June 16, 2019- Time marches on

Some friendly bugs have come to the garden.

These I believe are monarch butterfly caterpillars.
They are eating the perennial asclepias, which is called butterfly weed.
It is a kind of milkweed.




Did you have any idea that caterpillars produced so much poop?

How about a closeup?
Which end is the front?

The calendar marches along.

The Siberian Iris are finished.
The spring bulbs and the bluebells are just a memory.
Actually their memory is enhanced by the bulb catalogues that have recently arrived.

It is now time for the Asiatic lilies.
They are wonderful splashes of color.
I have found that with decent sun they getter better with age. This seems true for most of the Lilium. (That includes the Oriental and Trumpet lilies, and all their combinations.)
Decent sun is always a question however in my garden.
I have found that in those semi shade areas I buy new bulbs every few years.
I bought some new lilium bulbs each of the last two years. The new ones look strong at this point.





Asiatic lilies are shorter. For that reason staking is not really needed.
I hate staking. I say that every year with tall bearded iris and again with the Oriental lilies.
Maybe staking is just extra work and I just do not have time for that extra work.












This was the first Asiatic lily to bloom.
The rain usually helps make a good picture.






































This one is called Lollipop.
It really is cheerful.
I moved some of this group to the front yard. The ones in the backyard bloomed two days before the ones in the back.
I am always impressed when the same plants are on the same page, even when they are in different locations.

For whatever reason the ones in the front yard are taller.





Here are other random pictures.
This is a blooming croton.
The flowers are not the reason you have these plants.




















This is the yellow clivia. I got it and its companion from Pat, a friend who sends me some really wonderful plants.

The second yellow clivia is about 5 days behind the first plant. That second one started to bloom yesterday.

The other variety of Clivia I have is the one with the orange flowers. Several of them are starting to bloom now.
I do not know whether they bloom in June, or whether they bloom about a month after the go outside.






This is an old friend.
It is a perennial primrose.
It's locally called "sun drops."
It blooms now, and makes a nice color contrast with the Siberian Iris.
It spreads nicely. 1 plant will turn into about 5 in a year.
25 years ago I carefully created a big swath of yellow.
I have pulled out most of them, with their places yielding to other sun lovers.
But some remain and will be kept.






This is the annual asclepias. I think the variety is called 'Silk road.'
I grow it in a pot.
I confuse people by explaining that it is a three year old annual.
I have taken it inside for the last two winters.
It makes cuttings if you are inclined.

So far there are no caterpillars on this plant. I am not sure I would be as gracious a host if that happened.









This is one of the clematis in the garden.














Here are the zinnia seeds. They are now two weeks old. I tried to transplant some of the them, as they are close together.
We will see how that worked.















This is a new garden acquisition.
It was a father's day present found at the wonderful Iowa City farmer's market. In case you're wondering, it's a tie-dyed pennant on a pole.




















Here is this nice white clematis, growing on the west side of the house.





















In the iris cycle here is the first Japanese Iris.
















This is a Louisiana Iris, blooming back by the pond.

Julia's recipe.

Texas Coleslaw

Remember, all her recipes that have appeared on the blog can be found at

https://mearskitchen.wordpress.com/


This recipe came from my sister Joan, under the name of Texas Coleslaw. I don't know why Texas and not, say, New Jersey. It is a make-ahead salad, and it is both colorful and milder than some coleslaws in which the cabbage has a touch of the fierce. And there's no mayonnaise. I don't like mayonnaise on coleslaw, as I think it is too sweet. Yes, I have opinions.


Here are the ingredients. For the coleslaw, 3/4 cup shredded carrot; 1+ (say 1-1/4) cup peeled, seeded, sliced into quarter moons (I'll explain) cucumbers; 1/2 cup finely diced red onion; 3/4 cup not quite so finely diced red (or green or yellow or orange) pepper and 4 cups of sliced cabbage - red or green (I'll explain "sliced"). For the dressing, 2 tablespoons brown sugar; about 1/2 teaspoon smushed garlic; 2 tablespoons wine vinegar; 1 tablespoon cider vinegar; 1 tablespoon water; 2 tablespoons olive oil and 1-1/2 teaspoons regular salt. And a little black pepper.

As noted above, you could use whatever color of cabbage you have on hand. Likewise as to peppers and actually onion. It is a pretty salad when made with colorful vegetables, and as we know, a pretty salad is a joy forever. Also the recipe calls for 2 different kinds of vinegar, and I've always made it that way, but I think all wine vinegar or all cider vinegar would be just fine. I would not substitute another sweetener for the brown sugar, however.

On to method and assembly.


I started by prepping all of the vegetables. I put them in little bowls because I needed to measure everything. You should feel free to move straight from cutting board to bowl.

I peeled and shredded the carrot. I peeled the cucumber, cut it in half lengthwise and took out the seeds. Then I cut each long half cucumber in half lengthwise again, resulting in long quarter cucumbers, which I then sliced crosswise in about 14-1/2 inch slices: quarter moon cucumbers.



I peeled and diced the red onion into fine pieces, and cleaned out and diced the red pepper into bigger pieces.

Then the cabbage. I sliced a chunk off the head, and I took off the outer couple of leaves.










I set the cabbage chunk on the cutting board and sliced it lengthwise across and then crosswise. The result was little ribbons of cabbage.

I know some folks use a grater or food processor on cabbage but I find that it messes up the texture, turning the cabbage into something like mush.

Then I made the dressing. I smushed the garlic and then measured everything into a little canning jar with a lid (any jar with a tight-fitting lid would do). I shook it up to dissolve the brown sugar and get everything (garlic, salt) mixed in thoroughly.


Here are all the players, waiting to jump into the bowl.

















Here is the salad, freshly mixed. I then covered the bowl with one of the 1950s plastic bowl covers that I have for such occasions (plastic wrap or aluminum foil would work too) and put it in the refrigerator. We left it in the refrigerator for about 4-5 hours. It can be refrigerated overnight.









And here it is out of the refrigerator. You will notice that the salad has reduced in volume. This is accompanied by a slight softening of the cabbage and a mellowing and mingling of flavors.

Check to see if it needs a little more salt or pepper.

This is very good for any kind of summer meal or cookout or picnic. And the leftovers (if any) hold up well with further refrigeration.

Odds and Ends

Deer- There were 4 the other morning, just walking down the street about 6am.
I have noticed some hosta flower stalks have the tops missing.



I have looked around at some of the big hosta. There are some smaller hosta now that are being lost because the bigger ones have just overwhelmed them. The big leaves are now just covering the little hosta plants.
It is time to move the little ones.



One thing about big hosta is that you do not have to do much weeding.













This is an unusual hosta in that it emerges much later than the rest.
It is in the front sidewalk bed.





Rain- I was going to write that we have now had two relatively dry weeks in a row.
Then yesterday evening it became pitch black about an hour before sunset.
The TV made that squawking sound when there is a weather alert. It was just a severe thunderstorm. The gutters seem to have held up in their first workout since they were cleaned.
I checked the rain gauge this morning. We had 1.6 inches of rain.

So now it will be back to hot, buggy and humid.

The newspaper made it official yesterday. We have had the most rain in a 12 month period that any time in over 100 years.

Cool weather- I should not complain about hot weather. There have been some uncomfortable days this month. But mostly it has been mild. This past week it was chilly in the morning, getting down to the 50's for five days in a row. We even wore our jackets when we went to work on several occasions.

The first of the calla lilies, planted two weeks ago have come up.
I am excited to see how they do, planted in early June.
The plan is to add their color to the late summer garden.

I am still waiting for a little more leaf cover from the Sycamore tree in the backyard. I want to put the orchids under that big tree. I am afraid that they will sunburn if exposed to too much hot sun.

The daylilies are coming. The scapes, as they are called, are emerging.


Stay dry.
Cool would be good too.
Philip