Small Pumpkin Harvest

Well that is about it for my pumpkins! Some rotted way too much rain here. If I'm lucky I'll get one more!

Spooky Spider on my Purple Coneflower

My Purple Coneflowers are blooming. This one has a white crab spider on it. I have seen little yellow crab spiders but not a white one this large. He's a spooky ghostly fellow.  Crab spiders are stalkers they don't weave webs.
I hope August finds you all well!

Not a leaf and my first pumpkin

That is not a leaf but a Satyr Comma butterfly.  Part of the Bush foots butterfly family.  Named for the mythological woodland deity. Satyrs know the secrets of wine making. I need some of that knowledge!
I'm thrilled to have my first pumpkin forming!  No critters are eating the vines any longer and they are loaded with blooms so I just my have a nice patch after all!

Pumpkin Bloom

Well I hope you're all having a great Summer.  I wanted to share one of my favorite blooms with ya. Pumpkin blooms of course! I planted 43 plants and 10 got eaten by ground hogs. But so far the rest seem ok! Ground hogs do not mind egg shells, coffee grounds, hot sauce or dish soap all of which I have tried to keep them from nibbling my precious pumpkins.  I better at least get a few pumpkins out of my patch or I'm going to have to find a good recipe for ground hogs! Lol

Ghosts in the Garden

Ghost Ferns that is! Athyrium or Ghost Fern has an upright habit once established.  They are well behaved but I wish they would speard more. It's fronds are silvery which give it a ghostly glow in the shade garden. 
Lucky me I have four ghosts in my garden. They are late to awaken in Spring but I'm always glad to see them when they do!

Some Spring Blooms

Here's a few woodland Wildflowers I have blooming now.
Violets in an array of colors. I need to do some research to find which kinds they are. I love the magenta one which I actually bought years ago.
White Shooting Stars
Red Trillium or Toadshade
Wild Geranium or Cranesbill with a hosta

Sorry the pictures aren't great but the mosquitoes are viscous this year like never before.

Garden Humor

Humor always helps. I thought I would share these with you. Personally I like the one about hiding the bodies!
Mother Nature blew in some chilly temps and we may get a snowflake or two tomarrow. Good thing I put all my veggies under recycled plastic bottles so if we do get frost they should be ok.
Wishing all you Moms a wonderful Mothers Day! My wish list includes a new sprinkler and some new garden gloves.  Oh and no cooking at least for the day!

Ghost Corn also known as Dutchman's Breeches

Dutchman's Breeches/ Dicentra Cucullaria is a perennial woodland native wildflower. Which attracts long tounged bees such as: Bumble, Mason and Miner to it's nectar.
The little puffy white and yellow flowers look like little pants/breeches.
But I found some fascinating Native American Indian folklore about these little woodland gems. According to the Conondaga Indians Ghost Corn was thought to be food for the Spirits. How cool is that!
They were also used as a potent love charm.
I have several of these lovely beauties in my shade garden. Mine are up but not blooming yet.
Here's an update from my wild yard. Yep found one more baby rattlesnake. I raked and mowed so I hope that helps.  We also have way too many Garter Snakes to count. Since they moved in we haven't had any mice so yeah for that. Giant Painted momma turtles are making their way into the woods to lay eggs. And a very large pleated woodpecker is back but I do not see his mate. They come every year. What was shocking to me was when he flew into a hole in one of our trees. At first I thought ok yeah a nest of woodpeckers but nope. He pulled out what looked like a baby monkey but hey we don't have monkey's here. So I was horrified to see it was a baby squirrel. Nature can be burtal at times.

Dragon Tongue and Rattlesnakes

Dragon Tongue or ejote silvestre is an heirloom bush snap bean. You can use it fresh or us as dried.
I can't wait to plant mine. But yesterday it actually snowed an icy mix here so I'll have to wait till next week. 
I'm always on the lookout for heirloom seeds and the varieties with great names like Dragon Tongue.  I think my kids will get a kick out of eating Dragons Tongues. And who wouldn't!
Seeds are available at rareseeds.com and many other seed companies.
I made good progress on my pumpkin patch yesterday.  But then I started raking and found a baby rattlesnake.  I wasn't thrilled about that. Last year we had one in our garage.  Don't get me wrong I love snakes. They eat bad bugs and mice and such. I just don't want to run into mama.
I also have an alli in my fight to keep bunnies out of the yard. We have a mama fox and she had kits. She catches a bunny a day to feed them.
Lots going on this Spring in my garden.  I'll post pics of my progress soon.

Goblin Eggs

Every Haunted Garden needs some Goblin Eggs! These little beauties are a wee 2 1/2 by 3 inches. You can find the seeds at several seed companies. I like Pinetree at superseeds.com. They have great prices on their seeds.
As for me I'm working hard to get my veggie garden ready. This year a very large pumpkin patch is in the works.

Red Warty Thing/Victor

Yep that's it reintroduced name! This old heirloom(1897) winter squash variety is a large warty glowing orange red.
You can find these at Bakers Seed Co. Go to rareseeds.com they have the best heirloom seed varieties!

Dreaming of Pumpkins

I just got my Jung Seed Catalog and I was thrilled to see many amazing pumpkin varieties.
Here are a few I would like to try.
The first one is called Batwing. It is a bicolor type orange and very dark green which looks black.
The middle variety is called Cotton Candy. A very pure white.
Last but not least is a Superfreak variety called Goosebumps.

Hollyhock Blacknight

Blacknight is a perennial Hollyhock which was developed in Germany.  I love it. Every haunted garden needs some black Flora.

Whimsical Garden Decor

Saw these whimsical plants over at the blog, Merlin's Magickal Mistress and just had to share with you!

These are globe flowers made from chicken wire, painted and then mounted on stakes.

And these enchanting mushrooms are made from thrift store finds of glass vases and bowls.

Both would be easy to make and add so much fun to a garden!