Ichiban Squash
Veggies!
Burgundy Okra.
These plants are so gorgeous my neighbors keep stopping to ask me what they are!
A not very good picture of a lovely pepper plant! Sweet Pickles.
Actually, worse than I thought - LOL!
Let's see if this one's better...
And my new friend - seems especially fond of fennel!
Sequee, if memory serves, your new friend will be turning into a black swallowtail butterfly! If you bother him does he stick up a smelly orange pair of "horns" from his forehead? It's a cool trick that would surely deter me if I wanted to eat him. :-) He's gorgeous!
And your veggies are lovely, too. I'm glad you finally got some 'Sweet Pickles' seeds to start, as I was worrying the seeds I'd sent were no good. I didn't manage to get my okra in this year, but will definitely do so next year... that burgundy okra is definitely pretty enough to go in the front garden!
I'll have to go nudge him to see if he'll respond in kind!
Let's see if this photo of the Sweet Pickles comes out better...
How big do they get? How do I know when to pick them?
Bulgarian carrot Peppers...
My Bulgarian carrot pepper plants are huge, and just loaded with fruits! We've harvested about a dozen ripe ones, and they are the brightest orange color! The 'Sweet Pickles' peppers don't get much bigger than my thumb, and they'll turn color to yellow & orange before ripening to red. You can eat them at any color, like a bell pepper, but they are sweetest and most delicious when fully red. They do make good pickled peppers, but the seeds are mild enough that you can eat them whole, either pickled or out of hand. If you have more than you can eat, I'll send you the recipe I used to turn them into pepperoncini style pickles last year (I didn't have more than a couple of pints, so just kept them in the fridge rather than doing hot water bath, and they kept some crunch that way).
BTW, that pickled pepper recipe and so many others that I love came from Linda Ziedrich's _Joy of Pickling_. Look for a copy if you don't have it -- I think you'd have a blast experimenting with your garden bounty!