helianthus

i mentioned in an earlier post that i was pretty well convinced that there were jerusalem artichokes growing in the little calumet river prairie and wetlands preserve and that i thought they looked reasonably healthy...so i sent an email to dr. spencer cortwright here at iun asking him if he had any insights as to why the hawthorn garden sunchokes were so stunted ( second photo ) he pointed out something that had not occurred to me...not only were those jerusalem artichokes exposed to direct sun all day during the worst of the heat and drought this past summer ( although he did say that if i had watered regularly [ which i did ] that this would have ameliorated much of the bad effect of the heat...we'll see at harvest ) but they were also subject to the heat reflected off hawthorn hall's white surface ( top photo )...a double dose so to speak...and something which wasn't even on my radar...it will be now...never too old to learn...the third photo is what i believe to be a sawtooth sunflower in the lcp and the fourth is a jerusalem artichoke out in the preserve ( actually right off the back of the north parking lot...i didn't go traipsing through the preserve any more than i stomp through farmer brown's field ) the last photo is of the late sunflower in my backyard about to be fully open...keeping it in the family.

backyard blooms and dieback

a mix of things getting on to the end of the backyard season...the scarlet runner beans are just starting to bloom...planted last spring, they are a cool weather crop that idled along in the summer heat and seem just now ready to produce...orangish blossoms rather than scarlet ( to my non-artist eye anyway...you may see the difference...i don't )...there's a late sunflower preparing to bloom as well...late but willing so i'll take it...there are some jerusalem artichokes dying back, both in a container ( an experiment within the experiment my whole backyard has become ) so there will be a harvest of tubers soon ( and a replanting for next year...the backyard may be the sole source of them next season if the shift in the pgp comes through ) growth in the garden would seem to be cyclic...a lot like all of life in some ways.