Category: Cultivar

Blueberry Bushes in Autumn

blueberries in autumn

Some Blueberry Bushes celebrate autumn in an amazing way. The area around my cabin is a perfect illustration of this. Some of my bushes are really kicking up their heals with joy. I can’t tell you which species or cultivars these bushes are. I’ve got between 10 and 15 bushes, most of which were put in nearly 30 years ago. Back in the days when I had no idea I should be keeping track of what I was putting in. I only know they produce wonderful blueberries. So it’s a big mystery. But take a look at that photo above. Almost half the bushes I’ve got are that color. Screaming red. Blueberry Bushes send out rewards every season of the year. Spring with their blossoms. Summer with their fruit. Autumn with their color. And in winter the rewards are the red stems which are glorious with snow sparkling on them.

Gaillardia

Here Gaillardias are growing wild in New Mexico, at Bandelier National Monument. A park I’ve visited many times. And hope to visit many more times.

And more Gaillardias growing wild at Bandelier National Monument. It seems they’re ubiquitous!

It amuses me. My Dad had a thing about digging up Dandelions in his lawn. He was always in a battle with them. That was in Maryland. My father-in-law also had a thing about digging things up from his lawn. The flowers he was in a constant battle with? Gaillardia. That was in New Mexico.

I love Gaillardias. But I must plant them, and care for them. I guess a weed is something that grows where you don’t want it to be.

Gaillardias are in the Sunflower family. Gaillardia is a genus of flowering plants that are native to the Americas. There are twenty-five to thirty species of Gaillardia, annuals, biennials, and perennials. There are also many cultivars.

Many pollinators are attracted to the bright colors of the blooms. Such as the Honey Bee in the previous image, and here a Carpenter Bee.

Butterflies love Gaillardia too. Here a Silvery Checkerspot is enjoying a Gaillardia in one of my gardens.

Wild Peach

Now blooming in the woods, a native to China.

It’s believed that Hernando de Soto brought the first Peach Trees (Prunus persica) to North America in 1539.

Now innumerable cultivars of those trees populate orchards. Thank goodness for those orchards. Peaches make summer so wonderful. And a tossed seed will eventually result in a random tree adding a spark of sweet pink to the woods.