June 30, 2019 Something new every day

It was a week like those wonderful ones in early Spring.
There was something new every day.
It was really necessary to go around and look in all the corners.
Let me walk you through most of the week.

Sunday it rained.
That was not the something new.
Certainly not this year.
But on Sunday this lovely black Asiatic lily opened.
We had been watching the buds for some time.
It was a new introduction to the garden this year.
I planted it last fall.
That meant  the flower was not only new this year, but new forever,  in our garden.
The name is Night Rider.
You need to put this one the 'must get' list.
I got three bulbs, from which 5 stalks came up.
What a deal.

Monday, the first daylilies opened. In two weeks the daylilies will number in the 100's.
Each day you will be able to find a new daylily that has opened.

Tuesday this new pink Asiatic lily opened.

Asiatic lilies like to have spots.

Wednesday this orchid cactus flower  was a jewel in the front yard.
Some times during the day the sun is just right.
You need to run and get your camera, before the light changes.

The light was just right about 5 in the afternoon. At that point it was lit from behind.
Here is what it looked like from the front porch.

Thursday there were two wonderful new things.
This first beauty is a Japanese Iris. With the blooming of the Japanese Iris the entire iris sequence will come to an end. There have been iris of one kind or another for over 3 months.
It has been a wonderful run.










This of course is the first calla lily to bloom. I planted these on June 1. Some that I planted at that time are still coming up. This one, along with another in the group of three, was not going to wait for the stragglers.

I will be interested to see how long the flowers will keep coming from this one bulb.













Thursday night there was also something new.
Fireflies.
I have no picture.
Actually there were not as many as I recall from years ago. But there would be one every 5 seconds or so.

It was also finally hot.
It is almost July.
There are so many features of being hot.
For one thing I need to get into the garden in the morning as early as possible.
It is way too hot to do anything in the evening (except to look at the fireflies.)
It never really cools off. This morning it is still 74 degrees.


Friday
We are leaving for the weekend this morning.
That is sort of the end of the garden week for us.

By the way, if you are in the neighborhood put the weekend of July 13-14 on your calendar. Our garden is going to be one of the 30 "open gardens" in Iowa City this year.
The organized plan by Project Green is to have people open their gardens for visitors, on both Saturday and Sunday. People can just go to those designated gardens and wander around.

I find it a little strange to be doing this that weekend.
It is strange because, as you all certainly know, our garden is always open.

But maybe people need a formal invitation.
So consider yourselves as having that.
The daylilies should be peaking.
There should be a water lily or two.
The event is scheduled for both days.
You can pick the time when the weather is best, that works with your schedule.

Now it is time for me to go outside and deal with some weeds.
I also have to think about watering plants in containers. A few days without rain, in this heat, can really be bad.
That is particularly the case for plants in the corners, out of sight most of the time.


There were other things of note this week.

This is a nice clump of coreopsis.

















Here is the clump of Fiamma, which I showed you last week,

This is forever Susan. It was new last year.

I suppose if I had to identify one type of plant I am certain to get these years it would be Lilium.
Plant them in a clump of 3-5, and scatter those plantings around the yard.








Yellow is great with almost any other color.















I cannot get enough of this color. It is Fiamma in the morning with the sun behind it.
I don't know why I cannot get the entire flower in a single picture.

Julia's recipe
Blackberry clafouti

Remember, all Julia's recipes that have appeared on the blog can be found at

https://mearskitchen.wordpress.com/
There really are a lot of them at this point.

This recipe is from the second volume of the Vegetarian Epicure, which for some reason I use less often than volume one. The dessert is French, as indicated by the unpronounceable name. It is a bit odd in terms of procedure but tasty and easy. Anna Thomas, the cookbook author, calls it pudding, but I don't think so. As for announcing the dish to your diners, you will either have to consult the interweb for pronunciation instruction or just wing it. I learned recently that I have been mispronouncing fagioli for years. This happens when one cooks outside of one's ethnic sphere: open to mockery but the food tastes good.


Here are the clafouti players: 4 eggs, 1 cup  all purpose flour, 3/4 cup white sugar, 2 tablespoons butter, 1 tablespoon vanilla, 2 cups milk, a little (say 1/4 teaspoon) salt and 2+ cups blackberries. Plus about 1/2 cup powdered sugar for sprinkling.

You'll need a hand-mixer, cooking spray and a 9 x 13 pan.

I turned the oven on to 425 degrees, and I lubed up the pan.




I started by heating the 2 cups of milk in a little saucepan with the 2 tablespoons of butter. The milk was to be warm and the butter melted. Seemed like a one pan job.

Then I cracked the eggs into a big bowl and beat them until they were mixed. Next I added the flour (1 cup) gradually. This is unusual as a baking strategy, but it meant that the flour blended in well without any lumps. After that was smooth, I added everything else except the berries: milk (with butter), sugar, vanilla, salt. The resulting batter looked more like pancake batter than anything even remotely cake (or pudding)-like.



Next, I ladled about 1 cup of the batter into the lubed pan. Really. And then I put the pan in the oven for 2 or 3 minutes until the stuff on the bottom of the pan was set and not sloshing around.

I peeked and it started to puff up in the middle so I stuck the bubbled-up part with a skewer.








After the bottom layer was set, I took the pan out of the oven, set it on a trivet and began to scatter the blackberries all around.

Apparently one bakes a thin layer on the bottom to give the fruit something to sit on, lest it sink to the bottom of the pan and stick. Genius.








Here is the concoction on its way into the oven. After I scattered the berries all over, I carefully ladled all the rest of the batter over top. I worked slowly so as to avoid moving the berries around. No wave action.











Here is the clafouti just out of the oven. After about 30 minutes, it was starting to puff around the edges and here and there in the middle. One is instructed to sprinkle it generously with powdered sugar - I did so and it took maybe 1/2 cup, which I sprinkled on through a little sieve.








Here are pieces for Philip and me. The texture was a bit soft and spongy with crispy bits around the edges and then the berries scattered throughout. Sort of like Yorkshire pudding only dessert.

I bet this recipe would work fine with gluten free flour. The flour in this recipe isn't providing structure (i.e. gluten), just filler. I think a bland (no soy) gluten free flour like King Arthur or the oddly named Crusteaz would be fine.

I think that almond milk and margarine would work for the lactose intolerant, but I would not use soy milk which I think has an off flavor.

I think the next time I make clafouti I will use livelier fruit. Blackberries are lovely, but a bit bland. I think peeled and sliced peaches (or nectarines) would be good or not-peeled and sliced plums. Or raspberries. Or not-peeled apricots. Yum.


Odds and Ends

I was looking for some nice coleus to fill in a few empty places in the garden. So last weekend I went to the garden store and found this really nice plant. But they wanted something like $9 for a decent sized plant. Too much.

Well I decided to just buy it and chop it up for starts. I got something like 12 little cuttings which are now on our kitchen window sill with the last little orchids waiting to be repotted before they go enjoy the humidity.

3 days later, count them,,1,2, and 3 days later there were the first roots on one plant. When they tell you that they will easily start from cuttings they are absolutely correct.
I do know the plants may not go outside until the middle of July. But they will look good in September and beyond.
Maybe I will make cuttings and have some for the spring.

We are down in Springfield for the weekend, dealing with the furniture and book and other things at my mother's house.
When we were here for the memorial service in May 13, peonies were in bloom. We used them in floral arrangements.
I put some buds in the refrigerator intending to see how they would do when we came back.
We got those buds out of the refrigerator Friday night. By the middle of the next day they had opened.
It really does work folks.

That is it for the week. We come home tomorrow.
I look forward to another week with many new things, each day.

Philip