Photographs of this planting through the 2026 season, oldest first.
The photographs
Week of 1 JuneA Ping Tung Long eggplant on 6 June, only four leaves old — its first true pair furred so densely that the hairs stand up as a fringe right around the margin, dark purple-brown veins running through the green, in bright directional sun.Week of 22 JuneOne small seedling alone on 24 June in a wide field of bare compost, four true leaves and the stub of a fifth, each a plain oval fringed with short pale hairs on a stalk flushed dull purple-red, a hard sun laying a dark curve of shadow across it.Week of 6 JulyA seedling on 6 July with four spoon-shaped leaves out and a fifth still unfolding felted gray at the crown, a fringe of fine pale hairs running the whole length of every margin and the stalks below flushed dark purple-red, in flat dry light.Week of 6 JulyA Ping Tung Long eggplant on 9 July, five leaves and no stem to speak of, sitting flat among straw stems that dwarf it — each dull gray-green blade wavy-lobed and felted white with hairs that light up along every edge, veins and new growth washed purple.Week of 27 JulyA Ping Tung Long eggplant on 31 July, eight leaves spread flat from one short stem, every blade frosted gray-green by a scurf of tiny silvery star-points with the midribs running deep purple-maroon through it, and one leaf smeared chalky on top.Week of 17 AugustA Ping Tung Long eggplant on 18 August, still all leaf and no flower: eight blades held out flat, purple running from each midrib along every vein and down the bristled stems, their gray-felted surfaces taking low warm sun from one side.Week of 24 AugustA Ping Tung Long eggplant flowering on 25 August with no fruit set yet — five pale lilac lobes still creased from opening, veined darker violet out of the throat, around a tight cone of orange-yellow anthers, on a stalk set with purple prickles.Week of 31 AugustA Ping Tung Long eggplant on 3 September, shot from the ground among stems stained purple-brown and bristled with short hairs — one bud held tight to the stem, its cream sepals split just wide enough to show a wedge of violet, the only color on the plant.Week of 31 AugustA Ping Tung Long eggplant breaking out of its calyx on 4 September — a glossy violet wedge through the split, still cream-white where the lobes shade it, against a sheath so furred with star-shaped hairs that it reads as velvet, every hair lit from behind.Week of 7 SeptemberA Ping Tung Long eggplant hangs two thirds sheathed in its own felted calyx on 9 September — one lobe has lifted away, and under it a clean band of cream-white skin that never colored — the rest deep glossy purple with a magenta highlight down the lit side.Week of 7 SeptemberA Ping Tung Long eggplant hanging straight down on 11 September, glossy deep violet-purple except where its hooded calyx has shaded it — there the skin pales to lavender-pink and almost white, a flame-shaped band running down the front — in warm daylight.Week of 14 SeptemberPing Tung Long eggplant on 15 September, a single glossy purple-magenta fruit still beaded with water, its shoulder split under a dry calyx to show dense white flesh. Soft indoor light on a white cloth.
