Nature and Gardening

Argynnis butterfly (Flórián tér, Budapest)

Wonderful pitcher plants I found on a hike out to a fen.

My friend at the library asked this morning if I wanted to take home a hosta that someone donated to the plant sale without a pot, as she didn't have the capacity to split it into pots or spend multiple watering sessions keeping it happy. Being the good husband I am, I asked my wife if it's okay with her if I accepted (unapologetic plant accepter here). She said sure, and even understood when I said I needed to bring the truck because it had no pot and I didn't want to dirty her car.

The hosta:

My wife:

This particular flower is native to my geographic area, although there wasn't any in my suburban city. So I got a big bag of conservation seed and dumped it everywhere, and it went nuts. Best "weed" ever.

It flowers for most of the season, but it's most magnificent right now. Hoverflies and other tiny pollinators love it. Honeybees do too, but they're a little big for them.

Two of my favorites. The rose smells heavenly

[Image description: the white flowers and pale leaves of sea kale contrast nicely with the pink, white and green of the dappled willow's foliage]

At least, I think they do

archived (Wayback Machine)

archived (Wayback Machine)

I could have told them that. Who did they think pollinated the durian flowers?

Apologies for being absent these past weeks, I have been hella busy getting ready for market season. By way of apology here are some smol herbs I potted up for our friends' shop

What's growing on with you all?

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/22446624

Have you ever had an especially rewarding, adventurous, dangerous, or really stupid experience of harvesting/foraging fruit?

I tend to live a sheltered life, so I don't have anything too exciting to share. I've harvested bananas with a hornets' nest on the underside of a leaf multiple times, but nothing unusual ever happened. I've gone wading through the swamp looking for aguaje, but the anacondas had already been hunted to extinction in that area. I've stood under a fruiting durian tree without a helmet, but it seems that durians don't just fall from the sky when I'm hungry.

Does anyone have an exciting or uplifting story to share?

Share your garden progress, challenges, and/or successes! What's growing on with you all?

cross-posted from: https://midwest.social/post/27601391

cross-posted from: https://midwest.social/post/27601124

I have Ostrich fern on the front of my house that I have been waiting years to try. I keep missing the window when they are ready so I was overjoyed when I saw my fiddlehead popping up. I chopped 9, steamed with in a pan with a little butter for 5 minutes. I plated them with just a sprinkle of flaky salt and had them for lunch today.

They were great and tasted a little like asparagus but with a more savory, earthly flavor. They were amazing and totally worth the wait. I might check tomorrow to see if I can sustainability grab a few more to have them again.

10/10 would forage again.