A bright carrot pâté, creamy but vegan, will be welcome on any holiday table and inspire recipe-requests at potluck celebrations—and it’s perfectly portable for winter picnics. It’s also shape-shifting in a magical way, because it is the basis of a comforting soup, as well as a substantial filling for hand pies and galettes. That’s why I always double the recipe. Bonus: It freezes well and can be made ahead.
Here is the adaptable recipe you didn’t know you needed, ready for your next gathering.
Above: Carrot pâté served with olive oil, walnuts, and sun-dried figs (Fig & Walnut Pairing, $9 from Ziba Foods).
This carrot pâté is a spread. A schmear. And a dip. Oxford defines pâté as “a rich, savory paste made from finely minced or mashed ingredients, typically seasoned meat or fish.” Or root vegetables? To me, weaned on my mother’s French-inflected decadent chicken liver version, pâté is a mouthful that is entirely satisfying, lacking nothing. Fat is important. So is bread, or a cracker, at the very least. This carrot iteration evolved in my kitchen to serve to vegan attendees of the botanical walks I lead, and to use esoteric forage-pantry items, like linden flower vinegar and ramp leaf salt. But it also welcomes more conventional ingredients.
It has proved very adaptable: to season, to pantry limitations and inspirations, and to cosmopolitan appetites. And the basic recipe—oil, carrots, onions, acid, salt, and something sweet—is designed for variation and improvisation.
Above: Schmear the pâté on your support of choice. Here, it is cornbread.
Above: Roasting the vegetables with bayberry leaves. Above: Roasting strawberries alongside the carrots and onions.
Above: Carrot pâté with linden flower vinegar.
If there is a trick to successful improvisation, it is choosing elements that belong together in a palate-pleasing way.
For the foundational funk: To amplify the onions, in spring I may add the leaves of wild onions like field garlic, ramps, or three-cornered leeks. Garden-grown and market-bought fresh chives, and later chive flowers, work just as well.
For the salt: Ramp leaf salt, preserved lemon, or shoyu
For the sweetness: I may add a spoonful of pine cone jam, or yuzu syrup. Once, I use red currant jam. Maple syrup is winter-perfect. Chestnut honey sublime. Strawberries roasted with the carrots are surprisingly effective.
For the acid: Wild-fermented vinegars, according to season: apple, elderflower, linden, wisteria. But white balsamic is perfect. So is any sour citrus juice, like lemon, yuzu, or calamondin.
For the herbs: Tender bayberry in spring, mugwort in summer. But fresh bay leaf, thyme, marjoram, or rosemary are very good, too.
For the spices: Juniper, spicebush, and sumac for foraged and local flavor. But cumin and coriander are delicious.
For the heat: Aleppo pepper, urfa biber, Korean chile flakes, regular chile flakes; it’s endless.
Above: Sourdough toast fingers offer crunch for the carrot creaminess.
This is Kevin Kelly, and I have posted photos of my garden in the past. With the holidays approaching, I thought I would share photos of some of the beautiful hand-made wreaths at Colonial Williamsburg. I was just there and had a wonderful time. I hope they bring on the holiday spirit.
Pine branches and holly make a traditional base for this wreath, and then lemons studded with cloves make an unexpected and beautiful accent… bet it smells amazing too!
Not just conifers can be a base of a wreath… the glossy, everygreen leaves of Southern magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora, Zone 7 – 11 ) are the foundation of this one, accented with citrus, pomegranate, and juniper berries.
Or you can get really creative, as with this wreath made from paper roses!
Fresh apples add color, and there is the added interest and texture of dried flowers – it looks like dried sunflowers and cardoon (Cynaracardunculus, Zone 7 – 10 or as annual)
More dried flowers fill in the center of this wreath, and the whole thing is accented with various cones and dried seed heads. Lots of cool materials to be found in most gardens one you start looking.
Dried flowers feature prominently here too, and beautifully dried citrus – each one is slashed along the length and then dried, so the will be long-lasting on the wreath, and the cuts in the skin make a beautiful pattern.
Love this amazing creation… can it even be called a wreath? Made from the dried heads of what looks like wheat or maybe barley, accented with okra seed pods, and the center filled with pomegranate and artichokes. It looks like nearly everything on this is from an edible plant, but reimagined as beautiful art.
The wreath itself here is quiet simple – some pine branches, burlap, and a few black decorations. Sometimes less is more!
And here is the other extreme: More is more! Tons of dried flowers, and fruit, combined with shells, fabric, and dramatic peacock feathers!
Have a garden you’d like to share?
Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!
To submit, send 5-10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.
Umbrella plants are famous for their graceful glossy leaves that form rounded, umbrella-like clusters.
You wouldn’t say that these are specimens people cultivate for the flowers – it’s the foliage that really shines.
But they are sometimes known as “octopus plants,” which refers to the long tentacles of blossoms that the plant produces when it’s grown in the right conditions.
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These blossoms can be colorful and might be numerous enough to absolutely smother the plant, providing an exciting display that many people don’t even realize is a possibility.
If you’d like to know all about umbrella tree blossoms, that’s what we’ll be discussing in this guide.
Here’s what I’ll cover:
Species commonly known as umbrella plants or umbrella trees used to all be classified in the Schefflera genus, but most of them have recently been reclassified as Heptapleurum.
First, let’s make one thing clear. Do all umbrella plants bloom?
All Schefflera and Heptapleurum species can produce flowers. When the flowers fade, round drupes in shades that vary from green to nearly black form. Inside of these are the flattened seeds.
With that out of the way, let’s talk about the specifics.
What Do Schefflera Flowers Look Like?
Schefflera plants produce inflorescences, which are flower heads composed of multiple small blossoms held by stems and bracts.
They can appear to be one large flower, as is the case with dandelions, or they can look like lots of little flowers clustered together.
In the case of umbrella trees, the inflorescence is usually a long panicle of spike-shaped stems covered in tiny blossoms that you’d need to get really close to see individually.
The panicles are generally about a foot long and might have small hairs on the stems.
S.digitata in bloom.
On some of the common houseplant species like H. arboricola and S. digitata, the panicles have small, round clusters of flowers, each measuring up to half an inch in diameter along the stem.
Each cluster has about ten white, yellow, or green blossoms. These little clusters are called umbellules.
If you look closely you can see that each individual flower has five petals surrounding five stamens and seven stigmas. The petals and stamens are contained by a tiny green calyx that is so small it’s difficult to see.
Other species, like H. actinophylla, have similar inflorescences, but they’re bright pinkish-red instead and can be up to three feet long.
H. actinophylla.
As the flowers mature, the petals will fall, but the stamens will remain a bit longer before they, too, drop.
When in bloom, the stems can be covered in inflorescences.
Best Conditions for Flowering
If you’re growing your specimen indoors, it’s unlikely to flower. That’s because these plants need lots of light to produce blooms.
Any plant that doesn’t receive full sun – eight hours or more of direct sun – probably won’t bloom.
With enough light, umbrella trees will send out flowers in the summer.
The other requirement for flowering is warmth. Ideally, keep the plant at temperatures between 65 and 90°F. They can handle lower temps, but this is the ideal range for flowering.
In other words, those in USDA Hardiness Zones 10 to 12 who can grow their schefflera plants outdoors are likely to see flowers.
If you don’t live in one of these Zones, you can fake it. Keep your schefflera indoors in as much light as possible during the cold months, and then take it outside when the temperatures are consistently above 55°F.
You’ll need to harden off your houseplant before you set it outside full-time.
I find that older houseplants need longer hardening off periods than young seedlings, so plan to do this over the course of about two weeks. Take the specimen outside and set it in full sun for 30 minutes and then bring it back in. Add 30 minutes each day for the next 13 days.
Within a few weeks or so, hopefully, you’ll have blooms!
Bring the plant back indoors once the nighttime temperatures drop to around 55°F.
How to Care for Umbrella Trees in Bloom
When your umbrella plant produces flowers, you don’t need to do anything but enjoy them while they’re blooming. After the petals drop, you have a choice.
You can choose to either cut off the flower stalks at the base, or you can leave them in place and let the blossoms develop into berries.
When these drop, they will make a little bit of a mess, so you can opt to cut off the stalks of berries before they drop, if you want.
If you have your plant indoors while it’s blooming, it’s best to remove the flower stalks to avoid the mess, but it won’t harm the plant either way.
Flowers are Always a Welcome Addition
Umbrella plants will always be beloved for their beautiful leaves, but they deserve accolades for the flowers, too. Given the right conditions, anyone in any growing Zone can enjoy them.
What species are you growing? Are you hoping to encourage yours to flower? Or are you wondering how to care for a plant that sent out surprise blossoms? Let us know in the comments section below.
If you want to enjoy even more blooming houseplants, we have a few guides to common species that will flower in the right conditions, including:
The standard heartleaf philodendron is charming, but add some variegated lime and lemon coloring to the green foliage, and you’ve got an extra special houseplant.
Since ‘Brasil’ hit the market a few decades ago, it has become a must-have philodendron, and it’s not hard to see why. This cultivar is tough, easygoing, and undeniably good-looking.
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If you’re ready to learn where P. hederaceum ‘Brasil’ came from and how to cultivate your own, this guide can help.
Here’s what’s in the coming attractions:
Let’s start by talking about where this beloved cultivar came from:
Cultivation and History
Philodendron hederaceum ‘Brasil’ is a heartleaf philodendron cultivar that stands out from the species plant with its lemon, lime, and dark green variegated foliage.
P. hederaceum used to be classified as P. scandens, so you might see it sold under that name.
The young stems and petioles emerge as a beautiful reddish-pink and age to reddish-orange before turning green with light green and sometimes yellow variegation when mature.
It has a cascading, trailing growth habit and attaches itself to supports via a twining growth habit and aerial roots.
The variegation is unstable, which means that no two leaves will look alike, and sometimes leaves will be entirely yellow, light green, or green.
In the wild in South America where the species grows indigenously, the plant is a secondary hemiepiphyte.
It starts life in the soil and later attaches to a tree or shrub to access light, water, and nutrients. It’s not a parasite; it just uses the other plant as a host structure without hurting it.
It’s all in the name. Philo is Greek for love and dendron means tree. This philodendron is a tree lover!
‘Brasil’ was patented in 2000 by Kerry’s Bromeliad Nursery in Florida after a mutation was discovered by Ruben Ernesto Acosta in a greenhouse in Holambra, Brazil, in 1991.
The mutation was further bred and stabilized before the nursery released it to the market.
It quickly caught the eye of houseplant lovers and has become extremely popular. And good news! The patent expired in 2020, so feel free to propagate ‘Brasil’ at home without fear of violating the patent.
New leaf emerging from a philodendron. Photo by Kristine Lofgren.
Poor ‘Brasil’ suffers from a case of mistaken identity. It’s often confused with variegated pothos (Epipremnum aureum) cultivars.
You can tell the difference between philodendron ‘Brasil’ and variegated pothos by looking at new leaves. On a philodendron, the leaves emerge from waxy sheaths.
Foliage on a pothos emerges from inside another leaf. Even if your plant doesn’t have any young leaves, look for the presence of a sheath at the base of the petioles.
Pothos plant showing the location of new leaf emergence. Photo by Kristine Lofgren.
The leaves also have longer apices – the pointy tip – than pothos and the species.
When mature, ‘Brasil’ can trail a dozen feet or more, though the vines typically grow about two feet long in an indoor environment.
It’s closely related to Philodendron micans (syn. P. hederaceum var. hederaceum), though it lacks the velvety texture and bronze coloring of the foliage.
Propagating ‘Brasil’ is pretty straightforward. It’s especially easy to do via cuttings. As the plant becomes larger, division is a good option, as well. Let’s start with that:
From Division
A big, bushy philodendron is ripe for division. This process is best done in the spring or summer, but as with cuttings, it can be done any time of year.
Remove the plant from its pot and brush away as much of the soil as you can. You really want to be able to see the roots clearly.
Try to tease a section of roots and stems apart as carefully as you can. If you need to, take a clean pair of pruners or clippers and trim apart any stubborn roots.
Repot the original section back in its container and fill in around the roots with fresh potting soil.
Pot the new section in a container with fresh potting soil.
From Cuttings
Philodendrons propagate from cuttings readily. You can grow them in either water or a potting medium.
Look for a healthy stem and cut off about four inches from the tip.
There should be at least two leaf nodes and bonus points if you also include an aerial root node. Nodes look like little brown bumps on the stem.
Make your cut just underneath a leaf or aerial root node.
Photo by Kristine Lofgren.
Remove all but the top leaf and put the cut end in water or potting medium. If you use water, replace it every few days to deter pathogens.
If you use a potting medium, keep it moist but not wet. You want it to be the texture of a well-wrung-out sponge.
Keep the cuttings in a spot with bright, indirect light and allow them to develop roots. This usually takes a few weeks.
If you don’t see new growth above the soil after a few weeks, gently dig under the cutting with your fingers and lift the cutting out to see if it has rooted.
If you see lots of roots, you can go ahead and transplant your new plant. If not, replace it and wait a bit longer. As long as the cutting doesn’t wilt or die, you can safely keep waiting.
The process takes longer in the winter than the spring or summer, but it will work any time of year.
Potted Transplants
Most of us end up buying potted philodendron ‘Brasil’ plants at a nursery or planting a cutting that we or someone we know has grown.
To transplant a potted specimen into a new container, gently remove it from its pot and loosen up the roots a bit. Look for any dead or broken roots and cut them off.
Photo by Kristine Lofgren.
Set the ‘Brasil’ plant in a new container one size larger than the existing container.
Add a thin layer of potting soil in the bottom of the pot before setting the new plant into the container, and then fill in around it with fresh soil.
You want the plant to be sitting at the same height it was in its original container.
How to Grow Philodendron ‘Brasil’
First, let’s talk about the foundation of any houseplant: the soil. Your ‘Brasil’ will be pretty forgiving, but it’s always best to give it the optimal conditions, if you can.
Slightly acidic to neutral soil that is water-retentive but airy and well-draining is ideal for philodendrons. You can find a lot of commercial potting mixes with this combination.
My personal favorite is Fox Farm Ocean Forest potting mix.
It’s what I grow most of my houseplants in because it has a mix of earthworm castings, bat guano, fish meal, humus, and peat moss that my plants seem to love.
You can find a 12-quart bag via Amazon if you’d like to try it.
Then there’s the soil moisture. Try to keep the soil as moist as a well-wrung-out sponge but not wetter.
The soil’s surface can be allowed to dry out, and your plant will be fine, but don’t allow the entire substrate to become dry.
Don’t worry, a philodendron will signal to you that it needs more moisture by drooping. Try to water just before this happens.
Part of what makes ‘Brasil’ so special is the yellow, lime, and green variegation on the foliage. The correct light exposure is a critical element in creating and maintaining that color.
If the plant is situated in a location that is too dark, the leaves will revert to solid green or develop little variegation.
Aim for bright, indirect light all day or direct morning sun followed by bright, indirect light the rest of the day. Afternoon light is too harsh and will burn the foliage.
I know it’s confusing when gardeners talk about about bright, indirect light. What is that, exactly? It’s the kind of light you find within a foot or two of a south-facing window that is covered in a sheer curtain.
High light exposure might also cause the leaves to emerge as bright green with little or no variegation. This lack of variegation can also happen because the solid coloration is built into the plant’s genetics. When this happens, it’s called reversion.
If you don’t like the appearance, trim off the solid leaves and reduce the light exposure a little and wait a few months for new, variegated leaves to form.
Don’t expose this plant to temperatures below 59°F. They aren’t even the least bit cold tolerant (same, ‘Brasil,’ same).
I know you probably keep your house warmer than that, but if you put the plant next to a single-pane window or a door and you live in a region with frigid winters, it could damage your plant.
Feel free to keep your philodendron outdoors when it’s warm enough, but only those in Zones 11 and 12 can leave them outside year-round.
Being secondary hemiepiphytes, philodendrons prefer to have something to climb up, but you can allow them to trail out of a container if you prefer.
If you go the climbing route, they can wind up the rope of a hanging planter, or you can guide them up a moss pole.
Speaking of containers, the size is important. Most aroids like their roots to be a little snug and ‘Brasil’ is no different.
If the roots don’t take up at least half the container, it’s too big, and you increase the risk of overwatering.
Your container should also have drainage holes. I love a pretty decorative pot as much as the next person, but those should be used as your outer cachepot unless they have drainage.
Keep the plant in a grower’s pot with drainage holes and place that inside the decorative pot.
When you water, be sure to empty out the cachepot or saucer after about 30 minutes.
Growing Tips
Provide bright, indirect light. Too much light will reduce variegation.
Keep the soil moist but not soaking wet.
Protect the plant from temperatures below 59°F.
Pruning and Maintenance
If you like the look of your philodendron, feel free not to prune it. ‘Brasil’ doesn’t need regular haircuts to stay healthy.
But if you see any dead, diseased, or deformed leaves or stems, get rid of them. You can also trim back to just in front of a leaf node if you want to encourage bushiness.
‘Brasil’ plants that are growing in low light tend to be leggy. Some judicious pruning can undo some of the leggy growth.
You should also repot your philodendron every so often as it grows. Once the roots are coming out of the drainage holes or are circling the perimeter of the pot, it’s time to upgrade the container.
If you aren’t sure, go ahead and stick your finger into the soil as deep as you can. If you can’t get in there very deep because you hit resistance from the roots, that’s a sure sign it’s time.
To repot, remove the plant from the existing pot and brush away the soil from the root ball.
Place the plant in a new container that is one size larger (or more, if the plant is extremely rootbound) and fill in around the roots with fresh, new soil.
Where to Buy Philodendron ‘Brasil’
While it isn’t the most popular philodendron out there, it’s not far off. ‘Brasil’ is pretty common, and you can find it at most houseplant retailers.
I popped into three local houseplant sellers by my house, and all of them had one.
This is a pretty robust cultivar, and you probably won’t run into many issues unless your ‘Brasil’ is stressed.
Keep it fed, watered, and in the right light, and any problems will be rare. Pests are the most common issue, so let’s talk about those first.
There are a few common houseplant pests that you’ll see over and over on many species. These include aphids, mealybugs, and scale.
All of these will attack ‘Brasil,’ especially one that is stressed.
Disease
When it comes to diseases, bacterial leaf spot isn’t common, but it does show up from time to time.
It’s caused by the bacteria Xanthomonas campestris pv. dieffenbachiae and results in water-soaked spots with brown or yellow haloes. As the spots age and grow, the centers turn tan.
There isn’t a cure, so snip off any symptomatic leaves and don’t share tools, soil, or containers between plants without cleaning them thoroughly first.
Best Uses for Philodendron ‘Brasil’
As a hanging plant, ‘Brasil’ is hard to beat. It’s beautiful when trained up walls or poles, or allowed to trail down shelves and bookcases.
I have found that some of the more visually appealing houseplants out there tend to be some of the fussier ones.
I think Alocasia species are beautiful, but they aren’t easy to raise. Philodendron ‘Brasil’ bucks the trend. This tropical beauty is as easy to care for as a cactus.
Is this your first philodendron? Or maybe just your first ‘Brasil?’ Let us know about your experiences with this fantastic plant in the comments section below.
HO-HO-HO: It’s seed season, among other festive reasons to celebrate in December. Today I invited a similarly seed-obsessed friend, Jennifer Jewell, to help me curate some seed-catalog recommendations you might not otherwise browse, and to talk seeds in general.
Jennifer’s latest book is “What We Sow: On the Personal, Ecological, and Cultural Significance of Seeds” (affiliate link) and she is the creator of the popular “Cultivating Place” podcast. We talked about how to choose a seed catalog, why regionality matters, and more. (That’s a peek in Jennifer’s seed drawer at home, above.)
Plus: Enter to win a copy of “What We Sow” by commenting in the box near the bottom of the page.
Read along as you listen to the Dec. 18, 2023 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on Apple Podcasts (iTunes) or Spotify (and browse my archive of podcasts here).
seed shopping with Jennifer jewell
Margaret Roach: You’re there in Northern California, and I’m here in upper New York State-ish, mid-New York State-ish. So we’re opposite ends of the country.
Jennifer Jewell: But in the same season, right? The seed season.
Margaret: Exactly. “What We Sow,” your book—I don’t remember what month it even came out, but it’s not long ago, really; not that long ago.
Jennifer: Yeah. No, September.
Margaret: I mentioned in the introduction that I’d invited a similarly seed-obsessed friend to the show today [laughter]. That would be you. And I wonder how, if you remember, how you got keenly interested in seed. Beyond the obvious fact that you and I are both gardeners, but what happened? Do you remember what pushed the button for you to go really into seed?
Jennifer: Well, I went really deeply into seed as an adult, when I first moved to Northern California. And it was kind of this… I thought I was moving to a similar climate as Central Colorado. I didn’t really understand how different it was going to be, Margaret. I didn’t understand how different the plants were, how different the climate was. And as a gardener, I failed miserably that first year. I just thought, “I’ll plant the same things I planted in Colorado.” Like it’s drought-friendly, it’s coldish, it’s warmish, it’s dryish. I should be fine. But the difference in the characteristics of the wet, of the dry, of the cold, just threw me for a loop.
At the same time, the native plant biodiversity of California just blew my mind. And I’m in Northern interior California, which is a specific plant palette of its own, and I was blown away. It was like learning a foreign language or being in a foreign country, and you know how like all of your senses are just on alert all the time, seeing things you’re not accustomed to. And so that really sent me down a rabbit hole, if you will, of what were the plants, what did their seeds look like? Because I moved here in a season of seediness. And so they were really apparent all the time, that first few months of me living here. So that was really a big… I was 35 I think when I moved here, I think, so this was an adult falling-in-love story, not a young gardener falling-in-love story, but it was equally love at first sight. [Below, oaks in the nearby canyons to Jennifer’s California home.]
Margaret: So recently, I guess this fall, we did a “New York Times” garden column together about your book, and you recounted to me the anecdote of how you and your partner, John, were traveling when the pandemic began. And you’d expected to be away for weeks and weeks, and so you hadn’t ordered seeds. You were going to miss, I guess, at least the spring vegetable-growing season and so forth.
And it was like this panic took hold; not just the panic that we all had, but the panic of, “We’re going to get home and we’re not going to have any seed to grow anything.” So I think it was during that first part of the pandemic sort of lockdown period that you started writing this book. Did that all kind of connect? Is that what got you started on “What We Sow”? And tell us just the short version of “What We Sow” is about.
Jennifer: Well, that was the impetus, right there, was this moment of, and I think a lot of gardeners, you experienced it, many of us experienced it, where we went to place our orders. And again, we were kind of late, because all of a sudden we had a season that we weren’t supposed to be home in the garden handed back to us. And so we thought, “Well, we should probably order seeds,” which is something we do every year, even though we might have some leftovers from the year before or even the year before that.
And when I got out of order, back order, not available, I was like, whoa, this is weird. And when I started doing a little more research into what was happening, I realized just how much I didn’t know about our seed supply.
I have my five to 10 favorite catalogs that come. I look through them, I dog-ear them, and I make a small amount of order in the spring and then in the summer, or in the winter for the spring, and then in the summer for that late summer, early fall planting.
And that’s what set me on the path of writing “What We Sow,” which is, in essence, a gardener’s primer on the state of seed in our world and all the different kind of adjacent fields of interest, whether it’s seed banks, or seed libraries, or seed consolidation, or seed degradation, or biodiversity loss, or the seed renaissance, the small seed-growing renaissance, the seed protection and advocacy by peoples of culture around the globe. All of these things kind of came to play.
And like things I had never thought of, like why do we have all of this information on the seed packets? And why is it the law? And how did that come to be? It was fascinating to write about, and it’s an overview from a gardener’s perspective, not a research scientist, not a seed scientist, but a gardener who was very interested.
Margaret: Before we even get to some virtual shopping [laughter]–
Jennifer: I have my list, I have my list.
Margaret: I know—confess some of the things we’re on the lookout for and so forth, and that we always grow, and that kind of stuff. I know we each apply sort of a filter to which catalogs, and you just mentioned there might be five to 10 that you dog-ear, and so forth.
So what are some of the qualifications to be one of your dog-eared catalogs [laughter]? What does a catalog have to be? Because I know neither of us patronizes the big brands, the kinds that show up in the mailbox of millions of people, whether you request a copy or not, which shall remain unnamed. And they serve their purpose, because they get a lot of people into gardening, because they do that mass-promoting marketing. But you and I are in like another place. And so what are some of the qualifications to be on your list?
Jennifer: Well, especially after doing the research and writing “What We Sow,” where one of the threads is all about consolidation of control [of the seed market globally to a few large pharmaceutical and chemical corporations], which often results in contraction of what’s on offer and sometimes compromise of how it’s being offered. I really am going more and more as I age for the small independent growers and seed sellers who are within my region, more or less. So I really want to support those seed sellers and seed growers who were able to supply us with seed even in the face of a global pandemic and a global supply shutdown. That is one of the criteria.
Because of our growing and certainly longstanding concerns about biodiversity loss, climate change, and ecological warfare being conducted on our planet, I want all of my seed to be either naturally or organically grown. Whether it’s organically certified or not, is less important to me than whether or not they are living the intention of ecological respect and integrity.
Then the final thing is that I want to know that some major proportion of the seeds they are growing and selling are open-pollinated and heirloom. The heirloom maybe is a little bit less, but it’s definitely one of the ones that I note, like, yeah, I want to be a person that buys that seed and helps keep it in the supply chain. And I want to feel like my order matters to these companies, that I am helping this ground-level advocacy and activism in many ways, Margaret, keep going.
Margaret: Yes. And this is the basis of life. I mean, even if you eat meat, the animals are mostly herbivorous [laughter] and they eat something that came from a seed. Do you know what I mean? And a chicken forages. So whatever you eat and that you thrive and survive on, a lot of it goes back to the seed. And of course, all of it goes back to the soil, but it goes back to the seed in most plants that we rely on. So it’s very big.
Jennifer: It’s big.
Margaret: I’m the same way. I want to shop organic or the equivalent. Again, I don’t care if they do the certification as long as they don’t use the chemicals and they follow ethical practices and so forth.
I really like companies that tell me where their seed came from.
Jennifer: Yes!
Margaret: Either they grow it themselves on their own farm, or some of it themselves on their own farm, or they say, “We’re so proud we got seed from this person and this person and this person and, here, meet these wonderful seed farmers that we work with.” I love that, as opposed to this goodness knows where in the world it came from, someplace that was a desert probably, where it’s easier to grow seed, less fungal diseases of something like that [laughter], or I don’t know what, that is nothing like my backyard. Do you know what I mean? Regionally. So regional is important.
I also love that the small guys tend to have, like we all do, obsessions, and they tend to almost adopt particular crops and nurture them. Do you know what I mean?
Jennifer: Yes [laughter].
Margaret: They have a particular beet that they really love, and this beet means everything to them, but they read about how it used to be this big or it tastes this way or do this thing or that thing, its performance, and they want to get it back to that way So they’re doing selection over generations and generations and generations of seed to make it like it once was, as you spoke about the heirlooms, bring it back to that quality. Again, not hybrids, the open-pollinated, not the hybrids.
So I love those specialists like Frank Morton of Wild Garden Seed and all his, I mean, what’s he got, like more than 125 kinds of lettuce that he’s bred [laughter]? These are the people who have changed our salad bowl and our plate, our dinner plate, and our-
Jennifer: For the better, changed it for the better.
Margaret: Been at it for a long time, and I mean he has more than 150 kinds of winter squash and a couple of hundred kinds of sweet potatoes. These are collections, lifelong collections, a passion, of genetic material that would otherwise be lost forever. So that’s what turns me on, is those types of people.
Jennifer: And that history, and that stewarding. It grows the best of humanity as well as the best of the food for humanity, And it’s art; there’s this artistry to that length of research and relationship that has led to these collections. It gives me the shivers, actually.
Margaret: Yes, it does. It does. It does. Because it’s not like collecting “stuff,” like things, inanimate things.
Jennifer: No.
Margaret: No, it’s stewardship. It really is. It’s a relationship. It’s intimate. So you’re Western, and you said you go regional where you can. So what are some Western… and I’ve gathered some names from the Southeast, where I occasionally dabble in purchasing some seed, too [laughter], even though I’m in the Northeast. So what are some of the places that you go to, and why?
Jennifer: It is so interesting, because I get catalogs from everywhere, and they’re the ones on the East Coast that I’m just like, “Oh, I want to try that and that.” When I get my emails from Hudson Valley Seed or Southern Exposure, I’m like, “Ooh!” But by and large, I try and stick to my Western ones, and again, I go a little bit out of my exact region.
And at this point, my most local is called Redwood Seeds. It’s a small company founded by a couple. They’re probably about two hours north of me, and they’re just doing a fantastic job. So that’s the first one.
The next one is called Living Seed Company, and it is over on the coast. So the coast is really, really different, but sometimes they have seeds that I can’t find from Redwood Seeds, which is on the interior, so much drier.
And Territorial Seed is up in Oregon. They have a fantastic big selection, and they have a wonderful history of advocacy and education.
Renee’s Garden Seeds is down in Southern California, or its headquarters is, or I guess it’s Central California, but it’s way south of me. They’re probably the biggest catalog [on my list]. She’s very consistent, very reliable, and I love the work she’s done for the industry as a woman leader in this field.
The two that are sort of outside of my range when I’m talking about vegetable seeds is High Desert Seed, which was a favorite of mine when I lived in Colorado. And this woman-owned company is out of, let me get this right, the western slope of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado in the town of Paonia, which interestingly, I grew up going to at a family cabin that my mother and father bought while my father was doing his PhD research in Paonia.
They have some really interesting high-elevation seed research and trials and selections, and they have a wonderful… Going back to your statement about how we love companies that actually give credit and uplift the growers who are in their collaboratives, they have the most wonderful stories of where their seed came from and who their growers are. So I love that page.
Then the next one…I have three more: One is the Native Seeds/SEARCH group out of the Tucson area. Really interesting native and indigenous heritage seeds, a lot that go only to the indigenous communities there, but then many that are available to the public, as well. And just so much research and advocacy and kind of capacity-building in their seed-growing network for the benefit of these indigenous communities through indigenous leadership. So I love their work.
And I love toying with native seeds, Margaret. I love collecting them, and I love looking for them. And the two that are my go-tos are Seedhunt, which is out of Southern California, but she collects all over the state. And this is another woman-owned endeavor by Ginny Hunt, and she just has some fantastic selections. I’m a big-
Margaret: Of native plant seeds for native plants.
Jennifer: Some non-natives, as well, like interesting, hard-to-find non-natives, but a lot of really good natives like excellent buckwheats, Eriogonum, and Clarkia. Fantastic.
And then Theodore Payne Foundation in LA has some great native-plant seeds. I know you did that great piece on the Northwest Meadowscapes, another great one. But again, just a little far north and damper than me. That’s like my next level.
Margaret: And he is spreading. It’s a couple who owns that seed company, and they’re widening the area that they’re serving, and so forth.
Jennifer: Local areas, yeah.
Margaret: It’s interesting, because you are in Northern California. Parts of Northern California, parts of Oregon and Washington, a lot of prime seed-growing land in this country is traditionally-
Jennifer: Yeah, oh yeah.
Margaret: Because of the pattern of when the rainfalls do and don’t come. You don’t want at seed-harvest time, you don’t want it to be pouring all the time. And traditionally, that was an advantage in these areas, and there’s lots of other reasons, but I’m oversimplifying [laughter]. But anyway, so there’s a lot of seed companies. I mean, there’s other ones in your wider region, for instance, Siskiyou Seeds.
Jennifer: Oh, Siskiyou Seeds, excellent.
Margaret: Don Tipping’s got like 700 different kinds of edibles and flowers and herbs and whatever. And Peace Seedlings.
Jennifer: Peace Seeds. So good. I saw, let’s see, I think High Desert Seed and Redwood Seed both attributed Alan Kapuler [the Peace Seed founder] with many of their seed selections.
Margaret: Exactly. Exactly.
Jennifer: Yeah, which is great. They’re excellent. And Hume Seeds is another one up there. You’re right. And just north of me, that jump over the border makes a huge difference in their capacity to grow seed at really big scale.
Margaret: Yes. So Uprising Seeds and Adaptive Seeds, some of my favorites, and these are northern enough that a lot of times, even though I’m in the Northeast, the things are short-season, they’re not long-season crops, as opposed to… They work for me. And Adaptive has, I don’t know, more than a dozen different kales, for instance [above, the Kale Coalition from Adaptive].
On the other hand, if I wanted collards, who has more than a dozen? Well, Southern Exposure Seed Exchange[laughter], and if I wanted to try collards—do you know what I mean? If I wanted to have fun with it, it’s not going to be-
Jennifer: Thank you, Ira Wallace, and the Heirloom Collard Project.
Margaret: It’s not going to be my main crop, but, yeah, so lots of… And you mentioned your most local ones, and my most local ones are Hudson Valley Seed, which you did mention. And Turtle Tree Seed, which is biodynamic, which is right near me, as well. So yeah, there’s something to shopping local, right? [Laughter.]
Jennifer: And then, as we know, one of the issues which you’ve already kind of touched on, is that you can grow seed really well in other areas, but it’s then not necessarily adapted if you want to save seed and grow it on and on and on. So these growers are doing some of the adapting for us if they are growing them in our area. And then we know the seed is resistant to when we do have damp, when we do have drought, when we do have cold spells. And that’s an interesting balance, right, between getting seed that’s going to be great this year, but may not be well adapted over time, versus seed that might be really well-adapted over time but may not have the exact, I don’t know, greatness the very first year. I don’t know.
Margaret: Yeah. And that’s the same reason—the fact that seed is alive and that over the generations it will adapt to the conditions that it’s grown in. In subtle ways, it will change, it will evolve to adapt to the conditions. And that’s the same reason I want seed that’s grown organically. Because I don’t want seed that expects me to intervene, and I say “expects,” anthropomorphizing the seed, but that expects me to intervene if something’s going wrong, and nuke it.
Now speaking of nuking it, one of the most chilling things in the book is how we’ve poisoned seed. We’ve done a lot of bad things to seed. We’ve made it disappear; so many varieties have disappeared because we’ve turned it into intellectual property that you can patent and all these kinds of crazy things, but we’ve also poisoned it. So just tell us about that and about that’s another reason to buy organic seed, I think.
Jennifer: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Because you are voting with your dollar and your economic power for a world that does not poison the heck out of everything. The rate at which our seed, our commodity level seed, is being pretreated with, whether it’s Roundup Ready Toolkit or it’s the insecticides and neonicotinoids, I believe the EPA now says that every bit of non-organic corn, and there are millions of acres planted out in corn in the U.S. today, all of it that is not organic is now treated with either herbicides or herbicide resistant and/or neonicotinoids.
That goes directly not just into the plant, which then is the food, which is then the pollen, which then contaminates the non-treated seed and corn pollen within many, many miles, like the reach of the wind-pollinated corn pollen is phenomenal. But it’s also leeching into our soils, into our ground and surface waters, and it contaminates all the lives that are supposed to make their lives there. It’s astronomical.
And we keep pounding away at this, and we think that it’s, “Oh, we should ban Roundup,” right? But sadly, you can ban DDT, thank you, Rachel Carson, and you can maybe ban Roundup, but there are 18 to 20 chemicals on the market, or being readied for the market, right behind Roundup, so that our use of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, biocides, which is Rachel Carson’s word for them-
Margaret: Kill everything, right?
Jennifer: …is increasing, not decreasing. And it’s connected to so many of the health issues in our environment and in our lives, in our own bodies and lives. We just have to say let’s try it without this. Let’s go back to figuring out ways to not use chemicals. They should be, in my opinion, regulated like weapons, or better than we regulate weapons. That’s how strong they are.
Margaret: We’ve run out of time, of course, but that “vote with your seed dollars” is what we’re saying. Vote for a safer environment with your seed dollars by giving them to companies that don’t do that, don’t treat the seed.
Well, Jennifer, you and I could talk forever and ever, because too similarly, as I said, seed-obsessed people [laughter]. But thank you for sharing some of your source. Thank you for making time today.
Jennifer: Oh, thank you very much. And happy seed shopping this season.
enter to win a copy of what we sow’
I’LL BUY A COPY of “What We Sow” by Jennifer Jewell for one lucky reader. All you have to do to enter is answer this question in the comments box below:
Any catalogs to recommend (and tell us why)?
No answer, or feeling shy? Just say something like “count me in” and I will, but a reply is even better. I’ll select a random winner after entries close Tuesday December 26, 2023 at midnight. Good luck to all.
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prefer the podcast version of the show?
MY WEEKLY public-radio show, rated a “top-5 garden podcast” by “The Guardian” newspaper in the UK, began its 14th year in March 2023. It’s produced at Robin Hood Radio, the smallest NPR station in the nation. Listen locally in the Hudson Valley (NY)-Berkshires (MA)-Litchfield Hills (CT) Mondays at 8:30 AM Eastern, rerun at 8:30 Saturdays. Or play the Dec. 18, 2023 show using the player near the top of this transcript. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes/Apple Podcasts or Spotify (and browse my archive of podcasts here).
Some scenes from Remodelista this week that made us feel warm and fuzzy. Plus: Remodelista Gift Guide 2023: 9 Tokens of Appreciation for the Host/Hostess Kitchen of the Week: 7 Design Ideas to Steal from deVOL’s Latest Showroom 10 Easy Pieces: Waffle Makers Rescued Wreck: A Guest House Offshoot of the Beloved Rivertown Lodge in […]
On Saturday we’ll be having our FINAL plant sale of 2023 at the friendly little Atmore Flea Market, also known as “Poppy’s Antiques.” We’ll start at 9AM, first come, first serve! Get there early to get the rare stuff. I don’t know how many people will show up, since it’s late in the year, but we often sell out of yams fast.
THIS IS YOUR CHANCE TO GET YAMS!
We’ll have multiple varieties of rare edible yam bulbils and roots FOR SALE! Including the ones you can’t get elsewhere.
This is it, folks!
This is Also Your Chance to Get Cassava Cuttings
We’ll have cassava cuttings too! And some sugarcane!!!
Other Plants We’ll Have
Palmetto (powerful medicinal berries)
Coffee Mahonia fortunei (a lovely shade plant with edible berries) Catawba (great native tree which attracts the best caterpillars for fish bait) Potato mint Chinese water chestnuts …and more
We’ll also have some of our homegrown pumpkins, which you can eat and then save for seeds. This variety gave us 500lbs from ONE VINE!
It’s going to be a great day. The weather should be cool and overcast, and the antiques indoors are well-worth seeing as well.
AND REMEMBER TO BRING IN OLD PLANT POTS!
We will give a store credit for any pots of 1-gallon size or larger you bring in. $0.50 each!!!
Bring in a stack if you can – we are always short on pots! If they are still useable, we want to recycle old pots instead of buying new ones, and we will happily trade plants, shirts, books, etc., for them. Reduce, reuse, recycle… and get store credit!
It almost feels like bromeliads are begging you to propagate them.
They send out little miniature plants or “pups” that look just like the adults. They reproduce so readily that they don’t even need you to help them, they’ll do it themselves.
Your job is mostly to move the offsets to a different container, if that’s what you want.
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Obviously, I’m making the process sound a bit easier than it is, but only a little. It’s mostly a matter of timing plus a dash of patience.
Whether your bromeliad’s lifecycle is almost over and its sending out offshoots or you just want to give those ever-present young pups their own place to root, here’s what we’ll talk about to help you propagate bromeliads:
In this guide, we’re going to focus on propagating pups, but you can also propagate bromeliads from seed that you collect from spent flowers.
The risk of starting from seed is that many bromeliads on the market are hybrids, and seeds from hybrids might be sterile, or they won’t grow true to the parent plant.
That means you have no way of knowing what the new plant will look like. It might be smaller, larger, a different color, less hardy, have smaller flowers, or a number of other differences.
First, let’s start by talking about how the bromeliad lifecycle works.
The Bromeliad Lifecycle
Plants that bloom once and then die are known as monocarpic.
Bromeliads, agave, and some other succulents are monocarpic perennials, which means they can live for years, but once they flower, they die.
Once the bromeliad blooms, it moves all its resources to support the flowers and seeds.
Bromeliad flowers can last for months or even up to a year, which means they take up a lot of resources for a long time. As a result, the rest of the plant starts to fade, turn brown, and die.
All is not lost, however. Even though the parent plant will die after the flowers fade, it will send out offshoots known as pups, and the circle of life continues.
You can remove these bromeliad pups, pot them up, and have a new plant growing happily in no time.
The pups aren’t like seeds, as they are genetic clones of the parent and will grow up to look the same. So, in a way, even though the parent plant is dying, it will continue to grow.
Many bromeliads will also put out offshoots before they bloom. These can be propagated whenever they are present. There’s no need to wait for the plant to flower and die.
Examine your bromeliad and identify the larger pups or offsets closest to the soil rather than those that are higher on the stem.
The ones at the soil line will usually have some of their own roots, but those that grow solely attached to the stem might not.
You may need to lift up the lower leaves and poke around to locate the pups as they tend to hide down at the base of the parent plant.
Okay, so here is my top tip: Let the bromeliad pups grow as large as they can before you remove them.
If you can let them grow to a third or half of the parent’s size, that’s ideal. This doesn’t always happen, especially if your bromeliad has finished flowering and is fading rapidly.
But don’t snip off the baby plant when it’s too small. If you take an inch-tall pup off a plant that is a foot tall at maturity, the chances that it will survive the whole process and grow new roots are slim.
When you have identified a good-sized pup near the base of your plant, grab your clean knife or a pair of pruners.
I use a mushroom knife because sometimes you need to use the tip of the knife to work into the spot between the pup and the mother to pry it loose. Once you nudge them apart a little, you can use the edge of the knife to slice the offshoot away.
Even if you don’t go mushroom hunting, it’s always handy to have one in your toolkit.
I keep one like this Hanziup folding mushroom knife, available at Amazon, in both my car and my garden shed.
My philosophy when removing an offshoot is to protect the new plant, not the mother. She’s on her way out, anyway. Sorry, girl!
That means if the plants are clinging together stubbornly, you can use your knife to slice away some of the mother’s roots and stems to come with the offshoot rather than the other way around.
Once they’re separated, rinse the roots with room temperature water. Set the bromeliad pup on a paper towel in an area out of direct sunlight for 24 hours and allow it to form a callus.
If you’re potting the offset in soil, fill a container with loose, airy potting soil. My go-to is to mix half standard potting mix with half fine orchid bark.
Aim to use a fairly small container. Most pups should be in a pot that is about four inches in diameter to start. Larger pots with a high volume of potting soil are prone to retaining excess water, which can lead to root rot.
I swear by FoxFarm’s Ocean Forest potting mix.
It has earthworm castings, bat guano, fish meal, forest humus, sandy loam, and sphagnum moss in a combination that every plant seems to love.
Grab a one and a half cubic foot via Amazon and combine it with some orchid bark like this product made by Legigo, which comes in two, four, six, eight, ten, or 12 quart bags at Amazon.
Set the offshoot into the soil with just the top of the roots covered. None of the leaves should be buried. Water the medium well and top off with a bit more potting medium if it settles.
If you want to grow your epiphytic bromeliad species as it would in nature and you live in the right climate, you can attach the pup to a tree.
To do this, take the pup and hold it securely against the tree on a lower branch with at least a foot of space between branches.
Use twine or a zip tie to secure it to the tree. Keep it moist by spraying it or drizzling water over the roots in the absence of rain.
Sowing Seeds
Starting from seed is much less successful and time-consuming than propagating pups and, as a result, much less common.
Remember, seeds you collect might be sterile and even if they’re viable they won’t grow true.
There are only a few bromeliads that are self-pollinating, so if you’re growing yours indoors and don’t have two specimens to allow you to manually pollinate, your plant might not even grow any fertile seeds.
Bromeliads growing outdoors are probably fine to collect seeds from because hummingbirds, bats, and bees will pollinate the flowers.
But if you aren’t worried about what you end up growing – or if you end up with anything at all – then propagating by seed can be a fun project to play around with.
Photo by Krzysztof Ziarnek, Wikimedia Commons, via CC BY-SA.
To collect seeds, wait until the flower goes to seed and turns brown. Take the flower head and rub it between your hands to release the seeds. You can remove the flower to do this or leave it on the plant.
You’ll need to sow them right away because the seeds won’t keep for very long. If you need to store them for a few weeks, put them in an envelope and place them in a cool, dark spot.
Once you’ve collected your seeds, find one of those clear plastic take-out containers with a lid that soups or salads come in.
You can also use a standard potting container or tray so long as you have some plastic or a cloche to cover it with. The seeds need lots of moisture, humidity, and temperatures between 70 and 80°F to germinate.
Fill your chosen container with a clean, sterile, soilless potting mixture. Place it outside in direct sunlight for at least two hours to kill any pathogens.
Then, sprinkle a little sphagnum peat moss in a thin layer on top of the medium. This will prevent the pathogens that cause damping off from killing your seedlings.
Moisten the medium thoroughly so that it is moist but not soaking wet.
Sprinkle the seeds on top of the moss, saturate with water from a spray bottle, and cover with a humidity dome or clear plastic.
If you want to be precise, you should place two seeds every half inch or so, but since the seeds have low germination rates, I just sprinkle them randomly so that a seed falls about every quarter inch.
Place in bright, indirect light, and keep the soil moist by gently watering the surface of the soil. Spray once a day to increase the humidity.
Within three weeks, the seeds should have germinated. If they haven’t sprouted by this point, it’s likely that they won’t.
Once the seedlings emerge, remove the cover and continue to keep the medium moist.
When the seedlings are about two or three inches tall, you can pot them up into individual containers and take care of them as detailed in our guide to growing bromeliads.
You Can Never Have Too Many Puppies
When your bromeliad sends out pups, it’s game on. Your plant is ready to start over again, since it’s dying, and all you need to do is remove those offshoots and give them their own space.
Of course, growing from seed you’ve saved is an adventure and you never know where you’ll end up.
What kind of bromeliad are you growing? Has it flowered and you’re looking for ways to keep it going? Let us know in the comments section below!
Over the last few weeks, we’ve had frosts here and there. It still astounds me to see ice on the ground. Having grown up in Ft. Lauderdale, frost is novel.
This probably sounds nuts to those of you farther north, but we only experienced one frost in the first 23 years of my life.
Once I moved to Tennessee for a job, I got to experience actual winter conditions.
I didn’t like them much, and was cold and miserable all the time. My friend Will from Wisconsin told me that Tennessee winters weren’t even real winter, but they were enough for me. It’s milder here in Lower Alabama, even though it still freezes enough to kill off most tropical plants. I won’t complain about missing the tropics, and I’ll try not to remember what it was like to have a year-round growing season with endless tropical fruits.
No. Who needs all that fancy stuff, like cacao and breadfruit and nutmeg?
I’m just going to say that it’s beautiful to see how the frost decorates the ground. It’s really, truly, beautiful and is a special part of God’s creation and I ain’t gonna grumble ’bout it no more ever.
In a normal fall and winter, I would have lots of brassicas growing in these rows. The ground should be covered in green, in between the sleeping trees and shrubs. However, this year we had bad drought all the way until first frost so we never planted anything.
We planted the two beds of daikons and brassicas closer to the house and that was it:
I didn’t want to have to water anything else and the ground was hard, dusty and dry everywhere.
We don’t have irrigation in the Grocery Row Gardens and don’t intend on adding it unless we get a well, so this year we just have mulch there instead of greenery.
That’s fine, though, since we’re still eating lots of produce we brought in before the frosts, like pumpkins, sweet potatoes and yams, and the brassica beds more than supply our greens and roots for now.
God is good, and it’s really been a blessing to garden here on this soil behind a house we actually own.
This peppermint lip balm recipe is lip-smacking good, and hey, it smells amazing too! Great to use all year long, this is a super simple recipe that doesn’t take long to whip up. Here’s how to make your own minty, fresh lip balm.
This peppermint lip balm is one of my favourite items to whip up during Christmas time. I call it my candy cane lip balm, and it’s a big hit among friends. They can get tucked inside stockings, alongside gift cards, or as a small token of thanks to acquaintances in your life.
But peppermint doesn’t have to be just a holiday scent. From toothpaste to mojitos, I love enjoying the crisp and fresh taste of peppermint.
Whenever I put this lip balm on, I get a hint of the peppermint taste and enjoy the cooling sensation that comes from the peppermint essential oil.
When it comes to making your own products, lip balm is one of the easiest DIY recipesout there. It’s ideal for beginners and is a very practical item everyone enjoys.
Here’s what we’ll be covering today…
Without a label, these mint lip balms look as clean and simple as their ingredients.
Homemade Peppermint Lip Balm
Now, this would make a great stocking stuffer, wouldn’t it? The recipe below makes 12 tubes, so you’ll have plenty of mint lip balm to keep and gift to others.
Ingredients and Equipment
See the recipe card at the bottom of this post for exact measurements.
If you can’t find lip balm tubes, you can also use small metal containers and apply the mint lip balm with your fingers.
Make It!
Melt the oil and waxes in the double boiler. Remove from heat, add essential oils, and stir well.
Line up lip balm tubes on a level surface and carefully pour the melted oil and wax into each tube, filling only halfway (if you pour it all at once, you may get a hole in the top of your lip balm once it cools).
It really helps if you have a double boiler where the top pot has a pour spout. If not, transfer the hot liquid into a measuring cup with a spout for easier pouring.
Once the half-full lip balm has been set, top up the rest of the tube.
If you still get an uneven top when the balm has cooled completely, you can use a heat gun or lighter to level it out. Just be sure not to melt the tube!
I labelled mine as candy cane lip balm since I made these during the holidays.
Custom Lip Balm Labels
To really make this peppermint lip balm fun, I added custom labels. It looks like something you might buy at the store!
You can make custom labels if you have a Cricut machine. Printing onto sticker paper is also an option for those who want to use their regular printer.
For simplicity’s sake, I like to use Evermine to make the labels for my items. I can design right on the platform and don’t have to worry about getting the dimensions right.
Once the label is on, they’re truly ready for gifting!
For a year-round look, make the peppermint lip balm labels green and give it your own unique name!
FAQ About Using Peppermint Lip Balm
Is peppermint lip balm drying?
When used incorrectly, peppermint essential oil can be irritating. It should always be diluted before being applied to the skin. In the case of this mint lip balm, it shouldn’t be drying. Instead, the wax and oils create plenty of moisture while the peppermint gives a cooling effect.
Not everyone is well-suited to peppermint oil. The cooling and tingling sensation will promote blood circulation and give a plumping effect to the lips. However, those with sensitive skin may want to avoid using peppermint oil, especially those with dermatitis and eczema. Stop using the lip balm if it causes any irritation.
Why does peppermint make your lips tingle?
One major component of peppermint essential oil is menthol, which gives peppermint its smell, flavour, and tingling sensation. The skin on your face, including your lips, will process the menthol as a tingling and slightly burning sensation thanks to the nerves in the face. The process is similar to how our taste buds process spicy food.
This sensation is completely safe and can even promote focus and attention. Peppermint oil is FDA-approved for use as both a flavour and fragrance.
Peppermint Lip Balm
This peppermint lip balm is ideal around Christmas time or for anyone who loves a minty tingle. This recipe makes 12 tubes.
In the double boiler, melt your waxes and oil together.
Once melted, remove from heat and add your essential oils. Stir well.
Line up the lip balm tubes on a level surface. Pour the melted wax into each tube, only filling halfway. This prevents a hole from forming up top.
Once the lip balm has cooled, reheat the remaining oils and top up the rest of the tube.
If the top cools unevenly, use a heat gun or lighter to level the top. Careful not to melt the tube!
A double boiler with a pour spout makes it easy to pour into the small lip balm tubes. If you don’t have one, transfer the hot liquid into a measuring cup or other container with a spout to make pouring easier.
Plants with a silvery sheen stand out beautifully against the sea of green that fills most garden beds. In this episode, Danielle, Carol, and their guest will highlight some shimmering shrubs, drought-tolerant perennials, a tiny dwarf conifer, and even an unusual silvery vine with a bit of a back story. Perhaps one of these lovely, luminous plants could be the silver bullet solution to one of your own garden design dilemmas.
Chloë Bowers, a garden designer based in southwestern Connecticut, is the moderator for Fine Gardening’s Northeast Gardening Answers forum. Join the conversation here:
What if your driveway were beautiful? If you have a typical American stretch of asphalt for a driveway, this question might come off as an absurd provocation, but Andrea Hurd, the founder of Mariposa Gardening & Design, has proven over and over that a beautiful place to park your car is possible. Her Bay Area firm uses their expertise in stonework and horticulture to create driveways that are an attractive addition to the landscape. Hurd’s interest in reimagining driveways doesn’t stem solely from aesthetic ambitions, though.
Trained in permaculture, Hurd worked with the San Francisco League of Urban Gardeners in the 1990s. There, she learned that the water that runs over your driveway picks up oil and gas that has leaked from cars. “That polluted water goes into storm drains that go straight to the Bay,” says Hurd. One solution to manage this problem is to replace conventional driveways with permeable ones, which allow stormwater to be filtered through the soil, keeping pollutants out of natural bodies of water.
The benefits of a permeable driveway don’t end there. By keeping rainwater on a homeowner’s property, the water soaks into the ground to recharge the groundwater table. Ripping out concrete can also reduce theheat island effect, as concrete reflects the sun’s heat. And if you add plants to your new permeable driveway, you can create habitat for pollinators—not to mention improved curb appeal. Perhaps best of all? Your newly beautified driveway can be used as garden space when your car is not parked there.
Here’s what you need to know to create your own beautiful, permeable parking spot:
Photography by Saxon Holt, unless otherwise noted.
Remove the concrete.
Above: Before and after—Mariposa Gardening & Design replaced this concrete driveway in Berkeley with a permeable design that created room for many new plants, including a mixture of creeping thymes and native strawberries.
The first step to creating a permeable driveway is to remove non-permeable concrete or asphalt surfaces. Unless you’re handy with a jackhammer, this is probably a job for a pro. “Hopefully you have a driveway that was built to code, which means you’ve got a sufficient amount of base material underneath the concrete pour,” says Hurd. But if that is not the case, your contractors will need to regrade the driveway so that water slopes away from the foundation of the house.
“Here are pics of my Sacramento rear garden. Not as amenable because much of it cannot be enjoyed or even viewed from inside the house. It is a typical rear garden which has no view. However it is pretty in its own way. I have struggled with this garden. I moved here at the end of summer 2020 right in the middle of the pandemic. I had been retired from landscape design about 5 years. As long as I had my Calabasas garden I didn’t miss it. I am also an artist, so I just concentrated on painting. But, moving here I missed my garden thru that first long cold winter and became very impatient to begin. And I had a hard time reigning myself in, I wanted color and fragrance right away!
So I won some and I lost some fights with myself. I have to laugh. I was everyone’s nightmare of a client. I wanted too many varieties, had too many objectives, could hardly say no to a beautiful plant even when it was decidedly questionable. And have had to redo my mistakes. My contractor who has worked with me for many years was wringing his hands! He saw I was in a fever of purchasing. Now, I am having to go back and simplify. And because I use almost all perennials and no annuals, my winter garden looks very different than my summer garden. What looks very empty in the winter without snow is very full to overflowing in the spring and summer. So it is a very common mistake to judge a garden in the winter. I am no longer near my old wholesale and retail gardens who knew me and where I could stroll through of an afternoon if I felt the need. The garden I have to use here is across town, so I began looking online that first winter. The delivery companies got to know me the winter!”
This is how the space started. Very bare bones.
And here… fake grass.
Here is the side yard with several citrus and the soil covered in large chunks of wood in an attempt to fight off weeds. I hated the wood mulch and removed all if it and also removed the fake grass. This side faces north.
Putting up trellis. And building some color and foundation. I was so impatient!
The rear garden faces west. The sun was blinding. This shot is the north west corner.
Beginning a path.
Finally, drip irrigation and the beginning of a variety of ground covers. I didn’t know which would be able to handle both summer heat and winter cold and wet. So I interweaved several and decided to let them show me which would survive.
Adding some color.
More plantings and containers bringing color.
Starting to fill in.
Lots of the ground covers are happy, and have filled in this space nicely.
Roses and verbena (Verbena hybrids, Zones 8 – 11 or as annuals)
Roses bringing sweet pink blooms to the party.
A variety of Sedum, a succulent ground cover, Plus the lime colored ground cover is a Ceanothus (Zone 9 – 11). Ceanothus are always a gamble, but when they are happy they thrill.
Looking out at the garden from the sitting area.
Have a garden you’d like to share?
Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!
To submit, send 5-10 photos to [email protected] along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.
Zach at Arizona Worm Farm created a “forest of fruit trees” that he can pick fruit from every day of the year. In this post, he shares his 4-step permaculture method for how to fertilize fruit trees organically. This method replicates what the trees get in a forest, producing healthy trees with more fruit.
One of our goals at the Arizona Worm Farm is to create a “forest of fruit trees” where there is something bearing fruit every day of the year.
Some of the most dense, healthy plant growth on the planet is in forests. Who fertilizes those plants? Mother Nature! What we try to do here on our farm and in our yards is (as much as we possibly can) mimic the aspects of the forest that promote healthy, hearty growth and produce an abundance of fruit.
How do we create a forest environment in the desert?
Let’s start with a definition: In soil biology, detritus is dead organic material. Detritus in the forest typically includes the bodies or fragments of dead organisms and plants and their waste. Detritus typically hosts communities of microorganisms that colonize and decompose it.
Most of us don’t have animals roaming our properties that will poop or die, and few of us have enough trees to shed enough leaves to mimic a forest. In an urban environment, detritus is replaced quite nicely with compost.
Compost pile being turned at Arizona Worm Farm
To mimic nature and fertilize fruit trees organically, we need:
The detritus that falls from the trees and plants and animals.
The living micro and macro-organisms in the soil that convert that detritus to food for our trees.
A dense covering on the ground to prevent evaporation and erosion while providing a habitat for the living organisms that make this all work.
Before you begin:
A pre-step: first, create a berm (about 6 inches high) at the dripline of your tree. That’s the line where if you sprayed water on your tree, the water would drip. If it is a very young tree, go to where you guess the dripline will be in three years.
4 Simple steps to fertilize fruit trees organically
How do we achieve forest-level success in our desert environment? It is surprisingly easy and consists of four steps.
Step One: Add microbes to feed your fruit trees organically
How to add microbes:
Worm castings or worm castings tea is the best way to add microbes in large numbers. Worm castings (or aerated tea made from the castings) create or join a soil ecosystem already full of bacteria, protozoa, amoeba, fungi, and nematodes.
A teaspoon of good, active garden soil, according to microbial geneticists, contains a billion bacteria, several yards of fungal hyphae, several thousand protozoa, and a few dozen nematodes. By adding worm casts to this equation, you boost the soil ecosystem and help it flourish.
Microbes (which you boost by adding worm castings) are the ultimate organic fertilizer. These microbes are the opposite of chemical pesticides that poison and kill everything in the soil in the name of abundant yields.
Worm castings
How many worm castings to add:
Scientifically, the perfect amount of castings is 5% – too little, and you won’t get the abundance of microbes we are looking for; too much, and you are just wasting money. It is easy to measure 5% when we mix a raised bed mix, but it is harder for a tree.
Our “rule of thumb” is about a cup of worm castings per three feet of tree height. My personal favorite advice is “toss a couple of handfuls.”
How to add the castings:
Spread castings around the base of the tree, right on top of the soil.
If you have access to good aerated worm castings tea (either from someplace like The Arizona Worm Farm that makes it or from your own tea brewer), it can be used in place of castings.
Step Two: Add lots of compost to fertilize fruit trees organically
In urban areas where we don’t get natural detritus, we add compost.
Compost at Arizona Worm Farm
What kind of compost is best for fertilizing fruit trees?
The best compost is the compost you make yourself in your own yard using your own yard waste – it will have the nutrients your trees used to grow initially. The second best is to get a diverse combination of composts from companies that make good compost. Generally, the easiest way to do that is to buy most of your compost from someplace you trust and then add a bag or two of different composts.
How much compost should I use to fertilize my fruit trees?
We recommend one cubic foot of compost per three feet of tree height – but there’s not really such a thing as too much compost. It is safe to fill the water well (that area you created with your berm) with an inch or two of compost all the way out to the dripline.
Step Three: Cover with a thick layer of mulch
Why should I add mulch when feeding my fruit trees?
Mulch is your tree’s best friend, especially in our hot, dry climate. Most importantly, mulch is an awesome habitat for microbes.
As mulch slowly decomposes, it adds carbon to your soil.
How much mulch should I use?
We recommend you fill the rest of the water well with mulch. There is almost no such thing as “too much” mulch. Generally, aim to use at least 3-6 inches (7-15cm) of mulch. One foot of mulch is not too much.
Step Four: Water trees deeply to encourage deep roots
For healthy tree growth, we want deep, healthy roots. Shallow watering (usually the result of a tree in a lawn that gets watered a couple of minutes several times a day) will encourage shallow roots. Trees that fall over or have no ability to pull water from deep underground in the summer are the result of shallow roots.
How much water does a fruit tree need?
There is a standard rule arborists like to use: “About 10 gallons per 1 inch of trunk diameter per week”. Trial and observation will help you get it right.
How to water fruit trees:
After fertilizing your fruit trees, fill the water well with water (the mulch will float, but it will stay in place). Water slowly, allowing the water to seep into the soil rather than run off. Aim to water to a depth of at least 2 feet.
Watch your tree. After watering, the tree’s leaves should look healthy and green for anywhere from 7 to 21 days, depending on the outside temperatures and humidity.
When you see a bit of a leaf droop, it is time to water again. If you are uncertain, dig down 10-12 inches and see if the ground is still moist. Water only when it is dry to that depth. This will encourage deep roots, which help stabilize the tree.
How often should you fertilize fruit trees?
The basic rule is three times a year: Valentine’s Day, Labor Day, and Memorial Day. These days are usually recommended because they are the start of the three growing seasons in most places. They are also easy to remember.
The best answer is “when your trees need it.” If you observe your trees, you will start to see the compost and the mulch disappearing. This means it has been converted into food by the microbes. It is time to add more food for the microbes when what was there is mostly gone.
You can add worm castings more frequently and aerated teas as often as monthly. We find more than quarterly is probably not needed.
Worm castings tea
Do I need to pull back the mulch before I feed the trees again?
No. When you repeat these steps, don’t remove anything (don’t push the mulch aside or move compost). Add the same layers on top of the previous layers. Water and the natural cycles will get the levels straight, and we don’t want to disturb micro or macro-organisms.
Some other things matter – like appropriate placement, proper pruning (less is usually better), monitoring for pests, and adding shade when trees are young. But, if you get the four steps for organically feeding fruit trees consistently correct, you will have happy, healthy trees that reward you with lots of fruit.
Arizona Worm Farm is an excellent place to get all the products needed to feed your fruit tree forest organically. They have worm castings, compost, mulch, and worm castings tea available for purchase and delivery.
If you would like to see the Arizona Worm Farm fruit tree forest in person, they offer free public, guided, and VIP tours during regular business hours. See their website for more information.
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Over the last couple of months, we ran some experiments with sugarcane propgation.
This fall, we harvested our sugarcane and set to work on putting in more.
We planted six more sugarcane wagon wheels:
And my daughter sold some sugarcane on Etsy.
Yet the biggest thing we wanted to do with sugarcane was to propagate it in the nursery so we could offer pots of it for sale in the spring, as well as have lots more plants we could later make sugarcane syrup with.
In the past, we grew a few pieces of cane in pots by cutting up chunks with a couple of nodes and sticking them into soil in my greenhouse. That worked, but it still took two nodes.
Perhaps there was a better way? The best way to find out was to conduct an experiment.
The Sugarcane Propagation Experiment
I searched through some articles online and found mostly commercial sugarcane growing information, and then went to YouTube to see how gardeners might be micro-propagating sugarcane.
If we could use individual nodes to start plants, we could start many more plants from each stick of sugarcane than if we were to use the commercial method of dividing them into segments with three or four nodes each.
Yet there is a possibility of failure from single-node cuttings in many species, since there is no backup and no bulwark against infection. Usually when we propagate plants in the nursery, we use at least two nodes and often three.
Perhaps sugarcane is different? We had to hunt and see!
The first video I found was from Jag Singh, in which he experimented with starting a few single node cuttings as a side quest to his main propagation method… and they took.
Okay, now we had some info. Since some of my cane was from rare varieties, and because we wanted to find the very best way to propagate sugarcane for maximum return of plants produced per cane, as that made economic sense from a nursery perspective, we tried multiple propagation methods.
We tried one-node, two-node and three-node sugarcane cuttings planted upright in soil, and in water.
This is a stalk of sugarcane, and I’m pointing out what a growth node looks like:
We also did a round of cuttings where we laid one-node, two-node and three-node cuttings on their sides in a bin of soil, planted about 1″ beneath the surface.
Then, a little over a month later, we compared results.
Rooting Sugarcane Cuttings in Water
Since we had a good bit of cane to root, it made sense to cut up our pieces and stick them all into a single container of water, rather than putting each piece of cane in a glass, as you’ll see on YouTube propagation videos.
My solution was to put them all right-side-up in an old pot, then to set the pot in water that was about 5″ deep.
They did well this way, with most of the cuttings rooting and starting to grow within a few weeks.
The three-node, two-node and single-node cuttings all did well, with only a few losses.
You can see the thick white “water roots” on this two-node cutting.
Rooting in water definitely works.
Rooting Sugarcane Cuttings in Soil (Vertically)
Our second experiment was to plant sugarcane cuttings upright in soil, in one-node, two-node, and three-node configurations.
We just used homemade potting mix, which is a combination of pine bark chips with a little sand, plus composted peanut hull waste and some half-rotten pine chips from a sawmill.
We filled a large pot with about 6″ of soil and stuck in cuttings, then topped it off with a little more dirt.
Most all of them rooted.
The roots on these were better than those on the water-rooted cuttings.
The roots are denser, with lots of side shoots.
Rooting Sugarcane Cuttings in Soil (Horizontally)
Our last experiment with rooting sugarcane cuttings was to plant them on their sides in a bin of soil, buried about 1″ beneath the surface.
These also rooted well.
When I pulled a three-node cutting to check the root development, it looked excellent:
These are harder to put than vertical cuttings, however, so we’ll be sticking to those in the future.
The New DTG Approved Method of Rooting Sugarcane Cuttings
From now on, I will be using single-node sugarcane cuttings and rooting them in soil.
We may simple plant them directly into individual pots as well, since we had such a high success rate that we could skip the transplanting process already and grow them right where we want them to be.
As it is, we’ve transplanted almost all of the sugarcane starts from this experiment so we can offer them for sale in the spring.
The rooting rate in the nursery was higher than we get from planting multi-node cuttings in the ground in the fall. If you have a colder climate or need to start a lot of sugarcane plants, I highly recommend using single-node cuttings in soil to ramp up your production.
Yesterday I posted a video on this experiment, so you can see exactly what we did and how we did it.
As I write this, I’m staring out of the second-floor window of my local Portland, Oregon library at the full ponds and mossy gardens filled with ferns, Douglas fir, and scarlet rosemallow, on a foggy, wet day.
The furthest thought from my mind? Succulents basking in the dry heat.
But there are many succulents that can be grown successfully outdoors in the northwest.
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My stonecrop is looking absolutely stunning as the roses are fading. Lots of people don’t realize it, but many succulents are native to the soggy areas of the Pacific Northwest.
If you live in the northwest, you can enjoy succulents in your garden. It’s just a matter of knowing how to care for them and part of that is understanding when to plant them.
Coming up, we’ll answer that question – and a few others. Here’s what I’ll cover:
For the sake of clarity, when we talk about the northwest, we’re referring to Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.
Some people also include western Montana, northern California, and British Columbia.
Those areas encompass a huge variety of environments and climates.
We’re going to focus on the areas that experience mild, cool, wet winters and warm, dry summers. This is the region west of the Cascade Range, running from Lassen Peak in northern California to Mount Baker in British Columbia.
Areas east of the Cascades have a climate that is more in line with the western states like Utah and Wyoming, which have the type of climate for succulents to thrive.
Selecting the Right Species
When selecting succulents for your garden, the first consideration is the USDA Hardiness Zone rating for the specific species or cultivar you want to grow. Obviously, those that are hardy to your specific region are the best options.
It’s not just about picking a species that is ideal for your Zone, but choosing one that will tolerate your climate. Much of the Pacific Northwest is extremely wet for at least a portion of the year, so look for species that tolerate lots of moisture.
Yucca, Dasylirion spp., Manfreda spp., Dudleya spp., Sedum spp., Talinum spp., and even some Agave species like A. utahensis adapt to this unique climate.
Dudleya species, and Sedum oreganum, S. oregonense, and S. spathulifolium are native to coastal Washington, Oregon, and northern California, so you know they can handle the Pacific Northwest climate.
Broadleaf stonecrop (Sedum spathulifolium), which I mentioned above, is another stellar PNW native species. You’ll often spot the native Siskiyou lewisia (Lewisia cotyledon) in Pacific Northwest gardens as well.
Any of these indigenous species have figured out how to navigate our wet winters.
When to Plant
The best time to transplant succulents is in the spring. This gives the plants plenty of time to develop adequate root systems that will allow them to deal with the soggy winter ahead.
But don’t plant during the heaviest period of springtime rain. If the ground is still extremely soggy from the winter rain, wait until it dries out a bit.
In Portland, we joke that spring doesn’t end until the 4th of July, but you don’t have to wait until the end of June to put them in the ground!
A little bit of rain won’t hurt and will probably help. It certainly takes the pressure off you to be diligent about watering your new transplants.
I’m talking about the kind of rain that lasts for weeks and makes the ground into a giant mud puddle. That’s a bad time to put succulents in the ground. Wait for a few dry days to pass and a few dry days predicted in the future and then go ahead and plant.
Obviously, if you set them out in March, April, or May, it’s likely that you’ll have another period of rain. That’s fine, and you don’t need to do anything to protect your plants.
And definitely don’t get too excited and put your succulents in the ground during the “false spring” of February.
I know it’s tempting to get started when it feels like spring has arrived, but not only might you experience another freeze, but you know that soggy, wet weather is coming right back.
All that said, if you come across a screaming bargain on some suitable succulents at the store and it happens to be autumn, don’t worry. You can transplant them in fall, and they’ll probably do just fine, especially if they’re native species.
The only times you absolutely shouldn’t plant succulents is in the winter months and during the hottest part of summer.
Where to Plant
This might seem obvious. You’re gardening in the Pacific Northwest, right? So that’s where you’ll plant. But you might have noticed that the environment in different parts of your city and even your yard can vary dramatically.
You might have a spot in your backyard that seems to remain soggy all year long, while another area seems to dry out quickly.
Take note of the specific microclimates in your garden and place your succulents in those areas that have good drainage and sun exposure.
Since many parts of the northwest have clay soil, you might need to do a little amending to make your succulents happy.
Rather than adding humus or sand (which won’t hurt), it’s best to work some fine grit into the soil. This creates more channels through which moisture can escape.
Alternatively, you can always put them in raised beds or containers.
When you’re growing a species that doesn’t necessarily thrive in your region, sometimes you have to do a little research to determine how to make it work.
If a species is rated for a climate just outside of your USDA Hardiness Zone, there are actions you can take to influence the microclimate so that you can grow species you might not be able to otherwise.
For instance, if you live in Zone 8b and you find a succulent that’s hardy to 9a, you can still grow it, but you’ll need to find a spot in your yard that has conditions more like Zone 9a.
As an example, you can put your succulents near a brick wall which will help to increase the temperature, or you might have a protected, sunny area that retains heat better than the breezy, low spot in your backyard.
Alternatively, you can choose to grow your plants in containers so you can move them indoors during the winter.
In addition, it helps to understand the environment in which a plant grows naturally. Pediocactus species grow in the southwestern United States, where they are periodically covered in snow during the winter, so they can tolerate cold winters.
But they are only covered with snow for a short period. For that reason, if you have snow in the forecast, and it tends to linger in your neck of the woods, you should protect your plants with frost cloth that you can lift off after the snow has been there for a day or two.
Or, if a species only grows well in rocky soil, you might build a raised rock bed for the plants.
Providing Protection
When you’ve chosen your plants and decided where to put them, you’ll still need to provide protection for your new transplants.
A late spring freeze doesn’t just damage fruit tree blossoms. Succulents exposed to strong, direct sun in the spring during a hard freeze may be damaged or killed.
Cover these with frost cloth or grow your succulents on the west side of a rock or building so they have time to defrost during the day before the sun hits them.
You should also provide a thick layer of mulch, so long as it doesn’t cover any part of the foliage, to help protect the roots from the heat and cold cycle that happens in winter.
It makes sense that there are many succulents that love the conditions in the northwest.
Although rain is usually the first thing that comes to mind when people think about the PNW, most areas also experience long, dry summers.
Plants that have adapted to collect water during the rainy season and store it up for the long dry season have an advantage. And that’s what succulents do.
Knowing how to work with the environment, which includes understanding the best time to plant, is part of helping succulents thrive.
What species do you plan to grow in your garden? What Zone do you live in? Let us know all the details in the comments section below!
Welcome to the fantastic world of bean humour! Prepare to embark on a laughter-filled journey where legumes take the spotlight with these hilarious bean puns and bean jokes.
The best bean puns and bean jokes
From witty wordplay to pun-tastic humor, these bean jokes are as diverse as the different types of beans themselves.
Get ready to have a good laugh and maybe even spill a few beans as you dive into this collection of family-friendly bean puns that’ll leave you rolling in the aisles (not the grocery store aisle, though!).
Funny bean jokes
Let’s kick things off with a harvest of funny bean jokes.
1. What do you call a lazy bean? A slow cooker.
2. Where do beans go on holiday? The Carib-bean.
3. What do you call a retired vegetable? A has-bean.
4. What kind of show do green bean plants record? Pod casts.
5. What type of bean is the fastest? The runner bean.
6. Why are beans good at keeping secrets? Because they don’t want to spill the beans.
7. What kind of vegetable can tie your shoelaces? String beans.
8. What did one pea say to the other pea? “How you bean?”
9. Why did the bean sell his car? The back seat didn’t have enough legume.
10. Did you hear about the bean who looked just like his dad? Like lava, like son.
11. What’s a bean’s favourite musical instrument? The beanjo.
12. Why shouldn’t you tell a secret in a vegetable garden? Because the beans talk.
13. What do you call a cat that likes to eat broad beans? Puss ’n’ Toots.
14. How do soy beans greet their friends? “I’m soy happy to see you!”
More jokes about beans
Still hungry for more bean jokes?
15. Why did the bean get promoted? Because it was outstanding in its field.
16. How did the bean ask the other bean for help climbing the garden cane? “Can you give me a legume up?”
17. What movie do beans love the most? Pirates of the Carib-bean.
18. How did the coffee bean feel about its performance? It thought it had brewed up quite a show.
19. What do you call a group of trendy beans? Cool beans.
20. What do you get when you mix onions and beans? Tear gas.
21. What’s a werewolf’s favourite bean to eat? Human beans.
22. Why should you invest in the bean market? Because the stalks can only go up.
23. What vegetable comes from outer space? Green beings.
24. What kind of beans don’t grow in a garden? Jelly beans.
25. Why was the bean always so cool? It was just chilli.
26. What vegetable is always jealous? A green bean.
27. Knock, knock. Who’s there? Bean. Bean who? Bean a while since I saw you!
28. What do you call a magical bean? A charm-string bean.
Even more silly beans gags
Let’s spill the beans on some more seriously funny bean jokes.
29. What did the bean say at the end of its performance? “You’ve bean a great audience!”
30. How do baked beans learn from their mistakes? They use Heinz sight.
31. Why couldn’t the baked bean answer the doorbell? It was in the can.
32. Why did the bean blush? Because it saw the salad dressing.
33. What did the coffee bean say when it won a singing competition? “I really espresso-ed myself.”
34. What do you get when you cross a cow with a coffee bean? De-calf.
35. What happens to coffee beans when they have a similar experience? They get deja-brew.
36. Why can’t you trust a taco? It tends to spill the beans.
37. Why were the two bean plants so close? They had deep roots.
38. What vegetable can tie your stomach in knots? String beans.
39. What did the bean say to the gardener? “Stop picking on me!”
40. How are coffee beans like teenagers? They both keep getting grounded.
41. Did you hear about the bean that changed career? She went into a different field.
42. A garbanzo bean was looking ill. Its friend asked “Are you OK?” It replied “No, I falafel.”
Jelly bean puns
43. What do you get when you cross jelly babies with jelly beans? Beanie babies.
44. Why did the jelly bean turn green? It was feeling a little jelly.
45. What do you get when you cross a jelly bean and a cake? Sweet treats.
46. I’ve been told green beans are good for you. But why are they better than the other jelly bean colours?
Funny bean puns
These corny bean puns will leave you full of beans…
47. I’m bean productive today
48. Bean and gone
49. I’ve got a bean to pick with you
50. Don’t spill the beans
51. Bean there, done that
52. Bean up your act
53. Beans to an end
54. The bean-ing of life
55. To bean or not to bean, that is the question
56. Peachy bean
57. We’re meant to bean
58. I’ve bean thinking of you
59. Beandle of joy
60. Bean and not heard
More puns about beans
Not had enough bean puns yet? Read on…
61. That’s un-bean-ievable
62. I bean-ieve in you
63. Bag it and bean it
64. Bean around the gills
65. In the beantime
66. Bean one, bean them all
67. Squeaky bean
68. Bean as mustard
69. Don’t make a bean
70. I’m full of beans
71. Bachelor pod
72. A pod of gold
73. Against all pods
74. You’ve bean brilliant
Coffee bean puns for instagram
Get your daily humour fix with these short bean puns about coffee beans. They’re perfect for social media posts too.
75. Work, roast and play
76. Roast of the town
77. Lost and ground
78. Love is where you grind it
79. Common grind
80. Delusions of grindeur
81. Random acts of grindness
82. Bear in grind
83. Cruel to be grind
84. In the grind scheme of things
One last bean pun…
85. Do you think these bean jokes are funny? We’ve bean practicing all day 😉
And that’s a wrap on our bean-tastic joke fest! We hope this collection of bean puns and playful quips have brought a chuckle to your day and tickled your funny bone. Whether they’re a black bean, green bean, pinto bean, lima bean or kidney bean, beans always know how to bring a smile!
“The priority in gardening is no longer just about mastering an aesthetic,” says Bishop. “There is a shift toward being more mindful and ethical. We need to embrace the natural systems that we’ve just forgotten about.” Here’s what you can do at home.
Above: These tiny masked bees are solitary, nesting in twigs and stems. Since they’re so small, they prefer small flowers, even “ones we might not really notice, like those found in an alternative lawn” says Kornbluth. Because of their size, they can go deep inside flowers to get nectar. Not particularly hairy, they don’t carry pollen on their bodies, like other bees, but carry it in their “’crop,’ the upper part of the digestive tract.” This masked bee was spotted foraging on snakeroot in Bishop’s garden.
Grow native plants in your garden.
Native insects coevolved with native plants. They’re part of an intricate food web system. For most organisms, non-native plants are like “plastic fruit in a fruit bowl,” says Kornbluth. “It may look good, but they won’t be able to eat it.” While nectar-eating insects are able to enjoy the sugary, calorie-rich nectar from a wide range of flowers, “pollen, which bees need to feed their young, is more likely to come from the local native species that they have been coevolving with them for many thousands of years,” says Kornbluth. (At Perfect Earth Project, we advocate for at least two-thirds native plants in your garden.)
Don’t use pesticides.
Even organic ones. Pesticides (and that includes insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides) don’t discriminate and will kill all insects—not just the ones you’re targeting. When selecting plants at the nursery, ask if they’ve been treated with pesticides of any kind, especially neonicotinoids, a systemic insecticide that is absorbed by the entire plant rendering every part poisonous to pollinators.
Above: Male longhorn bees feature very long antennae. These bees are specialists of Asteraceae, and especially love sunflowers. Look for them buzzing about in July and August.
Provide nesting spots.
Native bees nest in the ground and in stems and wood piles. “It’s important to remember that the standing dead vegetation you see is full of bees,” says Kornbluth. Try not to cut back stems when flowers are done blooming, but leave them for the bees. If you’re concerned about how that’s going to look, visit The Battery, says Bishop, and see how pretty it is all winter long. “Embracing a plant’s complete life cycle—from seedlings in spring to seed head or grass mound in winter—is a Piet Oudolf trademark,” says Bishop of the visionary Dutch landscape designer who created the garden’s master plan. “By not deadheading, we allow the life cycle to stay on display and integrate into design year-round. And this decay becomes abundant living matter and nest material for pollinators.” It’s also beautiful. “I love the aesthetic: the decay, structure, and different textures of every plant—they each have their own kind of personality,” says Bishop.
But if you must cut some stems back, Kornbluth advises leaving last year’s stems as high as you can. While you’re at it, leave the leaves. In addition to feeding the soil, fallen leaves provide insulation for ground-nesters, like bumblebees and mining bees, as well as other hibernating organisms. “It prevents the surface of the earth from getting too cold, which impacts their survival over the winter,” says Kornbluth.
Look and learn.
“Do a small insect safari at home,” suggests Kornbluth. Bishop has been doing this in her own backyard in Westchester, New York, and happily admits the glee she feels when finding new species in her garden. “Give yourself the opportunity to be meditative and peaceful,” says Kornbluth. See who’s coming to eat. What do you notice about them? What plants are they visiting? When are they appearing? Share what you find on iNaturalist. “The whole process is very eye-opening, engaging, and connecting.”
