April 18, 2021-There is so much ever day

I am getting up before 5 o'clock these days. I like, and maybe need, that hour that is quiet.  That time is before it is time to go outside and do something in the garden. The to do list is long.

During that time I have a chance to think about the garden in all three tenses, past, future and present.

The big worry at the moment is the real frost coming in a few days. This past week it really only got down to about 33. All the forecasters now agree it will be down into the upper 20's early in the week. The cold may last 3 nights. There is even a snowflake in that app on my phone for Tuesday. My tropical plants will have to come inside. 

But this is April. A year ago it got down to 21degrees on April 16.

Let me talk about this last week, and show you some real time pictures.

Sunday, April 11, 2021

After a 2-3 inch rain during the previous 24 hours, it was good to get out into the garden. The highlight of the day was receiving a gift of some very special snowdrops. I guess I knew that snowdrops, like most every plant, come in many varieties. I grow maybe 3 of the common ones in commerce in this country. (Brent and Becky's actually sell 8 varieties.) Mostly I do not think about snowdrop varieites.

I was given plants called Lady Elphinstone, Wendy's Gold, and Blewberry Tart. (What is with Blewberry Tart? Can't the English spell?) Let me just say that there are worlds out there that most of us do not even know about. Glimpses of those worlds are available on the internet. Wendy's gold, for example, is described as "one of the most popular yellow snowdrops." What? 

I carefully planted these 3 bulbs, marking them both by a white plant label, a colored straw, and perhaps best, a video of their locations saving to the photo library. I also maintain a digital plant inventory. Julia says I should wait until next spring to order the black plant label. OK.

I discovered four more tree peony seedlings yesterday. I am up to 7 this spring.  I did plant over 100 seeds. What else are you going to do with them. For whatever reason they germinated this spring. I had only had one the previous two years. They are really delicate, being newborns and all. I suppose every seedling is like that. One may have been stepped on already by the deer. I will have to figure out protection, and identification. By identification I mostly mean remembering work.

Pictures

This is a little snow trillium, maybe nivale. It is no more than 3 inches tall. It reliably comes back, but it does not particularly spread. I should remember what I say about tipping points and gardening. 1 plant might dies. 2 plants might survive. 3-4 will reproduce and could soon be 6. After that the sky is the limit. My pulmonaria have reached that point.

This is a leucojem, also called a snowflake. It looks like a very tall snowdrop. At the moment they are scattered about the garden, as indiidual plants.

Monday

It was another one of those days where I would rather be gardening than going to work. Sunny and 57 degrees. I potted up the first toad lilies in the early morning. It is light enough that I can get outside by around 6:45. 

I had some significant deer damage to some of the larger hosta maybe Saturday night. Chomped them right off. I got the spray out but trying to figure out where to spray is a rather daunting task. Some kind of deer barrier might be what I need. They just walk down between the houses and then the entire back yard opens up for them.

Here are pictures.

This is a picture of the world's shortest tulip. It is a little species tulip,  called tarda.  It has been cultivated since 1590. Remember the Dutch? Tulipmania? The only famous plant speculation I ever heard of, ended with a collapse in 1637. Tarda is known to naturalize easily, which means it comes back year after year. It was no more than 3 inches off the ground. I wonder if species tulips do not taste as good to deer.

This plant should go on the 'get more' list.

Here is one of the late blooming double bloodroot. The picture is nice as it has lamb's ears in the background.

As the brand new tree peony seedlings have emerged I thought I would put up a picture of a plant in its third spring. It still died all the way to the ground this past winter. That is a good thing as I will have to figure out how to support it if we get a lot of snow again. One of the big tree peonies was close to the driveway and got buried under 4 feet of snow. The stem broke, which is why there will be only 3 of those white ones this year. The broken plant is growing from the stump. It will take a few years to recover but it lives.

I would expect this little 3 year old will develope a small wood stem and not die all the way back this fall.

The daffodils were particularly crisp in the sun.

Tuesday

I have started the minimalist plant sale for the food banks. One plant for sale is the celandine poppy. I have mentioned that to enough people to realize that some people have experienced the bad variety. I thought I should write about the two types.

Celandine poppies

I have  grown the celandine poppy for a long time. There are two different species and knowing the difference is important. They are both in the poppy family. I have grown them both over the years. 

First up is stylophorum diphyllum. I have some of this plant now, with the plants thriving in the shade of the back garage. This plant is also known as the wood poppy and is native to the woodlands of this continent, being found from Ontario to Kentucky.

https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/celandine-poppy-stylophorum-diphyllum/

Then there is chelidonium majus, which is a weedy import from Europe. It is sometime called the 'greater celandine'. It has apparently been around for hundreds of years. 

I read someplace that it is rarely intentionally grown. I grew this variety maybe a decade ago. It was a mistake, taking years to eradicate new plants which grew from the million seeds each flower expells with some force. The flower is entirely different, sharing only the color yellow. The flower sort of looks like a cross, with four separated petals. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelidonium_majus

Pictures

Here is a little start for the poppy back on the driveway/sale table.

The plant divides easily. I got maybe 10 little plants out of a clump I divided. 

Here is one of those mature clumps. It actually grows on the north side of the back garage. It does not get much sun. It is a woodland wildflower. I have found it does fine in more sun.

Wednesday

We got the little garden plot tilled today. There are about 150 of us with the 10X20 plots at Chadek Park. This is my second year with a plot. I arranged with the City to give out my name to contact to arrange for group tilling. It was rather short notice. The young man I hired tilled a total of 5 plots today.

Now it is time to plant. Something else on the to do list. Since there is no rain in the immediate future, I am taking my time. I should at least get some lettuce planted, and maybe some ornamental kale. 

Thursday

I spent the early morning quiet time working on my epimedium inventory. I have lists and location and labels. I got another 10 plants last fall. I call them the class of 2020.

The organization efforts do break down over time. This morning I updated the lists and will compare that with what is actually in the garden in the next few days.

I love iris. There are so many kinds that bloom over such a long time.

One interesting type is iris cristata. It is an iris that will bloom next month that grows practically on top on the ground. This picture is from a little clump I dug up and will sell. Cristata will bloom in May.

This is  iris bucharica. It is sort of a spring bulb. This is a real time picture. They are early and different. This is maybe the last one I have. It goes on the 'get more' list.

Friday

The Iceland poppies are blooming in their little pots. I have maybe 30-40 plants that I grew from seed starting in January. Here are three that bloomed today.

Here are the Monsela tulips I planted last fall. I sprayed them with the anti deer stuff right away. So far so good. The deer have left them alone. I expect them to be wide open when we have the first warm sunny day.

We have had an interesting cloud pattern this week. It has been sunny in the morning, and then clouds over. Cloudy, with some wind, and 50 degrees is still rather cold.

The sun caught this daffodil just right to allow this picture.

Here is a cropped picture of that daffodil. Better?

We officially past the $1000 mark in the not so organized plant sale.

Saturday

I must have been in the garden 8 hours today. I started the day by potting my new purple water lily. I then placed it in the pond without falling in. I also put chicken wire over the pond in an attempt to thwart the ducks.

It was a gorgeous day. Sunny and 65 and a decent number of garden vistors. People came by with plant contributions for the sale, including some lovely canna bulbs, some small bluish hosta and some trillium.

Here are pictures.

More of the double bloodroot bloomed today. The first wave was probable 2 weeks ago. I assume that has something to do with zones and maybe age of the root. They must have been blooming in 4 different places.

The Monsela tulips did open. When 20 perform you envision 50. These tulips will not really come back with this performance a second year. As long as you know that you plan accordingly.

I discovered this wonderful pulmonaria today. It is 'Benediction'. It was hiding behind some hellebores. I will move the hellebores so this can be seen.

This is a trout lily, sometimes called a dog tooth violet. Erythronium is the official name. The variety is 'panda'. 

Hosta Montana is always one of the first to really open its sails. We will see how it does when it gets to 28 degrees. Much below that and the leaves would be mush. I knew one grower who would not sell this plant because of frequent frost damage.

One could use up an entire role of film just taking pictures of bluebells. I guess it has been about 20 years since I used film. I assume you know what I mean.

This is the entire clump of anemone blandas. I was disappointed in them after I planted these bulbs maybe ten years ago. Some things you just have to wait for.

Julia's recipe

Eggs Florentine

I like eggs and I like spinach so eggs florentine is a natural. This recipe is from The Vegetarian Epicure, the hippie era vegetarian cookbook that many people of a certain age own. I have two copies. I keep them both because an old friend, Stewart Scofield, colored in the drawings at the beginning of the chapters in the more decrepit edition. Vegetarianism was big in the late 1960's-early 1970's and much of it was sincere but not tasty. Anna Thomas, the author of the VE, managed to mix sincerity with taste, mostly. So her cookbook is still in use in my house. And this is her recipe, with a couple of adjustments, mostly as to cooking time.  

The ingredients: 

1 lb. frozen chopped spinach;

4 eggs;

1 cup grated sharp cheese (like sharp cheddar);

1-1/2 tablespoons butter;

1-1/2 tablespoons flour;

1 cup milk;

plus a little salt and a little pepper and some cooking spray for the baking dish.

Anna T. says to use fresh spinach. I say why bother?

I thawed the package of spinach overnight in the refrigerator. No need to cook it.

I did drain the spinach in a big sieve to dry it some. Then I sprayed a shallow baking dish with cooking spray, and I dumped the spinach in, levelling it.

And I turned the oven on to 350 degrees.

I made 4 indentations in the spinach with a big spoon and cracked one egg into each indentation. 

I sprinkled a pinch of salt over each egg and ground on some black pepper.

I grated the cheese, and I sprinkled about 1/4 cup over each egg.

Next I made a small batch of white sauce by melting the butter and adding the flour when the butter was melted. I stirred the butter/flour for a few minutes (like 2) over medium heat, adding a pinch of salt and a grind or two of pepper. 

Then I added the milk and whisked the mixture until it came to a boil. I let it boil for 1 minute, and I ladled the sauce over the eggs and all around. 

Anna Thomas says this bakes for 10-15 minutes. This is simply wrong. It takes more like 40 minutes. Every single time. At 10-15 minutes, neither the yolks nor the whites of the eggs are cooked at all. Not done. 

At 40-45 minutes, the whites will be set and the yolks either set or a bit runny. You could check at 30 or 35 minutes (ovens may vary) by scraping the sauce gently away from the edge of an egg. The white should be set and white, not runny or translucent.

When the eggs were done, I then turned the broiler on and stuck it under the broiler for 2 or 3 minutes (keeping an eye on things) to get a little color on top. 

 Here it is on the plate. We served it with acorn squash (which I started a bit early and which were done when the eggs were set). And salad and blackberries with yogurt. 

There were 4 eggs and only 2 of us. Perhaps 2 hungry people would eat everything up. We did not. The dish is very good cold, for lunch later in the week. 

Odds and ends

I love this website from Iowa State:

http://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/sites/hist.phtml?network=IA_COOP&station=ICYI4

It allows you to change the month and year and see all this information about the past.

Here is April 2020. We had two snow events then. We also had temperatures down in the lower 20's.

Here is April 2019. This should be enough to convince you not to put out your tomatoes in April. 

Actually I have added this screen shot for May, 2020. We had peppers planted by May 1. They were toasted by the frost on May 9 and 10.

The frost free date of May 15 means something.

Of course if the ten day forecast is all above 40 on May 5 that is a different matter.

I close by thinking about plant sales and bluebells and unplanted lettuce. Then there will be frost. 

Be safe. Get vaccinated. 

Philip