River Birch Treets

This is as big as the river birch have become this summer. Maybe we had too cool a summer; it never seemed to get started. I'd thought they were very fast-growing; but they can't keep up with the hybrid poplars that add around six feet each year.

Hybrid Poplar, Easy to Grow

I pulled this guy up where it had sprouted from the roots of my larger poplar. Planted it a year ago, and it's already quadrupled in size. It's going to be a nice addition to the shade we'll be getting in the backyard next summer.

The Prolific Honey Locust Tree

This is just the few seedpods that have blown from the tree so far.


The tree limbs are heavy with browning/drying seedpods, ready to fall at the slightest breeze.

I'm saving them. Not sure what I'll do with them, but they make a nice display all crammed together in a large cup.

Jalapeno Pepper Progress

The peppers have all turned completely red now. They're shriveled and beginning to appear dried. Kind of a pretty display from the front of the house. Interestingly, the hummingbirds that come around to drink from the hot lips salvia nearby, do not come even close to the red peppers. Think they know something?

Another Wildfire

This is the third wildfire in our area this summer. This one has two hot spots, and strangely, it's in the same area of the valley as the two previous fires. Does that sound suspicious? To me, it does.

Sun-Drying Peppers . . . progress

 

 

Two more days and some of the peppers are turning bright red. Interesting. I thought they would just get darker and darker until they lost all their color. Instead, they look like peppers (bell variety) that turn red as they ripen. Could it be that jalapenos are not quite ripe when picked? And now they're actually ripening as they hang in the sun?

I'm curious to see if they retain this red color when they're dry.

They're getting quite wrinkly, too.

Jalapeno Peppers, Sun Drying

 

 

 


These peppers are now 4 days into sun-drying. Can't always find a really sunny spot, but these get morning sun until around 11 a.m. The temperatures have been in the high 90s and over 100 for a couple of days, and the skin of the peppers is already beginning to look shriveled. I've never done this before, so it's touch and go, and I'll have to see if I end up with real dried peppers.

2009's Grapes

I still don't know what variety these grapes are, but they're becoming sweet; the sugar is rising, and so far the birds are staying away. Maybe they prefer red????