August 2, 2020- Hello August

Goodbye July. Goodbye lilies.
It is a new month.
The sun now comes up at 6.
I am now getting up in the dark.

While we are losing that daylight, the bright side is that...
What is the bright side?
Cooler weather is here.
We have gone from the overnight lows being in the 70's, to the highs being those temperatures.
One day this coming week it is to be 51 degrees in the morning.
Open those windows and listen to the cicadas and the occasional owl or two.
When the owls start talking to one another at 10:30 at night you do wonder what they have to say.

It really is a new beginning... of next year's garden.
Actually that is not fair.
There is a lot of garden left in 2020.
We should have 2, if not 3 months, left before a frost.
There is still much to anticipate.
Starry Starry Night, the hibiscus, should bloom in the next week or so.



I expect many orchid cactus to bloom this month.
I keep waiting for the Night Blooming Cereus to do something, other than to add leaves.
I have 100 fall blooming crocuses ordered. They should be delivered about September 1...and bloom this fall.

Then there is my plan to plant annuals now.
Garden centers do not believe me when I say that people would/should plant annuals now.
This after all is when annuals rule.
But you cannot find any impatiens that are not in a hanging basket.
Part of my garden clean up in August is planting color.
I bought 2 hanging baskets of impatiens a month ago. I have been cutting the contents up for parts ever since.
Here is my production.



The cuttings start out on the kitchen windowsill.
I have something like 28 little glass jars. The ones that capers come in are the best.
They stay in the jars for about a week, until they get roots that are maybe an inch long.

They then go outside where the get wet dirt for another weeks or so.
















Finally they go into a cleaned up bed.
These were the first several starts that got to the ground this week.
At this point there are about 60 plants in dirt, some waiting for the beds to be cleaned so they can put on a show for several months.








Speaking of color, did I mention that I have found a source for pansies. They will go out in about a month. They outlast a frost and could give color into November.

Last Week in pictures and voting

You much preferred this picture last week.
Wait until you see this week's pictures.




The full voting was

 This week in pictures and voting

You can vote for two as there are so many choices.

#1 Cactus flower

#2 Little Air plant

#3 This week's waterlily

This really is a different flower. But there is the same three dimensional quality to the pond these days.

#4 Little orchid named falcata nepfinetia

I have had this little orchid for over ten years. It blooms several times a year. It does bloom during its time outside. I did not notice it had buds. I just walked by today and there were flowers.

#5 closeup of waterlily in picture #3

I liked this composition of the earlier picture. I will be interested in what you think. The image was sharpe so the closeup worked for me.

#6 Annual asclepias curassavica

This is the asclepias that is not cold hardy. It is also called the tropical milkweed.
It can become a perennial shrub when grown in the south.
We are not in the south.
I have a mother plant in a pot that must be 3 years old at this point.
I bring it in over the winter. All winter I make cuttings. By springtime I have maybe 2 dozen plants to sprinkle outside.

#7 Jack in the pulpit seedpod

These wonders will turn red over the next month or so, for a while being red and green at the same time. You will see pictures.

#8 Pink Phlox 

Sometimes I pull these plants as weeds. Many manage to make it to add color to August.

#9 Hosta leaf of Bridal Falls

Hosta leaves cannot really compete with flowers. But some of the leaves are rather special.
This plant is in the raised bed by the back driveway, and has really grown since it was planted in 2016.

#10  Zinnia Raspberry Ripple

These rather short little zinnias are a keeper.
The variety is called Zahara.
The seeds are available in commerce.
They come in many colors.
I bought these pink ones as small plants.
I will get seeds next year and plant them right away.
They are along Fairview St.
Each time I see them I tell myself..."get more".
(This is another example of an annual that I think people would buy now.)
So far the flowers from this variety seem to last a long time.
I have them planted next to some yellow straw flowers.
That really works.

Bonus pictures

More zinnias

This is hosta City Lights. It gets nice sun and really shines.

Here were the cactus flowers blooming on their own shelf this week.

Julia's recipe

Magic Bars

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

https://mearskitchen.wordpress.com/

As we continue to plod our way along in the pandemic, sometimes we think about old times - when we could see friends and family in person and share treats and the occasional hug. Inevitably, I remember when the children were young, and there were festive occasions with treats to share. One of those old recipes is for magic bars - basic level baking yielding sweet and chocolate-y bars. Let's hear it for nostalgia. 



The ingredients: 1 stick of butter (I used salted); 1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs; 1-1/2 cups chocolate chips; 1-1/2 cups dried shredded coconut (or sweetened baker's coconut, if that's what you have in your kitchen); 1-1/2 cups chopped up walnuts (or pecans or macadamia nuts - not almonds: too hard); and 1 14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk.

My interest in this recipe also sprang from my noticing that I had a box of graham cracker crumbs and had no idea why. Seemed like a good idea to make a dent in the box. I wonder whether almond flour (which is really almond crumbs with some texture) would work or a mixture of some graham cracker crumbs and some processed saltines or pretzels for a slightly salty treat.  Or almond flour and saltines or pretzels.






First I turned on the oven to 325 degrees (set it at 350 if using a metal pan), put the unwrapped stick of butter in a glass 9" x 13" pan and put the pan in the oven.

After a few minutes, the butter was melted. I took the pan out and tilted the pan gently this way and that to make sure that the entire bottom of the pan was buttered - also a bit of the way up the sides all around. Then I sprinkled the graham cracker crumbs on top of the butter as evenly as I could.

















Careful sprinkling.
























Then I chopped the walnuts and measured out the nuts, coconut and chocolate chips.

(The bowl in the background is milk cooling off - I was also making yogurt that afternoon!)






















I engaged in more careful pouring, this time the condensed milk, so that it covered all of the graham cracker crumb layer.

After pouring, I did a bit of gentle nudging around, with the lovely raspberry colored silicone spatula.



















As you can see, I was able to get pretty even condensed milk coverage. Next up, sprinkling the coconut.























I sprinkled it in long rows.
























Next the nuts and finally the chocolate chips. For some reason, we do not have a picture of the finished product. It looked much like this only a bit browned and melty. The bars baked for about 25 minutes, until a little brown. Best eaten at room temperature.


I have already commented on the other options for the base layer. I bet you could use coconut oil (which as you know is a solid at room temperature) instead of butter, peanut butter-flavored chips or butterscotch chips instead of chocolate and (as noted above) nuts other than walnuts. People who dislike coconut could leave it out with no harm done. I don't think there is a substitute for the condensed milk, however, as it is the glue that holds the bars together.

This makes a lot of bars. Share them (masked, of course) with your neighbors!

Odds and Ends

Strange Local News
https://www.press-citizen.com/story/news/2020/07/27/armadillo-iowa-coralville-police-officer-video-armadillo-sighting-eastern-iowa/5517792002/?fbclid=IwAR3KKqb0Njf9ZHWDyEg9wzWbnJhAb8yUWTOHOVeJsC9kpDbC30FLP8l0Q4M

I found my front yard watering can last Sunday. It had gone missing for 48 hours. I suppose half the fun of losing something is the joy of finding it.
I have one watering can for the front yard. One for the back yard. And one for the porch. They are never to leave their area. This is balance.
I will not embarrass myself by explaining where the lost watering can was found. But it had something to do with it laying on its side.

Katie found us more fashionable masks. Those are coneflowers.















The plant sale continues on the back driveway. We have passed the $2100 mark.

I was struck by the phrase used by John Lewis.
"Make good trouble".
My version of that has been to "make trouble pleasantly."
Everyday we should try to do that, in some small way.

Better times are coming.
Be safe.
Philip