Botanaire

This summer started with some forage-style gardening. This is a prickly pear cactus ( Opuntia genus) that I grew from seeds I got on a nature walk. I simply sliced open a prickly pear that was ripe and spread out its seeds shallowly in some potting soil. I don't recommend poking it. This is a "Turk's Cap" mallow flower plant ( Malvaviscus arboreus ). It's native to my region and has edible flowers which turn into edible berries. I was a dunce for removing the huge one that was in my backyard when I moved in, so I'm making amends by planting the replacement that I grew from a trail cutting. Honey suckle! This member of the Lonicera genus grow all over my neighborhood. These were easy to grow from cutting and this one won't be the last one in my yard. These are just some mustang grapes ( Vitis mustangensis ) I grabbed on a walk. Sour but delicious, and easily confused for muscadine (also delicious). You know you have mustang and not muscadine if the back of ...