May 21, 2023- More lupines

 It is all about lupines. Or is it?

It is  that time of year when quite frankly the garden is a little ragged. The masses of old foliage from the aconite, squill and bluebells just sits there creating a mass about 6-12 inches everywhere. 

In addition there is a little wildflower/weed called a wood anemone. It grows to about 12-15 inches high and has a little white flower. 

Here you can see the anemone in with the lupine.

Much of this undergrowth has to go. The swivel hoe is getting a work out.

Some of this highlights the hosta. Hosta really are the backbone of the garden. Every distinct flower bed has some hosta. Here is a lovely hosta called June. It gets morning sun.

Last week's pictures

You liked the tulip group. Tulips and tree peonies are all gone for the year. I guess that is why we take pictures.

Here are the best pictures from the week of May 16, 2023.

#1 Gray Shirley Poppy

#2 Tall bearded iris

#3 Jack in the Pulpit

I really like the color of the stalk. They really are everywhere at the moment. It grows from a corm. That is similar to a bulb. On an occasion with more time I could try to tell you about the difference.

The plant causes skin irritation. Fortunately you do not have to touch it much.

Here is an article that will tell you more than you need to know about the genus arisaema. The part on arisaema sex is interesting. Plants go back and forth.

https://www.plantdelights.com/blogs/articles/arisaema-arisaema-arisaema

#4 Hoya in bloom

I am taking the hoyas outside, now that there is some shade places. There is a nice little video of this plant in the extra pictures.

#5 Pink lupine with red (2 for 1)

Last week I showed you a pink and white lupine. This plant is different. 

There you have the 5-6 best pictures for the week. What do you think?

Other pictures

These Blissful iris were around just one week ago. They closed the dwarf iris season with a flurry.

I have lots more lupines for you.

I like how this next picture is pink with a little yellow.

Here are three videos showing you the three lupine beds.

Here are two other videos that seemed helpful to show you the particular flowers.

Julia's recipe

Lemon Pound Cake

Another lemon dessert, just in time for the graduation season. This is a loaf cake; that is, a cake baked in loaf pans and therefore sliceable into, well, slices. I have made this recipe (from the NYT) with and without blueberries, and it is very nice either way. 

The ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter - at room temperature:

1-1/4 cups white sugar;

2 cups all purpose flour;

4 teaspoons (or more) lemon zest;

3 eggs;

1 teaspoon vanilla;

1/2 teaspoon baking soda;

1/2 teaspoon salt; and

1 teaspoon baking powder. 

For the glaze: 

1/2 cup lemon juice and 

1 cup (or so) powdered sugar. 

I started by creaming the butter and then adding the sugar and beating them together. I grated 2 large lemons over the mixing bowl to facilitate getting all of the goodness into the bowl. So I think I had about 4 teaspoons or maybe a bit more, but I did not measure. 

When the zest was mixed in, I added the eggs, one at a time beating each one in. One was in a little container. It had been on the way to being poached when it broke. So it got to be in the cake. Next I added the vanilla and beat that in too. 

I mixed the flour with the salt and baking soda and baking powder.

I added about 1/3 of the dry ingredients and mixed that in.

Oh, and I turned the oven on to 350 degrees.

Next I added some of the sour cream and mixed that in. Back and forth, ending with the last of the flour mixture. 

This is the last of the sour cream, to be followed by the last of the flour. I have one of those sticky liquid measuring devices, good for shortening and honey and sour cream. More accurate than eyeballing it and easier than using a regualr measuring cup. 

The recipe said to bake in a 9" x 5" pan, but I used 2 pans - 8" x 4". I think there would really have been too much batter for a 9" x 5"pan. 

I lubed up the pans with a kind of cooking spray that includes a dose of flour. I think regular cooking spray would have done the job. 

I baked the cakes until a skewer came out clean - about 55 minutes. I started to test at about 45 minutes. Baking times will vary given the differences among ovens. 

 

While the cakes were cooling, I made a syrup/glaze from the lemon juice and powdered sugar. 

Before de-panning, I poked holes in the cakes with the skewer and tried (without a lot of success) to get some of the glaze to soak into the cakes. 

Then when they were out of the pans, I ladled/brushed the rest of the glaze over the tops and the sides of the cakes. 

Here they are. Sweet and lemony all at the same time. 

If you want to make the bluberry variation, put about 3/4 cup of fresh blueberries in a little bowl and dust them with about 1 tablespoon of flour. Fold the berries into the batter when it is otherwise all done. 

Don't use canned or frozen blueberries as the mositure content would throw everything off! 

Odds and Ends

Scott rototilled my community garden plot this week. Planting commences this coming week. The first thing to be planted will be some of the many amaryllis. I will fatten them up with 3 months of full sun. 

When Chirtopher visited in April he planted several castor bean seeds in that little plot. They came up, marked by two little colored straws.

Scott did his tilling work around the now tiny castor bean seedlings.

This little bed will be a nursery to maybe 75-100 amaryllis bulbs. Most of them just came out of the closet yesterday. A few were already setting a bud. Most were not. I will probably have many that will bloom at the garden plot.

The leaves are slowly coming out. Here are pictures of the Linden and the Walnut.

After several weeks of some upper respitory illness I am on the mend. That means I have started waking at 4:30. This morning (Sunday) I will go plant some amaryllis at the "farm."

It has been chilly, which was good for the lupines. It has been down in the 40's the last few mornings. It is also dry. There is no rain in sight. We had a good 2 inch rain 2 weeks ago. It is almost time to get out the hose. It could be a long summer. 

The plant sale for the food bank rolls along. We passed the $3000 mark for this spring. There is so much to do.

It is a scary world out there. It is difficult to think that so many people can want such awful things. Gardening is a escape. It is important not to forget about that world. 

Do what you can. Pray for peace and reconciliation. 

If you are in the neighborhood stop by. The lupines are great and then will give way to the next thing. 

Philip