The last of the toadflax

I saw on the internets that toadflax are considered invasive weeds. Nevertheless, being somewhat the newbie gardener, I've kept these guys because I think they look so cute and they fill in the gaps between the veggies with loads of color. This is a shot of their very last stand, hard to believe. I'll pull them out when they turn to seed, making sure to scatter the seeds carefully just in my plot since I don't know if my gardening neighbors share my same outlook. I'm certainly not rogue though I suspect the toadflax, being the invasive weeds that they probably are, probably wouldn't mind being dispersed indiscriminately to seed the world.

Boysenberries in Southern California

David Karp writes about boysenberries in today's LA Times, providing probably the best background I've come across on this berry so far. I hadn't realized how precious they are since they are rare to find and not widely cultivated. I also didn't know they are distinctly California bred plants.

The exact parentage of boysenberry is obscure, but scientists surmise, based on analyses of genes, plants and fruits, that it resulted from a cross of Logan with an Eastern dewberry. It may in fact have been one of the famous plant breeder Luther Burbank's seedlings, which somehow made its way to John Lubben's home in Alameda, Calif., and thence to his Napa County farm, where it was called lubbenberry.In the early 1920s, Rudolph Boysen, who was farming Lubben's property, was crossing blackberries and raspberries, and when he moved to Anaheim in 1923, he took with him some plants growing large, exquisitely flavored berries, which he claimed to have bred.

My berries are peaking in my garden, already!, and I've been harvesting about a pint a day. It's a small but rambling plant, my thornless boysenberries. The cross between the raspberry and blackberry gives them that sweet tart oxymoronic taste. The berries don't last very long off the vine;it's not just that they are tasty but that they are delicate with thin easily ruptured skins. I can understand why they aren't grocery market material; even at a farmer's market, I know mine wouldn't hold up well. Anyways, today I collected two pints, enough to make a boysenberry pie.

Daily pea

One of the things about my garden is that everyday I find something different, new growth, new buds, new blooms. It's not always something wonderful. I find more aphids, more slugs, larger slugs, more ants. The ant problem has gotten worse. Each time I water, there's more of them so there's more ants climbing up my legs in a panic. Yes, I so get the 'ants in my pants' phenomenom. I'm not quite sure how to deal with this organically beyond stomping. Someone passing through suggested cayenne pepper and cornmeal, a 'bloat and sizzle' effect.

Pretty in pink

I'm not sure why rain drizzle makes these hollyhocks even more photogenic. Taken early in the day, the drizzle might even be mistaken for a heavy dose of morning dew.

O'Neal blueberries in the early morning drizzle

The O'Neal blueberries are my favorite variety. Berries from the store don't even come close. Large, plump, and oh so sweet, they never get home. I eat them right from the bush.