Martin's Hillside Orchard

Where Fall Begins . . .

mystery plants

We've planted some interesting specimens in and around the orchard. Our challenge to you: Can you find all of them this fall?

We've provided snapshots and some hints that will help you find them. You won't win the lottery by tracking them down or a free do0hickey, but we are betting it will be a fun project for the entire family - there are some super cool plants out there.

This page is "green" and that's not by accident. Go Plants!

mystery plants

This year we've put a stone marker next to each plant to help you in confirming the location of each of the seven species on our list. Smoothed by river water, these were the easiest plant markers ever. The Garden Craft Terra Cotta markers we picked up from Michael's were super-easy to use.

We get lots of questions about these plants, so we thought we'd post the information online.

	1. Yard-long Beans (aka "red noodle beans"): A wall of beans big enough to feed the giant from "Jack and the Beanstalk"! They are good for kids too. We've tried them stir-fried and they are pretty tasty.
	2. Pumpkin Trees: New to us these are actually ornamental eggplants. We started them from seed and they've got some mini-pumpkins on them that are starting to turn orange. Said to be good for fall displays.
	3. Love-in-a-Puff: What better way to add a whimsical touch to your garden? These plants have seed pods that look like bubbles suspended in air. They say that if you are lucky, fairies will paint the seeds inside with a heart of white. Hint: These are climbers so look for them around one of our many trellises in the butterfly garden this fall.
	4. Rattlesnake Master: We figure the name alone gets the kids' attention. Native to the tall grass prairies that once covered our area. Look for this plant in our Prairie Planting. Hint: Walk down the lane from the apple barn to the planting at the bottom of the hill. Attracts lots of butterflies. The root of this plant was originally used as an antidote for, you guessed it, . . . snake bites. Yikes!
	5. Red Castor Bean: We've had this plant in our butterfly garden for three years now and everyone keeps asking "what is that?" It's hard to miss given it has the stature of a small tree. All in one growing season - just an annual. Hard to believe.
Some Plants that Didn't Make it But, we like them so much we'll try again next year.
	Angel's Trumpet: We found our trumpet at Mulhall's in Omaha but these plants hail from South America and are in the same family that includes tomatoes, potatoes and petunias. Unfortunately, we must not have watered our new plant enough during the hot weather in July. It expired before things cooled off in August. We'll have to try again next year.
	Tropical Milkweed: With vibrant red/yellow blooms that keep going all summer this plant is a favorite of the Monarchs. Unfortunately, there are some other less-appealing insects that like to munch on these milkweeds as well and they pretty much annihilated our tropical milkweed this year. All that's left is some bare stalks. Looks like we'll have to invest in a bit of ladybug control next year.

2010 Mystery Plants - a look back at last year's lineup