My final harvest of caper buds was on August 5 when I picked the final ounce for a total of 1.25 pounds for the season. I decided to let all my plants bloom for the rest of the season. The flowers shown above and below are a Croatian strain of capers. The plant shown below produced the bulk of my caper crop. I hope that I get a good crop of berries now, they are good pickled.
One of the plants that I grew from seeds I got from a SSE member in Italy is producing lovely pink/purple flowers. The bees have been incredibly busy plucking all the pollen from the stamens. The ants love the sweet nectar that is produced on the exterior of the buds.
And there are lots of berries for seeds and for pickling. I allowed this plant to bloom and set berries before the other capers in the garden so perhaps the offspring grown from these seeds might produce pink/purple blossoms as well.
The blooms are lovely. Wonderful that after your wonderful harvest, the capers still put on a show - what a garden workhorse!
ReplyDeleteSusan, they are fragrant too! And I've been enjoying the buds that I preserved.
ReplyDelete1.25 pounds - that's a lot of capers! Lucky you! And the flowers are beautiful. I'm still hoping to start some caper plants here soon.
ReplyDeleteChaiselongue, It is a lot, but I'll go through them quickly. If you can find some seeds Autumn is the best time to sow them.
ReplyDeleteExciting blooms. Presence of bees is a definitely good sign that the garden is healthy and happy! ~bangchik
ReplyDeleteHi bangchik, it is nice to know that I'm providing the bees with some food, they are having such problems these days.
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