Notes from a Cottage Garden

First Winter Snowfall

2012-01-22T20:06:00.000-08:00

We finally received our first snowfall of the season....in the third week of January. By the time it stopped coming down we had about 6 inches on the ground, and everything looked beautiful!

A pair of old Adirondack chairs, which somehow missed getting put away last fall.

My lastest birdhouse, a yard sale find. Dear Husband mounted it for me on a section of lodge-pole pine.....for the natural look.

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For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

Isaiah 55:10-11

Happy New Year! 2012

2012-01-08T17:33:00.000-08:00

Wow....it has been over a year since I have posted to this blog! I have taken a break to focus on other things....important things! I have wondered many times, throughout the year, if I would ever post here again, but today just feels like a good day to start anew! :-) I recently spent some time cleaning up my photo folders.....with the realization that I have many photos that are share-worthy. So the plan is to keep it simple, a short post now and then, as I find time.

We have experienced a unusual Winter this year.... mild temps, lots of sunshine, and virtually NO snow! So I pulled up some photos from 2006, to show how beautiful and fresh our part of the country looks.... covered with a soft white blanket!

These photos were taken on a drive in December of 2006 , when my husband and I were scouting for Elk.

Close up of the misty fog.... hovering among the trees.

A local farm. I loved the contrast between the red barn and the white snow!

A line up of of fence-posts marks the curve in the road.

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A good verse for the coming year...

The unfailing love of the LORD never ends! By his mercies we have been kept from complete destruction. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each day. I say to myself, "The LORD is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!"

Lamentations 3:22-24 NASB

New Year Wishes

2010-12-30T19:19:00.000-08:00

I can hardly believe another month has gone by...and with nary a post to this blog! It has been a busy month, with preparations for the holidays..... including several handmade projects I made as gifts. (more on that in a later post?)

The above photo was taken on December 6th. I was fascinated to see the cloud formation, which was quite unusual for a Winter sky. Anyone have a name for these type of clouds?

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I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a
Happy and Prosperous New Year!!

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It is officially time to get out the seed catalogs that have been stacking up, and do some serious shopping! :-)

First Snowfall

2010-11-30T13:03:00.000-08:00

Our first snowfall arrived on November 22nd this year. As always, it prompts me to pull on my boots and venture out for a few photos. After all, it is an event! We have had several snows since then, adding up to about 6 inches, and it is softly falling even as I write.

Heritage Rose, with the mountain as a backdrop.

A snow-laden rose bud.

Black-eyed Susan seed head....food for the birds!

Autumn Joy Sedum.... still looking good!

Orange Calendula....bravely blooming beyond the frost.

A pair of Black-Eyed Susans......yellow petals still intact.

There is much to appreciate about the flowers that hold on, to give us a spot of color...... long after the Petunias and Zinnias have disappeared!

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"He giveth snow like wool....." Psalm 147:16

It is compared to wool for its whiteness, and its softness; it falls silently, and makes no more noise than the fall of a lock of wool; it covers the earth, and keeps it warm like a fleece of wool, and so promotes its fruitfulness. See how God can work by contraries and.... can warm the earth with cold snow. ~ Matthew Henry

Squash Harvest 2010

2010-11-21T12:38:00.000-08:00

It was another good squash year.....which makes me smile, because Winter squash is one of our favorite vegetables around here!

This season's harvest, all lined up in their beautiful colors. These were picked on October 17th....we received our first frost later that night.

Squash posing in front of Steve's garden......with the beautiful backdrop of Cut and Come Again Zinnias in the background. This garden space needed a little something to beautify it, so I made the little bark area, surrounded by smooth river rocks and added the cobalt blue birdbath and pots. I was very pleased with it, except that by the time this photo was taken the petunias in the pots were pretty well exhausted, so next year I will have something waiting in the wings to pop into the blue pots....maybe some fall asters?

Sweet Meat Squash, on the left, are so pretty in their bluish green hues. It is one of our all time favorites for it's sweet, dry, orange flesh. The orange squash, on the right, is called Sunshine, the only hybrid I grow. It is also a favorite, especially for it's earliness. If I pick the fruits early enough, I can get two crops from this variety.

Bumpy and warted Marina de Chioggia. I grew these for the first time last year, and found that they improve in storage, so we will eat them last!

This odd looking squash is called Galeux D'eysines. I grew these at the request of my friend Catherine who supplied the seeds. The days to maturity is 105, and her growing season is too short for them to mature in her area. Does this make me a surrogate gardener? :-)

This is the catalog description from Territorial Seeds: " An elegant French heirloom with an appropriately elegant sounding name. Magnifique! This stunning squash has beautiful salmon-peach colored skin covered with peanut shell-like warts caused by sugar in the skin. Traditionally used in France for soups and sauces, when cooked, the sweet orange flesh is as smooth as velvet. Each flattened squash weighs 10-15 pounds and can store for up to 6 months. Definitely a show stopper in the garden or on the table. " I might add that the vines are very prolific and outgrew my garden....until the deer pruned them off for me.

Two different types of Butternut squash, to the right in the photo above, rounded out the line-up for this year. We love them for the sweet, smooth, dry flesh.... and because one is just the right size to pop in the oven for the two of us.

While pulling up squash vines, I found this adorable little nest of Quail eggs, hidden beneath the vines. We have lots of Quail here, and they are like pets. We love watching them peck around with their cute little top feathers bobbing!

Cosmos: A Cottage Garden Classic

2010-10-31T21:40:00.000-07:00

Cosmos have to be one of the best cottage garden flowers of all time! The classic daisy-like flowers, their light and ferny foliage, and the way the flowers gently sway in the breeze makes them a personal favorite in my garden.

We added some new flower beds last year, so I finally have the room...and the luxury....to plant an expanse of Cosmos, instead of single plants here and there. How refreshing it has been to gaze out the window, as I wash dishes....and drink in the color and beauty of these humble flowers.

These were all grown from my own saved seed from 2008. I grew many different kinds that year. The seeds were all mixed in an envelope I had labeled "Cosmos - Pretty ones"......and pretty they are indeed!

There are many interesting bi-colors....this one with streaks of white. These are second generation plants, pollinated by bees, so it is always exciting to see what sort of colors nature produces.

View from the other direction, with the woodshed in the background. The foliage is almost as pretty as the flowers.

I particularly like these.... with their dramatic dark centers.

A pair of Cosmos Twins.

One with delicate darker edges makes an attractive looking flower.

I have grown these Seashell Cosmos in the past, but have never seen one with a pink edge like this....they are usually solid pink or white. Lovely!

A pink Cosmos with a hot pink center really accentuates the yellow eye.

Cosmos are wonderful in bouquets! I put together this one for my dear daughter's birthday on October 14th. I added Verbena Bonariensis and Queen Anne's lace , along with several fronds of curved Honeysuckle vine to give it some softness and movement. This bouquet traveled in the car for 3 hours, and still looked great when we arrived at her house.

Frost crystals give the above Cosmos flower an extra dimension of beauty. Our first frost arrived on October 17th.

Though several nights of frost turned my zinnias instantly brown and ended the life of my squash and tomato plants, these Cosmos....though not quite as bright as their former selves, are still bravely blooming this afternoon, October 31st. Gotta love a flower like that!

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Green Grasshopper - Take 2

2010-09-20T11:38:00.000-07:00

Now that fall has arrived, the grasshoppers are plentiful, and the crisp sounds of their hopping can be heard as I walk through the garden. I was taking photos of some flowers a few days ago when this green one caught my eye. For some reason the green ones seem to stand out to me, as seen by this earlier post.

This grasshopper is sunning himself (see below) on a piece of driftwood, next to one of my flower beds, with Cosmos and Verbena Bonariensis in the background.

Click on the photo for a larger view.

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One of the most important aspects of the life of a grasshopper is the seasonal cycle. Every day plays an important role in the seasonal cycle. The grasshopper usually starts his day right after dawn by looking for a place to warm up from the colder temperatures overnight. Most grasshoppers turn one side to the sunlight for a while before turning the other side to the sun, so they can warm up. After about one or two hours lying in the sun, grasshoppers then start to walk around, look for mates, or feed. Grasshoppers tend to be less active on cold or rainy days because they are cold-blooded insects.

The grasshopper typically forages for food twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. All grasshoppers feed on different kinds of plants and have different ways of taking their plants apart to get food from them. Grasshoppers are very picky about what they eat, and they often use their antennae to taste the plant and decide if it's worth eating before they consume it.

When looking for a mate, grasshoppers communicate through physical motions and verbal sounds. Grasshoppers make sounds with their hind legs and wings, and they have small ears in the front section of their abdomen. They also use their wings and hind legs to flash messages to each other, using their complicated eye to gather the messages and interpret them.

Dilly Beans

2010-09-08T15:31:00.000-07:00

I have done very little canning in the past several years, since our children grew up and left home. But this year....I just had a craving for some tangy, hot and spicy Dilly Beans! I grow the skinny French filet beans every year for fresh eating, but they are not good for canning, so I this year I ordered seed and planted two rows of green beans, just for the special purpose of making some Dilly Beans.

I picked this large bowl full of PROVIDER beans yesterday. The beans are thick and meaty, some over 6 inches long. I got them planted a bit late, because of our long rainy Spring, so they are just now coming into full production. They are growing next to a double row of 'Cut and Come Again' Zinnias in my garden, which provided the pretty backdrop for this photo.

The Pinetree Garden Seeds catalog tempted me with this description of PROVIDER beans;

"This is a popular stringless bean in New England. It is reasonably early on plants that are quite compact. Size is 5-6 inches and yield is good. Disease resistance is a strong point. The flavor is really different from other green beans and difficult to describe, maybe "beanier". This our bean of choice for making Dilly Beans. There are a number of strains of Provider, all pretty good, but we think this one from an Idaho grower is the best."

So, there you have it....good for Dilly Beans, and the fact that the seed came from an Idaho grower just helped to seal the deal for me! :-)

I had enough beans from one picking to make 7 quarts of delightful Dilly Beans, and some left over to snap for supper. They are very good for fresh eating as well. My hubby even commented on how great they tasted!

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In case I have whetted your appetite, and you are now craving some Dilly Beans of your own, here is a link to get you started.

Garden Harvest

2010-08-31T20:10:00.000-07:00

I thought I should share this photo to prove that, indeed, I do have a garden this year and it is producing....in spite of my infrequent posts to this blog! ;-)

I gathered this bounty from the garden last week, in my trusty stainless steel bowl: Cucumbers, Green Beans, Bell peppers and Mini Peppers, Summer Squash, Dill and several varieties of Tomatoes. In the background are two varieties of Rudbeckias I started early from seed this year....Cherry Brandy on the left (which I love for it's deep red color and darker centers) and Denver Daisy on the right. (Park Seed Co.)

Because of our long cool Spring, the garden is quite a bit later than usual, and now we have been experiencing an early fall. I'm not ready to say good-bye to summer.... but alas, it is drawing to a close. I am already making plans for next year's garden. That is the beauty of the garden....it is an ever changing palette for the creative ideas of the gardener. :-)

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The first gatherings of the garden in May of salads, radishes and herbs made me feel like a mother about her baby - how could anything so beautiful be mine? And this emotion of wonder filled me for each vegetable as it was gathered every year. There is nothing that is comparable to it, as satisfactory or as thrilling, as gathering the vegetables one has grown.

~ Alice B. Toklas

Marinated Lamb Kabobs

2010-08-13T22:40:00.000-07:00

This post is dedicated to my sister Darla, who has a food blog entitled In the Kitchen with Darla where she writes about the yummy new recipes she experiments with. I hope you will swing by and visit her there.

Tell her I sent you. :-)

We recently spent a weekend at our favorite campground upriver and we finally got to try something on the grill I have wanted to do for some time........Lamb Kabobs! I marinated the meat in Balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, lime juice, garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper. I then skewered it with sweet onions, green and red peppers, and zucchini from my garden. Dear Husband cooked it on the grill, along with some fresh Corn on the cob, and it was wonderful.....a very satisfying and tasty outdoor meal!!

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Poor, poor neglected blog!! I have had an extremely busy summer....with several weddings, a family reunion, a couple of camping weekends, four 3 hr trips to the dentist and lots of weeding, weeding, weeding in the garden. My health prevented me from gardening much last year, thus many weeds went to seed and multiplied..... exponentially! So I apologize for my lack of posts, and I will see if I can get back into a better routine here in blog-land!

Whimsical Planter and Brush Strokes Viola

2010-05-26T10:00:00.000-07:00

Today I would just like to say a big THANK YOU to my readers who have stayed with me, in spite of my infrequent posts this past year. At present, I am working daily on getting my garden planted and weeded. We have had precious few days of sunshine as of yet, so when the weather settles the temps will likely soar. This seems to be a typical spring pattern for us here in our river valley. Notice how green our mountain is, in the below photo!

This old baby buggy frame was given to me by my sweet friend, Catherine a few years ago. I have used it with several combinations of flowers and containers, but this year has got to be my all time favorite! I made the wooden box to grow wheat grass in, for a Bridal shower. The mellow, weathered wood just seems to fit the old buggy. It is planted with Brush Strokes Viola, started from seed in January.

Here are some of their lovely faces, up close.

They are aptly named, as they really do look like they have been painted by an artist's brush!

There are both bold colors and some softer ones, like this yellow and lavender mix.

Another pot of Brush Strokes Viola, in an old iron planter on my porch, with Denim blue pansies as a backdrop.

A lovely flower from the above pot.....just look those stunning colors!

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Gardening requires lots of water - most of it in the form of perspiration.

~Lou Erickson

Pansy Love

2010-05-06T08:11:00.000-07:00

Dear husband brought me home some flowers recently. Not the kind you put in a vase, or plant in the ground...... but these lovely little pansies!

Pansies are one of my favorite Spring flowers, so he scored big with these LOVE stamps!

It makes me want to sit down and write someone, just so I can affix one of these little sweeties to the envelope. :-)

And here is the real thing. Historic Mix Pansies I started from seed, around the first of the year, have been blooming now for several weeks. I couldn't resist adding a few to this small vintage green glass bottle. I liked the results! I can never go back to those huge floppy pansies sold at the nurseries and big box stores. These heirloom pansies are smaller, more delicate in size and coloring. Way back in the 1800's they were called "tufted pansies.' I love their various colors and shadings....and since they are open pollinated there can be some nice surprises. This particular one is lavender with a darker face, washed with a bronze cast. Best of all....seeds can be saved to start again next year!

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In Victorian times, certain flowers had specific meanings. In the language of Flowers, Pansies stood for loving thoughts.

"I pray, what flowers are these? The pansy this, O, that's for lover's thoughts"

~ George Chapman

Salad Season

2010-04-27T18:17:00.000-07:00

It's that highly anticipated season of the year again.....Salad Season!

This beautiful mix is a favorite of mine, Pinetree Lettuce Mix. It was winter sown on January 10th, transplanted out in February, and kept covered with ventilated plastic on those early cold days and frosty nights. It has come through several Spring hail storms! Last week I began picking this lovely, delicious lettuce. It is so tender, that it actually tastes creamy to me. ( I know creamy is an unusual word to describe lettuce, but that is just how tender it is!) Early lettuce is always best, as heat tends to make it bitter. Summer often hits us rather quickly here, so getting an early start with the lettuce is something I always endeavor to do.... and the little bit of extra time and effort involved pays off!

This photo shows the full view of the self watering container I use to grow the lettuce in. The size of the container is about 6 ft long by 1 Ft. wide. We received two of these from a friend, who was cleaning out his back yard, and I LOVE them! The second container was just planted yesterday with two lettuces that can take more summer heat, Jericho and Anuenue. When the heat hits us, I enlist the help of dear husband to move the container to my deck, where it gets morning sun and afternoon shade.

A bowl full of freshly picked, sweet, succulent lettuce.

A close up of all the beautiful textures and colors!

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Tip: Lettuce should be planted in full sun for the spring and fall, and in partial shade for the hottest part of the summer.

Spring Postcards from Idaho

2010-04-23T08:19:00.000-07:00

Spring has come to our valley! A couple weeks ago we took a drive up the mountain to a nearby community to attend a funeral. I spotted this idyllic scene on the way up, so persuaded dear husband to stop for me on the way back down,...to grab a photo.

This is a view of the beautiful Clearwater Valley. I loved the resting cattle in the foreground and the grazing sheep in the background. (Click on the photo to enlarge)

Just before we approached the above scene, we were surprised to see this herd of Elk, on the opposite side of the road. Seeing Elk is always an occasion, and a good reason to pull over and stop the car! (Click on photo to enlarge)

And lastly, I leave you with a lovely Spring sunset .... captured from our deck. There wasn't much light left when this was taken, but I liked the effect of the mountain silhouette.

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Happy Spring..... to everyone!

My Own Dog Tooth Violets

2010-04-07T15:10:00.000-07:00

One of the first wildflowers to cover the mountains here in Spring, is the Dog Tooth Violet. But there weren't any growing near our home, so two years ago I attempted to dig some up and transplant to a shady area beneath some pines in our yard. It was a good deal more challenging than I expected....because I had to dig really deep to coax the bulbs from the rocky soil, and it was difficult to lift them without breaking the roots. I wasn't at all sure that it would be a successful endeavor.

I am happy to say the operation was a success! Shown above is a close up of this cheerful yellow wildflower....growing in my very own yard.

They aren't very thick yet, like the ones on the hillsides, but I am hoping they will naturalize and spread, to cover the area. I do so love their appearance in early Spring, signaling the change of seasons.... and I am especially glad that I can now see them from my kitchen window. :-)

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DOG'S-TOOTH VIOLET, Erythronium dens-cani

OBSERVERS of plants who endeavour to understand their names have usually a tough, task before them. Many names, indeed, carry their meanings in their faces, but many have no meaning at all; and, again, many are founded on such subtle distinctions or fanciful notions that it is not in the plant but in the mind of the no-menclator that we must seek for the coveted explanation. But whatever the vices of botanical terminology, there are many reasons why names intended to be descriptive should be founded on obvious characters that are displayed above ground. Here is a dog's-tooth violet, and the inquiring amateur may be led to search leaves and flowers for some resemblance to the dog's-tooth moulding that so often occurs in architecture, and may conclude at last that the spots on the leaves shadow forth the resemblance. But the dog's tooth is underground, and we must dig up the plant to make a proper study of its name. The bulbs of the plant are white, and in form not unlike dog's teeth.

Easter Blessings

2010-04-04T09:15:00.000-07:00

...Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
~1 Cor 15:57

Because I live, you will live also.
~John 14:19

Spring Violets

2010-03-19T11:55:00.000-07:00

Spring is definitely here, as evidenced by the violets blooming in my flower garden. This entire plant had to be pulled up because it was out of place. When the seeds of violets ripen, they burst open and shoot seeds everywhere....so they need a little help staying in line. But I put up with their bad habits, in exchange for the privilege of seeing those enchanting blue flowers in the early spring when my eyes are so hungry for color!

Shown here in a tiny tea cup (only 2 1/2 inches tall), also adorned with violets, this diminutive, cheerful arrangement sits on the window sill in front of my kitchen sink. When I see it, it just makes me smile with gratitude.... for yet another Spring season!

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The modest, lowly violet
In leaves of tender green is set;
So rich she cannot hide from view,
But covers all the bank with blue.

~Dora Read Goodale

Cottage Garden Seeds Giveaway...Winner!

2010-03-15T19:49:00.000-07:00

Today was the day of the drawing, for a winner of my Cottage Garden Seed Giveaway.

And the winner is.....Irena! (O.I.M )

Irena gardens in Toronto, Canada and has a great blog entitled My Roots Run Deep. You can drop by and visit her there. Congratulations, Irena! Please go to my profile page and email me your address, so I can get the seeds in the mail to you. I just know they are going to love their new home in your garden!

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Thank you to all who participated!

Cottage Garden Seeds Giveaway

2010-02-28T19:21:00.000-08:00

Today is the last day of February. How can this be?? The first two months of the year have zipped by so quickly! I have been taking a break from blogging, so this is actually my first post for 2010....but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy gardening! I've enjoyed shopping and ordering from a number of seed catalogs, and have winter sown plants sprouting outdoors, as well as several types of pansies and rudbeckias growing under lights, indoors. The pansies will be moved out to the greenhouse soon, and in a couple weeks it will be time to start peppers and petunias!

Photo above taken in my Cottage garden a couple of summers ago.
(Note: Flowers here not representative of those included in the seed giveaway).

In order to get back into the swing of blogging again, I thought I would begin with a Giveaway of a package of Cottage Garden flower seeds. All of the seeds have been saved from my garden. They are mostly self-sowing annuals....my favorite category of flowers. :-) If you would like to be entered into the drawing for the seeds, simply leave a comment on this post (including your email address, if you don't have one linked to a blog). I will do the drawing at 12 noon on Monday, March 15th, post the winner, and mail the seeds out shortly after.

Included in this mix are seeds of the the following flowers:

Bachelor Buttons
Calendula (various kinds)
California Poppy (orange and cream)
Cosmos (Pinks, whites, and bi-colors)
Cosmos (tall Orange)
Corncockle
Dairy Pink
German Catchfly
Larkspur
Nigella
Poppy, Shirley
Silene
Rose Campion (biennial)
Mountain Garland
Wild Lupine (perennial)

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These will do well sown in a sunny spot, without much fuss. The flowers that bloom will provide you with plenty seeds for next year, or you can just let the plants drop their seed, for a yearly show of Cottage flowers. Happy Growing!

New Year Greetings

2009-12-31T16:17:00.000-08:00

From Our House to Yours......Happy New Year!!

This photo was taken on a snowy evening, a couple weeks before Christmas, when we received a foot of snow in 24 hours! Much of it melted before the holidays, but enough was left on the ground to give us a white Christmas. It is snowing again now, as I write, with more snow in the forecast for the next several days. Tonight we are attending a New Year's Eve gathering with friends, but tomorrow I look forward to settling in next to the wood stove, and browsing the huge stack of gardening catalogs just waiting for me. It will be a day well spent.

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My best wishes to everyone for a great Year in 2010....and your best garden ever!

Dreaming of a Pink Christmas

2009-12-28T14:34:00.000-08:00

Oh, this poor neglected blog! I have been so busy enjoying the delights of the season, that I have written nary a post in the month of December. So...to remedy that before the month slips away, I am posting a few photos of my Christmas tree and the vintage pink, aqua, and silver ornaments with which it is adorned.

The past 2 years I have chosen a Blue Spruce, from a local tree farm. I like it for it's lovely bluish hue, which nicely complements the pink, silver and aqua ornaments I hang on it. But the needles on these are very sharp, so you must exercise caution when trimming the tree! (Click on the photo to enlarge.)

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Shown in the photos below, are a few of the ornaments which I have been collecting for a number of years. I love the color and patina on these ornaments. The oxidation, crazing and loss of color simply adds to their vintage charm! :-)

This last ornament, a vintage stenciled one in hot pink expresses my sincere (though somewhat belated) sentiment to all my readers....Merry Christmas to each and every one!

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Joy to the world...
the LORD is come.
Let earth receive her King!

Heirloom Squash Update

2009-11-25T13:35:00.000-08:00

In my previous post, Squash Roundup I shared about growing two new heirloom squashes this year. At the time I made the post, we had yet to taste test these two varieties, and I promised to update you after we did.....so here goes!

The two varieties are Marina di Chioggia (green, on the left) and Australian Butter Squash. ( pale orange, on the right) I like how they looked here....displayed in the natural light near a window.

Marina di Chioggia, up close and personal. This is a good sized squash, and nice looking too, with it's dark green warty surface, along with a turban shaped bottom. Taste? In a word, disappointing. Lacked the sweetness we like and the texture was moist and fibrous.

Australian Butter Squash. The description of this squash in the seed catalog had my mouth watering! "Sweet, dense, deep orange flesh that is dry with a very small seed cavity. When roasted, it's custardy, silky-smooth texture is scrumptious instead of or alongside potatoes with roasted meat and fowl or in a melange of roasted root vegetables sparked with herbed olive oil, balsamic vinegar and citrus zest." Whew! It is a beauty with it's lovely pale buff-orange color and pumpkin shape. This was my largest...11 inches in diameter, and weighing in at almost 10 lbs! But in spite of it's physical virtues, the real test comes down to TASTE. Again.... a disappointment. :-( We like our squash sweet with smooth, dry flesh (which the catalog claimed) but found it not sweet enough, too moist, and not at all smooth textured.

Perhaps these two varieties will develop more flavor and dryness in storage. (one can hope?) But the bottom line is that they will not be making a repeat appearance in our garden next year. We will stick with our all time favorites: Sunshine, Butternut, Buttercup, and Sweet Meat. These have never disappointed, and are always a delicious treat!

UPDATE!! January 20, 2009 - After a couple months in storage, the flavor and texture of both of these squashes improved immensely! The texture is smoother and drier, and the the sweetness also developed, especially so in the Marina di Chioggia. So in all fairness, I must say that both turned out to be great tasting squash after all....they just needed a little more time to mature. They will probably make it back on the roster for next year! A good plan would be to eat the other varieties first, and save these for last.

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'Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure."

George E. Woodberry

Farewell, Favorite Garden Shoes

2009-11-01T18:34:00.000-08:00

It was a sad day in September when my favorite garden shoes came to the end of their long and useful life. I've owned these flip flops (we used to call them thongs back then) since the seventies! They came along with me when I packed up and moved to Idaho in 1978.

They sat in my closet for many years, and I started seriously wearing them around 1990. If you do the math.....that is nearly 20 years of use!! They were the cheap old firm rubber kind, having nylon straps with a piece of leather sewed unto it. I probably paid a dollar or two for them. I had worn them so long, they had actually formed to my feet....similar to a pair of expensive Birkenstocks. (Which, BTW, I also wear, and have been through several pairs while still wearing these flip flops!) These were soooo comfy to slip on, as I headed out to work in the garden on a summer day. As you can see in the above photo, the toe strap of the left shoe finally gave out, and just below it is the fatal wound that finally brought them to their end.

Look at the bottom of these shoes!! They are worn down to the third stripe of color, the light blue.... completely worn through the black and the medium blue color layers. Here you can see, from the bottom, the fatal wound.... caused by using the shovel while wearing said shoes, a move I now regret, as it shortened their lifespan by who knows how long?

A side view shows just how worn these babies were.... the layers were dinged up, separated and worn down. Not pretty, but as comfortable as an old friend. Farewell, favorite garden shoes....you will be missed!

Shown above are the 'new kids on the block'....a pair of Tevas I forked over 20 bucks for, to replace my old favorites. I chose the ones with a small blue stripe on the side, in memory of the the old pair. I could tell right away that these are not going to last long! They feel soft and mushy on the feet, and just make me miss my old ones all the more. Guess I'll head on over to Ebay where...maybe, just maybe...someone might be selling a pair of sweet vintage seventies flip flops, in black with blue stripes!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Old friends are best. King James used to call for his old shoes; they were the easiest for his feet.

~John Seldon

Squash Round Up

2009-10-23T20:00:00.000-07:00

I was pleased with the squash harvest this year! Anyone who has grown squash knows what a space hog it can be, and this has presented a problem in our moderately sized kitchen garden. So 2 years ago we added three squash rings at the edge of the raised bed garden where the vines can roam, and this spring we added a 15 x 30 foot square garden, dedicated mostly to winter and summer squash, with one row of tomatoes and a row of sunflowers along the back edge. (This has been dubbed 'Steve's Garden', since dear husband did most of the work in it, while I was laid up during the better part of the spring and summer with a frozen shoulder.)

Above photo showcasing this year's harvest. From the top: Dark green Marina de Chioggia (heirloom), Butternut (the largest one near bottom was 12 inches long!), Blue-green Sweetmeat, Orange Sunshine (hybrid), 2 Green Buttercup (only one vine of these came up), Pale orange Australian Butter Squash (heirloom - the largest of these was 10 inches in diameter.)

Buttercup, Butternut, Sweet Meat, and Sunshine varieties are favorites from years past. All have delicious sweet, dry flesh. It was our first year to grow the two heirloom varieties, and we have yet to cook one of them for a taste test.

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[This quote dedicated to my Dad, a North Dakota farmer.
Thank you, Dad.... for your example!]

"Our deep respect for the land and its harvest is the legacy of generations of farmers who put food on our tables, preserved our landscape, and inspired us with a powerful work ethic."

James H. Douglas

Frosted Flowers

2009-10-09T17:53:00.000-07:00

Another gardening year is drawing to a close, with the arrival of a very early frost on September 30th. I ventured out into the frosty morn to grab a few photos of the icy beauty displayed on some of the flowers.

A pair of chilly yellow Cosmos.

A pot of Cherry & Ivory Swizzle Zinnias, started from seed. These were new for me this year, and I so enjoyed them! The frost just added another dimension to the happy red and white flowers.

Black-eyed Susan, with icy center cone.

Laura Bush Petunia, edged in frosty white. These have become a favorite of mine the past few years. They are prolific and hardy, a non-hybrid type with smaller flowers and a nice fragrance. I save the seeds each year.

Pink Cactus flowered Zinnia.

A yellow Calendula...hanging it's head in the cold.

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"By the breath of God, frost is given...."

Job 37:10

Beautiful Bells

2009-09-30T15:01:00.001-07:00

It has been a good year for peppers in my kitchen garden. Today I harvested these bell peppers....in a rainbow assortment of colors. They are not only sweet and tasty, but pretty as well!

I grow several varieties each year, including Big Bertha, Peto Wonder, Super Heavyweight, Orange California Wonder, and Golden California Wonder.

They are in various stages of ripeness....some still green or with green streaks.

A portion of my pepper harvest is sliced and frozen, to be used in one of our favorite dishes....Fajitas! These will not only taste great in the winter, but their cheerful colors will be a sweet reminder of the summer garden.

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Gardening gives me fun and health and knowledge.
It gives me laughter and colour. It gives me pictures
of almost incredible beauty.

- John F. Kenyon

Summer Memories

2009-09-17T14:56:00.000-07:00

We were blessed last week with a visit from dear daughter and our two grandchildren. I just have to share this photo that my daughter took of three year old Annabelle, standing in the doorway of our house. In the foreground is a pot of Salmon-colored Alaska Nasturtiums, tucked under the porch to escape the summer heat and blooming anew...now that the nights are cooler.

Something about this picture just tugs at my heart. Maybe it's the lingering sweetness of an entire day Annabelle was able to spend with Nana. Or those bare feet...and the memory of her contagious laughter as she ran away when sprayed with the hose, as I was watering the flower garden. Or when we removed her wet dress, and she quietly sneaked herself into the five gallon bucket of water without me seeing, and my surprise at looking over and seeing only her head peeking out! Or her delight in eating one after another of my Super Sweet cherry tomatoes and mini bell peppers, fresh from the garden. Or maybe it's that bittersweet feeling one gets when summer is waning and you know these warm sweet summer days will soon be drawing to an end. I guess maybe it is all those feelings, and so many more that this photo evokes in me, and why it so squeezes this Grandma heart of mine.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Those gasps of astonishment, those shrieks of pleasure, those sighs of delight, lost long ago when your children grew wise and wordly ~ are suddenly given back to you by your grandchildren. What seems to be the same small hands clutch yours, dragging you from one excitement to another."

Author unknown

Roasted Tomatoes

2009-09-02T19:46:00.000-07:00

This year I'm using a new method to preserve those extra tomatoes from the garden, which are plentiful this time of year. Since I no longer do canning, I had been just cutting up the tomatoes and freezing them in quart size bags. But since trying my first batch of roasted tomatoes, I am hooked on the intense flavors and the compact size of the finished product!

Here are the simple instructions.....

Put some Extra Virgin olive oil on the bottom of the pan, add sliced tomatoes in a single layer. Sprinkle with seasonings of your choice and more olive oil. I use oregano, basil, minced garlic and a little salt. (Dried herbs work well here, because they help absorb the juice from the tomatoes.) The recipe said to cook at 400 degrees, but since I used a glass pan I did them at 375 degrees. Cook for somewhere between 1 hr to 1 1/2 hrs. You will have to watch them towards the end, because when the juice cooks off they can burn easily, but you want them to caramelize and brown a bit.

This is one of my favorite black heirloom tomato, Nyagous, ready for roasting. They have a darkish red color with green shoulders....and the colors inside the tomato are even prettier! Since these are a fairly small tomato, I just quartered them. With larger tomatoes, I cut in chunks, and cherry tomatoes get halved. I'm always trying new tomato varieties, so this is a good way to use up those that don't quite live up to my taste standards, because even a mediocre tomato tastes great after it's been roasted.

Same tomatoes as above, after roasting. Can't you just smell that wonderful aroma? I did plenty of sampling as they came out of the oven. The intense, concentrated tomato flavor is comparable to those expensive sun dried tomatoes you can buy.

Two 11 x 16 pyrex pans yielded one quart of tasty product for the freezer. The roasted tomatoes can be used on pasta or meat, as a bread spread, salad dressing ingredient... or simply as a spoonful of fresh garden tomato taste in the dead of winter.

bon appétit!

Wildflower Bouquet

2009-08-24T19:24:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we pulled our camper up to our favorite camping spot, about 20 minutes upriver from our house. I am recovering from a frozen shoulder, so I spent the afternoons and evenings at camp, and then cheated by driving home to sleep in my own bed, which is far more comfortable, at this stage, than the camper. It felt so good to get out and enjoy a little bit of Summer, as Fall will shortly be nipping at our heels. When I arrived at camp, these flowers from Dear Husband were there to greet me. Hey, so who needs a dozen roses and FTD?

These are a special gift from my man....and they are beautiful to me.

(Shown here in front of a huge mossy rock at our campsite, which actually had ferns and a tiny fir tree growing out of it!)

Included in the bouquet: Indian Paintbrush, Bluebells, Wild Aster, Queen Anne's Lace, Verbascum, Goldenrod, and one Cat-tail......all in a lovely plastic water bottle vase. :-)

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"Every gift which is given, even though it be small, is in reality great,
if it is given with affection.”

Pindar ~ Greek Lyric Poet

Green Grasshopper

2009-08-11T09:25:00.000-07:00

This lovely green grasshopper caught my eye in the garden this week, as it poised on a pink Hollyhock.

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The Grasshopper

by Conrad Aiken

Grasshopper

grasshopper

all day long

we hear your scraping

summer song

rusty

fiddles

the

grass

as through

the meadow

path

we pass

such funny legs

such funny feet

and how we wonder

what you eat

maybe a single blink of dew

sipped from a clover leaf would do

then high in air

once more you spring

to fall in grass again

and sing.

Hollyhocks in the Cottage Garden

2009-08-07T14:38:00.000-07:00

There's not many flowers that represent the Cottage garden look to me more than Hollyhocks. They are a personal favorite of mine, because my Mother and Grandmother both grew them.

I love the color on this one....the closest to red I've seen on a Hollyhock.

I don't remember planting it in this spot, so it must be a volunteer. Volunteers are always welcomed in my garden. :-)

Echinacea 'Magnus' (which I did plant) is in the foreground of the Hollyhock, and makes for a pleasing combination, with it's reddish central cones echoing the red tones of the Hollyhock.

A wider view of this particular grouping of flowers includes pink Mallow, a white Hollyhock, and some volunteer Black Eyed Susans. Don't you just love how unplanned combinations can sometimes turn out to be the prettiest?

First Tomato of the Season

2009-07-22T18:12:00.000-07:00

Last week brought our first ripe tomato in the garden. I am so behind on this blog, it is already old news, since I have picked several more since then!

The first ripe tomato this year was the heirloom Nyagous. It is in the 'Black' tomato category, as you can see by the darker shoulders, which have a greenish tint to them. It really is a beautiful tomato, hails from Russia, and the taste is wonderful! It must be picked while the shoulders are still green for proper firmness.

Here it is on a salad plate. You can better see the richness of the colors in this photo. It is a perfect salad size tomato and grows in clusters on the plant. Since picking this, I have also picked several full sized ripe Goliaths.

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In an earlier post entitled Tomato Trials I stated that I was sticking with the 'tried and true' this year. Well, that was my true intention....until I checked out a book from my local library called The Heirloom Tomato by Amy Goldman. If you haven't seen this book, it is a great read! Even if you only gaze at the beautiful photos of all sorts of heirloom tomatoes, it is well worth your time. After reading Amy's description of each tomato included in the book, I ended up adding several new heirloom varieties to my tomato line up again this year. Hey, a girl can change her mind... right? :-)

Currently growing in my garden are: Paul Robison, Juane Flamme, Green Zebra, Aunt Ruby's German Green, Purple Russian, Speckled Roman and Black Brandywine. (I only chose ones rated as having excellent flavor). I'm also trying a few heirloom cherry tomatoes......Black Cherry, Aunt Ruby's German Green Cherry, and Matt's Wild Cherry. So, stay tuned for a report later on in the year!

Poppy - 'Falling in Love'

2009-07-04T18:09:00.000-07:00

The last 2 years I have been trialing a new Poppy (Papaver rhoeas) from seed called Falling in Love from Park Seed Co. The description is as follows.... "a bright large-flowered mixture of semi- and fully doubles in shades of red, carmine, crimson, scarlet, and rose.....plus coral, pink, and white in solid and bi-colored forms. This Dutch introduction offers rich, watercolor shades hard to find elsewhere in the garden. Cupped and rounded, the 3 inch blooms look like silk, and arise very heavily on plants 9 to 18 inches tall and 12 inches wide."

Here is a nice group of fully double coral colored ones.

This bicolor pink semi-double is pretty and refreshing.

A close up of a rose colored double form.

A single stem of a red and white bicolor, blooming amidst the other flowers.

Same flower as above, photographed from below with the summer sky as a backdrop.
(This is my Red, White and Blue photo for this year. Happy Fourth of July to everyone!)

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My conclusion about Falling in Love poppies? For me, they didn't really live up to their lofty description. Although I find them pretty, I prefer the old fashioned single Shirley Poppies I have grown for many years, for several reasons. They are taller, bear more and larger blooms, which hold on the plant longer and bloom over a longer period. I love their translucent , delicate, papery petals that just have more of a cottage look to me.... and, as whole, make a greater impact in the flower garden. And the best thing about Shirley poppies? They self sow so freely, a trait that I am fond of... which these didn't seem to do.

Sounds like I will need to do a post dedicated to the Shirley Poppy someday. :-)

Our Resident Toad

2009-06-20T18:50:00.000-07:00

There's been a big toad around our house for several years now. We only see him in the warmer months. The rest of the year I guess he hibernates somewhere below the frost line. I usually see him in the flower bed on the north side of the house, where it gets morning sun and afternoon shade. But after a rain, we have spotted him in various other places in the garden. On a cool, rainy day this week I spotted him in an unusual place that startled me a little.

As I passed by a flat of Cosmos seedlings on my porch, to enter the house, I noticed that one plant was dug up and lying with it's roots exposed. Upon closer inspection I was surprised to see Mr. Toad settled down into the nice cool potting soil. I think he was feeling invisible. He is camouflaged quite well, isn't he? As soon as the sun came out again, he was gone. I only wished I could have shown him to my 3 year old Granddaughter, who likes to read Frog and Toad stories.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This post is for Annabelle.... with love from Nana. :-)

Spring in Bloom

2009-05-29T18:09:00.000-07:00

Here it is almost the end of May, and my poor blog has been quite neglected! So to remedy that, here are some photos of a few of the blooms currently gracing my gardens....

This Columbine is a favorite of mine. I don't remember the name, but it is one of the McKana types. I like the two toned pink color, and the yellow stamens. It blooms longer and stays a nice compact size, in contrast to the bonnet types....which I often end up pulling out because they outgrow their space.

I am fond of these 'Cutie Pie' Violas, and as you can see.... the bees like them, too!

My daughter gave me this lovely Spanish Lavender plant for my birthday. It is a new variety called Lavandula stoechas 'Anouk'. After the first flowers have faded, the stems can be cut back for a second bloom time. And the best thing about it? It is a zone 5 plant, so I can overwinter it here... instead of having to replace each Spring.

A close-up of the wonderfully scented 'winged' Lavender blooms.

This week brought the first blooms of Periwinkle, Vinca Major 'Variegata'. I love the soft creamy color on the edges of the leaves, which really brightens up the rock gardens.

The first bloom of Clematis 'Niobe' opens it's dark red flower on the porch post.

There is a pleasing contrast of the white anthers against the dark blooms.

Also making an appearance now are the Lupines. The blue ones are a wild form, which I think have a nice Cottage look. If you click on the photo to enlarge, you can see a bed of Iris in bloom, behind the birdhouse.

And lastly.... a favorite vintage, weathered wood planter filled with Impatiens and hung from the light under the front porch, where it gets a little morning sun, and then shade for the remainder of the day. This was a great yard sale find, along with 2 others of similar style.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you to so many of you, for your get well wishes, as I have been down with a bout of Pleurisy. Recovery has been slow and is still not complete, but I have been able to do a few small tasks in the garden each day, which helps my spirits! And I have a wonderfully helpful husband, who has been called upon to do many of the tasks I don't yet have strength for.

Notes Celebrates Two Years

2009-05-02T22:59:00.000-07:00

It has been two years this week, since my first post on Notes from a Cottage Garden. My, how time does fly! In honor of the occasion, I thought I would post some photos of my Spring garden, currently in it's prime. I have so enjoyed the tulips this year, especially since I have been mostly house-bound for 3 weeks with a case of Pleurisy, an inflammation of the tissue surrounding the lung. It is very painful and can take from weeks to months for recovery, with rest being the only effective treatment. It is difficult to rest when I want so badly to be working in the garden, but low energy levels have kept me from doing much. The colors in the garden have given me cheer while I recover, and I hope to be gardening again soon!

I planted these tulips in the front bed of my kitchen garden last fall. They go by the name 'Daydream', and the color is just amazing! This is a completely unretouched photo, taken on a sunny day. The tulips look like they are ablaze with fire! They started out mostly yellow with a few orange streaks, but now they are mostly orange. The foliage is sort of wimpy, but I can put up with it... in exchange for the beautiful blooms. :-)

This photo shows the front portion of the garden, off the patio.... with the rock gardens in the background. I added a new tulip bed last fall, just behind the smaller, rustic looking birdhouse. (I left this photo a larger size, so you can click on it to see things up close.) If you look carefully, you can see a sign in the front garden bed which reads "Mom's Garden". It was given to me by my children for Mother's Day many years ago, so is very special to me. In the very back of the photo, nearly covered by trees, is our very rustic chicken coop. One of my favorite beds is behind the birdbath, shown in the next photo.

This bed is home to grape hyacinths along the front, with mini daffodils in the middle. (I have forgotten their name, but they are so cute!) In the back of the bed are Tulips called
'Pretty in Pink'.

And look who came back this evening for a visit, to the same place where he made a mess a few weeks ago? None other than
Mr. Pheasant!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Origin & History of the Tulip

The tulip is a wildflower said to originate from Persia. In the 1500s, tulips were extensively cultivated in Turkey, and because of their resemblance to the "tulbend" — a turban worn by Turkish men — were called tulipan.

In 1562, tulip bulbs from Constantinople reached Antwerp by ship. Before the turn of the century, tulips had been such a rarity that only the wealthy in Holland could afford them; consequently, tulips became a status symbol for the rich. However, by the 1620s, buying and selling tulips became an activity for merchants, and "tulip madness" ensued. Tulip trading crashed in 1637, throwing Holland into financial ruin. After the Dutch government enforced strict laws for cultivating and selling bulbs, the tulip became the national emblem of Holland.

First Poppy of the Season

2009-04-24T19:57:00.000-07:00

I am always happy to see the return of one of my favorite flowers in the whole world....the humble Poppy.

This beautiful Salmon colored Iceland poppy is the first to bloom. The fun thing is that it was also the last poppy of the season in my garden last fall. You can see how it looked back then in the post Icey Iceland Poppy. There is also information there about the variety and seed source.

A close-up of the intricate center. I love all Poppies, but this one is a favorite for it's delicate look and lovely pastel color.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"As for marigolds, poppies, hollyhocks, and valorous sunflowers, we shall never have a garden without them, both for their own sake, and for the sake of old-fashioned folks, who used to love them. "

Henry Ward Beecher

Happy Easter

2009-04-12T10:13:00.000-07:00

....Alleluia!

A Not-So-Pleasant Pheasant Sighting

2009-04-04T10:57:00.000-07:00

The male pheasant is a beautiful and colorful bird, and we often enjoy watching them on the hillside near our house. I've tried without success to get a photo of them, because they are so cautious and scare very easily. So I was quite surprised to look out the window a couple mornings ago and see one in my flower bed!

I have a a bird feeder hanging on a tree branch above this bed and apparently some seed had fallen unto the ground. This rooster and two hens were just a-scratching away there! They did damage to some newly emerging tulip bulbs I planted there last fall. You can see some of the broken foliage in this zoomed shot, just to the right of Mr. Pheasant. (A side note: These particular flower beds are formed with natural basalt rock we have here in GREAT abundance. I guess you could say we are taking advantage of our natural resources.)

Here, Mr. Pheasant has sensed my presence in the window, and is standing at attention, ready to take flight. The females had wisely disappeared by now. I'm glad to have at least gotten a photo of this elusive creature, and I don't think the tulips are so badly damaged as to not bloom, though they may be a little raggedy. In the mean time, I will be moving the bird feeder, to hopefully avoid this happening again. The Ringneck Pheasant is named for the white ring around it's neck, but I confess I may have had some other impulses regarding the term ring neck. (Ha) On a happier note....if you click to enlarge the photo, you can see some soon-to-bloom daffodils, to the left of the fencepost.

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A few Pheasant Facts :

* Roosters will range in weight from 3.5 to 4 lbs

* Hens will range in weight from 2 to 2.5 lbs

* A typical rooster accumulates a harem of three to seven hens

* After hatching, pheasant chicks immediately begin growing flight feathers, and are capable of short flights at 2 weeks

* Pheasants do not migrate, they stay relatively local all year long

* On flat ground, a ringneck pheasant can run at speeds of 8-10mph

* Pheasants can fly up to 48mph

* Pheasants main predators include: Fox, Raccoon and Skunk (as chicks) and Man, Fox, Hawks and Owls

* Pheasants eat berries, seeds, young shoots and insects and prefer open country with
brushy cover

* Through most of the growing season, pheasants can survive on the moisture they
consume in insects and the morning dew on vegetation

* During the summer, insects comprise considerably more of the chick's diet and weed seeds
more of the adult's diet

* Pheasants are in the Phasianidae family and are cousins of Quail and Partridge

* The spring ratio of hens to roosters is usually about 3:1

* 30% annual survival rate and only 2-3% of population lives to age 3, whether they're hunted or not

* Pheasants, a native to China, were brought across the Pacific in 1881 by Judge Owen Nickerson Denny in an initial batch of 30 (with 26 surviving the journey)

Cheerful Gloves....Dreary Weather

2009-03-25T19:21:00.000-07:00

We made a trip to our nearest shopping city last Saturday and when we were at Costco, I spotted these garden gloves....which immediately jumped into our cart. :-)

Aren't they beautiful? Such bright and cheerful colors and designs, in an attractive package ....and five pairs for only $16.99!

I photographed the back of the package, for you lady gardeners, so you can read the details about each pair. (Click on the photo to enlarge) There are gloves here for every need! From left to right: Goatskin Leather/Spandex, Leather Palm, Nitrile Coated Knit, Latex Coated Knit, and Dotted Jersey. Yes, these were a good value, and cheerful indeed.

The weather, on the other hand, has been wet and dreary.....looks like I will need to be using those waterproof latex coated gloves above. Here you can see the low hanging clouds, and to the left of the greenhouse, my winter sown containers, of which about 2/3 are up and growing. I am just beginning to use the greenhouse for seed starting and growing on. I checked the ten day forecast yesterday and this is what it said:

1. Cloudy
2. Rain/Snow
3. Cloudy
4. Mostly Cloudy
5. Mostly Cloudy
6. Cloudy
7. Rain
8. Dreary - (sigh)
9. Rain,
10. Cloudy

So....I will be hoping those mostly cloudy days will be partly sunny. And that it will dry out enough to plant out my new flowers. I decided I didn't have enough early flowers for my color starved eyes, so I bought crocuses, primulas, and pansies. These should brighten things up until the sun decides to shine again. :-)

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Your garden gloves take a beating when you're working in the yard. Sticky mud, grass stains, tree sap and other messy job residue cling to gloves, shortening their working lives and ruining their appearance. Here's an easy way to clean them: (except for leather gloves, of course)

Step 1

Leave the gloves on your hands after you finish working in the yard.

Step 2

Wash your gloved hands with soap and water.

Step 3

Rinse well with fresh water

Step 4

Remove the gloves from your hands.

Step 5

Lay them out flat on top of a water heater or other heat-producing appliance to dry.

Tomato Trials 2008

2009-03-17T10:02:00.000-07:00

I'm always game for trying new vegetable varieties, especially when it comes to our garden favorite, the Tomato. In 2008 I trialed several heirlooms varieties. The real test, for me, is the comparison to Brandywine, which I have grown for many years. So far, nothing has come close to Brandywine's great taste!

This is Cherokee Purple in the not-quite-ripe-yet stage. You can see the darker shoulders, which have yet to turn color. I also grew Cherokee Chocolate and Black Krim, but found all of these varieties to be rather bland tasting, and also pretty soft texture wise. I prefer a firmer tomato. In years past, I have also tried Pruden's Purple, which didn't pass the test either.

*** Update: 3-24-09 ***I just read that Black Krim should be harvested before fully ripe, with shoulders still green and before it gets soft, for the best flavor..... so I might have to give it another chance. :-)

Another heirloom variety I tried was Arkansas Traveler, shown here with tiny yellow Signet marigolds. It would probably be in the pink category, as it doesn't get to be a true red. Nothing to get excited over here, taste-wise. One pink variety that I grew for several years that I did like is Caspian Pink, which has a very good taste, but doesn't produce many tomatoes.

Zapotec Pleated looks cool, but when you slice it open there are lots of empty spaces inside the folds, and I'm sorry to report....the taste leaves you pretty empty, too. I had tons of green ones left after frost, which ended up in the compost pile.

I received seed for this heirloom, Nyagous, as an extra in a seed trade. The tomatoes are a smaller size, firm, with black shoulders, and grow in clusters. And the taste is......wonderful! It is both sweet and tangy, with lots of rich flavor. It hails from Russia. I grew it in a 3 gallon container, because I ran out of space. I can't wait to see how it produces with a spot of honor in the garden this year.

I also grew an heirloom Cherry tomato called Ana Asa, looking for something to possibly replace my old standby, hybrid Super Sweet 100 Cherry , but there was no comparison, taste-wise. I seriously don't think there is a sweeter or better tasting cherry than Super Sweet 100, but I am open for suggestions. :-)

Brandy Boy is a new hybrid I tried for the first time last year. It is a cross between Better Boy and Brandywine and is supposed to produce more tomatoes on the plant, but still have that great Brandywine taste. I found it lived up to both of these criteria.

So...what are my Tomato selections for 2009?
Maybe next year I will do more trials, but this summer I intend to keep it simple and grow only the tried and true:

1. Hybrid Goliath, as my main crop tomato. I love everything about this tomato! The taste, the large number of tomatoes it produces and the firm, perfect, blemish free fruit. I have been growing this one for nearly 20 years now. I am not a purist when it comes to Hybrids vs. Heirlooms....nothing can beat some of the Hybrids for production and reliability. As long as the seeds are available, I will grow them. (I am still using seeds from a packet I bought in 1999!)

2. Brandywine - several plants, for the unbeatable taste!

3. Brandy Boy Hybrid - this time side by side with Brandywine to really compare fruit production.

3. Heirloom Pineapple - one plant, for dear husband who really likes this one. The tomatoes grow HUGE, the color a mottled red and yellow combination.

4. Super Sweet 100 Cherry - We eat these like candy....usually standing right there in the garden. These are a big hit with my now 3 year old granddaughter!

5. Nyagous - for the taste and nice salad size.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Home grown tomatoes, home grown tomatoes
What would life be like without homegrown tomatoes?
Only two things that money can't buy
That's true love and home grown tomatoes.”

John Denver, 'Home Grown Tomatoes'
(from a song written by Guy Clark)

Signs of Spring

2009-03-07T20:22:00.000-08:00

With March well under way, there are changes going on the garden. Slowly, but surely.... signs of life are re-appearing.

Daffodils emerging, with their flower buds already intact.

Same daffodils, a week later under an inch of snow! Yup... it's March, and anything can happen. Fortunately, the snow melted very quickly, in this case.

Forsythia branches, being forced on the windowsill.....

.....it's first yellow blossoms opening in the sun.

Garden clean-up begins in earnest, with the first ritual of Spring.... the pruning of my Simplicity rose hedge. This was a stealth shot by my dear husband. :-)

And lastly, a robin... looking for worms.

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"Spring shows what God can do with a drab and dirty world."

Virgil A. Kraft

Compost Central

2009-02-28T21:52:00.000-08:00

Though flowers and vegetables often get the limelight, the real heart of the organic garden is the place where compost is created. Our composting site is somewhat hidden, and certainly doesn't get much glory....but it plays a very important role in the overall health of the garden.

Our compost spot is about 50 yards from our front door...far enough away for its sights and smells not to be distracting, but near enough for frequent trips to deposit vegetable scraps and garden waste. It is located behind our chicken coop, which we aren't using currently except for storage. (That could change this year, as we are considering having laying hens again.)

A close up of the two Earth Machine composters. These were in my daughter and son-in-law's back yard, and since they weren't being used, I volunteered to use them. :-) This is where kitchen scraps go..... layered with shredded leaves, which are stored in the covered garbage can on the left. I rarely turn the material in these, maybe once in the Spring. I can pick them up, move them and fork the contents back in. It takes a year or more for finished compost in these, but it is very rich from all the vegetable matter.

I bought a recycled plastic compost ring at a yard sale a few years ago and liked it so well, I added these two updated GeoBins last year. The first one is still in the chicken yard, but will be set up next to these two after I harvest the finished compost this Spring. They are lightweight, but sturdy enough to hold lots of material, and though they are perforated for air flow, they still maintain good moisture content. You simply lift and set up in a new location, and turn your material back into the bin. I try to do this a few times a year, in order to help aerate the compost for faster decomposing. My plan for the three bins is to put the rough material in bin one, then transfer to bin two as it breaks down some, with the third bin used to finish the compost.

In spring and summer I use mostly straw or saved leaves for carbon material and grass for nitrogen, but in the fall when there is no longer grass available to heat up the piles, I use these Alfalfa pellets for their nitrogen content. They are cheap, and available at most Feed stores. Another good addition, that helps get things cooking is coffee grounds, saved in a 5 gallon bucket for us by our local Espresso shop....they call us when the bucket is full and we pick it up and bring them a new bucket. Worms love coffee grounds! It attracts them to the pile, where they help aerate and add their rich castings to the mix, and when I put the compost on my garden beds, the worms go, too. I alternate layers of dry garden waste or leaves, alfalfa pellets, more garden waste, then coffee grounds, and so on...repeating the layers. When I turn a partially broken down pile I add pellets and coffee grounds to help get it working again, and then leave it to sit over the winter.

This post wouldn't be complete without featuring my new favorite garden tool, the Flowtron Leaf Eater/Ultimate Mulcher which I got last Fall. It does a great job of shredding leaves, as long as you change the strings when they wear down. (And, I might add....it is ever so much more convenient than having to shred leaves by running them over with the lawn mower, as I did previously.) I save some of the shredded leaves in large lawn bags, stored in a dry place, to use for compost. The rest go onto my garden beds to cover them for the winter. I push the leaves aside when I'm ready to plant in the spring, in order to let the soil warm up, but use the shredded leaves again as mulch around plants in summer when the weather gets hot. This really helps keep moisture in the soil, and cuts down on watering chores.

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That about sums up the outdoor composting set up here. I also compost indoors with redworms and have done so for many years. Nothing beats pure worm castings as a fertilizer and soil conditioner for the garden. BUT... that is another post! :-)

My Mother's Garden

2009-02-20T09:02:00.000-08:00

Today is the 2 year anniversary of my Mother's passing, so I thought it would be a fitting tribute to her memory to post some photos I was pleased to come across recently in one of my albums. I took these pictures with our first decent (for those days) 35 mm camera, in 1977. They show my Mom's abundant garden on our farm, located on the North Dakota prairie.

Mom, in her garden with Benji, the dog. Since it is a cool, northern zone 3 there, nothing can be planted until after Memorial Day....so this is probably around late June or early July. The Corn is up and growing , with Peas in the foreground. (Click on photo to enlarge)

The next three photos were taken in the fall of the same year. Here you can see the Corn...tall and tasseled out, with Squash plants on the right and Cabbages in the left foreground, along with the yellow flowers of Dill in the center. Her garden was not weedless, but it was very productive! I remember Mom enticing us kids with spending money for the County Fair, in exchange for weeding 'X' number of rows in the garden. :-) Some days, supper hour would come and go....the kitchen was silent, and Mom was no where to be found, until we realized she was lost in the garden. I now find myself doing this....there is much to do and time passes so quickly when you're working in the garden!

A huge Cabbage, with two of my (then) little sisters flanking either side. I was the big sister.....the oldest of 6 girls. I have both an older and a younger brother, too, bringing the total to 8 children in our family. These photos were taken on a visit home to the farm, when I was 22.

The flowers at the edge of Mom's garden were beautiful! This old scanned photo simply doesn't do them justice. ( Please click on photo to enlarge and see detail ) Many returned as volunteers from the previous years self-sown seed. There were Bachelor buttons, California Poppies, Marigolds and Zinnias. Behind the flowers is what looks to be Potatoes and a Cucumber patch. We always had dozens of jars of dill pickles on our pantry shelves!

So....there you have it. Proof that I come by my love of growing things quite naturally. Is there such a thing as a gardening gene? :-)

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Mom, your memory is blessed. You were a wonderful example to me in all things, not the least of which was the love and labor you put into your garden and the countless hours spent preserving its bounty to feed and nourish your family. You are dearly missed!

Nature Valentine

2009-02-13T18:45:00.000-08:00

I was so excited to share a photo of a heart shaped Sunflower on my Valentine's Day blog post last year. As I was contemplating what I should post this year, I was pretty sure I couldn't top that. But as I searched through my photo folders, I came across one from Fall of 2007, that seems fitting for this special day.

The tiny red heart-shaped leaf was one of the last clinging to a branch of this shrub, so I turned it upside down and held it up against a larger, yellowing leaf to show off it's color. It was just something that caught my eye at the time. I guess it has just been waiting there in my folder, for such a time as this. :-)

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Happy Valentine's Day!

Form vs. Color

2009-02-08T19:39:00.000-08:00

I recently gave myself an assignment. It was to take some outdoor photos in black and white only. It was a good lesson, because it forced me to view things differently. Color is usually the first thing to grab the attention, so its absence causes one to look more deeply at scenes and objects....to see and realize the beauty of form, in the absence of color. Below are some images from my self challenge....

A Locust tree in our neighborhood.

The swollen buds of Forsythia.

The skeletal remains of Queen Anne's Lace.

Sun setting behind the mountain.

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"There's something strange and powerful about black-and-white imagery."

Stefan Kanfer

Welcome February

2009-02-03T14:09:00.000-08:00

I enjoy changing the pages of my calendar, and especially so when I can welcome February and say good-bye to our longest, coldest month. :-) On my daily walk a few days ago, I captured a few scenes from the neighborhood to commemorate this new month, in which we begin to see and sense the beginnings of Spring!

I've often photographed this barn in our neighborhood, but today my eye was drawn to the barn door and the darkness of the opening beside it, as seen from behind the horizontal lines of the corral fence. There's still some snow on the ground, as well as a little clinging to the wooden shingles of the roof. I love how the yellowish green moss on the bottom rail of the fence gives a little color to the otherwise neutral tones of this scene.

This horse,who is being pastured on our neighbor's property, was friendly enough to come up to the fence and greet me. Her name is Kiola, and she is a beautiful animal... from the pretty white star on her forehead and dark mane, to the subtle coloring of her face, which grows progressively paler towards the area of her nose and mouth.

Grazing in the pasture...where the snow is nearly melted, and patches of green are becoming visible amidst the brown.

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"February is merely as long as is needed to pass the time until March."

- Dr. J. R. Stockton

View from an Upstairs Window

2009-01-30T19:45:00.000-08:00

David Perry of A Photographers Garden Blog recently issued a fun assignment....to take a photo from the window of one of the rooms of your house. The view below shows a portion of my garden, as seen from the window of an upstairs bedroom.

I like the slant of the winter sun filtering through the Pines, and the way it lights the greenhouse. Upon closer inspection of the photo, it made me wish I had put away the pots from my container plants last fall. Come to think of it, the greenhouse could use a good cleaning, too....as it won't be long now, before it will be in use again. Now that is something to smile about. :-)

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"In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer. "

Albert Camus

Coneflower Birdfeeder

2009-01-21T15:07:00.000-08:00

I always leave the dried seed-heads in my front flower garden as Winter food for the birds. A favorite of the birds is Echinacea (Purple Coneflower) seeds.

Here a Junco sits on the Coneflower head, searching for seed.

Mission accomplished. If you look carefully you can see the seed in the bird's mouth. (Click photo to enlarge) Even with the birds eating the seeds, plenty seem to fall to the ground to start new plants.

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God gives every bird its food, but He does not throw it into its nest.

~J.G. Holland

Feeding the Finches

2009-01-12T20:44:00.000-08:00

With all the snow on the ground, the birds have had slim pickin's lately, so we purchased a big bag of wild bird seed to supplement their lean diet. We've had lots of Juncos, Chickadees, Quail, and even some Wild turkeys that stop by each day. But the day we put out the seed was the first day the House Finches appeared. How did they know?

This male House Finch sits near the top of our Blue Spruce Christmas tree, which we left in the stand and placed outdoors, near our front door. I threw bird seed on and around it, and was soon rewarded with many birds to watch. I love the House Finches, both their temperament and that little touch of red that makes them so pretty.

This one is sampling a dish of birdseed....while completely ignoring the yummy Cherry suet treat just behind him, in the feeder.

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"Behold the birds of the air; for they sow not, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns. Yet your heavenly Father feeds them....." Matthew 6:26

Poor indeed is the garden in which birds find no homes.

~Abram L. Urban

Happy New Year

2008-12-30T13:30:00.000-08:00

I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a
Happy New Year!

This is my neighbor's shrub. I'm not sure what it is, but it is covered with beautiful red berries, and looks quite festive against the weathered building, while the freshly fallen snow accentuates the cement block wall.

We watched with interest, as this icicle on our house grew longer each day during the Christmas holidays. It almost touched the ground...before the rains came and melted it away.

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"Another fresh New Year is here...
Another year to live!
To banish worry, doubt, and fear,
To love and laugh and give!

This bright New Year is given me
to live each day with zest...
To daily grow and try and be
My highest and my best!

I have the opportunity
Once more to right some wrongs,
To pray for peace, to plant some tree,
And sing more joyful songs!

~William Arthur Ward

Christmas Greetings

2008-12-24T08:20:00.000-08:00

This little nativity is one of my favorite thrift store finds...and it represents the true Spirit of Christmas for our family.

"For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us Son is given;
And the government shall be upon His shoulder.

And His name shall be called
Wonderful, Counselor,
Mighty God,
the Everlasting Father,
the Prince of Peace."

Isaiah 9:6

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To all my readers, fellow gardeners, bloggers, friends and family:

Merry Christmas!

A Black and White World

2008-12-22T17:03:00.000-08:00

Our second round of snowfall has brought the level to about a foot deep. It went over the top of my boots when I took my veggie scraps out to the compost pile this morning. :-) I think this may be a record snowfall for us, especially this early in the season. Something I really appreciate about living here in our valley is the lack of wind, which allows the snow to pile up neatly on everything.

I like the way my birdbath resembles a layer cake...complete with fluffy white frosting.

Our patio dining set. Care to come over for a (very) cool drink?

Flat heads of Yarrow in the flower garden sporting their fancy conehead caps.

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"I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape - the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show."

~Andrew Wyeth

Snow Moon Rising

2008-12-18T20:33:00.000-08:00

I couldn't resist the title for this post, though I'm aware that the moon in these photos isn't actually rising, but setting. Maybe a more fitting title would be.....Goodnight, Moon.

These were taken in the morning, the day after our first snow. The sky was a gorgeous shade of blue, making the moon quite visible.

A close up of the moon above the mountain. It is in the waning stage, a few days after the full moon. (If you click on the photo, you can see it much larger.) Here is a little Moon trivia I found with a quick internet search:

The Moon is visible in the evening (PM side of the Earth) starting a few days past new moon, during first quarter until a few days before full moon. It will be visible in the morning (AM side of the Earth) starting at full moon, during third quarter until a few days before new moon. The Moon will not be visible for a few days around new moon because the sunlit side of the Moon is facing away from Earth, towards the Sun.

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"The moon, like a flower
In heaven's high bower
With silent delight
Sits and smiles on the night."

"...and sometimes the morning." My addendum ;-)

~William Blake, English poet

New Fallen Snow

2008-12-14T20:50:00.000-08:00

We finally received our first snowfall of the season. As always, it is beautiful and magical..... adding a clean layer of white to everything it touches.

A ranch in our neighborhood.....always photogenic, but especially so in the low winter light and a cover of snow.

Snow adds a new dimension to this simple, rustic fence post.

The brown remains of Queen Anne's Lace becomes a receptacle for a fluff of white snow.

Wild turkey tracks. :-)

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"The future lies before you, like paths of pure white snow. Be careful how you tread it, for every step will show."

Out of Season Color

2008-12-13T09:23:00.000-08:00

In my last post I mentioned a late bouquet I had gathered from the garden on December 5th. This is a definite first for me here in my zone 6b garden. I keep wondering how long this mild weather can hold out, but I am enjoying it while it lasts!

As I meandered around the garden looking for bits of color, this is what I discovered for my December bouquet. The brave flowers are as follows: (roughly from top to bottom) pink Yarrow, Verbena Bonariensis (a bit browned) , Calendula, one lonely Chive blossom, a sprig of Virgo Feverfew, 3 White Pincushion Flowers, a couple stems of blue Sunday Sage and one of pink, one single purple Pincushion Flower, more Calendulas, and finally.....the red foliage of hardy Geranium and the yellowed leaves of Columbine.

This late season color makes the wait for Spring just a little bit shorter. :-)

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O, wind... If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

~Percy Bysshe Shelley

Calendulas and Catmint

2008-12-07T18:17:00.000-08:00

I purchased these vintage green bottles at a flea market last summer, with the vision of arranging them with a single flower in each. I posted a earlier photo with Orange Cosmos in a single green bottle/vase. The green and orange really seemed to work well together.

I decorated for a bridal shower this week, which motivated me to try out my idea. Here they are grouped together on my kitchen counter. They looked a little bare with only one late blooming Calendula per vase, as the flowers are pretty small this time of year, so I doubled them up and added some blue Catmint. They do look charming, I think.....especially at a time of year when color is so scarce. I didn't end up using these for the shower, but I am enjoying the bright spot in my kitchen!

A tour around the garden did yield a small bouquet of flowers for the bridal shower....on December 5th, no less! I will share the photo on my next post.

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"The gardening season officially begins on January 1st, and ends on December 31."

~ Marie Huston

Welcome December

2008-12-02T18:12:00.000-08:00

It's the second day of December, and we are still enjoying such unseasonably mild temperatures that the Lilacs, Service berries, and other shrubs think it is Spring....and are budding! I took advantage of the mild weather today to take a walk in the neighborhood.....camera in hand.

This country road is where I take my (sometimes) daily walk. I tend to not walk as often as I should this time of year, because of rainy days and early darkness. Today the mountains were wearing their white shawl of low hanging clouds. I love the mood and effect it casts on the surrounding scenery.

A view towards town.....with lots of gray clouds in the sky. The river runs just below here, though not visible in the photo. Today I received my first seed and gardening catalogs which, for me, officially marks the beginning of the "Plan and Dream" season. :-)

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"From December to March,
there are for many of us three gardens ~
the garden outdoors,
the garden of pots and bowls in the house,
and the garden of the mind's eye."

~Katherine S. White

Thanksgiving Bouquet

2008-11-26T19:40:00.000-08:00

I'm pretty sure this will be the last of my garden flowers...some late flowering Calendulas. So I'm sending it as a virtual bouquet to all of you, and wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving!

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"It is a good thing to give thanks to the Lord,
And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High;
To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning,
And your faithfulness every night."
Psalm 92:1

More Fungi

2008-11-24T19:59:00.000-08:00

As I was giving my compost pile one final turn for the season, I spotted this cute little colony of mushrooms. They were just oh, so photogenic!....so I'm sharing a few photos as an addendum to my previous post, Fall Fungi.

There were around two dozen or so of the little mushrooms , growing together all cozy-like.... shorter ones under the taller ones.

A view from the side. Notice how they branch out like a tree from the bottom? I discovered they were all growing up from a small tree limb, which was buried underneath the compost.

A top view...showing off their fancy 'parasol hats'.

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Fall mushrooms, which appear as if by magic in our woodlands and meadows, are as diverse as the many shades of fall leaves.

Fall Fungi

2008-11-12T17:47:00.000-08:00

Now that the Fall rains have arrived, mushrooms seem to be popping up everywhere! Though they are not showy like flowers, they have a certain appeal of their own, many being quite diminutive in size. It sometimes takes a keen eye to spot them....but is worth the search.

A trio of tiny toadstools.

A pretty pair..... charming in their little brown caps.

A stocky single specimen.

This looks a little like the type you buy in the grocery store, but I'm sure it isn't edible. I don't know a thing about classifying these, but if anyone can identify them, feel free to do so in the Comments.

I like the way the light plays behind this fragile little mushroom.

And lastly.... my favorite photo. Same mushroom as above, plucked and turned upside down to reveal the intricate gills on it's underside.

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"I am a mushroom; On whom the dew of heaven drops now and then." ~John Ford

"All mushrooms are edible - once." ~unknown

Autumn Images

2008-11-06T20:23:00.000-08:00

This has been one of the most beautiful Autumns I can remember.... with mild temps and many sunny days, which has made garden clean-up a pleasant task. I've been so busy outdoors, I nearly missed capturing a few photos of the fall colors with my camera.

This wild Cherry tree stands just behind our wood shed. The day after I took the photo, the tree was nearly bare....the bright leaves piled in a soft bed beneath it's limbs.

Our mountain in Autumn. The sky was grey on this particular day, but the colors brilliant.

These beautiful rose hips dot the hillsides in abundance at this time of year.

A scene on the Southfork of the Clearwater River, with Autumn colors at their peak.

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"Autumn burned brightly, a running flame through the mountains, a torch flung to the trees."

~Faith Baldwin

Icy Iceland Poppy

2008-10-22T22:39:00.000-07:00

As I walked around the garden on this chilly morning, I saw this Salmon colored Iceland Poppy lying flattened on the dirt, sparkling with frost. The stark contrast between the fading flower and the dark ground beneath it prompted me to go inside for my camera.

This variety of Iceland Poppy is called Meadow Pastels. The colors are soft and pretty, this particular color being one of my favorites. They were started from winter sown seed. I had just recently spread a layer of my homemade compost on this bed in preparation for growing my early greens here next year......hence, the squash seed, visible to the left of the flower. :-)

A short distance away from the flower was it's missing petal.

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"For man, autumn is a time of harvest, of gathering together. For nature, it is a time of sowing, of scattering abroad."

~Edwin Way Teale

Good-Bye Garden

2008-10-17T17:03:00.000-07:00

Our first killing frost came early this year, on October 8th....and it came hard, with the thermometer dipping to a a chilly 24 degrees! By the time I got out to view the damage the sun had already melted the frost.....so no lovely frost pictures like last year.

This orange Cosmos is hanging its head....succumbing to the inevitable. Oh, how I will miss the cheerful flowers!

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"By the breath of God frost is given..." Job 37:10

White Pincushion Flower

2008-10-09T09:12:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite summer flowers is Scabiosa, also known as Pincushion Flower. I think the common name suits it very well, and is ever so much nicer sounding than Scabiosa, wouldn't you agree? :-) This year I winter sowed seeds for a White variety, which I have enjoyed very much. It has been blooming strong.....even into these cooler fall days. I took all the photos below on the same day. The flowers were in four different stages on the plant, all at the same time.

The tightly packed flower bud, which resembles a pincushion.

The partially unfolded flower. I love the contrast of the white and the greenish center.

The flower in full bloom! Note the slender stamens inside each fold . . . they look rather like pins.

The handsome prickly seedhead. . . . still looking rather like a pincushion, don't you think?

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Pincushion flowers can be either Annual or Perennial, and I suspect this variety (which I obtained from a seed trade ) is an Annual, so I will save some seed to plant next year.

Cabbage White on Verbena Bonariensis

2008-09-19T20:38:00.000-07:00

The garden is all a-flutter this time of year with many small moths and butterflies, including the Cabbage White Butterfly which seems to have a definite preference for Verbena Bonariensis.

And who wouldn't? It is a lovely plant, with it's stiff, widely branched stems and open, airy look. This native of Brazil and Argentina grows to 3-6 ft., flowers all summer until frost, and re-seeds readily. The 'see-through' quality of Verbena Bonariensis makes it a great weaver in the Cottage garden, and a good choice for the front or middle mixed border. Although it is said to be a Zone 7 perennial, it came back for me this year in my Zone 6 garden....where it was heartily welcomed. It also winter sows very well.

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Tip: Pinch out the first few shoots of Verbena Bonariensis in spring to encourage branching. The more you cut it back, the more shrub like it will become.

Glorious Daisy

2008-09-14T08:05:00.000-07:00

Black-eyed Susans are one of my favorite garden flowers...especially so in late Summer, when they bloom their hearts out while other flowers languish in the heat. They also go by the names Rudbeckia or Gloriosa Daisy, which literally means Glorious Daisy, which I think decribes them best. I grew several varieties from seed this year, with the winter sowing method. This is one of my favorites so far....

It looks rather like a burst of sun, doesn't it? I love the sunny yellow ring around the brown center cone, along with the splashes of orange. I obtained the seed from a GardenWeb trade, labeled as 'Cherokee Sunset'..... but descriptions and images of that variety show them to be either double or semi-double, so I'm not sure if the seed was mis-labeled or perhaps just crossed with another type of Rudbeckia. In any case, it is very pretty!

Rudbeckias can be either annuals or perennials, so since I don't know yet what this will be, I'll save some seed to re-plant next year.... and hope to get the same results.

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Some Trivia.....

The name Black-Eyed Susan is likely derived from the poem composed by English poet John Gay, titled, “Black-Eyed Susan,” which was written in the early 18th century.

Baby Belle Peppers

2008-09-09T14:33:00.000-07:00

In the past, we have purchased bags of multi-colored mini-bell Peppers from Costco, and really liked them.....so I was delighted to see seeds for these Baby Belle Tricolor Peppers in the Nichols Garden Nursery Catalog last year.

Aren't they just the cutest things? I grew them successfully in the ground last year, but this year I decided to try 4 plants in a half whiskey barrel planter. They grew very nicely and produced many peppers per plant. Two plants turned out to be red, one orange, and one yellow. In the above photo, the largest pepper (bottom center) is beginning to turn yellow...a bit behind the others for coloring up. The flavor is mild and sweet....a garden treat!

Oh, and did I mention how cute they are? :-)

Cosmos in Vintage Vases

2008-09-03T10:21:00.000-07:00

I enjoy collecting old glass bottles to use as flower vases. I thought it would be fun to share a couple of my latest finds.

I purchased this old bottle for 50 cents at a yard sale this summer. I love it's heavy glass feel, top lip, and rather unusual shape. It stands a little over 3 inches tall, so is perfect for a few selected flowers. Featured here with a few 'Picotee' Cosmos flowers. (Cosmos bipinnatus) The large blooms are white with a rose/pink picotee edge, and some blooms are also splashed or striped with crimson highlights.

This green bottle came from a recent flea market, where there was a huge selection of old glass. I didn't have any in this color, so I bought several in different shapes and sizes. In my mind's eye, I pictured a collection of them sitting on a tray with a few casual flowers in each. I like how the green color compliments this handful of Orange Cosmos (Cosmos sulphureus). Both photos were taken with the vases placed on my ironing board (cover by Martha Stewart), with natural light from a nearby window.

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"Dirty hands, iced tea, garden fragrances thick in the air and a blanket of color before me, who could ask for more?"

- Bev Adams, Mountain Gardening

Doubledecker Coneflower

2008-08-28T11:33:00.000-07:00

An internet search yielded this brief history of Doubledecker Coneflower:
A German plantsman, Eugen Schleipfer found an Echinacea plant that looked very different from the others. After years of selection, a reliable seed strain with two tiered flowers resulted. A set of shorter petals rests on top of the cone while a "skirt" of longer, deep rose-pink petals emerge from the base of the cone. First year plants sometimes produce single flowers. From the second year forward, a high percentage of two tiered flowers appear with either a single or double set of petals. Occasionally, older plants produce single flowers.

I purchased this as a very small plant 3 years ago from a mail order company. It had only bloomed with single flowers the past two summers, so I was excited this year when I saw some pink flower petals beginning to sprout out of the center cone! I wanted to wait to photograph them until they were fully formed, but unfortunately by the time that happened the original flower was already beginning to brown, as you can see by the tips of the petals.

A single bloom, growing out of the original flower. They have a somewhat 'messy' look.

This top flower is double and almost dwarfs the original flower.....making it look a bit top heavy!

Less than half of the flowers on my plant exhibited the double flower characteristic, so it will be interesting to observe, next year and beyond....to see if a greater percentage of flowers will display this trait. I think perhaps this variety is still a little unstable, but 'Doppelganger' (it's German name) is an interesting plant, adding an unusual charm to the cottage garden.

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Fun Fact: The word "echinacea" comes from the Greek word "echinos" meaning "hedgehog", referring to the flower's spiky central cone.

Helenium Mardi Gras

2008-08-20T19:40:00.000-07:00

This was my first year to order a few plants from Bluestone Perennials, and Helenium Mardi Gras was among them. Helenium also goes by the name Helen's flower, or Sneezeweed.

The flower petals are mainly yellow, splashed randomly with red. They have a sort of tie dyed look, which.... for some reason, I seem to be attracted to. (See this previous post.) The brown center cone on some of the flowers appears as though it is wearing a delicate crown around the outside edge....as seen in the bottom flower in the above photo.

This second photo shows some of the tightly packed flower buds, which are attractive in their own right. I look forward to this plant growing into it's full height and stature in the next couple of years. It it quite winsome, and has definitely secured a place in my perennial garden.

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Since Helenium also goes by the name Helen's Flower, I am dedicating this post to Helen...
my sweet sister-in-law. :-)

Butterfly on Coneflower

2008-08-06T12:23:00.000-07:00

I was taking some photos of a few new flowers in my garden yesterday, when this butterfly caught my eye. It was checking out the Coneflowers and I got the chance at just one shot.....before it quickly fluttered away again.

I am not sure what type this is....but it's not one I see often here. Can anyone identify it for me?

Coneflowers are always a favorite of the butterflies.....and me. :-)
I love the fact that they come into bloom just about the time when I am hauling cartloads of spent flowers out of the garden!

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A Passion for Pollen

2008-07-26T18:27:00.000-07:00

I am always pleased each year when the Cosmos begin to bloom. It is the classic summer flower!

This bee looked to be quite smitten with this pink Cosmos bloom, and was tightly hugging the center of the flower. :-)

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The family reunion is over, and it went beautifully. We have spent some time this week at our favorite campground upriver, in our very favorite campsite, on a bend of the river.....with the sound of rushing water relaxing us in the day and lulling us to sleep at night. It has been wonderful therapy, after some very busy weeks!

House Makeover - Part 1

2008-07-21T14:25:00.000-07:00

We have been doing several DIY projects around our place this year. The most ambitious one has been the painting of our house. I am posting some before and after photos to show the amazing difference paint can make.

BEFORE.....Not so bad, kind of country looking, but I was ready for a lighter color. If you click to enlarge, you will note the pointed shutters, which reminded me of a Swiss Chalet.

AFTER! I absolutely love the new color, Banana Cream, by Sherwin Williams. The trim is True Value Pure White. We used primer to cover the dark color, and then two coats of yellow. I painted the shutters and trims, and my dear husband did all the rest. I used the chop saw to trim the shutters even on the tops and bottoms for a more classic look. [Yes, real women do use power tools...smile. ] We have a few details to finish.....my clematis was still blooming on the right porch post, so it will be painted white and then we will add some Victorian trim pieces to the porch corners. The door will be painted to match the brick planter which is hidden by the honeysuckle. I will update with more photos later.

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Thank you, Dear Husband for my new house.
I believe it has now graduated from a Country House....to a
real Cottage!

Kissed by the Morning Sun

2008-07-16T11:36:00.000-07:00

I am soooo busy, with a family reunion coming up this weekend. I am hosting it the first night at my house, for my immediate family, and then we will meet with our cousins for the weekend at a resort up the river. Just taking a minute to share a photo today......

This poppy seems to really glow, as it basks in the early morning sun. I don't know for sure which kind it is, as it was in a mixture of seeds, but it is just so charming!

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Pretty Poppies

2008-07-12T15:05:00.000-07:00

Anyone who has ever been to my garden will note that I am very fond of Poppies! I planted a row of Shirley poppies in my vegetable garden many years ago, and was enchanted by their tissue paper texture and lovely colors and bi-colors. They reseeded, came back, and then I began casting the seeds all over my garden! I still love the Shirley poppies, but each year I try some new ones of other types. Last year it was Drama Queen and Pink Ruffled and Lauren's Grape. This year I obtained seed from a Gardenweb trade for White Swansdown....pictured below.

It is aptly named, as it's large double flowers with snow white petals do have the look of the fine soft feathers of a Swan's down. These are about 3 ft. tall and the foliage is a pleasant grayish blue-green color. The Latin name is Papaver somniferum laciniatum.

Another endearing feature of Poppies are the buds. I like the way they gracefully hang their heads, until they are ready to fully bloom. Then they stand upright... at attention! Here is a fat bud, just beginning to open, still in it's drooping position.

A close-up of the feathery white 'down'.

Happy Cosmos

2008-07-08T19:06:00.001-07:00

I have been eyeing these Happy Ring Cosmos in the Parks Seed catalog for a couple years, so this year I stopped resisting and purchased the seed. They were started in my greenhouse and planted out only last week, so I was surprised to see them already blooming.

The colors of this Cosmos reminds me of when we used to tie-dye our T-shirts when I was a teen. You know....how you put the rubber bands on and then the dye makes concentric circles of various shades of color? I really like the effect. This flower, shown here in my favorite tiny vintage bottle, is a bit on the small side. I'm hoping the subsequent flowers will be larger, more like a regular cosmos, when the plant gets a bit more established. The catalog says they can reach 4-5 inches.

Happy Ring is just plain CUTE....and makes me happy!

Red, White and Blue 2008

2008-07-04T15:50:00.000-07:00

Last 4th of July I had a nice, unplanned display of red, white and blue flowers , but this year the red Monarda didn't return. So I decided to take a stroll around the garden to see if I could come up with another spontaneous grouping of red, white and blue. This is the best I could do....

Okay, so I know the Salvia is more purple than blue, and the Maltese Cross has a bit of an orange hue, but the cute little button flowers of Feverfew 'Virgo' are definitely white. :-)

See yesterday's post for a red Zinnia that looks like a burst of fireworks.

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Have a great Fourth of July!

Red Spider Sighting...

2008-07-03T00:35:00.000-07:00

Ummm...... Red Spider Zinnia, that is. :-)

This is a new Zinnia for me this year. What it lacks in size, it makes up for in cuteness, don't you agree? The pretty white flower in the background is Giant White Hyacinth Candytuft. This winning combination happened quite by accident...when the candytuft hitched a ride with something else I transplanted nearby.

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Flowers are not made by singing "Oh, how beautiful," and sitting in the shade.

~Rudyard Kipling

June Roses

2008-06-24T16:49:00.000-07:00

I love the month of June! By now most of the spring work is done, the plants are in the ground, and there is time to just enjoy the garden. The weather is warm and sunny, accompanied by gentle breezes.....and the dog day heat of summer is yet held at bay. I love coming out into the garden first thing in the morning, to see what new flower might be in bloom. But one of the most special things about June is, of course.....the ROSES. Every cottage garden should be amply graced with this most beautiful and highly revered flower.

I will start the rose line up with a wild pink shrub Rose I am very fond of. This shrub is huge and round, about 18 ft wide. When my daughter was young, we picked hundreds of the buds to use for crafts. I love it's scent and free flowering lushness in June, and the shape looks good in the landscape the rest of the year, as well.

My only yellow rose is GrahamThomas , a David Austin English rose. It is a beauty, and has a lovely fragrance. It was the last rose in bloom for me, when we received our first snowfall of 2007.

Graham Thomas is not only pretty on the bush, but makes a wonderful bouquet. Featured here on a very old Hardanger table scarf my Mother gave me. It was made by someone in our family tree many, many years ago. Note that I have roses on my walls, too. ;-)

Heritage, another David Austin Rose, bears cupped flowers, prettily in-folded in the shell pink blooms, which have deeper color in the centers.

[Rachel, this is for you, since I know how fond you are of this one. Only wish I could send you the sweet fragrance, as well! :-) I have missed your garden visits.]

This wild red rambler, most likely a rugosa, came up from the roots of a hybrid tea rose that died. It grows tall and lanky, and can get rather messy. I always say I am going to cut it down, but then when it blooms in June, it wins me over once again.

Update: A reader has identified this as the climbing rose "Dr. Huey", one of the most common root stocks.

Pink Simplicity hedge roses, growing inside the picket fence, are the backbone of my cottage garden. There are ten on each side of the garden, separated by the center walk. This photo was taken in the evening just before sunset.... so the flowers really look like they are glowing.

A close up of Pink Simplicity. They are so pretty and bloom their hearts out, but alas, have no fragrance. They are also prone to blackspot. Jackson & Perkins now has a Lavender Simplicity with fragrance and disease resistance, which I would like to try somewhere in my garden.

This is an old classic rose of the Alba clan, named Konigin von Danemark (Queen of Denmark). I love the fullness of the quartered petals and the sweet Damask scent. It is very hardy and disease resistant.

And lastly, the humble wild roses that grow along the roadsides here. They have a special place in my heart, because they remind of the the Wild Prairie Rose, the state flower of North Dakota, where I grew up. Last year we had to be assigned physical addresses, instead of our rural route and box numbers. My submission of a name for our road was the winner, so we now enjoy living on Wild Rose Lane.....and I just love the sound of it. :-)

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"I'd rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck." ~Emma Goldman

Still More Wildflowers

2008-06-02T11:27:00.000-07:00

It has been over 3 weeks since I have made a blog post! I've been very busy in the garden, planting and finishing up several garden projects. On a rainy day last week I ventured down the mountain side behind our house and was astonished at the prolific show of wildflowers!

Here is a patch of Indian Paintbrush, and a tall blue flower we have always called Bluebells. I have since learned that it is actually a member of the lily family. (see below)

A close up of Large flowered Triplet-Lily, a member of Themidaceae, the Cluster Lily family. The latin name is Triteleia grandiflora. I love the way the flowers are clustered at the top of the tall stem, before they open and hang down, showing off their pretty ruffled edges.

Indian Paintbrush, up close and personal. A unique feature of this plant is the brilliant color that decorates the ends of the leaf bracts. I learned last year that it is a parasitic plant, meaning that it lives off the roots of nearby plants. It is named Castilleja for Douglas Castelleja, an early Spanish botanist. There are over 250 different species of this plant that grow in the West! High in the nearby mountains, where we pick huckleberries, we have another species, which is more red, and the form more spikey. The orange variety is a favorite of mine.

I hadn't seen this wildflower before, but from my research I believe it to be Taperleaf Penstemon , classified as Penstemon attenuatus. The smallish , drooping flowers are a lovely shade of pinkish blue.

I have yet to identify this wildflower. It has a very tall stem with a cluster of small yellow flowers at the top. Anyone have a name for this one?

UPDATE 6-15-08 A reader has identified this as a member of the Groundsel family. (Thanks, Wesley!) There are so many different varieties, I haven't found the precise Latin name yet....will have to go back and look at the leaves in order to do that.

Naked Broomrape grows on a stem with no leaves. It is also parasitic, living off the roots of neighboring plants. This variety is Orobanche uniflora var. purpurea.

I think this is some sort of vetch or wild pea. It has a pretty, delicate look.

I had to include this photo of a wild strawberry. Though the flowers are a bit out of focus, you can see a very cute and tiny strawberry toward the bottom of the photo. :-)

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I was too busy to get out and photograph the Camas this year, but this post would not be complete without a tribute to this beautiful indigenous wildflower. Below are some photos taken a couple of years ago.

A field of Camassia quamash, just a few miles down the road from our house. The one to two-inch bulbs are edible, and were a delicacy among the Nez Perce Indians of this area, who would steam or pit-cook them to bring out the sweet flavor. It grows wild in meadows, moist lowlands, along the edges of prairies and on bluff or rock outcroppings. A field of blue camas in bloom is a sight to behold! The higher elevation area surrounding our beautiful valley is called the Camas Prairie, in honor of this lovely plant.

A close up of the beautiful Camas flower, also known as Indian Hyacinth.

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This about wraps up my posts on the Spring wildflowers in our area. There is much blooming in my flower gardens now.....so on to the more domesticated beauties!

Arrowleaf Balsamroot

2008-05-06T19:16:00.000-07:00

I've been doing a series of posts this Spring on the wildflowers that grow in our area. As the weeks progress, many different wildflowers come and go. The month of May is when the Balsamroot comes into bloom and thickly covers and beautifies the mountains here.

Arrowleaf Balsamroot is a sturdy, 1-2 ft. tall plant with large 4-5 in. bright yellow sunflower-like blooms. The arrow shaped, silver gray leaves are covered with fine short hairs. It grows in clumps and is a long-lived, drought tolerant native perennial that goes dormant in summer until the following spring. The above photo was taken just a short hike from our house.

This is my favorite Balsamroot photo. This clump was growing up and through another wild plant with ferny foliage, which I haven't yet identified.

Here you can see the silvery gray-green stems and arrow shaped leaves. The entire plant is edible to humans. Native Americans would peel and eat raw the tender inner portion of the young immature flower stems. They also ate the large roots and seeds. The roots are tough and woody and taste like balsam. To make them more palatable, the Indians would bake them several days in a fire pit. Medicinally, the Indians used the large coarse Balsamroot leaves as a poultice for burns. The roots were boiled and the solution was applied as a poultice for wounds, cuts, and bruises. Indians also drank a tea from the roots for tuberculosis and whooping cough.

A close up of the sunny yellow flower. It is a member of the Asteraceae or Aster family, which includes the Sunflower.

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We gathered the wild-flowers. Yes, life there seem'd one pure delight.....as thro' the field we rov'd. Yes, life there seem'd one pure delight."

George Linley ~ 19th century

Notes Celebrates One Year

2008-04-30T19:36:00.000-07:00

This week marks the one year Anniversary for "Notes from a Cottage Garden." My first post was made on April 27, 2007. I've learned a lot since then and I must say I have enjoyed my venture into the blogging world.

A big THANK YOU to each one who has visited my blog, read my posts, left nice comments, or generally encouraged me along the way. A special thanks to my dear daughter who talked me into in it the first place. :-) I've had a great time meeting and interacting with many new friends who share my love of growing things, and have especially enjoyed the virtual visits to your gardens!

Sending you all some flowers from my Springtime garden.....

Tulips 'Isle De France'

Raindrops on Tulip

'Pink Charm' Daffodil

Muscari Grape Hyacinth

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"Friends are the flowers that bloom in Life's garden."

Return of the Bees

2008-04-21T18:51:00.000-07:00

This has been the coldest Spring on record, in the twenty years we have called this place home. I can count on one hand the sunny, warm days we've had.... those T-shirt kind of days when it is such a pleasure to work in the garden. But because they have been so scarce, I have enjoyed them all the more. It always amazes me how the sunshine brings out the hoards of various flying insects. Where do they all go to hide on the cold and rainy days?

This large Bumble Bee was deeply enjoying my one nursery purchase so far this year, Viola 'Etain.' I have been starting my own Pansies and Violas from seed the past couple of years, but couldn't resist this lovely, large flowered Viola with its soft yellow blooms, stitched around the edges with lavender. It has a light sweet scent.

Just as the bees have been in waiting, I am waiting, too.... for that next warm, sunny day. I will enjoy the buzzing of Bees and I won't even mind the wasps, because it will mean that Spring is finally here....for real.

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"Just living is not enough....
One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower."

Hans Christian Anderson

More Wildflowers

2008-04-14T19:37:00.000-07:00

As the Spring season progresses and new Wildflowers appear on the mountain side, we move away from the color Yellow into some other lovely hues.

This tiny blue and white flowered charmer goes by the name of Small Flowered Blue-eyed Mary. The latin name is Collinsia parvifora and it is a member of the figwort family. The flowers are only 1/4 " across, the foliage delicate and airy.

And now appearing......Pink! Shooting Star, Dodecatheon meadia, is a personal favorite of mine. They are a special find, as they are a bit more elusive, unlike the masses of yellow Dog Tooth Violets still blooming in the background.

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"If all flowers wanted to be Roses,
nature would lose her springtime beauty,
and the fields would no longer be
decked out with little wildflowers."

St. Therese of Lisieux