How sweet they’ve been, the first days of Spring. Though March played with our sense of seasonal order, growling out like a temperamental lion, we harvested twenty pounds of honey this week; a sap of sweet, slow, amber translucence.
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Thursday, June 21, 2012
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Beautiful Vegetables and Fruits
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| Luscious Red Tommy Tomatoes |
Vegetables and Fruits can be seen as works of art. Not in an Andy Warhol way but as examples of nature's bounty and craftsmanship. There is nothing like a kitchen full of summer's harvest. The reds of tomatoes, the yellows of squash, the purple of grapes, the greens of peppers. All the different colors of vegetables and fruits make a wonderful and inspiring palate.
No wonder vegetables and fruits have been the inspiration of so many artists throughout the centuries.
Here are some bright red and yellow peppers.
Corn comes in abundant colors. It is used as decoration and is often the subject, or medium, of art.
Squash has many varieties, it's hard to believe they are all in the same plant family.
Vegetables come in so many different shapes and colors. One can practically see all the vitamins and anti-oxidants jumping out from this picture.
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| Yellow and Red Peppers |
Corn comes in abundant colors. It is used as decoration and is often the subject, or medium, of art.
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| Multi-colored Corn! |
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| Strawberries at the market |
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| Squash in all shapes and colors |
Squash has many varieties, it's hard to believe they are all in the same plant family.
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| Colorful Veggies |
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| Vegetables at the produce section |
Check out all the different hues of green in these peppers:
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| Assorted Green, but Hot! peppers |
Eggplants are a type of squash... with many purple hues.
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| Purple eggplants |
Next time you're eating vegetables, take a moment to enjoy their beauty... bon appetit!
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| Vegetable cornucopia |
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Knockout Rose Tree
August 13th, 2011
For many many years roses were hybridized for fragrance, or hybridized for color, or for size. Things like hardiness and disease resistance were not as much of a concern. It is only recently that gardeners in general started worrying more about these more functional attributes. The “Knock Out” brand of rose is one such newer line that professes to be hardy and disease resistant.
I’ve been hearing about these for years, but never bought one. Then I got an offer from Brighter Blooms for a free plant (one of the benefits of being a garden blogger, you get swag). In particular they had a rose tree, and that really appealed to me.
A standard form plant is one in which a bush or weeping style plant has been either pruned, or more likely grafted, onto a standard (a trunk). Almost all weeping cherry trees sold are in fact standard form grafts, where a normal cherry is grown to the desired height, a weeping bud is grafted on, and then once it is established any regular cherry growth is pruned off.
So a rose tree isn’t a rose that genetically grows like a tree, it is just a rose shrub of one type of rose that has been grafted onto a strong trunk-like cane of another rose.
In anycase, to me the benefit of a standard form rose tree, was that it was easy to find room for it. I stuck it between two very large hardy hibiscus plants. The standard form provides height which provides separation. Had it been a normal shrub rose it would have been crowded by the hibiscus, it would have needed more room. In fact, if it had been a normal shrub, I would not have had room in my garden for it, anywhere. I’m really low on space, but the standard form allowed me to sneak it in there.
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For many many years roses were hybridized for fragrance, or hybridized for color, or for size. Things like hardiness and disease resistance were not as much of a concern. It is only recently that gardeners in general started worrying more about these more functional attributes. The “Knock Out” brand of rose is one such newer line that professes to be hardy and disease resistant.
I’ve been hearing about these for years, but never bought one. Then I got an offer from Brighter Blooms for a free plant (one of the benefits of being a garden blogger, you get swag). In particular they had a rose tree, and that really appealed to me.
A standard form plant is one in which a bush or weeping style plant has been either pruned, or more likely grafted, onto a standard (a trunk). Almost all weeping cherry trees sold are in fact standard form grafts, where a normal cherry is grown to the desired height, a weeping bud is grafted on, and then once it is established any regular cherry growth is pruned off.
So a rose tree isn’t a rose that genetically grows like a tree, it is just a rose shrub of one type of rose that has been grafted onto a strong trunk-like cane of another rose.
In anycase, to me the benefit of a standard form rose tree, was that it was easy to find room for it. I stuck it between two very large hardy hibiscus plants. The standard form provides height which provides separation. Had it been a normal shrub rose it would have been crowded by the hibiscus, it would have needed more room. In fact, if it had been a normal shrub, I would not have had room in my garden for it, anywhere. I’m really low on space, but the standard form allowed me to sneak it in there.
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Saturday, April 14, 2012
Red Hot Poker – Something not to grow, and bunnies.
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Do Not Buy a Plastic Greenhouse
February 25th, 2012
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In 2010 I blogged about a new little greenhouse I had bought covered in plastic. I bought it at Lowes and was pretty happy with it, it allowed me to start seeds early outdoors (I have problems indoors due to a lack of a south facing window, kids, and cats).
I gave it a pretty good recommendation, I hereby rescind that. In 2011 during the summer, one year old, I noticed the plastic had started to fail at the top. I even kept it in the shade most of the time. By now the plastic is all but gone on top, so much for holding in heat and moisture eh.
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