Halloween was Saturday night in the US. We had no trick or treaters and are now in possession of a bag of chocolate I hope my husband will eat, ha! It’ll be me. I discovered some different kinds of treats in my garden. The tricks were ignored for the time being. (There is always something weird eating plants in my garden) It is still raining here. I doubt I have truly appreciated the sharp drainage provided by the sugar sand in my garden prior to these weeks of rain. It may have no nutritional value; but I would be living in a swamp without the free draining soil (soil like substrate!).

The treats from the garden:

The pink stemmed flowers (how often can you say that?) are ‘Candy’ Portea bromeliads. Burgundy stems (less weird?) are Roselles (Hibiscus sabdariffa), an edible treat. The calyxes of the flowers are used to make tea, jam, relish, or in my case, cookie bars. The flavor is like a softer version of cranberry and they can be used in place of rhubarb. The ferns are Asian Sword Ferns and the creamy spikes are my fall favorite, Juba Bush (Iresine diffusa)

Roselles:

The red part is peeled off the seed and may be dried, frozen or eaten raw.

That’s all from my extremely damp garden. Please visit Cathy to see more vases. Here’s the link: http://ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com