What About Peppers?

Yesterday in writing about my grandparent's gardens, I focused on the two things they didn't grow, broccoli and cauliflower.

Would anyone like to know what they did grow? Well, practically everything they ate. (Yes, it was a farm, so they also had pigs, chickens, and cattle, which they butchered themselves, but we'll not go into that since this blog is about gardening.)

Here's a list of fruits, berries, and nuts.

Gooseberries
Strawberries
Blueberries
Hazelnuts
Blackberries
Apples
Apricots
Plums
Grapes
Pears
(They bought their peaches.)

Here's a list of vegetables...

Corn (generally grown out in a field and not in one of the gardens)
Peas
Beans
Kale
Turnips
Potatoes
Cucumbers
Lima Beans
Cabbage
Kohlrabi
Potatoes
Peanuts
Okra
Rhubarb
Asparagus
Watermelon (grown out by the woods)
Tomatoes
Onions
Carrots
Lettuce

That might not be a complete list, but that's what we discussed the other night. It occurred to me that my uncle never mentioned peppers. I'm assuming they grew bell peppers and maybe hot peppers. (Like those from my garden this summer, pictured above).

In fact, I remember my grandfather ate a hot pepper (maybe an Anaheim?) every day... a piece in the morning, a piece at lunch and a piece with dinner.

We were also going to talk about the flowers on the farm, but didn't have time. I am curious about a flower my aunt told me that my great-grandfather grew, which had a horrible smell. According to my uncle, that's why he grew it, because of the smell. I guess he thought it was funny to have such a flower. The only clue I have as to what it might have been is that it was a kind of lily.

Hmmm, what could that flower be? And if I find out what it was, I'm not saying I'd grow it to see how bad the smell really was, I'm just curious. Okay, yes, if I figure out what the flower was, I'd probably grow it once, just to smell it. Wouldn't you?