Total Bee Magnet and Orange Smoothies
>> Thursday, August 21, 2008
I have several plants that are advertised as attracting bees, but this Caryopteris Dark Knight must be the holy grail for bees. When this shrub is in full bloom it gets all the attention.
Every morning there are dozens of honey bees, bumble bees and very tiny bees that unfortunately I don’t know the name of dancing around in a drunken stupor.
Also, we picked our first pumpkins a couple days ago. These are Orange Smoothies. The largest one measures 21” around and they all matured at exactly the 90 day point, as advertised. There are several others that are going to go to my granddaughters for Halloween. Their smooth skin makes them perfect for painting on.
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4 comments:
I've been looking at those Caryopteris , they have such great color, and look like they do well in Utah (I am north of Salt Lake). any tips for growing this plant?
Pumpkins already? Aren't you pushing the season a bit too early?
Jim, this is the first time I've had enough room to grow pumpkins. I figured if they store well they'll be okay to keep through Halloween.
I've gotten three more since this photo was taken and there are four more still on the vine.
It's never too early for pumpkin pie.
Muum, Caryopteris are beautiful and begin blooming when other plant blooms are fading.
I also have a Caryopteris Sunshine Blue (yellow leaves with contrasting light blue flowers are spectacular).
I feared the heavy clay soil here so I added a lot of store-bought garden soil and Nutri Mulch to the digging hole. It seems to have worked.
Also, the one in the photo is on the west side of a deck and is in shade until after 10am or so.
Oh, I planted it last year so it did survive or winter. Good luck!
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