What a beautiful Columbus Day today! The outside temperature is approximately 68 degrees (F). A few of the windows in the North Garden are cracked open. The ceiling fans are on high. The temperature and humidity feel lower than normal.
Not too many visitors this morning. The number of visitors in the fall is noticeably lower than is experienced over the summer. Today, I spoke at length with a nice gentleman about the harvesting of peppercorns (Piper nigrum). He was surprised to learn that red, white and black peppercorns all start as berries from the flowers on the same plant.
Peppercorn color varies depending on harvest date. In general, unripe green berries are picked then pickled (halting the fermentation process). Green peppercorns have the mildest taste of the peppercorns because they are picked the earliest. Black peppercorns are picked early like green peppercorns, but are then fermented which turns them black. White peppercorns are picked when the berries are ripe, but are then soaked and hulled giving the white peppercorns a milder taste than their black counterparts.s
Unfortunately, there are no peppercorns for visitors to see on these peppercorn plants due to the lack of pollinators in the North Garden. However, the plant itself is very invasive and visitors can see that it is heartily growing all around the ground areas.
While walking around today, I also noticed some unusual behavior in the koi. Several of the koi kept leaping up on to the base of an aquatic plant located in their pool. Several of us watching thought that this behavior might be an indication that these fish have not been fed today. I alerted a staff member with the hope that they would be fed. Interestingly, she reported that the koi had been fed early that morning.
The cherry tree in the back corner still has the cherry growing up on a branch. I will be interested to see if there are more on my next shift.
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