Red basil, mint blooms and ripe chilis

The Red Rubin basil never did stay red for me. These days the leaves emerge green with red veining, but never fully color out. They have remained this way ever since I transferred them into starter soil, then placed outside during late spring. Could it have been stress-induced reversion? After reading some internet literature, I found out that the purple color in basil tends to be unstable and reversion back to green is typical. However, it still retains its characteristic basil scent when one draws close enough for a sniff.

7/7/2011 Closeup of reverted Red Rubin Basil 7/7/2011 Red Rubin Basil reversion

The pineapple mint specimens are all blooming like crazy. I need to cut them back again…I’m concerned they might reseed heavily, like the coral nymph salvia which has jumped into the lawn.

7/7/2011 Blooming Pineapple Mint 7/7/2011 Blooming Pineapple Mint

Finally, the Thai chili peppers are ripening. The scarlet and orange chili fruit are very eye-catching. K reported that these were some spicy-hot chilis; he harvested one a couple of weeks ago from a specimen I gifted him.

7/7/2011 Ripe Thai chili peppers 7/7/2011 Ripe Thai chili peppers

Butterfly sightings

I’d like to think that our summer flowers are bringing in the welcome garden guests. At least I’ve seen a half dozen honeybees working the gaura in the courtyard every morning. I’m hoping one of these days, the hummers will stop by the garden for a drink. But, in the meantime, the man and I were surprised by a couple of butterfly sightings. I caught my first sight of a black tiger swallowtail (a black and  blue-spotted butterfly) fluttering around in the courtyard on one day. Then, the honey showed me a yellow one of the same size perched in the photinia the other day. I suspect it is the male version of the tiger swallowtail, but because I didn’t glimpse any distinctive stripes, it could have been anything. In any case, I’ve put the honey on alert–capture a photograph of those butterflies at all costs.

Warning: hot July days ahead

This week has been a string of 100+ temperature days. Even the early mornings (by early, I regard 6am-8am early) tend to be muggy. I haven’t gotten out to tend the garden, like weed, prune, or take pictures because of the heat. Earlier in the week I had pruned back one of the purple salvias in the purple bed–hard pruned by 50%. It had gotten so happy in its spot that I was afraid that it might choke the rose out, or seriously affect circulation. Of course, the rose contradicted me by putting out new buds, and one even bloomed yesterday. Pic forthcoming.

If I spend any time outdoors, it’s in 15-30 minute increments…doing little stuff like putting seedlings and starts into the planters for their own protection. A few days ago, I even put the tricolor sage into the ground–it had been sitting in a 4″ pot for long, and one of the clones died from the heat, so it was about time. The other sage clone seems to be doing fine. I added the golden oregano into the trough where I’ve sunk the Sea Breeze salvia, which incidentally are such slow growers right now. Like all salvias, they seem to prefer a lot of room to spread their roots and hate pots. With this in mind, I even got the rest of the Lady in Red salvia starts out in the tree ring.

I drench all the pots and planters before I go into work–when I remember. Yesterday, I noted that the salvia bed wasn’t looking hot, and it had gone 3-4 days without water. So, for at least an hour before work, I just let the sprinkler water the bed. This morning, the salvias greeted me with a mass of blooms. Sometimes they can be instant gratification shrubs. Again, pic forthcoming.

The bell pepper wilt hasn’t been resolved yet. I’ll probably try the peroxide-spray method next, and probably get a bag of cornmeal this weekend to amend the bed. But beyond that, next year’s pepper crop will have to be potted.

Oh, hey, I found a source online for bhut jolokia seeds. I still have time to start the fall pepper plantings.