June 7, 2020 Summer is here

Summer has arrived.
We have had our first days with temperatures in the 90's.
At least for the moment they are in the lower 90's.

Amidst the pandemic and the protests and the coming depression it seems like gardens are both irrelevant and necessary. How do you think or write about iris and peonies when tear gas is used on younger people in Iowa City?

But I suppose we all have our jobs to do.
Sometimes we do many jobs.

So let me for a few minutes lead you down that road to some garden beauty, even if there are a few mosquitos lurking.

Here is the short garden report from early June 2020:
Some things are ending and some are beginning.
How about that for a start?
The Siberian Iris have been glorious.
They are ending.
The hosta are really amazing, in size and shape.
The first of the lilium have begun.
The clivia are starting to bloom.
The first really wonderful large orchid cactus has begun to bloom.
It is humid.
There are bugs.
The anti itch cream is being tested.
Was that poison ivy?


In last weeks voting your choice was the peony named Coralie. The picture was taken in its red phase. The color was amazing.

This week there is really a great combination of colors.

All pictures were taken this week here in the garden.

YOU CAN VOTE TWICE THIS WEEK
THERE ARE SO MANY CHOICES

#1 Pink Calla lily

This is one of the calla lilies I overwintered inside, with them going dormant.
The bulbs were firm in April so I planted them outside. They all came up.

#2 Reddish Siberian Iris

The name is Paprikash.


# 3 Fancy Peony
This entry gets two pictures. This allows you to appreciate the plant and the flower.



The name is Hari-ai-nin. It was developed over 90 years ago.
I did put  a bud into the refrigerator. I will bring it out in a month and hopefully enjoy the flower all over again.

#4 Yellow Orchid cactus

The plant must have a dozen buds at the moment. They are turning upwards which is a sign that they are maybe a day or two away from bloom. That big bloom might be tomorrow.

#5 Purple Siberian Iris

Probably Jeweled Crown

#6 Blue tradescantia

Tradescantia is also called spiderwort.
I have had the pink for 4-5 years. It could be called invasive.  But it blooms and then you can start pulling it up. It then seems to come back as if you had not pulled it up.
I got a clump of the blue a year ago. It is blooming nicely providing a landing place for the bumble bee. Bumble bees are in the genus Bonbus. It is in the 'tribe' Bombini'. Plants do not have tribes.

I saw a local garden that manages to intersperse the pink and the blue. It was good. That may be a goal.

#7 Yellow Siberian Iris- 

maybe Kiss the Girl

#8 Classic Oriental poppy

What color is this? Is it orange or red?

I would grow more of these if there was more sun.

#9 First Asiatic lily

The lilium will be blooming for the next 2 months. This was the first.

#10  Blue Siberian Iris

Wow- is that blue.




With so many pictures again you can vote for two. Just refresh the browser and you should get to vote a second time (if you wish).

Bonus pictures

Here is a little video of the yellow orchid cactus Saturday morning.
I think the big bloom will be Sunday or Monday.
Judging from the fact that only one is opening Saturday evening, that big bloom will probably come Monday.

This is another late spring bulb called Ornithogalum.

It is a cousin of the little white flower called star of Bethlehem. If you look it up you can see the debate about whether it is a weed. There will also be discussions about how to control it.

This taller member of the same family does not present the same issues.














Louisiana iris
One entire variety of iris is Louisiana.
As the Siberian Iris fade the Louisiana start.














How about a closer look.






The first waterlily should bloom maybe today. (He wrote this yesterday about today which was tomorrow then.)





Here are the two spiderworts next to each other for comparison.
Long term I would like to plant them together.
I do think maybe the pink one would dominate.




When I think about improving areas in the garden I have this in mind. I set out to remake this area 3 years ago. I reset most of the beds, including most of the iris beds.
Last year I repotted the waterlilies.
Other than weeding, this corner is just about done.









One flower that came out this week was the little yellow primrose we call Sundrops.
It is vigorous put can be eradicated easily.
It transplants easily'
It blooms right at this time of year.











I moved some to this little bed next to College Street in April. They are fine and blooming with their group this week.





















Here they are blooming with the remaining lupines.

Julia's recipe

Rhubarb custard bars

Here is  the link to the other blog with all for Julia's recipes.

https://mearskitchen.wordpress.com/

Rhubarb custard bars are a natural for those familiar with lemon or lime bars, but I had never thought of this variation. The recipe comes from the NYT, and I was pleasantly surprised that the NYT folks were enthusiastic about rhubarb which I think of as a midwestern thing.



Here's the lineup for the crust: 1-1/2 cups flour; 1/3 cup white sugar; 1/8 teaspoon regular (not kosher, but who cares, really) salt; 3/4 cup of butter right out of the refrigerator (that's 1-1/2 sticks).

For the custard: 2 cups of rhubarb sauce (more about this below); 1-1/4 cups of white sugar; 3 tablespoons flour; 4 eggs; 2 tablespoons lemon juice; 1 tablespoon lemon zest (I had the 1 lemon - I used that much zest and that much lemon juice);  a big pinch of salt (maybe 1/8 teaspoon).

Note the pan. It's 9 x 9" and is lined with parchment. This is helpful in getting the bars out of the pan, because you can't flip the finished product over and it won't slip out. I think aluminum foil would work but you'd want to lube it up as aluminum foil is not as non-stick as parchment. I used those clippy things to fasten the parchment to the pan. They're all metal and so can go into the oven. They don't touch the food so I don't worry about contamination.

About salt. I use salted butter, as I find it too much trouble to keep both salted and unsalted on hand. If you use unsalted butter, add a bit more salt to the crust, say 1/4 teaspoon total. Theoretically kosher salt is fluffier so it takes more to add the saltiness of the same amount of table salt. In such small quantities, I don't think it matters.

About the rhubarb sauce. I make rhubarb sauce during rhubarb season, some of which I freeze. I also freeze quarts of sliced up rhubarb so we can have rhubarb pie at Thanksgiving if we are so inclined. If you don't have rhubarb sauce on hand, start by obtaining a bunch of rhubarb. "Bunch", I realize, is  a term of art. Farmer's market rhubarb in the midwest comes in bunches held together with big red rubber bands. Grocery stores tend to sell rhubarb by the pound, but with the shopper gathering up individual stalks. You will need about 8 stalks, fewer if they are fat, more if they are thin. Fat or thin is immaterial in this dish for taste or texture. Cut the ends off and wash it and cut the stalks into 1" pieces crosswise You should get about 4 cups. Put the pieces in a saucepan and add 1/2 cup water and 1 cup of white sugar. Cook (bring to a boil, then simmer) until the rhubarb has given up - maybe 20 minutes. You will need 2 cups of the sauce for this recipe. Eat the rest. It's good with plain yogurt or even over ice cream. Or plain.





First the crust. I put the dry ingredients into the food processor (which I can now assemble unaided), and zizzed them for a couple of pulses. Then I added the butter, cubed up into little pieces.

I pulsed again (and then just ran the machine - sometimes I find pulsing annoying) until the mixture was pretty uniform. Like sand.

I turned the oven on to 325 degrees.











I dumped the crust into the parchment-lined pan and pressed it into an even smushed-down layer. Sometimes one is advised to use a measuring cup to tamp the crust down. I find that the crust bits stick to the cup and so I always revert to using my fingers.

I built up a little edge of crust around the pan to hold the filling, but I never get this to come out uniformly.

I pricked the crust randomly with a fork as a precaution against it ballooning up (something about steam in the dough).

I baked the crust for about 30 or 35 minutes. It's done when it is a little golden brown around the edges.







While the crust was baking, I made the filling. Also in the food processor - which did not even need to be washed after making the crust.

If you have made the rhubarb sauce fresh for the recipe, it will need to cool. Put the 2 cups for the recipe into the refrigerator while you work with the other ingredients. The rhubarb sauce does not need to be cold but it should not be boiling hot either.

I had not-hot rhubarb sauce, so I put it in the food processor, followed by everything else: sugar, eggs, flour, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt.

I am shown here getting the lemon zest out of the grater.

I zizzed these things for a short while maybe a few pulses and a short burst of continuous processing until the mixture was smooth.









Here are the ingredients just before the pureeing started.

























I poured the custard mixture from the food processor onto the crust hot from the oven.

I turned the oven up to 350 degrees.

I baked the bars for about 25 minutes - the filling should not wiggle in the middle. And if you touch it lightly (don't burn yourself), it should be set not gooey. Depending on your oven, it could take a few more minutes to reach this stage.








I let the bars cool on the counter (there is a trivet under the pan) for about an hour.

Then I unclipped the clips and

















lifted the parchment paper out of the pan and onto a big cutting board. A big flat serving piece would obviously work too, but I don't have one big enough.
















I let the bars sit a bit then used a table knife to loosen the bars from the places where the filling was a little bit stuck to the parchment.
















And then I was easily able to pull the parchment out from under the bars.
















A rhubarb bar on a plate. They can be eaten from a plate with a fork or out of hand. A little tangy, a little sweet with a shortbread crust. What's not to like?

If you are a gluten-phobe, use a recipe for gluten-free shortbread, and use gluten-free flour in the filling as well.






Odds and Ends



This little new dogwood was put in in 2017. It is the second of the three new ones. It is putting on a nice display with those flowers.





Here is the one orchid cactus bud that is opening on Saturday night. The flower should last most of today.















I planted morning glories on Monday. Here they were yesterday, Saturday.
I soaked the seed for 24 hours before planting them. They were already partially sprouted by the time I put them in the ground.
I put these in pots as the ground is too dry, as it is under the eaves.
I can control the moisture easier in pots.

I will have to remember to check them every few days however. They can dry out quickly.

That is about it.
What a world, as some witch once said.
Stay safe.
Find the hope.
Better times are coming.
Philip