Tag Archives: Arthur

Random Spring garden pictures.

Spring has most certainly arrived!

1) Lilies have begun to grow. The voles must have not discovered this one because they have eaten all the other lilies I have tried to grow. Oh, tiger lilies how I miss you!

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2) Kerria are covered in blooms. They are gangly plants with a fountain-like grown but the Spring show is wonderful.

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3) Azaleas are doing their thing.

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4) Soloman Seal are spiraling toward the sky.

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5) Tulips make an appearance.

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6) New leaves on the Basjoo Banana.

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7) The Kwanzan Flowering Cherry is providing the bees with plenty of pollen.

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8) Viburnum Mariesii is doing what is known for…

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9) Chinese Redbud makes us all wonder: “Why are they called redbuds when they should be called Magenta Buds?” (Note to self: Put on glasses when focusing pictures!)”

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I wish I could plant everything right along the street so everyone could see but there is always Gus…

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I think he has found something in the Kerria?

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Filed under Gus, Plants

Pollen invasion and the new growth of Spring arrives.

The temperatures have become steadily warmer and have really fueled growth in the garden. One negative side effect, as least for me, is the onslaught of pollen from the wind pollinated pines and oaks. I have had to deal with the allergies every Spring my entire life!

When it rains during this time I can breathe for a few hours as the rain cleans the air temporarily! You can see how it coats everything.

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Side walks are covered for a week or two and the rain washes it into the low areas.

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I would like to just stay inside and pray for rain during all of this but their is work to be done!

One of the first chores in the Spring is to search the lawn for seedlings from garden plants. The lawn grass usually doesn’t wake up from its Winter nap until later in Spring so you can easily spot seedlings such as Spiderwort.

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It’s also a good time to move shrubs that have out grown their spaces.

This Gardenia ‘First Love’ is now shaded by a nearby Asian Magnolia that has grown rapidly the past few The plant came apart into three plants! So now I have three!

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The path from the patio to the bird feeders is experience a rapid growth of wild strawberry and evening primrose! It should be amazing in May when the pink evening primrose is blooming!

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And the Kerria are in bloom.

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On the Coast, where I grew up, I remember older gardeners would tie up the foliage of Spring blooming bulbs to get it out of the way. This still allows it to nourish the bulbs for next year. I thought I would try it!

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A good example of how plants spend their first year putting down good roots before top growth is this perennial sunflower. Last season it grew about knee high and produced only a few blooms. This Spring there are about five shoots coming up so far. It should reach five or six feet by Fall and be loaded with blooms!

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Filed under Design, Gardens, General Gardening, outdoors, Plants, Seasonal Maintenance, Weather, wildlife

Experimenting with leftovers, again.

Usually when I have a day off during the week I want to take advantage of the lunch specials at Downtown Raleigh restaurants. The prices are usually about half of the usual dinner cost and its sunny and warm today so I could walk around downtown, visit Father and Son or other downtown stores.

Of course, I began my day at Cup A Joe coffee shop and on my way back stopped by Logan’s Garden center.

I decide I have enough leftovers at home to pull something together and I rather save my money to go out to eat with friends.

I have half a loaf of French bread left over from the weekend. I had purchased it from La Farm Bakery at The NC Farmers market but by now it was becoming stale. I had always known you could us bread to thicken soups and stews so I decided to use as a base, otherwise, it would go in the compost bin or out for the birds to peck!

1) Heat oil in a Dutch oven and add a medium onion cut in small pieces. cook until they have soften. I also added one minced clove of garlic. Stir often and cook until the onion softened.

2) Add three potatoes cut in small cubes. A tablespoon of turmeric. Stir to coat vegetables and cook about 5 minutes.

3) Add about two cups of stock. I used two cups of water and a vegetable bullion cube because that was on hand. Turn heat up to high.

4) Once it began to boil I added a piece of fresh ginger, a tablespoon of curry powder, a teaspoon of paprika, salt and pepper.

5) After tasting, I decided it was missing some ZING! There are no chillis in the garden, yet. Hmmm. Sriracha? Tobasco? Ok. Four. Make that six shakes of Tobasco! Bring it back to a boil on medium high.

6) After boiling for about 15 minutes the potatoes were about done, I added the stale bread and enough water to cover. Put the lid on the Dutch oven and allow it boil until the bread falls apart. I added some leftover cherry tomatoes.

7) Once the bread has absorbed enough liquid and begins to fall apart you may need to add more liquid and stir vigorously so the bread comes apart and thickens the liquid.

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It was warm and filling!

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Of course, Gus enjoyed the warm Spring day.

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He always hams it up!

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Filed under cooking, Food