August 9, 2020. So much to do

I was up at 4am yesterday. I did not want to be up that early, but it is what it is.
It was to be a busy day in the garden, according to the 'to do' list.
At the moment I am cleaning up parts of the yard, getting certain parts ready for next year, and working the backyard plant sale for the food pantries. We passed $2400 yesterday.




And that was before I divided one of the nice big clivias. There are four of those nice plants for sale.














I am also spending some time in the evening ordering new plants.
Yesterday I ordered a dozen little dwarf iris.
And to fully disclose all purchases I got a nice new hosta on the internet.
This year and the next.

Last Week

You liked the cactus flower.
There are 3-4 buds coming on the cactus plants.

The full vote was

This week with 10 entries you can vote for 2.

#1 Yellow hibiscus

#2 Monarch caterpillar

There have been quite a few butterflies in the last few weeks. There have been Monarchs and Yellow Swallowtails. The Monarchs like the asclepias. They left behind this caterpillar.

#3 The first Japanese Anemone

The first of many over the next month.

#4 Starry Starry Night hibiscus

We waited all week. It was worth the wait. I think it might be bigger if there was more rain. It is getting dry, along with the return of the heat this weekend.

#5 Tomatoes and a pepper

This was just from this morning. I am not sure which hot pepper this one is. Two plants are ghost peppers. I will carefully cut this up and put it in something this week.
If anyone wants some really hot peppers I think I will have plenty soon.

#6.   Anemone buds

One of my favorite flowers has my favorite buds.

#7 Red Begonia

I think we have had this begonia for 15 years. We got it at a nursery near Decorah a long time ago. It needs to come inside for the winter where it goes completely dormant. You need to put a label in it to make sure you do not through it away.
They each spring it sprouts and blooms for much of the summer.

#8 Confused Angel

This wonderfully streaky hosta is at the top of the all name plants in the garden. In the beginning there was Blue Angel. Then there was Guardian Angel, which is a great plant itself.
This is Confused Angel. At the time I got it just for the name.
 After being moved to the front yard, by the porch, it is doing nicely.
Sometimes you do have to give a plant a chance in a different location.

#9 Hydrangea paniculata Unique

I do not have many bushes. This is one of the few exceptions.
It lives by the Japanese Anemones. Together they give August a good start. It has already been blooming for several weeks, and is going strong.

#10 Colorful Phlox

There you have it. You can vote for two. You just have to refresh you browser to do that.

Bonus Section

Here was the sequence of the first pink hibiscus flower. The first three pictures are Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.




The first buds are appearing on some of the orchid cactus that bloom over the next 3 months.
These are those wonderful white stars.







This is the seedpod for the white tree peonies.
I now understand that this is when you should harvest and plant the seed. If you are interested ask. These can be sent through the mail. I should have a harvest of over a hundred seeds.





This is Winter Snow, one of my top five hostas.






The morning glories have reached the top of the trellis. Now they can start blooming, anytime now.
They do take a lot of water. Lots of things take water at the moment. I am trying to avoid getting out the hoses.







Profusion zinnias have a well deserved place in the late year garden. There are a few other zinnias in between the short ones that I planted from seed. They are to bloom in September.






Here is a picture of the entire hydrangea.

My sister in law Joan gave this plant to me maybe ten years ago. She died earlier this year. This bush will always give her a place in the garden.

Julia's recipe

Berry Tart

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

https://mearskitchen.wordpress.com/

This recipe appeared in the Iowa City Press-Citizen 9 years ago. I know this because the newspaper clipping has the date at the top. The Press-Citizen has always (in my lifetime of readership) had a cooking section, on Wednesdays. For many years it was written by Johanna Beers, a remarkable person all the way around, and after her death, it was taken over by Michael Knock, who has proven an engaging successor. Mid-summer is usually Johnson County Fair time (although not this year), and one of the features of the county fair is the Johanna Beers Pie contest, named posthumously in her honor (she had served as a judge for years). In recent years, Michael Knock has been one of the judges. In honor of the time of year, he offered a "pie" recipe but for a kind of pie that could not be entered in the contest. Pie contests have rules. So this is a berry tart with a a yogurt-based filling. Ineligible for the fair, but very good.




Here are the ingredients: a pre-baked 9" tart shell; 3 eggs; 3/4 cup white sugar; 2 cups plain yogurt (I always use whole milk yogurt; I think lower fat would work, but make sure it is not gunked up with sugar or such things); 2 tablespoons vanilla; 3/4 cup of white flour and 2 cups of berries (I used 1 cup each blueberries and raspberries - not sure about strawberries as they would need to be cut up and then not hold their shape).



Obviously, the first step is to obtain a pre-baked tart shell. I have a tart pan with a removable rim, and I have Philip, so this step was easy. If you have neither, feel free to use a store-bought pie crust in a 9" pie pan. It will be fine. Make sure you pre-bake the pie crust. Here's how: line the pie crust with a piece of foil or parchment. Add weights - we use (and reuse) some dry beans. You could use nuts and bolts or nails or little pebbles or marbles or dry rice if you don't have beans. After about 15 minutes in a 400 degree oven, take the foil/parchment (with weights) out and prick the pie shell with a fork; then put it back in the oven for another 10 minutes. Keep an eye on the pie crust. It should be pale brown or golden brown, not dark brown.

The crust needs to be cool when you add the filling. So make it ahead OR stick it in the refrigerator while you make the filling.

Turn the oven down to 325 degrees.




Next, the filling. I started by beating together the eggs and sugar until the mixture was pale yellow and seemed a bit thicker - 2 or 3 minutes.

Then I added the yogurt and vanilla and beat some more. Lastly, I added the flour, which I stirred in more gently.

I have always used flour in this recipe. I think a combination of cornstarch and almond flour (maybe 1/2 cup almond flour and 1/4 cup cornstarch would work as a gluten-free substitute).





The resulting mixture was thick and creamy. I ladled it into the tart shell. There was some left over.

What did I do with the leftover filling? I lubed up (with cooking spray) 4 little ramekins and evenly divided the leftover filling into them, topped the ramekins with blueberries (from our stash) and baked them along with the pie. Very tasty. Maybe the tart shell is not essential after all.







I sprinkled the berries over the filling. Notice the tart shell is on a rimmed baking sheet. I usually use a rimmed baking sheet when baking pie. It facilitates getting the pie in and out of the oven (eliminating the need to try to get a grip on a hot shallow round thing) and catches drips, if any.

I baked the tart for about 30-35 minutes. Maybe a little longer. Start looking at it after 30 minutes - golden brown around the edges and not jiggly in the middle is what you are looking for.

The ramekins did not take as long. If you have ramekins as well as a pie, check them after 20 minutes.




And here it is. As I said above, we had extra filling. And extra blueberries.

In mid-summer, one of the local orchards has a kind of run-up to apple season by selling other fruits and berries imported from elsewhere (often Michigan). We buy a few bags of pitted pie cherries for the freezer and also some blackberries. And two 10 lb. boxes of blueberries - blueberries by the handful, blueberries and yogurt, blueberry pie or cobbler, blueberries for the freezer to make pie or cobbler in the winter.  I love berries of all kinds (maybe not aronia berries). Out of season are okay; in season are terrific. Enjoy them while they are still around.

Odds and Ends

I was looking up information about clivias as I was getting those plants ready for the sale. I read that a clivia plant should have 13 leaves in order to bloom. What?! (Is there such punctuation Pat? I would like it to be where you want to ask a question emphatically.)
Clivias apparently add four leaves a year. I suppose the 13 leaf thing is a reflection of the fact the plant has to be at least 3 years old before it will bloom.
My seedlings on the porch only have 4-6 leaves at this point. I suppose they will bloom in 2022.

The time to garden in the morning is getting shorter.
That happens.
Two days this week were jacket time.
That was good.
This weekend however we returned to hot weather.
The lack of recent rain is starting to take a toll on the plants.
The peppers are the 'farm' were starting to wilt when I picked mint for dinner.
Of course everything picks up a little over night.
The radar is the first thing I am looking at when I get up in the morning.

I continue to grow impatiens from cuttings.
I potted up another 2 dozen this week.
But they need water when the go in the ground, after a week or so in pots to grow more roots.
Tomorrow I will mulch the ones I in the ground.


The plant sale has done so well. It has been such a joy to see people and talk gardens.
The fact that it has raised quite a bit of money is important too.
People now know about the idea.
They sometimes bring plants to add to the group to be sold.
Today person I knew from the orchid club brought two trays of these wonderful aloes.
The name is aloe delta lights. They were wonderful. Several sold by the end of the day.
Here are pictures. The plants were wonderful. The idea was wonderful. Renewing an acquaintance was wonderful.




That's it for this week.
Make some good trouble.
Be safe.
Better times are coming.
Philip