Here There and Everywhere

Garden of Autumn Delights

Suddenly, earlier than expected, we’ve had a drop in temperatures. Not dramatic, but such a relief from the heat and humidity. Lows in the 70’s. Highs in the 80’s. It makes me feel alive again, and it makes me want to spend my time outside.

AdventureMan’s garden is full of joy.

In my small group this week, we were talking about what thrives in Pensacola. We’ve gone through a lot of trial and error. One thing grows year round: Chives. Not only do they grow, they reproduce, and we give pots of chives away each spring. To me, what is a miracle is that they also grow reliably in Alaska; one of our best meals included chives from a private garden. My chives are currently in bloom:

I was very little when my Mother, in Alaska, taught me how to start avocados from avocado seeds. I have never successfully grown avocados, but I am great with avocado plants. Here, in the searing cold of an icy night they will scorch, and lose all their leaves, but by late spring, we will see signs of life. They shoot up, and my August they are seven feet or more tall.

Our shampoo gingers are reddening – when fully ripe they give a liquid good for washing hair.

We’ve seen lots of Monarch butterflies this year, thanks to AdventureMan’s thriving milkweed:

We like spicy peppers, but the peppers we grow are too hot for us to eat. AdventureMan pickled a batch, and they were still too hot. We grow them anyway; they earn their keep with their beauty. They look like little Christmas ornaments among all the greenery.

I wish you could eat plumbago. It loves this climate, we love the color and plant it everywhere. Now, it is sharing territory with a weed, but such a beautiful weed, we allow it to grow in the back yard. It covers our bridal wreath tree, twines its way up trees and bird feeders and interlaces with the plumbago:

We don’t know where they come from, but after every monsoon rain, we have hoards of rain lilies invading any available surface:

Japanese eggplants grow well, and then they go wonky, crack, the birds poke holes in them, and we clear them out. We’ve had bad luck with all tomatoes, except for small ones, and the birds get to them before they fully ripen. If we plant green onion bottoms, we get more green onions. We haven’t really found a reliable food crop. We have Vietnamese friends with fabulous gardens, and even they have said this summer was not good for backyard gardens. Peppers of all kinds are about as good as it gets. And good old reliable year after year chives.

September 27, 2026 Posted by intlxpatr | Food, Gardens, Living Conditions, Quality of Life Issues | Avocados, Chives, Jalapeño peppers, Milkweed, Pine Cone Ginger, Plumbago, Rain Lily | Leave a comment