June 28, 2020 High Summer arrives

There were a couple of cool days this week.
I even wore my jacket when I went out to the garden early in the morning.


It is Saturday morning and I am up before 5. I would like to get out and start gardening by 6.
I  interrupt my writing to go look at the sunrise.
It is pink, everywhere, every which way you look.



Then I wonder if this is the Sahara desert sandstorm arriving in Iowa.

The crows chime in. Chime is much too kind a word.
You want to adjust you sound filter. Remove bad sound.
I guess it does not work like that.

Those cool days seem to be in the rearview mirror.
It is now warm and humid with a chance of storms.
That seems to be what we are going to get for the next 3-4 days.
Did I mention the bugs? They are here.
I put on that bug stuff when I go out in the morning.
It is later in the day that they get me. It is when I slip out just to take a picture or check for a label.
That is when I remember the bug stuff.

I do not think the garden has ever been this good in late June.
The lilium are amazing. I have added several dozen now each fall for three years.
They add bursts of color in spots in the yard.
The ones from the last few years are multiplying or getting bigger.
It seems like it is one or the other.
Some get bigger.
Some multiply.
I think I will have to think about what colors need friends.
At the moment more pink seems to be called for.

Lilium season lasts for quite a while.
The Asiatics have been blooming for several weeks. Now the trumpets are opening. The Orientals come last, along with the various combinations.

Last Week

Here were the top vote getters. I expect you will see both of these in 6 months.
Where will we be in six months? It is hard to think about where we will be in a month.
So much trouble.
So much stupid.
But so much very quiet hope.
Here were those two great flowers.

This Week- pictures from this last week

You can vote for two

#1 Japanese Iris

I stumbled across this lovely iris last week while pulling weeds. I turned around and there it was. It had a few friends. I do not have the name. It might be "Butterflies in Flight." I  have 2 dozen Japanese Iris labels without plants. I suppose I could gather them up and try to match them. Not now.
For the moment this will go unidentified.
But I guess I might have been too soon to rule out these iris blooming back by the pond.

#2 A pair of Zinnias

I love zinnias. I actually have some zinnia seed on order at the moment mail order. The nurseries have been out of most seeds for some time.
I want to plant them by July 1. They will then bloom in September and October and will look quite fresh.
These are little ones.
I did not write down the name. It would have been worth remembering.

#3 Forever Susan, Asiatic lily

This Asiatic lily was new to the garden in 2018. It is still rather splashy, even if it is on the small size.

#4    Yellow and brown Asiatic lily

I think this is named John Hancock. It is a keeper. It must be close to 5 feet tall. It will grow in morning sun. It will do better with more sun.

#5- Pink Lily

I had a large enough order last year that I got a bonus bulb. This was it. I do not know if they told me the name. I will have to look in the catalogue. More pink for next year.

#6  White Iceland poppy

The Iceland poppies are about done. Someone across from the vegetable plot has some poppies called Shirley. They are doing nicely in full sun.

#7     Orange and many dots



These speckles go all the way to splotches.
But pretty.

#8  Togetherness in waterlilies

It was hard to see at first but then I opened up some room and there they were. Friends!

#9  Fusion

Some flowers face down. At least at 4 feet tall you would think I could get more under it for a better picture. Maybe next week.
I got this plant last year. Actually it was planted in the fall of 2018. A single stalk grew and bloomed.
This year that one stalk became 3.
It is a cross between the Easter Lily, Lilium longiflorum, and some wild downwards facing lily from the west coast.

#10-  Night Rider, the group picture

This lily, named after the old TV show (but misspelled), first bloomed for me last year. I got more last fall. This is the original clump. They must be close to five feet tall.
They opened yesterday. They should be blooming all week.
I do wonder about a splash of orange or yellow right in the middle.


There you have it.
Enjoy
Come see them in person if you are in the neighborhood.
You can vote for two.

Bonus pictures

Here is the waterlily picture from the contestants, before and after I moved some lily pads.

This is a little daylily, which is one of the first to bloom this year. There are so many bloom stalks on all the daylilies. It should be an amazing next 2-3 weeks.















This is the Michigan lily. It is a wild flower, similar to the one that was used in breeding Fusion. (Remember back that far in the post?)
















This is another early daylily, but not small.

Julia's recipe

Coconut-miso fish dish

This dish comes from the NYT, where it is referred to as a curry. I don't think this is a curry. It does not include any of the spices one associates with curry - turmeric, coriander, cumin. It does include miso paste which is not Indian at all but rather Japanese. Naming issues aside, this is a nice flavorful way to poach a piece of fish and with the addition of spinach during cooking, a fairly complete main dish, requiring only rice and a salad to round out dinner.



The ingredients: 1 can of coconut milk (not sweetened, just regular; a piece of white fish (I used black bass from the fishery in Sitka) weighing about 1 lb.; 1 10 oz. package chopped frozen spinach; 2 cups sliced red onion; 2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger; 1 tablespoon peeled and sliced garlic; 1/4 cup miso (red or white); 2 tablespoons lime juice; 3 tablespoons regular oil (not olive); some salt and pepper; some water and some herbs (I had parsley).



Notes on ingredients: I used black bass on this occasion. I have also used cod. Any mild white fish (flounder, sole, rockfish, haddock) would be fine. I used frozen spinach on this occasion, but I have also used fresh spinach. Also fine. I used red miso but now I also have white miso and used it on a later occasion. No discernible difference in taste or appearance. I used red onion here, but I have also used yellow. No big deal. I used an entire can of coconut milk, which made for a rich dish. You could use 1/2 can and use the rest as part of the liquid to cook the rice. I used parsley this time, but basil or cilantro (for those of you who partake of cilantro) would be fine. Or no herbs at all. So there is a fair degree of ingredient flexibility.





I started by prepping the vegetables: onion, garlic and ginger. I heated (gently - medium heat) the oil in a wide skillet then added the vegetables plus about 1/2 teaspoon of salt and maybe 1/4 teaspoon of pepper and cooked the vegetables until they were soft. This took maybe 5 minutes.













Then I added the miso paste and stirred it all around for about 2 minutes. The skillet's contents reached a reddish brown color whether I used red miso or white miso.






















Next I added the coconut milk and some water: 1 can of coconut milk and 1-1/2 cups of water. You could add 1/2 can of coconut milk and 2 cups of water. I stirred this up, as coconut milk tends to be lumpy when it comes out of the can.

Then I added the block of frozen spinach. If you use fresh spinach, add it at the very end with the lime juice and cover the pan for a few minutes to let the spinach wilt. But mine was a frozen block and it needed to thaw.















When the spinach had thawed, I added the fish in one piece and brought the pan to a simmer. The fish cooked in about 5 minutes. Your timing may vary depending on the thickness of your fish.

It's done when you can break the fish into chunks easily. Which you should do.

Recipes (including the NYT one) tell you to cut up raw fish and then cook it in the sauce. Why bother? It is in the nature of fish to break apart when cooked.






At the very end, I broke the fish into chunks with a wooden spoon and added lime juice.

















I wish I had professional lighting. This is a dark stew, between the miso and the spinach, but also bright
and somewhat sweet, by virtue of the lime juice and coconut milk.

Enjoy it if a piece of bland white fish comes your way.

Odds and Ends

As I have said on occasion, the backbone of the garden is hosta. I have grown hosta for over 30 years. We used to go out to Joyce's Greenhouse between Coralville and North Liberty in the 1980's to buy interesting new varieties. I would buy hosta at the Farmer's Market. I made lists. I kept score. I counted. I saved invoices. I got labels, and I used them.
Then I calmed down. I would make an effort every few years to organize and keep track.
Actually my hosta enthusiasm rekindled 6-7 years ago.
At that point, and still today, if I want to add one, someone else has to go.
This last week I have started a comprehensive review.
I have made a tentative list and am going out to check on locations and labels.
After much work I completed the letter A.
If you must know there were 27 hosta starting with the letter A that I have had at one point or another. 23 are located and the few missing labels will be ordered.
Tomorrow I move on to the letter B.

Here are 3 hosta that start with the letter A

This big one is Abba dabba do.
It would have been the first in the list but for Abana, that was obtained this year.
According to my records this plant is 23 years old.



This is Amalia. It was planted in 2016.





This is Academy Blushing Recluse. It was planted in 2007. I assume there is a story about the name. I do not know it.




We did that peony thing this last month.



We put these buds in the refrigerator to keep for a later day. We brought them out yesterday. The refrigerator was getting crowded with too much produce. (My mother had a separate refrigerator where she would put her flowers to keep for the table.)

Several hours later they were blooming.














These last two weeks I have been having a quiet plant sale on my back driveway. All the proceeds go to the local food banks. It is criminal to even be considering cutting food stamps. I should not think about that. Flowers. Concentrate on flowers.
I have put white labels in the plants for sale and asked people to leave the money in the mailbox.
So far we have raised over $600.
I have been reenforced to keep potting up more plants.
The Sale continues. Come buy a plant, and make a contribution to fight hunger.
I have no idea when it will end.
People have even brought plants over to add to the collection for sale.



I even put out one of our large jade plants. I put a $100 tag on it.
It was gone within 4 hours of posting the picture.












We live in such a strange isolated and scary world at the moment.
Unfortunately I do not know when it will end.
But maybe, just maybe, things are going to get better.
I should hold on to that thought.
Be safe everyone.
Wear masks.
Come visit our little place of wonder.
Anytime now the hoyas are going to bloom.
It is always good to hear from you.
Philip