February 14, 2021- Happy Valentines Day

My goodness, it has been cold in Iowa City. I do not think we have had as long a period of very cold weather for quite some time. The 'normal' temperature range for mid February is 18-33. 12 degrees was the high this week and when it got that high it felt warm. This weekend we will barely get into the positive numbers. We are not forecast to get to double digits until maybe next Thursday. At least the -24 degrees predicted for tomorrow night is now only -16. My grandson who just turned 4, is learning about negative numbers. How many apples are less than 0? Think about it.

However next weekend is supposed to get to 30, or maybe even above 32. Remember melting? That wonderful sound and even smell? It is coming, and when it comes, spring will follow.

Speaking of next weekend Saturday will be Julia's and my wedding anniversary. This year will be a big one. 50 years. We will get to celebrate it with both our children and our grandchildren here. How grand. My parents celebrated their 50th in 1996. My sister and all of our children were there with them, in Estes Park Colorado. It was a glorious late June day. I would like to go back to Colorado. 

Speaking of travel, I got my first vaccination shot this past Thursday. Julia got hers a week ago. Our second shots are in a few weeks. Safety is coming. It is just now here yet. Where will be the first place you visit, when visiting is possible?

We are into week 4 living with our grandchildren. It is good. It will end at some point and they will go a thousand miles away. I only wish they could stay until spring. 

I looked at pictures from last February. 

Flowers were coming. This picture was taken on February 4. You knew they were out there, coming soon.

This was February 12.

There is no such picture this year. 

Last Week in the contest

The contest went down to the wire. As of Saturday morning it was tied at 18 votes each. That last voter made the difference. The winner was the Red Peony. 

The full vote was

I do think that with 37% the cactus flower should be a wild card in the playoffs in just two weeks.

This Week- Week #12

#1 Toad lily 

September 26, 2020

I love Toad lilies. I also really liked this particular picture. There are the wonderful colors. Then there are the spots. 

I love to grown plants that people do not know about. Toad lilies are certainly one of those. I say this thinking about the people who came by last year to the long lasting plant sale for the food pantries.

I got to show them toad lilies in October. Most of them had never heard of this wonderfully named group of flowers.

Tricyrtis is the genus. They came from someplace else, with many varieties coming from Japan.

They like shade. They bloom in the fall. That is about the perfect combination for our garden, and so many gardens which have a lot of shade.

Here is the Plants Delight discussion of the toad lily. It will debunk one story of how they got their name.

https://www.plantdelights.com/blogs/articles/tricyrtis-toad-lily-bulbs-hirta

#2 Cold crocuses 

March 14, 2020

March 14, 2020. One year from this picture is exactly 4 weeks away. That seems close, but far away. That is particularly the case on a weekend with much snow on the ground with the temperatures barely getting to 0 in Iowa,

Under all that snow there will be crocuses and snowdrops and aconite and so much more.

I so want the early spring flowers to be here soon.

There was snow back in March last year. We did not have the snow cover we have this year. The picture of the snowdrops in Week 6 of the contest was taken on the same day as this picture.

Actually we had snow again on April 16 last year. As with most late snows it did not stick around.

#3 Little trillium 

April 23, 2020

This is T pusillum 'Roadrunner' . These tiny little plants joined the garden in 2017. They have reliably come up ever since. 

Trillium are special. They come back and I wish there were more of them.

#4 Home grown tree peony

May 15, 2020

This is the great center of one my home grown tree peony. I have four of those plants. They set their buds in the fall for the next spring. At the moment they are all in the middle of a snowdrift. I think they will be alright, but one worries.

What a wonderful combination of pink and yellow, against that white background.

I read last year that to have better germination of peony seeds they should be planted as soon as they can he harvested. If you wait until the are dry and fall off, it could be two years before they germinate.

I have been carefully planting the seed the last few years. One came up in 2019. None last year. But what else are you going to do with the seed?

#5 Lupine spire 

May 28, 2020

I do love lupine. As with so many plants you want to find a location they like. They seem to like the area next to the house driveway, along Fairview Street, where they get a fair amount of sun. They self seed.  I also start them from seed, inside. I then take them out in April.

There you have it. Week #12. In some years winter would be fading. Not so much this year.

But there will be 5 more weeks to the contest, after this week, by which time the spring bulbs will certainly be all a blaze. 

Bonus pictures

This is last March 14. We had snow on top of spring bulbs. That is always a wonderful combination. The plants are not really effected. They just bounce back when the su comes out.

Toad lilies

In looking back at these pictures I remembered how really nice the toad lilies were.  I learned last spring that I can pot up the shoots that come around the edge of the 5-10 clumps I have around the yard. I will pot them up this spring and then try to spread toad lilies around the Iowa City area.

I think I was able to make a toad lily slideshow work. For that reason I just have a few individual pictures for you here.

This is the flower before it opens. The entire plant is hairy. There are also those interesting nodes at the base of the flower.

Think about it. What survival trait is advanced by being hairy? I do not know.

Those nodes stay at the base of the flower. You hardly notice them after the flower opens.

This next picture is a yellow toad lily called Lemon Twist. I have had it for over 10 years. It does not spread. That could be because I grow it under the walnut tree. Some plant lore says a walnut tree is somewhat toxic to plants. Mostly I have not had that experience. There is a white flowering variety I would like to get.

Here is the slideshow of toad lily pictures.

Here is a trillium slideshow

More tree peony pictures

This of course is an enlargement of the contestant from this week.

Lupine

Right Now

The seedlings are much the same. I need to separate the Shirley poppies. Last week I learned that my pardancanda seeds would like a period of cold before they would germinate. So now they are now in the garage, which these days is getting below freezing. I am going to keep them there until March 1. This is called experimenting.

The cutting garden on the kitchen windowsill was an exciting place this week. I know you will ask how can I contain myself.

Several hoyas that had been in water for probably several months finally started to grow roots. On the hoya group facebook page there is always the debate between the water propagators and the damp soil propagators. I have always found that if you wait long enough the ones in water will grow roots.

I can also report that mint cuttings will grow roots. Somehow I do not think this will cause much of a disturbance in the force.

Julia's Recipe

Ground Lamb with Rice

This is a recipe from the NYT cooking site of middle easter origin. Lots of cultures have some kind of rice and meat thing: cabbage rolls are stuffed with it among the Germans, grape leaves among the Greeks, green peppers of various kinds in the Americas. The spices, of course, differ across the map. Here the rice is colored with turmeric which makes for a pretty dish, and it is not stuffed into anything. 

The ingredients: 1-1/4 lb. or so of ground lamb; 2 cups basmati rice; 1-1/2 teaspoons of olive oil( or ghee or butter); 1-1/2 teaspoons or so of smushed garlic; 2 tablespoons grated ginger; 1-1/2 teaspoon of garam masala; 1/2 teaspoon paprika (or hot paprika if you have it or chile powder); 1/2 teaspoon black pepper; 2 teaspoons kosher salt; 1 teaspoon turmeric; 3 tablespoons lime juice; one bunch of scallions; and some fresh mint leaves if you have them.  

You will observe that there is more than 1 lb. of ground lamb shown. I am feeding a larger than usual crowd, with the people from Maine in residence so I made about one and one-half times the recipe. 

The recipe proceeds in two parts which come together at the end. In the red pot, I cooked the meat and added the aromatics. In the red pot, I cooked the rice. 

One is told to soak and rinse and generally fuss with basmati rice. I don't. If you want to, rinse the rice in a fine mesh colander until the water runs clear then soak it for 30 minutes, Or not. 

Cook the lamb, over medium-high heat until it is cooked through and in small pieces. Drain off (with a little ladle or big spoon) almost all of the fat. 

Here is the meat thoroughly cooked and broken down. 

While it was cooking, I grated the ginger and smushed the garlic. 

I also started the rice, pouring in the 2 cups of rice plus the turmeric, the other teaspoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of lime juice. I added 2-1/2 cups of water, gave it a stir and cooked it as below. 

Rice should be brought to a boil and then covered and turned to low. When the water is almost all absorbed, I turned it off. 

I added the oil and the ginger and the garlic to the meat and cooked it for a couple of minutes. Then I added the garam masala, paprika, black pepper and 1 teaspoon of salt. I cooked the mixture until it started to smell good (another minute or so) then added 1 tablespoon of lime juice. I put the lid on the pot and turned it to as low as I could - after a few minutes I turned it off. The meat part was done. 

I washed and sliced the scallions into thinnish rings. 

When the rice was done (after 15 to 20 minutes), I added it to the meat and stirred it all up, with the last tablespoon of lime juice. I garnished with the scallions and would have added mint if I'd had any.

Garnished and ready for the table. We served it with an Indian dish featuring scallions and garam masala as well. We had a green salad followed by berries and yogurt. 

We think adding a dollop of yogurt to the rice dish would be tasty as well. 

One goal was to make enough for lunch, at which time it was all eaten up. 
 

Odds and Ends

Last February- 

In looking at pictures from February, 2020 I saw these pictures. We were at the Iowa caucuses, at City High.

How long ago was that?

Knitting occurs everywhere, even at the caucuses. I wonder if Iowa will be the center of attention again in 3 years.

A plant for the fall. 

Meet dusty miller, a plant I have under-appreciated for decades. I learned this past year that the plant lasts well past the first frost. It lasted the entire month of November.  It also provides a wonderful color contrast with flowers such as pansies and fall crocuses.

That is it from cold and snowy Iowa.

Be safe.

As the days grow longer it will get warmer.

How glorious the spring will be after such a long winter.

There will be a celebration at some point.

Philip