Category: Otherwise useful

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Loofah central

Last year we grew a lot of loofah (luffa? I’ve seen both spellings) gourds and processed them (removing the outer skin from dried gourds) here in the front garden. Obviously a few seeds escaped!

We have almost two pounds of seeds if anyone wants to grow their own…
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Showy evening primroses

They look very showy in the morning here too! 😂
They also make a good background for the coreopsis. The big green mound of leaves in the back is the Maximilian sunflower. A Gaillardia flower is peeking up at the base of the photo and to the right of the sunflower plant are some blue bachelor’s buttons (also known as cornflower).
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How can things grow this much in a week?? Backyard edition

More wow!!!

Englemann Daisy blooming.
Bachelor’s buttons are not native but were in a mix I got and do get some nice little bees.
I believe this is greeneyes from seed from Mom.
Hedeoma seedling from seed from Paula in western Oklahoma. It’s in the cactus planter.  You can also see a baby moss rose and some widow sedum.
I think this is going to be an Echineacea, could be either the purple or pale one as I’ve planted seeds of both.
Rudbeckia (I think?) leaves are wonderfully soft.
Cilantro is blooming beautifully!  Future coriander.
One parsley is thinking about blooming.
Walking onions are so cool.
Gaillardia blooming!
Sooooo many evening primroses!  Last week only a few were open!
This mound of Oxalis was here when we moved in and it just gets showier all the time.
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Last book report for tonight I promise: “Gardening with Prairie Plants” by Sally Wasowski

Gardening with Prairie Plants was SO BEAUTIFUL. Mom gave it to me a few weeks ago and it was just filled with magnificent pictures of prairies and prairie gardens throughout the Great Plains. I really also liked how it paid attention to the different regions (wetter and drier, north and south), so it has lots of good info on plants native to each region. It mentioned some medicinal and edible uses of native plants too though it refers to other more complete sources. Did I mention the prairie photos? Definitely added to the favorite references spreadsheet.

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Loofah processing

Wes has been cleaning and bleaching the loofahs and has put them out to dry in the yard on a string.

I’m surprised Briar didn’t bark at the loofahs. Maybe she’s getting jaded to human shenanigans.
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Anybody need any loofah gourd seeds?

Wes and Paula cleaned off last year’s loofah gourd harvest. We have almost two pounds of seeds. That is almost a kilogram for our science readers. Wes was annoyed we did not get tare for the bag but it’s a very light bag, and I didn’t want seeds everywhere. Let me know if you want seeds. We might be able to supply you…

Wes has some sort of plan for the loofahs themselves. There is a whole rubbermaid tub full of those. This is from maybe half a dozen plants.

Loofah gourd seed weight in pounds and ounces.
Loofah gourd seed weight in science units.