We’ve had a series of beautiful days. The light has changed and it’s just right for sleeping.

Between the sedum and dahlias, the gardens are spectacular right now. Granted, there are some rather shabby areas but I’m too tired to mind.

The fruit produced in fall on Kousa dogwood is particularly nice. I forgot it was so red. Check out the one at Morrice the Florist. There are actually two trees that seem to have a fine mixed marriage. Try to notice next early summer when they bloom different colors.

Also very nice this time of year is Joe-Pye weed. There is quite a bit of it in front of down-Island Cronig’s. Be careful planting it as it gets very large and spreads like crazy.

In vegetable garden news, I’m up to my eyeballs in paste tomatoes. Because of various critters, they need to be picked before ripening. They spend a few days inside. I’ve been running them through the Squeezo Strainer and processing the resulting juice in the pressure canner. I bring them up to 10 pounds of pressure and turn it off. If it is only tomatoes, they do not require long processing. I used to do them 30 minutes in a boiling water bath but the pressure cooker is much more energy efficient.

If any low acid vegetables are to be processed, be sure to check a canning book for proper timing. Botulism can live in a closed container that is improperly canned.

Hence, if a sauce is made with, say, onions and garlic, the canning time needs to be carefully adjusted.

In other vegetable news, all my leeks have flowered. This is not ideal as the actual leek is now too tough. I think the droughty conditions this summer are at fault.

Oddly, however, a couple of the flowers are filled with seeds that have produced baby leeks still on the flower heads. I think I’ll carefully separate them and plant in the hoop house. It would be fun if they made it until spring. Last year I had a bumper crop. I sautéed a boatload of them in way too much butter, hit them with the hand-held blender and froze in small containers. It made a great starter kit for winter soups and stews.

If you are ever at a loss for a housewarming gift, consider heptacodium. This large shrub/tree was originally from China. It is of interest year-round. It loses its leaves in winter but sports interesting exfoliating bark.

Mine is blooming right now. The small star-shaped flowers attract honey and bumble bees like crazy. After flowering, the seed heads are a nice reddish pink that stay on the tree through November. There is a large one at Vineyard Gardens.

Now that the Vineyard is all over the national news since the Venezuelan migrants surprised us, let me say how proud I am of us. We know how to rally.

Since I often visit Fox News to see how right-wingers get their “news,” I held my nose and watched Tucker Carlson rail about the “libs.” He had an aerial shot of the Obama residence and opined that several immigrant families should be housed there.

By his logic, the busloads sent from Texas by Governor Greg Abbott to New York city could take up residence at Trump Tower.

If you want to help any future migrants or our very own unhoused and underprivileged, send a donation to St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, P.O. Box 1287, Edgartown, MA 02539.