Garden Glimpses

September has arrived, the light is changing, the nights turning cooler and already here in the Hudson River Valley, the growing season is waning. Soon we'll be harvesting the final tomatoes and string beans and chili peppers from the Cafe Drake HRV gardens, while the zinnias, asters, lettuces and other salad greens should thrive for another month or so. We just wanted to share a few pics of Summer 2016's bounty, less abundant than previous years due to persistent heatwaves and scarce rainfall, but satisfying in the way that only comes from nurturing a plant from seed through harvest.

Micro-Harvest #1 - Venetian Purple String Beans, Yellow Wax Beans, Black Raspberries, Tiny Tom Tomatoes and Matchbox Chili Peppers

The zinnias and bachelor buttons are always the first to bloom in the cutting garden.

Lloyd poses with blue flowers of the borage plants, an always reliable perennial.

Although not a favorite at Cafe Drake HRV, Black-eyed Susans are certainly prolific. A few sprawled in a vase makes a colorful and adequate arrangement in late Summer.

A quirky bouquet!

New to the garden this year was the Indigo Rose tomato. All the fruits have the characteristic swath of deep purple but otherwise ripen in a variety of shades along the red color spectrum.

Green suits Arabella, wouldn't you agree?

A booming bed of Russian kale and flourishing herbs (from lower left, counter clockwise: salad burnett, thyme, marjoram, oregano, chives and yellow sage).

Another bed of robust herbs. From lower center, counter-clockwise: pineapple sage, tarragon, lemon balm, anise hyssop and Thai basil.

The garden's security guard, Lloyd Page, stands alert and ready to remove any trespassers.

A veritable field of shiso. Blessed with surplus, we sell bunches of the Japanese herb to a nearby sushi restaurant whose chef strives for local ingredients.

Still on security detail, Lloyd often pulls long shifts.

The coveted and revered Green Zebra tomato was one of our bumper crops this year.

As big as a saucer, Goldie tomatoes, when fully ripe, are more of a deep orange; their creamy flesh is akin in color and texture to a cantaloupe.

Petite arrangements are perfect for bathrooms and bedside tables.

above two photos: In the height of the season, flowers are tucked in open table spaces throughout the house.

Assorted fruits from the Tomato Patch including Green Zebra, Black Krim, Honey Drop and Bumble Bee Cherry.

Lloyd takes a break in the shade of the shiso plants.

above and below: the biggest and the smallest of the tomatoes grown at Cafe Drake HRV.

No shortage of berries this summer.

A few potted plants.

This pink begonia has grown as large as an exercise ball!

Thai basil is an herb that can be both dried and frozen successfully. Lucky for us since we're inundated with it.

These four perennial herbs - marjoram, oregano, tarragon and chives - seem to grow back stronger and larger every Spring.

Gorgeous, deep violet flower petals are an added bonus to our Venetian purple string bean vines.

Prickly, sprawling and tall, cardoon is sort of a garden bully if you ask us.

Raspberries and more raspberries.

So very many raspberries.