Monk’s hood – the procastinating plant

Other plants produce flower and seed much earlier in the season but Monk’s hood waits til late October. Maybe it’s just our garden because a search of the internet mentions an earlier flowering for this plant. So here it is almost November and by chance a day warm enough for the bees to find the Monk’s hood. Evidently every part of this plant is poisenous but I wouldn’t want to find out if that is true.

Monk

Blueberry pie and pectin

Research from the internet reveals two things that could possibly be true about fruit pectin. 1)PROLONGED heating will gradually destroy the pectin. 2)Pectin is related to improved flavour.

To test these ideas Anne cooked some frozen blueberries and added a little corn starch. Overcooking was avoided. The cooked blueberries were allowed to cool for a few minutes and then poured into a precooked pie shell. A layer of frozen Duke blueberries were added followed by another layer of cooked blueberries. Click on pictures to enlarge.

frozen berries added

more cooked berries

 The pie was allowed to cool and refrigerated for a couple of hours. The picture below shows how nicely it jelled. The layer of frozen Duke berries added a nice texture to the pie. Taste tests are ongoing but results so far are promising. More tests are needed. This is fun!

blueberry pie

Canadian thanksgiving

This year the Canadian thanksgiving fell on October 13. For the readers of this blog we offer a couple of fall arrangements. A frost a week ago has helped turn the blueberry leaves red. Each variety of blueberry has it’s own colour ranging from orange to burgundy. In this picture Gladiola are set against the red blueberry leaves.

Gladiolas and blueberry leaves

 The next arrangement is composed of purple beautyberry, globe thistle, hardy hibiscus and dogwood seeds. Enjoy! Click on images to enlarge.

Thanksgiving arrangement

 

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Junes in October

The June blueberry plants are showing some blossoms and fruit after some warm September days. This is not unusual for this early fruiting plant. Click on pictures to enlarge.

June blossoms

June blueberry

The bees are collecting nectar on a cool October day.

bee visiting June blossom

It’s no surprise that the Junes are one of the first to blossom in the spring.