Six on Saturday – 05AUG2023 – Around the Garden

Chris Mousseau

For a change, we’re getting a pretty regular smattering of rain this summer. Lawns aren’t dormant and brown like they are most years, and I’ve not been scurrying around every morning watering the kitchen garden and newly planted shrubs and perennials. The rain barrels and butts haven’t been close to empty, aside from the time I accidentally left the valve open. Well, both times I accidentally left the valve open, on one of the 1,000 litre butts. But it filled again within a few days – both times – so I wasn’t too distraught. The upshot is I’ve been taking lots of photos in the garden this year and I’m happy to join Jim’s Six on Saturday crew today.

Starting in the kitchen garden, here’s a summer squash that I’ve seen before, but never grown. It’s called a Pattypan, or Scallopini, squash. It’s small, only about four inches/10 cm in diametre, and I think it’s just about the prettiest squash around. I’m looking forward to having it for dinner tomorrow.

Moving over the the patio garden on the west side of the house is my last lily to bloom. It’s a very fragrant very large flowered oriental called ‘Playtime.’ I love the spots on the petals but I’m not too sure why the edges have the brown discouloration…

Dipping down to the asparagus bed I spied the first blooms on the hardy perennial Hibiscus moscheutos ‘Lord Baltimore’ hiding amidst the leaves…

A metre away from the Hibiscus is a single, small clump of Joe Pye Weed. I didn’t plant it or scatter seed; it just appeared a few years ago, for which I’m grateful, as are several species of bee.

Returning to the back porch are these Begonias. I’ve lost the tag, unfortunately, because I’d like to get the same one next year, the flowers are so big and hang down so perfectly.

Also hanging in the back porch is this wire basket in which is planted another new-to-me plant – Dichondra argentea ‘Silver Falls,’ known in Texas, apparently, as silver ponyfoot or silver nickel vine. It’s a slow grower for me, which perhaps is a good thing, and I like the dusky foliage as well as the unique shape of these leaves. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

22 Comments

  2. ‘Lord Baltimore’ is indeed a looker. I have a grouping of hardy hibiscus that I really enjoy. They thrive in the summer heat which is essential here in the South.

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    1. Mine likes the heat as well – new growth doesn’t appear intil mid June – frequently leaving me wondering if it had survived the winter. Once it gets going though…watch out!

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  3. Love pattypan squash but in my hand I never get as many as I want. I usually grow zucchini and have the opposite problem. They are especially loved harvested small and grilled whole.

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  5. That is a beautiful Begonia. I saw a white pendulous variety on a blog several years ago and didn’t note the name. I’m still looking out for it, thinking if I see it I’ll recognize it, so if you find the name of yours, let me know.

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  7. I had the same mishap with the water tank! I had forgotten to close the valve: 500L lost.
    In France the pattypan is called a « pâtisson ». I fill it with bacon, onions and cheese. A delight!

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  8. The Begonia is really lovely, and I like the othervtrailing plant too. Nice of the Joe Pye Weed to set seed in your garden. I should try sowing some seed as it does grow wild here too, but nowhere near my garden…. yet!

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  9. I love pattypans! The variety I buy from a local farm is white, and delicious. As for Joe Pye, down here it can attain wonderful height — as much as ten feet. It’s native, and an absolute favorite of bumblebees.

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    1. Ten feet!!! Wow! Mine are about half that – although I imagine on a moister location they’d be taller. I’m growing two pattypans – one on my home garden, which I harvested the first one yesterday and will eat tonight, and one at out community garden (growing to contribute to the food bank) which, with deeper regular watering and a bit of fertilizer, is enormous, with a few dozen harvested or about to be harvested already. The difference in the two is astounding and, frankly, a bit disheartening for me! Although I’m not sure what I’d do with that many at home… bring them to the foodbank probably 😆😆

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      1. I had a sense I’d probably overestimated the height of the Joe Pye, so I got out a tape measure and measured from a spot in the house that’s about the same height as those plants. I was off, but not by much. I got 8-1/2′ with the tape measure, so it’s possible some could have been nine feet at least, and maybe a bit more. They were growing in a perfect place, among tall pines with good light, close to water, and in rich soil — they were happy!

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  10. Pattypan squash are still my favorite, even though they are unpopular in home gardens locally. Zucchini are famously popular for their remarkable abundance. Seriously, they make too many to share with the neighbors. We grew three pairs of them here at work, and I needed to leave the surplus in a box at the Post Office. I do not even like their flavor much. I only grow them because they are so reliable. Pattypan was rare when I was a kid. Battered and fried, they are almost like an Okie delicacy.

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