Stately and fragrant, irises are one of my favorite flowers. Though delicate-looking, in the right location they are highly dependable. I can count on ours to bloom every year for Kansas State University graduation. I am especially fond of the white irises. They look so crisp and fresh and do a lovely job of greeting guests walking up to the bed and breakfast.
When one owns a Bed & Breakfast, one must wear many hats, so to speak. My chief hat today was that of head gardener.
The oregano bed in our back yard has an attractive brick border. Over the years, however, this border has buckled in places. Recently, whenever it rains (or we water) a section here and there tends to get buried in mud. Weather, tree roots, and decay of organic material can all cause even the best laid paths to shift. The coolish weather today being perfect for heavy yard work, though, I decided that Kairee and I would take the opportunity to remedy the mud problem.
We started out by lifting a few bricks here and there, but quickly realized that wasn’t going to be an adequate solution; and so we resorted to lifting large sections. When all was said and done, we had refinished about three quarters of the brickwork. Interestingly, we found that the bricks were much more colorful on the side that had been in the ground, rather than on the side facing up, so we flipped most of them over. They will probably fade in time, but not just yet.
The complete process: lift the bricks; scrape them clean; shave the surrounding soil so that it doesn’t sit above the border height; try not to trample any plants; add sand to area from which the bricks were lifted; level the surface; re-lay the bricks; tap in place; fill gaps with sand. The finished job looks pretty darned good, even though it still needs to be washed off. (I was just too tired to do that yet this afternoon.) To make it perfect, though, we would have needed to dig up the surrounding plants, level off the garden soil, and then replant. But sometimes, pretty darned good is good enough.
On the subject of what counts as good enough … after I laid the last brick in place, I realized that I was one short. (This is now after 5 hours of work.) I looked around, couldn’t find an unused brick, and decided that I must have mis-spaced that row. After all, how can one not see a brick? So I lifted the entire row, spaced the bricks just a little further apart, filled the gaps, and then pleased with myself, proceeded to clean up. And of course, you have guessed it … there was that last brick under my trash bag. But really, who can tell?
Even by Kansas standards, our recent weather has been unusually variable. It has been gorgeous and sunny the past few days with high temperatures in the mid-80’s. (In case you don’t remember, we had snow last week.) The warm weather has stimulated plants to put on a lot of growth and it is really starting to look like Spring; and yet cold weather is supposed to roll back in tomorrow with the chance of snow Thursday and Friday. That would be snow in May – not very good for the garden, even if it doesn’t stick around. So, I decided that I’d better enjoy the flowers while they last and get some photos of them today. I’m so glad that I did. Photographing flowers makes one stop and really look at them. What a nice thing!
Sand Cherries (Prunus x cistena) are one of my favorite ornamental shrubs. While pruning ours this week, I decided to save some of the cuttings to use in use in a floral arrangement. Notice how the bright burgundy leaves go so nicely with these hot pink roses. (Note: watch for ants and other undesirables whenever bringing cuttings inside.)
The Sandy Cherry on the southern side of our house is just starting to leaf out, so its prunings were perfect for my arrangement. The shrubs on the north side are about a week or so behind. I’ll try to get some more photos when the shrubs are in bloom. In the meantime, Happy Spring!
Muscari On The Rocks …
On April 24th, from 2:30 to 4:30, we’ll be hosting a book signing with Tama Matsuoka Wong for her book Foraged Flavor: Finding Fabulous Ingredients in Your Backyard or Farmer’s Market, written together with Eddy Leroux. Together the two have identified wild plants that are not only edible, but also flavorful. This cookbook brings together botanical illustrations, tips for identification and collection, and recipes such as Chickweed Crostini, Bee Balm Spring Rolls with Lettuce and Dipping Sauce, and Lambsquarters Rigatoni Casserole.
For a while, I have had an interest in growing edible flowers and herbs and a few vegetables, but have not previously paid much attention to whether other plants (and weeds) in my garden are edible. Reading Foraged Flavor has opened my eyes to the possibilities of cooking with other plants such as creeping jenny and juniper.
Tea and treats will be served at the signing … with any luck, featuring some ingredients gathered from the garden.
Ms. Wong is the official forager for Daniel, Daniel Boulud’s 3 Michelin star restaurant in NYC.
Abraham Lincoln once wisely said – or wrote, I’m not sure which – “We can complain because rose bushes have thorns or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.” I had to keep reminding myself of this yesterday while pruning my “thorn bushes”. Surely, soon I shall be posting photos of my beautiful roses and sharing their stories. The blooms from Spring ’till the first Autumn freeze are well worth a few days of torture every March or April. However, I have resolved that any future rose selections for my garden will be less densely thorned than this beast which tore through my gloves and jeans. Oh, the things we do for beauty!
Last March, I started this blog, A Taste of Morning. The image below is one of the first that I posted. At the time, I had no followers. I don’t know whether anyone ever saw this. It is an image of a purple Lenten Rose, the first flower to bloom in my garden last Spring. Having just noticed that the Lenten Roses are once again in bloom, I decided to commemorate the anniversary of my first year of blogging by sharing this early image. Thank you to everyone who has discovered my blog and shared your warmth and kind comments over the last year! Have a wonderful day!
These are photos of my Marilyn Monroe rose that I took this morning. Brrr …
Marilyn Monroe is considered an apricot-colored rose, but the color of rose blooms is often affected by temperatures and seasons. This last bloom of the year was a true pink, but with lime green outer petals – stunning, even in the cold.
Garlic Chives (allium tuberosum) are one of those plants with which I have a love-hate relationship. I love the way that they look in bloom and the way that their flowers help fill the gap between summer and autumn in the garden. But garlic chives are one of those plants that are not happy staying put. They spread themselves all around the landscape. Fortunately, they have culinary uses. (A rather pungent herb with a flavor akin to garlic and onions, garlic chives can be used in stir fries, soups, and stews.) Since mine are just on the verge of going to seed, for the past few days we’ve been yanking them out of the garden except the few spots where they are wanted. Then we’ve been sorting through it all, removing stems, roots, and damaged leaves, washing the healthy leaves, and putting them in the oven to dry. Since the pilot lights in my ovens are always on, the ovens never cool below 110 degrees F. which makes them perfect for this use. Once the garlic chives are completely dried out, I will chop, bag, and store them in the freezer until ready to use. I find that herbs keep their color best this way. I’ve read that garlic chives lose their flavor once allowed to flower, however, to me they seem plenty flavorful; and besides, I just couldn’t let them take the space they have appropriated in my garden if I didn’t let those striking white clusters appear.
A Taste of Morning 