A "Mild" Monday

We've had a break from the really cold weather and had a nice Grumpy turnout this morning. Above is Dr. Gredler putting preservative on pieces of our obelisks. Marv, Urban and Jerry went out to pick up lights and haul back some of our temporary trees that we used for decorations during the holiday show. The carpenters and other Grumpies kept busy inside with myriad projects. Larry went out and put more deer repellant out around the gardens. This brand (DeerVik) is a smelly paste that we smear in select areas. Larry looked a little "green" after sniffing this stuff all morning. I hope it keeps the deer away as they have done significant damage already and are understandably famished.

Last year we had a huge collection of hot peppers (232 varieties) that included many ornamental ones like 'Ignite' above and those that had dark purple or variegated foliage. We also grew some of the more commonly know culinary varieties like jalapeno, habanero, scotch bonnet, etc. This year our minimal collection of 25 varieties will also include 'Bhut Jolokia' (also called 'Naga Jolokia') which is said to be the hottest pepper in the world (Guinness Book of World Records). We ordered this variety (originally from India) from the Chili Pepper Institute (New Mexico State University) which is a great resource for information regarding hot peppers. Hot peppers are loosely ranked in "heat" by a measure called Scoville units. Read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoville_scale for more information on this scale and see a neat comparison of heat based on pepper varieties. I can't even eat a jalapeno let alone a variety that is 10 times hotter. Kristine and Janice will be our spokeswomen again for the merits of hot peppers in the ornamental and culinary garden. Perhaps they'll lead the taste testing.... The promise of spring below...tulips (in 15 weeks or so!).