Sunnywood- I know you’re enjoying Hawaii... how can you not?! We were there a couple of years ago and I was absolutely entranced by the plant life. I took so many pictures... and thankfully my DH didn’t mind going to botanical gardens with me - fascinating! I doubt you’ll see any hostas there, but you have beautiful hostas to come home to. Well, the alphabet in general, and this thread in particular, is making me realize that I need to get better about taking pictures. I have a bunch that are technically mediums, but no photos (or none worth sharing).

Everything looks so good, PM2! Yes, it does seem early for tomatoes - lucky you! I've got a few green ones but only a few cherry tomatoes have actually ripened. Nice looking lilies too. Here's one of my Orania lilies from a week or so ago. Thrilled to have a few (maybe half a dozen) blooms with no or little beetle damage (you can see the damage on the leaves). Of course the plants are terribly stunted - these used to look me in the eye and now they are only about two feet tall. And the blooms aren't quite as vibrant or substantial but I'm still glad I got these few this year. First time in years I have blooms with no damage. My first Fleurel dahlia bloom. LOVE this dahlia - although I see in the photo some black spots, and I believe I now see an earwig trying to hide. Guess it's always something! Speaking of black spots, once again I'm having an issue with my calycanthus. It blooms earlier in the season and I thought I had bypassed the issue this year, but here is a late bloom, maybe last week (rain-drenched) And here is the same bloom this week. Almost every year the blooms and IIRC, the leaves as well, get these black spots. I'm guessing it's a fungal thing. I did send pictures to the Ag station in 2020, and they couldn't identify. Asked for samples. I didn't bother that year (pandemic) and haven't since either - kind of still trying to figure out how they ask you to mail plant material (that's been cut) to study. It's almost 90 degrees - any cuttings would not last in the mail for a day, never mind longer. But, whatever it is it doesn't seem to affect the health of the shrub at all. A just-opening Frans Hal, early in the morning Think these might be Chicago Apache, but they don't seem as "wow" as when I first purchased them (they stopped me dead in my tracks in the parking lot at the supermarket of all places - and I don't even really like red! So I had to buy them!) and they also seem shorter. Plus the camera doesn't capture their true beautiful red Early morning phlox. Every time I walk by my phlox, the fragrance reminds me why I grow it! I have reseeded larkspur everywhere and I love the color. Tried to get some photos with nice combinations but my camera isn't really cooperating in my wild mess of a cutting garden Daylily Big Blue? Blue something lol Cosmos Cupcakes. Or wait... perhaps Purity? So delicate and airy! LOL gardens don't look half bad from a distance! One of my part-shade beds Middle lfar eft, a ligularia that I may need to move, as the late afternoon sun wilts it daily. The hosta in front is an Ivory Queen - usually prefer green/chartruese variegation but LOVE the way this white pops! To upper right of ligularia is a 2-year-old symphocarpos which has grown nicely this year and I'm looking forward to some nice berrying this fall. The puny shrub to the right of the ligularia is a callicarpa Pearl Glam which is living on borrowed time lol. Three years old and not doing much of anything. Should have gone with an Early Amethyst - my experience with them includes MUCH faster growth and gorgeous berries. This Pearl Glam is starting to tick me off. And it's not just this plant, as I have two others in differing situations and they are similarly runt-y. The white hydrangea is a NOID, gotten at a swap. Potted dahlia to fill space where I ripped out reseeded feverfew, and a new small azalea in front of it. Just behind the pot I have a new Lyda Rose which is doing well, and then a way-too-big possible Limelight. It was plopped there years ago without planning and now is too big to move so I'm living with it lol. But I'm hoping the planing I've done since the plopping of the hydrangeas will come to fruition - if Pearl Glam cooperates lol! :) Dee

I just paid my october water bill…just under $400. Now i get why Dawn would abandon her garden in drought years. I am going to have to read back through her posts on pushing production early and acclimating her tomatoes to lower water conditions. My fall tomatoes have been awesome. HJ, I did lemongrass back in 2023. It was great, very flavorful, but did not survive winter outside. One of the Asian market growers I buy from at the market said that was normal. They overwinter theirs in a heated greenhouse, so you would have to have somewhere to bring it in. I bought a plant at Ace Hardware that year. Kim, I made an amazing rosemary finishing salt by pulsing kosher salt and fresh rosemary leaves in the food processor, for my family Christmas baskets. I have seen where you can do this with almost any herb. Debating dehydrating some garlic to mix in with it. I’ve received catalogs from Pinetree and Totally Tomatoes so far. Seems early, but I’m wondering if there will be a lot of people turning back to gardening next year, in expectation of food prices rising. I’m already hearing a lot of talk about people getting backyard chickens because of bird flu, which I’m sure they won’t research properly. I already ordered the 2 new garden beds I was going to replace next year, because they’re made overseas and I’m sure will be tariffed off the charts. I’m also planning on being very intentional about what varieties I plant next year. Things that are proven to do well in my little microclimate, highly disease resistant, and get things growing as early as I can. Also putting more heat and drought tolerant perennial plants out in my front flower beds, saving the other annuals for planters. I’m going to up my herbs too. I’ve had a heck of a time getting new chives started. I divided my remaining clump last spring and none of them did any growing at all. I think I gave them too much shade. And I’ll winter sow them early this year. Botanical Interests and Seeds n Such are both having Black Friday sales this week. About the only ones I’m interested in.

debra..I like your chartreuse NOID 👍..I can't help with the ID..my Abiqua Drinking Gourd seems more cupped than the NOID of yours that you thought could be ADG.. Laurie..I tried to find more photos of my NOID..even a group shot that I could crop..no luck..the leaves and the overall size are on the small side..I don't recall the flowers..my guess is if it had flowers they weren't special..