They have a great sense of humor

cause this has to be the coolest display in a botanical garden.....ever!

Enchanted Aster

According to folklore it's perfume could drive serpents away. Aster's are a talisman of love. Known as: Starworts, Michaelmas Daisies, and Frost Flowers. Aster is Greek for star. They come in all colors and mostly have a yellow center. Aster's are the birth flower for September.
Happy Fall from the Haunted Gardens!

Red White and Blooms

Happy Fourth of July have a Fun ad Safe Celebration everyone! 

Cucumber Folklore

Hi everyone I have some fun folklore for all of you. According to folklore you need to have a naked man plant your cucumber seeds on May 1st. I think a couple days is plenty of time to find a fellow to help you out! Happy May Day!

Spring Blooms & Fronds

Sweet Violet

Trillium

Sweet Violet

Maidenhair Fern

Redbud

Maidenhair Fern

Happy Earth Day to our Haunted Garden Friends!

Toadshade

Toadshade or Trillium Sessile is a magical springtime flower. Also known as a wake-robin is a native perennial. They will slowly multiple over the years and are worth the wait. They are one of the first wildflowers to bloom and their mottled leaves are amazing toad like. Every Haunted Garden needs some.

Snake's Head Iris

Spooky Iris( Hermodactylus tuberosa) looks like a snake head. The color is amazing greenish yellow with almost black tipped falls. Iris is the Greek Goddess of Rainbows. These flowers are named after her and come in all shades of the rainbow including pumpkin orange and black!

Spooky Salix Gracilistylus

Salix Gracilistylus is in the willow family. A black mysterious pussy willow. Mine are blooming now they are more like catkins than flowers. Very cool and spooky easy to grow also.

Frozen Plant Resurrected

A team of Russian biophysicists has successfully grown ancient plants from tissue material that stayed frozen in the Siberian region for about 30,000 years.

This is the oldest plant material to have been brought to life so far.

According to a report published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the scientists extracted the so-called "placental tissue" from immature seeds and put it in a special nutrient solution, which imitated a growing plant.

After a while, the tissue in petri dishes germinated into mature seeds, which have been planted in soil and grew into fully-blossoming plants.

The scientists found only subtle differences in the shape of petals and the sex of flowers between the "resurrected" plants and the modern-day Silene stenophylla, which still grows in the Siberian tundra.

The research team suggested that tissue cells were a perfect material for their experiments because they contain high amounts of sugar, which helped the plants to survive in a hibernated state for so long.

Image and Article can be found HERE!

Adding Color to My Haunted Garden

Color for the Haunted Garden

It has been awhile since I have posted.  Life demanded a lot of my time dealing with family issues and I have missed my hobbies I'm so fond of.  One of them being a "Haunted Garden" every year for Halloween.  It's that time of year when the seed catalogs arrive in the mailbox and I always find new plants I want to try.

The one below is a "Rainbow Chili Plant" and the different colors the pepper make as they mature, are like eye candy.  Mine grew all summer and was so beautiful last fall I brought it in the house where it survived up until November (it's not really an inside plant).  This year I plan on planting a whole row!

Every year I try to add a couple of new varieties.
I have already discovered a plant I must try this year.
It is an "Ornamental Eggplant",  Pumpkin on a Stick.

It looks delightful and I can imagine it adding beautiful shades of green to yellow to orange in my Haunted Garden this year.  I imagine painting little faces on the fruit for beautiful Autumn Bouquets!  They could also be used as a fun project with small children like my granddaughters who love to paint with me!