June 2, 2024- goodbye May

Saturday morning - There is gentle rain this morning. It would be lovely for the garden except Saturday morning is one of my prime gardening times. There is so much to do. 

May, 2024 will always be remembered as being the month when  justice finally caught up with that big nasty dark cloud on the horizon. Now the question is whether that will make a difference to anyone. It is hard to respect anyone who would still support that person. I need to remember that reconcilation requires some degree of respect. (Is that correct?)

In the garden May will be remembered for its wonderful lupines. That is when I am being positive. Otherwise I think about rabbits. Rabbits? There will probably be no Shirley poppies this year. Actually I may have to go find a little rabbit fence. How tall must must a rabbit fence be?

Last week there were garden gems. You voted and preferred the Itoh peony by a whisker.

The full vote was

Did I mention that I spoke to a visitor who had gotten 12 of these Bartzellas last year from Costco?

Just imagine what that will be like in a few years.

I do think finding anothe Itoh poeny in a different color would be good. Of course where would it go?

This week in the garden

There are two plants that are on my mind.

The first is spuria iris. The second is caladium.

Spuria iris

One reason to love iris is that they come in so many forms. These include in order of bloom time

Reticulata iris- little tiny ones early in the spring.

Bearded iris from miniature dwarf all the way to tall bearded.

Then there are the Siberian iris along along with the Louisiana iris.

It is at this point that the spuria iris arrive.  We are there now.

Japanese Iris used to be the last iris.

Blackberry lilies come in August, and  are now recognized as an iris. (They used DNA.)

Finally in the fall there are the reblooming bearded iris.

Right now, June 1, 2024, in Iowa, it is time for the spuria iris.

Spuria Iris

I have several of these spuria iris, which are characterized in our garden by being very tall. The ones in the pictures are the only ones at this point that bloom. 

This is also the only color. Let me just say that the location is ideal. I read that they would like at least 6 hours of sun. Well these grwo along Fairview where the pink crabapples used to be. This area gets more sun than almost any area in the garden.

What is so striking about these plants is that they must be 4-5 feet tall. And they stand up straight. The winds of a week ago did not even make them bend.

They are what could be described as a focal point plants. They stand out from across the garden.

I have other Spuria scattered around the garden, where they are shorter and never bloom. I intend to move them to join these guys. I am told I can transplant them throughout the year, as long as you keep them moist.

There is a spuria iris society

https://spuriairissociety.org/

Here are some pictures on the society's website.

https://spuriairissociety.org/images

Caladium

I have not grown caladium for maybe 5 years. You do have to plant them in pots in April to give you a chance to have them garden ready by June.

This year, thinking big, I ordered 100 of the jumbo bulbs, in January. They were shipped and potted by early April. Many are still waking up. The plan was to have them for the foodbank sale. I would then plant the ones that did not sell.

In the do over existance I would find a warmer place than by basement to start the plants. Some are just now emerging. (They are all outside at this point.)

Here are pictures from previous years.

This was from along Fairview when there were 5 pink crabs. It actually is from 2006.

This is a variety called Gingerland. I did not get that this year. I wish I had. These were planted where the Japanese Anemones not rule.

Caladium are a non hardy bulb that you can dig in the fall if you wish. Or you can just buy the jumbos for a little less that $2/ each. That price is available as long is you get 25 of a variety.

Here is more information that you really would want.

https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/caladiums/

HIghlights

These bulbs are tropical, mainly coming from South and Certral America.

They have been cultivated in Europe since the late1700's. Presumably they were brought back to Europe by the people who were bringing back anything they could find of value.

They grow from a tuberous corm. How that differs from a regular corm I do not know.

They do best in shade, which is why they are a good companion to hosta. They will even do well in deep shade.

This does mean you should have some space between your hosta. There are parts of my garden at the moment where it is wall to wall hosta. Not so good.

They will last into October, giving great color when the garden generally needs color.

They want the soil temperature to be 70 degrees to grow. That is why you start them inside.

Weather everywhere can be variable. Some years it is cool. This is good for some plants, such as lupines. Caladium like it hot. You should grow different plants so that someone is always happy.

Here are more pictures from this week.

This is Oriental Poppy Royal Wedding. 

This is another Oriental Poppy.

We love our smoke bush. It must be 20 years old. For a while it was not old enough to smoke.

This orchid cactus flower opened when many other buds on the same plant were afflicted with that condition mentioned in the Odds and Ends section.

The Martagon lilies have begun.

The lupines are almost finished but a few beauties remain.

I got this yellow clivia from Pat and Stewart. That must have been ten years ago. I have a plant grown from its seed that must be 3-4 years old. It has not yet flowered.

If the sun had come out yesterday, I think this bud would have opened.

Lupines are particularly nice when accented with rain.

Julia's Recipe

White fish with Indian-ish spices 

Another spicy fast-cooking fish recipe. This one is from the NYT, and it can easily be ready to eat in under an hour. It cooks all in one skillet on the stove, so no need to eat the oven or dirty extra pots or pans (except for cooking the rice or cous cous to go with it). 

The ingredients:

1 lb. or so of mild white fish;

1 cup or so of diced onion;

1-2 tablespoons diced jalapeno pepper;

1 tablespoon peeled and sliced ginger;

1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes;

2 tablespoons vegetable oil;

and a bunch of spices:

1 teaspoon coriander seeds;

1 teaspoon mustard seeds;

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes;

1 teaspoon ground cumin;

1 teaspoon garam masala;

1/2 teaspoon ground tumeric;

1/2 teaspoon hot paprika;

1 teaspoon kosher salt; and

1/4 cup lemon juice.

Ingredient notes: We used rockfish because that's the thin mild white fish we get from Sitka Salmon. Sole or flounder or haddock or thin pieces of cod would be fine. The recipe called for Dundicut red chiles; I used red pepper flakes. The recipe called for Thai green chiles; I used jalapeno. The recipe called for kashmiri red chile powder; I used hot paprika. If you have the ingredients called for, go for it. If not, the dish came out great with the substitutes.

My people don't like cilantro. If you do, sprinkle it on top at the end. I decided to make it a mostly one pot meal by adding a 10 oz. bag of frozen cut green beans (not shown above). It was a good move. Two or three handfuls of spinach or kale or maybe arugula would be nice instead of green beans. 

I started by chopping the onion.

Then I put the spices in little bowls: the coriander and mustard seeds and red pepper flakes in one bowl and the garam masala, cumin, turmeric and paprika in another little bowl. The ginger and chiles go on at the end so I let them be for the time being. 

I heated the oil on medium heat in a big skillet.

First (off camera), I added the seeds and red pepper flakes to the skillet. I stirred the seeds, and when I could smell the spices (less than 1 minute), I added the onions. 

The onions cooked for about 5 minutes. 

Then, when the onions were soft and a little golden, I added the other little bowl of spices. I turned the heat down a little.

A video of me stirring stuff. I think I'm stirring the onions and the second bunch of spices.

While the onions and spices were cooking gently, I patted the fish dry and cut it into strips, more or less the same size. 

Next I added the can of tomatoes and the salt. More stirring. 

And then the strips of fish. I turned the heat up a little, and I put a lid on the skillet to cook the fish more quickly.

I cooked the fish for 5 or 6 minutes, then added the green beans. No, the green beans did not appear on the ingredients list. They were an afterthought.

After this picture was taken, I put the lid back on the skillet. 

Everything cooking away with the lid on, for maybe another 10 minutes. When the green beans were cooked, the fish was done too. 

While this last piece of cooking was happening, I peeled a piece of ginger and cut it first into slices and then into little strips. I also cleaned and diced the jalapeno. 

I dumped the final dish into a serving piece. There was no more elegant way to get the food out of the pan and into the serving dish. "Dump" is sometimes the right word. 

Once the food was in the platter, I sprinkled the lemon juice over the whole thing, followed by sprinkling the ginger and the jalapeno over that. 

And here it is. Mild fish, spicy sauce, sweet-ish tomatoes and onions, al dente green beans, tangy lemon juice, crunchy ginger and jalapeno. 

We served it with rice. And salad and blueberries with yogurt. 

Odds and Ends

When you make the list of all the things to worry about in the garden, something else always comes along. I may have described a new strange thing the orchid cactus flowers were doing. The tip of the buds would become sort of fused together. It was such that the flower would not open.

Well this is called Bull Nose Blossom. It can happen when there is some kind of rain at just the wrong moment. I learn this from my friends at the Epiphyllum Group Facebook place.

Recently I have potted about 2 dozen little lupines, mostly found in my paths. Lupine seedlings pot very easily. I did the second dozen yesterday. I sold most of the first dozen rather quickly.

The sale for the foodbanks just passed the $4000 mark for the year.

I really have to go look for some rabbit fence.

The deer, as if they thought I was forgetting about them, decided to eat the tops of the toad lilies. I filled up the spray bottle from the gallon of that stinky stuff, and closed that barn door. 

Work continues to be a struggle, trying to find the balance between gardening and making a living.

Some of the right wing strategy is to control the public school textbooks. That is scary.

Pray for peace, in so many places. Pray for reconcilliation. Give me the strength to find something good in those idiots who still support that newly convicted felon.

It is so good to heard from many of you. Thanks Kevin and Pam, and David and Pat and Laynez.

Philip