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Gifts from the Garden: Late Season Surprises

I love receiving gifts from the garden, little treasures and discoveries I didn’t expect. Here is what she offered up this week.

Turning Orange After All

Acorn shaped pumpkin turns orangeThis acorn-shaped pumpkin was doing well, when a scar on the skin opened into a small wound. With the fruit exposed to air, I assumed that was the end of it. How disappointing.

To my delight, it continued to turn orange.You can see right through to the inside of the pumpkin, so I’m surprised at this development.  It’s a gift!

Raspberry Redux

RaspberriesWe devoured raspberries for several weeks this summer, eating them straight off the vine. Eventually they stopped blooming and  I cut back the vine. This week, they are at it again. Fresh berries in August. Yum, yum, yum. Thank you berry vine for your generous gift. How sweet of you!

It’s a Whopper!

Large, still yellow, pumpkinOne of our pumpkin vines produced three large gourds in late July. They’ve put on weight daily, though the pumpkins to follow mostly shriveled and died on the vine. In what seemed like an overnight sensation, we now have a fourth still-yellow but equally large pumpkin on the vine. I hope it stays warm enough for the fruit to turn orange.  Occasionally the size of the gift is important.

Unexpected Sunflower

Sunflower with small centerI planted Evening Sun and Mammoth Russian Botanical Interests® sunflowers, so imagine my surprise when a third variety appeared this week. I love the shiny yellow flowers and their perfect little centers.  Who doesn’t love a gift out of the blue?

What’s up in your garden this week?

11 thoughts on “Gifts from the Garden: Late Season Surprises”

  1. Is your pumpkin in traction there? Hope you get to use it. I wonder if a bird or squirrel left a sunflower seed from someone elses garden? Maybe they thought they’d save it for a rainy day. You could do reconaissanse around the neighbourhood to find a match. It almost looks like a giant gerba daisy. A girlfriend did give me a surprise party in grade 8, I was really surprised and Jim gave me an engagement ring in a garden, that was a surprise too, you’re right, surprises are fun.

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    • Mr. B. proposed in a garden? Oh what a charmer. And a surprise party!? That must have been special too.

      The flower does look like a gerba daisy. I love the idea of neighborhood reconnaissance. Today the wind knocked over the first sunflower pot. They are now too heavy for the pots, something I’ll def have to improve on for next year. I have a stake in the ground and a yellow bungee cord now holding them up. Wish me luck!

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      • Sounds like you’ve MacGyver’d that up pretty well, but I’ll cross my fingers for you. DarN wind. Have you ever executed a surprise party without that person getting wind of it? It’s a pretty tricky thing….so when it works, yikes, it’s memorable.

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        • I have. When my friend turned 40 I put together a party for her with two other friends. We had close to 60 people there and she was completely blown away. The same friend surprised me for my 30th birthday party and I too was stunned. Good fun.

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  3. Pingback: Garden Surprises | The Pyjama Gardener

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