Spider lily

Spider lily
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

For years I cursed this plant, dubbing it the amaryllis that never bloomed. It finally bloomed, proving me wrong on two counts. Apparently it's a spider lily (Hymenocallis latifolia) and not an amaryllis.

It's not entirely surprising that I didn't know what it was. The plant tagged along for the ride when I transplanted a huge coontie plant from a friend's yard to my own. I didn't want to try digging the bulb out of the coontie, so I let it be. More than five years later, I finally know what sort of bulb it is.

This is a good example of why the experts tell you not to rip things out when you move into a new house. If you can't be sure of a plant's identity, you never know what surprises might await you!

Weeds!

Weeds!
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

Yesterday I spent part of the afternoon weeding the beds in front of the office. Don't worry--I didn't pull all of these myself! I'm dedicated, but I'm not THAT dedicated.

We had about eight people who turned out to help, though Erin, Georgia, Tom and I were the only ones to stay until the project was done. We ended up with a pile that was about two feet tall by three feet wide by six feet long. I find great pleasure in watching weeds wilt on the sidewalk after I've pulled them. It's as if I'm saying to them, "Ha! Take that! You thought you were so clever but I won this battle!"

We celebrated our victory by enjoying ice cream back inside where the air conditioning was blissfully cool. And I must say, the bed looks so nice now! I smiled as I walked by it this morning.

Last harvest?

Tomato
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

This is perhaps the last tomato that I'll eat this season from my garden. The wet weather has caused many of them to split before they fully ripen. Even this one wasn't totally ripe -- you can see the white, fibrous area near the core.

There are a few green tomatoes left on the vine. We'll see how well they ripen up. The rest of the plant is looking pretty tired -- the leaves are rolling and yellowing. As much as I love to eat homegrown tomatoes, I think I'm done doting on this plant.

Canna in bloom

'Tropicana' canna in bloom
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

Guess what's blooming in my garden? My 'Tropicana' canna! It's not as tall as I usually see cannas getting, but I guess that because I started this one from a bulb (or is it a corm? a rhizome? my botanical terms fail me at this point in the evening). In the past, most cannas that I've had in my yard have come as transplants, already nice and tall in their one-gallon pots. My other cannas are doing well with putting out foliage, but none of them have started flowering yet.

EDIT: Apparently this is not a 'Tropicana' variety, but I don't know what it is.

Caterpillars

Southern armyworm caterpillar on my tomato plant
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

I found a big brown caterpillar on my tomato plant today and went trolling on the Internet to find out what it was. Apparently, it's a southern armyworm (Spodoptera edidania).

I've actually seen a lot of small caterpillars skeletonizing the leaves of my tomato. Apparently, they're the younger larval instars of this guy. Most caterpillars go through several larval instar stages, which can make it difficult for folks like me to definitively identify them. This guy's darker coloration suggests that he (or she) is a later instar stage.

Speaking of identifying caterpillars, it looks like I misidentified this caterpillar. It's actually a tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta) and not a tomato hornworm (Manduca quinquemaculata). Tomato hornworms have eight white V-shaped markings on their side while tobacco hornworms have seven diagonal white lines.

RIP cherry tomato plant

Dead cherry tomato before removal
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

My cherry tomato plant finally bit the dust. I had been holding off on posting for awhile because I wanted to be able to brag about how well my tomatoes were doing. Alas. One is still plugging along ('Hillbilly'), but the other is dead ('Black Cherry').

You can see the remains of its crispy brown skeleton in the left half of the container. I'm still not sure what killed it. The leaves started wilting quickly and then turned brown and crunchy. The stems also changed, losing their solid feel and changing to a hollow feel. There are a number of different things that can cause wilt in this neck of the woods. I guess I'll never know the official cause of death.

The amazing thing is that the tomatoes that were on the vine continued to ripen. I think I ended up with three dozen or more 'Black Cherry' tomatoes all told. Yum!

I removed the plant from the container this week to give the remaining 'Hillbilly' tomato plant more room to breathe. It seems to be working. The long-green tomatoes are now starting to blush. Can't wait to taste those.

Tomato harvest

Tomato harvest
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

It's finally time to harvest some tomatoes!

These are 'Black Cherry' tomatoes that I planted as transplants in a self-watering container. I think I got about two dozen tomatoes off the plant. And yes, they are delicious! I ate some with my dinner salad last night and am eating the rest now on my lunch salad.

These are actually the first tomatoes that I've ever grown all by myself. We had a big garden when I was a kid, but my parents did all the hard work.

The sad news is that the tomato plant itself is pretty much dead. I think it got wilt, because all of a sudden the leaves started shrivelling up and turning brown. The stems seemed to rot, too. If I squeezed them, they felt hollow. However, the tomatoes kept ripening so I left the plant alone.

The other tomato plant in the container seems to be doing fine, so perhaps it's resistant. Let's hope so. I can't wait to sample those tomatoes, too.