Saturday Plant Sale

Today dawned sunny and beautiful  - the perfect day for a plant sale! Once again, I worked the Lane Co. Dahlia Society booth at the Oregon Plant Fair. Once my shift was over I had a quick 1/2 hour to do some plant shopping be fore my next commitment. My first stop was at the Log House Plants tent. Once again they had a wonderful selection of unique plants and vegetables. This year they have really expanded their grafted tomato offerings. Last year I grew my first grafted tomato. It was a "Black Krim" that grew into a giant that produced an amazing number of tomatoes. So this year I decided I wanted to try a few more plants and see if I had the same great results. I picked up:

• (1) "Black Krim" Indeterminate, Purple/Black, 75 days. Originally from the Isle of Krim on the Black Sea in the former Soviet Union. This rare, and outstanding tomato yields 3-4" slightly flattened dark-red (mahogany-colored) slightly maroon, beefsteak tomatoes with deep green shoulders. Fantastic, intense, slightly salty taste.
• (1) "Copia" Indeterminate, Red/Yellow Stripped, 85 days. A Jeff Dawson creation of a cross between green Zebra and Marvel Stripe, named in honor of COPIA (the American Center of Food, Wine and the Arts). 6 oz., red and yellow striped slicer with great flavor.
• (1) "Julia Child" Indeterminate, Pink, 78 days. The tall, indeterminate, potato-leaf plant produces lots of 4-inch, deep-pink, lightly-fluted, beefsteak fruits that have the kind of robust tomatoey flavors and firm, juicy flesh that invites tomato feasting and seed-saving.
• (1)"Moonglow"Indeterminate, Yellow/Orange, 85 days. A regular-leaf tomato plants bear heavy yields of beautiful, 6-8 oz., 2",  blunt-pointed globes. A brilliant, warm-orange slicer with great flavor.  A real winner and one of the best, round, gold tomatoes. Moon Glow is considered, by many tomato lovers, the tomato with the best texture and flavor of any yellow-gold tomato. 
I also ended up buying one 4" pot with a nice large start of "Lacinato" Kale. I am afraid the the tiny starts in the six-pack that I bought last week will be easy picking for the birds. Hopefully this larger fellow stands a better chance of growing up.

After a busy day, I noticed this evening that the first blossom had fully opened on our lovely, pink oriental poppy. The bushy plant is just loaded with buds so this is just the first of many blooms that we will get to enjoy over the next few weeks.