April 14, 2024- the hot weather comes

After a cool  few weeks, the above-normal-temperature weather is back. It got to 80 yesterday. That seemed much warmer than 80 degrees will feel like in July. Windows have been open much of the week. Plants are going outside, trying to find the shade to avoid sunburn.

The garden is going into overdrive. There is just so much going on.

It has been a great season for daffodils. Cooler weather will do that. I will give you a daffodil show in just a bit.

In fact let us have another vote. Is anyone listening?

Before I get to voting and daffodils, let me show you several different white daisy like flowers, which were out in groups yesterday.

This is a nice clump of the special blootroot we have been selling for several weeks. Right below them, in the middle of the bottom of the picture, are two shoots of cypripedium orchids.

This is a nice clump of a native wildflower called twinleaf. The botanical name is Jeffersonia diphylla. It is surrounded by aconite foliage, which will be with us for another month. Apparently this is another plant where the seeds get carried around by ants.

Finally this is anemone blanda, a/k/a wildflower. Windflowers come in other colors. The white ones are the biggest. I got more last fall. They should stay on the "more" list for this fall.

I got my 10,000 steps in the garden yesterday, which wore me down by the end of the day.

I potted up my first hosta. I will need to spray them this weekend. Deer will leave hosta alone while they are still just shoots emerging. But when they begin to unfurl, that it when they can be munched. I have a lot of hosta. Of course I have a lot of daylilies which is another deer favorite.

The jumbo caladium bulbs arrived on Thursday. There are 100 of them. Scott and I got the first 25 potted Thursday.  I  left work at 3 and came home and gardened. I potter another 25  yesterday. They are put in 2 quart containers, and get placed somewhere inside. They will not germinate unless the soil temperature gets to 65.

Daffodils

Let us have another vote

Let us see which you like from this group. Since I am somewhat challenged on daffodil names we will give them numbers,

#1 pink cup

#2 Yellow cup

#3 Red cup

#4 Pink cup

#5 Orange ruffle

Other daffodils that are not in the poll this week.

#6

#7

#8

#9

#10

#11

Right Now

This is a hipatica. I have not had the best luck with hipatica. But I did get some nice little flowers this spring.

This is iris bucharica. It is a keeper.

trillium

Leucojum

A big tulip, having been sprayed several times this spring.

The big double bloodroot. 

One of the epimediums, which are so difficult to photograph. This one is called Bronze Maiden.

The ornamental kale is about done

Species tulip. The fact it is a "species" means it does not taste as good as a hybrid. 

Julia's recipe

Salmon and oranges 

Another simple and tasty thing to do with salmon. As I have probably said before, I did not have fresh salmon until maybe 10 or 15 years ago. I had been exposed once or twice in my younger days to canned salmon, and it turned me off the whole species. Canned tuna appeared often in my childhood, and I liked it. When I finally got around to fresh tuna, it was a (whole) nother thing. Then I liked them both. But not so with salmon. Anyway, this is a simple baked salmon with a nice orange-y glaze. Tasty and pretty.

The ingredients:

1 or 2 piece(s) of salmon, skin on;

2 oranges;

1 tablespoon honey;

1 tablespoon lemon juice (not shown);

non-stick spray (also not shown);and

salt and pepper.

I'll explain the olive oil below. I did not actually use it. But you could, depending on your presentation. 

My 2 salmon pieces were small, probably weighing in a little more than a pound.

I lubed up a baking dish with non-stick spray, and I turned the oven on to 325 degrees.

Then I removed whatever pin bones I found in the fish and put it skin side down in the baking dish.

Sitka Salmon (our purveyor from Alaska) has a theory that to be able to debone salmon mechanically, you have to let it sit around for a while. Sitka thinks this is a bad idea so they flash-freeze the salmon immediately and ship it in dry ice. So sometimes there are bones. This seems to vary by kind of salmon and where the cut comes from on the fish.

Then I salted and peppered the fish and zested one of the oranges right onto the fish. 

I juiced the orange I had just zested and also 1/2 of the other orange. I ended up with about 1/2 cup of juice. I added 1 tablespoon of lemon juice for some zip. 

I put the juice in a little skillet and cooked it on high heat until it was reduced to about 1/4 cup. 

When the juice had reduced, I whisked in the honey. 

I used a silicone brush to dab the glaze onto the fish. Pouring would have dislodged the salt and pepper and orange zest. 

Then I cut the other 1/2 orange into really thin rounds.

I laid the orange slices over the fish.

Fully covered fish.

I baked the fish for about 20 or 25 minutes. 

And this is what it looked like coming out of the oven.

I had some glaze left over which I drizzled over the top of the dish. 

The recipe said I should buy myself 5 oz. of salad greens (like one of those small clam-shell containers of spring greens). Then the remaining orange glaze would get whisked together with 2 tablespoons of olive oil (shown above) and used as a salad dressing. Then the fish could be nestled on top of the greens and wouldn't that be attractive? 

We didn't do that. We had rice and asparagus and our usual green salad. Maggie joined us for dinner, and there were no leftovers. By the way, the baked orange slices could be cut so that a bite of fish could include a bite of orange. Very nice. 

Odds and Ends

No much went on in Iowa City this past week. As the world knows Catlin Clark finally lost. 

Raygun had a t-shirt, or at least they said there was a t-shirt, that said something like

Catlin Clark lost.

The sun came out.

Then it was taken away.

When it comes back a billion bugs will rise.

I found another sign that the winter was mild. I found a parsley plant that over-wintered.

I saw a story this week that Greenland's gravity is weakening. I had not included this on the things to worry about.

I hesitate to look at the news these days. I do appreciate gardening all the more.

But we must put one step in front of the other.

Pray for peace, and for reconciliation.

Pray for kindness. 

Pray to find the little ways to move out world to a better place.

Philip