Stevia flowering in poor, heavy soil. Planted last Summer. If I get viable seed I'm going to plant a huge patch next year. A few Stevia leaves and a few Lime basil leaves makes a wonderful tea. Ditto Chocolate Mint and Stevia.I was happy to find only minor damage. I was very worried that something might destroy the Golden Giant Amaranth but it was unharmed. It was laying on the ground from all the rain and wind. I shook the seed heads in a bag and then propped them back up.
The Garlic chives that I planted and forgot about are flowering on good sized plants. Hopefully I'll be able to offer seeds later. I will have Tokyo Long White bunch onion seed to share. I saved the seeds and planted a few to test for germination. Not only did they germinate well, they are growing faster than any Allium I've grown.
The Sarian F1 strawberry seeds I planted this Spring have grown nicely on poor, heavy soil and are flowering. The Sarians planted last year have given me lots of wonderful berries through the Summer. Carefree like all my favorite plants. I got my Sarian seeds from Pinetree Garden Seeds.
Blister Beetles, or as I used to call them--undertaker bugs, have eaten the leaves from my Chichiquelites and Wonderberies. I dispatched them with a long nose butane lighter. That same lighter works well on Colorado Potato Beetles.
The Lion's tail (Wild Dagga) is 7 feet tall and flowering nicely. I should say 7 feet long as it was also blown over. Pretty orange flowers that hummingbirds love. Perhaps they find the flowers intoxicating. (hint: read about it in the Baker Creek seed catalog.)
The Red Noodle long beans came back from the dead to put out another large crop. I planted 7 types of pole beans this trying garden year and it was the only one to set a usable crop. Likely my my only pole bean next year though I may try Fortex beans, recommended by many gardeners to me as thriving under tough conditions.
My volunteer Toothache Plant was slow growing at first but it's putting out lots of 'eyeball' flowers now. A tea from Toothache Plant leaves and Oregano leaves makes a stimulating and antiseptic mouthwash. The plant grew carefree. I hope to get lots of seeds from this plant and put in a large patch.
