hopi blue and teosinte

it has been a long few days but i still felt constrained to go to the garden and have a look at things...and things look well...the top photo is of the two yaar old stand of zea dipoloperennis as it nears the end of its season with the eastern gamagrass in front...the second and third photos are of the two flowers on th northern tepehuan teosinte...this particular variant doesn't so much tiller ( like the zea diploperennis ) as branch and i was ( and am ) very pleases to see flowers forming on two more branches...hoping for seed ears again this season, although this year they will be developing a month later so the weather becomes the enemy...still..better than hoped...i harvested the last ear of hopi blue corn today...it was on a secondary stalk that had tillered off the main one...the second, smaller ear from the single stalk plant was a disappointment and so was this one, with mostly proto kernels that were incomplete and only a scattering of mature blue kernels...both plants produced large nine or ten inch long, eight row ears, on of which i am drying for seed,,,so long as event at home haven,t had a negative impact on its viability...we will find out in the spring...my elephant garlic arrived today so that will be going in soon and i am still expecting more fall plants by the end of the month...a jerusalem artichoke harvest and another round of storage follies are on the horizon...lots of sources of disruption this autumn...they will be overcome and the garden(s) will carry on.