Pleasant Surprises

Today, as I was walking the doggies, I discovered something.

 

These little clusters are from the Muscadine vine that I planted from seed a few years ago. It has not produced any fruit to date and I was going to pull the vine up in a few weeks as it has overtaken my grape vine fence. However, now that these little beauties have shown up, I will not be yanking this thing out of the ground.

Since the vine had not been fruitful, I was thinking that the seed/plant needed to be fertilized or pollenated by another. This appears to not be the case, it just needed a few years to mature.....As we all do !!!

 

Here is the view of my grape vine fence and a few other assorted items in our backyard. This area is about 3/4 to the back of our lot centered to the house. It is a kind of back-drop for our fire-pit that sits between it and the house. As you can see, we have some firewood in close proximity to the fire-pit. The grape vines are full of lush green leaves and promising fruit.

The trees you see are native persimmon trees. Every fall, my husband picks up persimmons enough to fill up a gallon container every day for at least a month. Birds, deer, squirrels, chipmunks, and bees love to feast on the sweet fruit. It can be a little dangerous if there are alot of bees and wasps which is why my husband waits until the late evening to pick-up the fruit. You don't pick the fruit off the tree, the fruit will be really bitter and tart. Always wait until it drops to the ground before you can eat them. This is a sign that the fruit is ripe and ready to eat. My husband uses his great-grandmother's recipe for "Persimmon Pudding". Those of you that are from around this area are sure to know what that delicacy is.

In the middle, you will see the table I made from scrap lumber left over from our deck. On top is a "Fox Tail Fern". It is a rather unique plant. It has these long shoots with soft, fern foilage. I defintely looks like a fox tail, hence the appropriateness of the name.

To the right you will see my eclectic flower pot. Through the years I have accumulated single pots that do not have a mate for one reason or another. I got the idea from Pintrest. You just take several pots of different sizes and stack them using a wooden dowel through the drain holes. Fill with potting soil and plant with three types of plant...Thrillers, Spillers, a Fillers. Mine is in the not so thrilling stage as my "Fillers" have choked out the "Spillers" and the "Thrillers". I think I may have planted too many "Fillers".....Note to self for next year!!!!