at least seven pm? I headed out in the sunshine to eat tomatoes right off the plants and water. When I came back in ... there were five packages between the doors. One is for Shirley, one was from you, one was a followup to another GW seed trade, one was from a nice seed co--replacement package of California Wonder Bell Peppers and one was for someone that hasn't lived here for two years. Are they catching up while the planes are down? LOL The last is just promotional item, nothing good.

(I had given the wrong zip code, and the prize meandered back to Erica and she was kind to resend it. Thanks, Erica)
Mary E.

This post was edited by cottonwood468 on Fri, Sep 26, 14 at 14:13

Mary,

So glad it finally ended up at its correct destination!

All the seeds are off my trade list. I can't quite put into words how odd it was to have five packages show up all in the same day in this place, where most of the mail is junk for people that have been gone two or more years. Like twenty years, even.