Garden Spiders and White Pumpkins

Halloween always includes a good spider!

Orb Weavers comprise a huge family of spiders with several hundred species in North America.

They are great additions to the garden by eating the insects that fly into the web.

This particular spider kept our grandson entertained this Fall.

This year all our pumpkins are white.  Whether on the window sill or in a wood bowl, I love the look.  

These are "Baby Boo" and only grow to 3".  You can find several white varieties that work not only for decorations, but also for carving and baking.  

Try "Casper", at 15 lbs it is a sweet tasting pumpkin and is perfect for baking.  "Cotton Candy"  (5-12 lbs) and "Moonshine" (8-12 lbs) are also good for decorating and carving.  

The smaller 2 lbs "Lil Pump Ke Mon" is just the right size for displaying.

Looking for recipes for pumpkin treats?  Try the new shopping list app aisle411.  They have over 130,000 recipes!  

Looking for pumpkin seeds to grow your own next year?  Try Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

The conversation always turns to plants!

It is very hard to have a conversation with a master gardener and not talk about plants. Lunch with Sharon was going pretty good...we were talking about a dinner she was hosting later in the week.

Sharon said she needed to pick up some candles on the way home. I mentioned how much I love the ones at ACE Hardware. They are unscented and in wonderful, rich colors. The candles do drip (remember the 70's when it was popular to let the wax cover a wine bottle???) so plan accordingly.

Sharon later called to say she had purchased candles at ACE Hardware (still couldn't believe she had shopped at a hardware store for a dinner party--but if you are a gardener, then you know we always shop at the hardware stores and nurseries before we entertain...).

She did have a question: What are the shrubs with the blue berries along the parking lot of ACE?

Luckily I had noticed them a couple of days earlier and taken the above picture. They are 'Blue Muffin' Viburnums. They have an intense blue color that makes a great contrast to their glossy green leaves. I love the white flowers in summer. For those of you in areas with deer, they are considered deer resistant plants. Check out more on this variety at Proven Winners.