A Halloween October Garden Recap

The month of October got away from me. I've composed a month's worth of posts in my head, but never got around to recording them in my online journal. This is a recap of what went on this month:

• October ended with snow. SNOW!  We woke up on Saturday to heavy rain, which then turned into icy rain, and then turned into snow by late afternoon. The snow didn't stick, but it was still bizarre to have such freezing temperatures this early in the year. Apparently this has been record-breaking all along the east coast. 
• There haven't been many fall colors in the neighborhood this year. This is the only tree in the neighborhood that has changed leaves.

• We've been harvesting handfuls of tomatoes throughout the month--nothing like an August harvest, but I've enjoyed these late blooming tomatoes.

• The peppers get gold stars this year. They all have continued to crank out fruit, as I mentioned in my post at the beginning of the month. 

• Even Pickles' cat grass has continued to grow well.

But here's the REAL reason I haven't been able to post much this month:

Another batch of foster kittens! We've had them for about 4 weeks, and even though there are only three of them, they've been sick and not eating well so I've been spending a lot of time with them--more than with the five foster kittens I had earlier this year. This little trio is much healthier now and gaining weight nicely. I think in two weeks they'll be ready to go up for adoption--just in time for Thanksgiving!
{Update: picture removed because the little girl kitten didn't make it. Too sad for me to have it here.}

And it hasn't escaped my attention that today is Halloween--one of the funnest days of the year because you're never too old to dress up and ask strangers for candy. Happy Halloween!!

Garden Harvest Welcome Home

The garden did well while we were on vacation. It rained a lot here, so the plants didn't get thirsty. The peppers did really, really well while we were gone, despite the cool fall temperatures that have settled around the DC area. We have more purple peppers to look forward to.

And what a wonderful homecoming gift--we harvested a couple of bell peppers, choricero peppers, a pint of cherry peppers, and a handful of cayenne, jalapeno, and green  beans when we got home last week.

I should have mentioned in my anniversary post a Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband. He's definitely the muscle in the Bumble Lush garden. He does all the heavy lifting and is always on bug patrol. I wouldn't have this garden without him. Plus, he's super cute. Love you! xoxoxoxox

Bumble Lush at Rest (Wordless Wednesday)

A Tropical Anniversary

My husband and I recently celebrated our one year anniversary with a trip to Grenada, which was a beautiful tropical island paradise. It's extremely hard to come back to reality, and the cold, rainy weather that greeted us when we returned hasn't helped me adjust to the daily grind. I've been away from the internet for a while, and I thought I'd get back into things by posting a few of the floral pics I took from our trip:

pink ginger lily 

Red ginger lilies (Alpinia purpurata) were everywhere, and I saw many pink colored ones as well. 

Heliconia abounded in Grenada. I believe this is Heliconia pendula.

{top to bottom: passion fruit, papaya tree, coconut, conch shell, and cactus}

Bougainvillea was all over the island and in many home gardens. I don't think I took any pictures of bougainvillea, but I haven't finished going through all the photos yet, so there may be some. The tropical flowers all over the island were absolutely gorgeous, and so  many homes had such beautiful gardens. I was envious of the cactus and other tropical fruit they were able to grow, especially the papaya, and I think it would be so fun to have a coconut tree in my yard!

Does anyone know what this plant is? I think it's a Ti plant (Cordyline fruticosa), also known as Hawaiian Good Luck plant. We have one in our house, but it sort of died off. It's coming back to life though, and I'm wondering if it will look like this when it re-blooms?