June 4, 2023- Summer is here- with heat and some thunderstorms

The AC is turned on. The humidity is high. It has been offically in the low 90's for the last several days. I was running the sprinkler in the front yard and the back.

But we finally had some rain. Or did we? Thursday evening it rained in our part of town for 15 minutes. Some people reported a half inch. Our not so reliable rain gauge said the same. The weather app said .05. Friday night it rained hard for maybe a little longer. I mean hard. I was going to take a picture of the rain- it was so unusual. I went out on the front porch and the wind drove the rain all over the porch. I passed on the picture. I think there was perhaps another half inch. 

These were what can be called isolated storms. Officially Iowa City had one third of an inch, total.

This heavy rain washed out some of the woodchip paths in the backyard. I have to figure out what to do with them. Mostly it is the drainpipe. There must be some way to divide the water flow coming down that pipe.

It is June. The wonderful spring months are over. As are the lupine. The lupine show has inspired some gradeners to grow lupine. I keep explaining to them that they are short lived perennials. You have to get a rotation. I do keep finding volunteers, further from the original group.

There is so much to do. Bartzella has been blooming this week. Six buds/flowers this year. Bartzella's picture of one is in the top pictures of last week.

 The big news for this coming week is that the new tree guy is coming to reset the ropes. And maybe add a few more. He is also going to cut down the piece of the sycamore tree that has been wedged in the crabapples since the derecho in August of 2020. When that happens we can get the last of the orchid cactus plants and the orchids outside.

As for pictures from the week of May 15-21 you liked this tall bearded iris.

Best pictures from May 28-June 4

Here are what I think were the best pictures from this past week, May 28-June 4.

There were so many good ones I had to add a sixth one.

#1 Pink Calla lily

#2 Double Siberian Iris

#3 Bartzella, an Itoh peony.

#4 Waterlily

#5 Pinkish Shirley poppy

This picture comes with a bug.

#6 Red flower on hoya

When I started growing hoyas seriously I wanted some of these flowers. The plants have to get big enough to flower. Well we finally got a plant to bloom this color.

There you have pictures from this last week. I think many of those pictures will be in the contest this winter. When you look at the extras this week, you may find some pictures that could join them when it gets cold.

Other pictures

One could take an entire roll of film with just Shirley poppies. (Remember rolls of film?

I had to put one Shirley picture in the top five but there were other Shirley pictures this week.

I have numbered these pictures. Let me know if one strikes your fancy. I usually select 65 pictures for the winter contest. It can be so difficult to keep the number of Shirley poppies under 4 or 5. 

We can have a separate poll one week of just gray Shirleys.

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

Here is a little video of the gray Shirley Poppy group.

Other pictures

Bartzella had 6 buds this year. It gets crowded in this corner of the yard. I will have to figure out whether I should give this peony space for the rest of the season.

This is a blue perennial tradescantia.  It blooms after the pink one and stays more undeer control. I have started weedding out the pink one. I can pull it up and the roots remain to come back next spring.

The first Siberian Iris this spring was a yellow one. I think the last one will also be yellow. They are on different plants which are presumably different cultivars. 

The Asiatic lilies have started. It may be a limited bloom this year as the buds were the number one attraction for the deer.

Here is a video showing the pond, with the waterlilies today.

Saturday is our work day in the garden. Scott joins me at 6 for 3-4 hours. I keep going after he left. I wonder why I am really thirsty for the rest of the day. It did get to 90 for the third straight day yesterday.

One thing we did was set up a place for more hanging plants. There is now a good amount of shade in the backyard.

Julia's recipe

Strawberry salad

I got this recipe from my old friend Kevin. We were work colleagues for a long time, and then we became non-work friends. And that's how I learned the Kevin cooks! Apparently Kevin got this recipe from Better Homes and Gardens, and I am guessing that he tinkered with the recipe, like you do. I also tinkered with the recipe, mostly by cutting it more or less in half, because, as printed, the recipe would have fed a lot of people, and salads with ingredients like strawberries do not keep well in the fridge. But you should know that if you are expecting a crowd, you can confidently double everything and have a whole lot of a very good salad. 

The ingredients:

1/2 of a 5 oz. boxof arugula;

1 lb. box of strawberries;

1 cup of thinly sliced red onion;

1/4 cup chopped fresh mint;

1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley;

1/4 cup roasted, salted, shelled pistachios;

1/3 cup or so crumbled or cubed feta cheese;

1/4 cup white wine vinegar;

1 scant teaspoon sugar;

1/2 scant teaspoon regular salt; and

1/3 cup or so olive oil. 

I did not have any fresh mint. I had fresh flat-leaf parsley so I used that. Part mint and part parsley or all mint would be good. Or basil, I would think. The recipe called for white balsamic vinegar, which I did not have. I had white wine vinegar which was fine. I think any vinegar would work, including red wine vinegar.

 

I started by slicing 1/2 of a big red onion into thin half-moons. I mixed the vinegar, sugar and salt in the metal bowl shown below. When the sugar and salt had dissolved, I added the onion slices and set the bowl aside. I let the onion sit for about 10 minutes.

While the onions were quick-pickling (as that soaking process is called), I hulled and sliced the strawberries. The little pink and green gizmo on the cutting board above is a strawberry huller. It's a uni-tasker, but if you eat fresh strawberries very often, it's worth having as it makes hulling strawberries easy. 

When the strawberries were sliced and sitting quietly in a bowl and the feta was cut into small cubes and sitting in a measuring cup, I got out a nice platter. I washed the arugula (which doesn't take much in these days of triple-washed salad greens), and I put about 1/2 of the package as a base on the platter. 

Next I chopped some parsely (about 1/2 cup) and sprinkled it over the arugula. 

Next, I scattered the strawberries over top of that. 

I fished the onions out of the vinegar and scattered them around next. I left the vinegar in the little bowl as it would become part of the salad dressing. 

After the onions came the feta cheese and the pistachios. I added about 1/3 cup of olive oil to the vinegar/pickling liquid, stirred it up and drizzled it over the entire platter.

Helping myself. It was delightful. The onions, having pickled, were not assertive. The strawberries were sweet; the arugula was sharp; the feta was salty and the pistachios were lovely as pistachios always are. 

I think we had beef stroganoff for dinner that night, which is a quick fix for a weeknight, and blackberries with yogurt to top it off. 

We did have a little left over which Philip had for breakfast the next day.

Odds and Ends

There was more deer damage this week. For the first time some deer decided to eat some hosta. I will have to spend  time spraying deer repellent. 

Freshly spread woodchips are always nice. Of course I then have to tackle the weeds.

Weeds did pull up easily yesterday. 

I planted some zinnias last week, which were up right away. I have more seeds to plant.

I try not to think about politics. I spoke to a person I know who said his daughter and family might be moving from Texas to Minnesota. What a no brainer.

One should set aside a little time every few days to think about the state/country/ world. 

There is so much to do. 

Pray for peace and reconciliation and to have a few less Republicans in government. It would help to have an app for the TV that would blip through adds for Republican candidates for President.

Find a breeze.

Send me a note. It is good to hear from you.

Philip