Goldenrod Love

Lately, the strip that runs alongside the creek spring is really putting out some major goldenrod love. 

And it looks beautiful next to it's buddy, persicaria .

Foraging during a day trip to Land Between the Lakes in western Kentucky

Brian surprised me with a day-trip to Land Between the Lakes in Western Kentucky .  I don't know who was happier, me or the dog!

Yeah it was beautiful! But I'm not posting pictures of majestic landscapes. There are far more talented people that have uploaded stunning photographs than I could ever compete with taking snapshots on my phone. The purpose of this post is to ask for help in identifying a few things I found while foraging. So I ask you... 

What the heck is it?

(1) Purple Pom Pom things. About 2-ft tall and extremely soft petals. 

What the heck is it?

(2) Yellow referee flag things. About 18-inches tall. 

(3) Shrub/tree changing to a beautiful seasonal vibrant red and loaded with tiny berry-like seeds. These were crowded along the trails and may look long and lanky due to a thick overhead canopy and lots of competition. I didn't see any full size trees that looked like this in the area we were in. Notice what looks like a stem is actually a very long leaf. The first pic is a stand of them about 10-ft tall. (Identified as a sumac but no ID of the variety yet.)

What the heck is it?

(4) This was a small tree maybe 16-ft tall but there were much larger ones that could be seen deeper in the woods. They were absolutely loaded down with seed pods. 

What the heck is it?

(5) Last but not least... This gorgeous free-flowing horse's mane of a hanging basket. What is the trailing plant?? The last pic is kind of blurry because somebody *ahem* Brian *ahem* wouldn't stop when we went through this town so I resorted to snapping pics while we driving down the street. They looked so light and feathery blowing in the breeze... almost like moss but this isn't like any moss I have seen. (This has been identified as Dichondra argentea, silver falls dichondra.)

So if you have an idea or a possibility, please leave it in a comment below. You will make me the happiest Googler around  =)

Saving Carrot Seeds

Saving carrot seed is not difficult but it does require some patience. Carrots are biennials which means they flower and set their seed in the second year of their life. So in year one, you sow your carrot seed and it grows all summer. You can either leave the carrots in the ground over the winter with some thick mulch or a bale of straw. Or you can pull your carrots up when you harvest and store your seed carrots in a cool dark place until early spring. The carrots do need a few weeks of very cold temperatures to trigger their second year production.

In late winter or very early spring you need to uncover carrots that were left in the ground or plant out seed carrots thats you saved and stored. They will take a while to grow; so, be patient and soon you will see beautiful umbels full of flowers. After the flowers have been pollinated, they will begin to form seeds.

Just wait for those seeds to dry out so you know they are mature and you can rub them with your thumb and finger into a bag. The seeds are easy to spot because they look as if they are covered with little hairs.

If you want to make sure your carrot seeds do not deviate from the variety of the plant, just make sure to keep them well separated from other varieties (as well as wild carrots aka Queen Anne's Lace). Or pop a Dollar Store folding mesh laundry hamper over the top of them while they are flowering. Have at least two so they can pollinate each other. 

Really. It is that easy. 

But if you really want to know all the dirty little details of how carrots can get jiggy with their neighbors, a resource I frequent is here.