I was following the usual utility pole directions on my Saturday morning ritual of garage sale hunting, when I happened upon a sidewalk stand on a quiet neighborhood street, not far from where I live.
At the end of the driveway, in a little red wagon, was a delightful display of colorful Chinese lantern plants for sale for just a few dollars, along with bouquets of lovely fall flowers artfully arranged in recycled bottles that could have passed for expensive crystal vases.
The sign said self service, but being a novice I didn’t see the sign that pointed to the hole in the middle of the picnic table into which one could deposit cash for purchases made.
As I stood looking a little bewildered, the friendly neighbor who grew these pretty flowers came out from her yard to assist. She asked me if I had ever seen the Chinese lantern flowers and I told her my father used to grow them.
She said, “Well, I will show you something you don’t know about them.” With that she fished around in her abundant supply and pulled out a particular bud. She gently pulled it open and peeled back the lantern shell to reveal a small cherry tomato-like fruit.
“Here’s your breakfast,” she said. I looked at her with some disbelief and didn’t know if I really wanted to bite off that little fruit. I had never heard of this!
Yet my curiosity was piqued and also not wanting to be rude, I cautiously bit off a piece. It was not bitter at all, and not too sweet. It was, in fact, just right.
Marta, as I came to know her name, told me all about her Chinese lantern experience. She said that she had tried to grow them from seed packets and had no luck at all. Year after year she cultivated the seeds and it came to nothing.
Then one day a neighbor called her to take a look at something growing quite vigorously in her garden. “Can you tell me what it is Marta?”
Marta said she knew right away it was the Chinese lanterns she had been trying so hard to grow. She suspected that some birds had carried her seeds to the neighbors yard and having been partially digested, were more readily sowable.
This was Marta’s clue and she said she had no problem thereafter growing her own Chinese lanterns.
Marta urged me go onto the Internet to find out all about the colorful and delicate fruit-bearing flowers too. Marta said, “And my Russian friends know all about them as they grown wild in Russia and people there find the fruits quite tasty.”
She explained that the fruit needs to be ripe, otherwise it is poison, adding, “No … not really poison, you could eat as many as you want, but acidy.”
Marta explained she needed to pick the lanterns a little early otherwise the snails will be attracted to the little fruits inside and the viney stems get heavy and lay on the ground, and the fruits will be gone.
As I was leaving, another friendly neighbor came by and just had to see the pictures I had taken of Marta’s annual lantern harvest.
Having my autumn bouquet in hand, and now filled with the pleasure that only a neighborly conversation on a glorious fall morning can bring, I went home to share all that exploring Long Island is more than just the LIE train to the Hamptons.
Authors note: a quick search on the Internet yields uses of the whole Chinese lantern plant which can: kill bacteria, cancer cells, viruses, relieve pain, spasms, inflammation and fever. It is a veritable panacea for what ails the human frame!
At the end of the driveway, in a little red wagon, was a delightful display of colorful Chinese lantern plants for sale for just a few dollars, along with bouquets of lovely fall flowers artfully arranged in recycled bottles that could have passed for expensive crystal vases.
The sign said self service, but being a novice I didn’t see the sign that pointed to the hole in the middle of the picnic table into which one could deposit cash for purchases made.
As I stood looking a little bewildered, the friendly neighbor who grew these pretty flowers came out from her yard to assist. She asked me if I had ever seen the Chinese lantern flowers and I told her my father used to grow them.
She said, “Well, I will show you something you don’t know about them.” With that she fished around in her abundant supply and pulled out a particular bud. She gently pulled it open and peeled back the lantern shell to reveal a small cherry tomato-like fruit.
“Here’s your breakfast,” she said. I looked at her with some disbelief and didn’t know if I really wanted to bite off that little fruit. I had never heard of this!
Yet my curiosity was piqued and also not wanting to be rude, I cautiously bit off a piece. It was not bitter at all, and not too sweet. It was, in fact, just right.
Marta, as I came to know her name, told me all about her Chinese lantern experience. She said that she had tried to grow them from seed packets and had no luck at all. Year after year she cultivated the seeds and it came to nothing.
Then one day a neighbor called her to take a look at something growing quite vigorously in her garden. “Can you tell me what it is Marta?”
Marta said she knew right away it was the Chinese lanterns she had been trying so hard to grow. She suspected that some birds had carried her seeds to the neighbors yard and having been partially digested, were more readily sowable.
This was Marta’s clue and she said she had no problem thereafter growing her own Chinese lanterns.
Marta urged me go onto the Internet to find out all about the colorful and delicate fruit-bearing flowers too. Marta said, “And my Russian friends know all about them as they grown wild in Russia and people there find the fruits quite tasty.”
She explained that the fruit needs to be ripe, otherwise it is poison, adding, “No … not really poison, you could eat as many as you want, but acidy.”
Marta explained she needed to pick the lanterns a little early otherwise the snails will be attracted to the little fruits inside and the viney stems get heavy and lay on the ground, and the fruits will be gone.
As I was leaving, another friendly neighbor came by and just had to see the pictures I had taken of Marta’s annual lantern harvest.
Having my autumn bouquet in hand, and now filled with the pleasure that only a neighborly conversation on a glorious fall morning can bring, I went home to share all that exploring Long Island is more than just the LIE train to the Hamptons.
Authors note: a quick search on the Internet yields uses of the whole Chinese lantern plant which can: kill bacteria, cancer cells, viruses, relieve pain, spasms, inflammation and fever. It is a veritable panacea for what ails the human frame!
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