July 28, 2024- just keep going

I want to start this blog on a cheerful note. This is a sunflower from our sunny garden plot.

I had mentioned earlier in the year that there are benchmarks or signposts where you can measure where the garden is. Those can be the first snowdrop or the first daffodil. Then the first little iris.

We just passed such a moment. It is hibiscus time. 

The start of the hardy hibiscus is one of those moments. 

This picture is Starry Starry Night, named for the Don McLean song. The song however was apparently inspired by the painting by Vincent Van Gogh,

https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=1df0cc266bdfe656&sca_upv=1&sxsrf=ADLYWIJsAdW3kVWGTay5eYqjL2WzMwRb9Q:1722114107171&q=What+is+the+story+behind+the+song+%22Starry+Starry+Night%22%3F&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiLmvv8jsiHAxVJkIkEHXZuAT4Qzmd6BAgcEAY&biw=1413&bih=788&dpr=2.5

Here is a link to the song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dipFMJckZOM

I got this plant almost immediately after seeing it at a garden center in 2019. (That can be the problem of visiting a garden center.) We lost it in 2022 because of some weird weather. It just never came up.

I later found out that lots of hardy hibiscus were lost that year across town. Apparently is was the lack of moisture early in the year.

We replaced it right away and it has come back every year since. It bloomed this past week.

I love the group of buds.

I just got another one last summer. It may start a tradition of an annual aquisition of a hardy hisbiscus, each August. (Oh wait it is still July.) I have determined that hardy hibiscus seem to get enough sun on the west side of the house.

This is the one acquired last year.

The other gem this week was the cactus.

This was Friday afternoon.

This was Friday evening about 9:15.

Here was the plant at 6:30 in the morning.

There is actually a fifth flower on the plant behind this one in front. There are still more coming. The group from yesterday would have been the most to bloom at any one time.

The most flowers I have had at any one time was 8, in 2016.

More pictures

I love my crotons.

This sansevieria is blooming.

This is a hosta blooming. Mostly you do not grow hosta for flowers. This one was nice.

I love this hybrid of the blackberry lily.

The phlox are really doing well.

Someone brought this caladium. I do not know the variety.

This is the adenium we have been watching, waiting for the bloom. I do think it will bloom this week.

These caladium were planted on July 8. (There was a Fourth of July sale.) The variety Gingerland is already almost full grown. The second variety is Seafoam Pink. It is slower but with some hot weather this coming week, I expect it will be ready for the sale table.

This is the first of the Seafoam Pink to get big enough to be in a picture.

This is a rose of Sharon, which....is a hibbiscus. It is a shrub here in Iowa.  The genus is Hibiscus. They are in the mallow family.

The collection of seeds looks familiar.

This is an all yellow balckberry lily. What I need to do is collect the seed from these different varieties and lable them. I should try to grow some from seed. They volunteer from seed so much I have to believe I can grow them from labled seed.

Julia's recipe

Linguine with shrimp and corn and arugula

It's prime sweet corn season here. There are lots of recipes for things to do with sweet corn kernels, and this is a good one, from the NYT. 

By the way, here's how we do corn. We buy a dozen ears each Saturday at the farmer's market. We cook it briefly. As the corn is being shucked, we have a big pot of water heating on the stove. When the corn is ready, we put all the ears in the pot. When the water comes to a boil, we turn it off. The corn is done. If it needs to wait, we cover the pot. If you don't have a big enough pot, use the biggest vessel you have - a roasting pan, for example. Put the corn in the vessel. Bring a lot of water to boil in a teakettle and saucepan or in a spaghetti cooking pot and cover the corn with boiling water. Years ago, when we were visiting Chincoteague, Miss Elsie (Philip's aunt) did not have a big enough pot, but she did have two old enamelware wash basins. Worked like a charm - big vessel and lid. 

We eat a few ears and refrigerate the rest. If you like, you can reheat the ears in a microwave or in a steamer the next day or so. We cut the kernels off the extra ears. Some we freeze and some we keep on hand for recipes like the one below. Happy sweet corn season.   

The ingredients:

1/2 lb. linguine;

12 oz. shrimp (thawed);

6 tablespoons butter;

2 cups corn kernels;

5 oz. box of arugula;

1 cup white wine;

3 cloves garlic, sliced;

2 cups herbs (basil, parsley, mint);

AND red pepper flakes (about 1/2                                                                                                                teapoon), salt and black pepper. 

The recipe assumed I would have 16 oz. of shrimp. I had 12 oz., and so I reduced the amount of linguine, butter and arugula. My shrimp were shelled, deveined and frozen. So much easier. I had fresh mint and basil and parsley on hand so I used some of each. I gather fresh tarragon would be good. Or use any two of these four. 

I started by putting on a pot for the linguine, with probably 1-1/2 teaspoons of salt in the water. The eggs nearby have nothing to do with the recipe. I just like to have some hard-boiled eggs in the refrigerator for snacking or an impulse egg salad sandwich.

While the water was heating up, I drained the thawed shrimp. Then I patted the shrimp dry and seasoned them with salt and pepper on both sides.

I also peeled the garlic and sliced the cloves. I got about 1-1/2 teaspoons of slices. 

I melted 3 tablespoons of the butter in a big skillet. I put the shrimp in the skillet in a single layer. It only took about 3 or 4 minutes total to cook the shrimp - the goal is barely cooked. I cooked for 2 minutes on the first side, then turned them over for another minute of so.

After the shrimp were finished, I put them in a bowl. 

There was still a lot of butter (plus a bit of shrimp juice) in the skillet. No need for more butter. 

Next, I added the corn kernels. I cooked the corn for maybe 5 minutes over medium heat, stirring now and again. 

At the end of the that time, I added the garlic and red pepper flakes and kept stirring for another minute. 

Then I added the wine and cooked for 4 or 5 minutes on medium low - simmering.

While the wine was reducing, the linguine was ready. I cooked it until it was almost done. I reserved 1 cup of pasta water, and then drained the pasta. 

Here's the sauce - corn, wine, garlic and red pepper flakes.  I tasted it and added a little salt and black pepper. The need or not for more salt and pepper is totally subjective. 

Next, I added the linguine to the sauce. over medium-low heat and tossed it around. I cooked it for a couple of minutes to make sure the linguine was fully cooked. I did add some of the pasta water as the skillet seemed dry. Judgment call.

After that, I added the arugula by handfuls (handsful?) until all of the arugula was wilted.

Next, I added and stirred in the rest of butter (cut up into 3 or 4 pieces) followed by the shrimp.

The arugula took about 3 or 4 minutes to wilt. The butter took only a minute to melt and the shrimp a minute to heat up and finish cooking.  

At that point, I poured the skillet into a nice serving piece. 

Then I tore up or chopped up the herbs and sprinkled the herbs all over the top. 

On the table. It was a really flavorful and colorful dish. 

The linguine was really just the background. The shrimp and corn were sweet; the arugula a bit sharp and the raw herbs brought shots of their mintiness or licorice or grassiness in each bite. 

We had the dish with green salad and blackberries with yougurt. 

The leftovers reheated nicely for lunch. 

Odds and Ends

The garden season approaches the time when the present meets the future. I have started a certain amount of planning at this stage. I think about which plants to move. I think about certain beds redone. 

Planning for the garden always includes some level of optimism. I  have those Monsella tulips already ordered. They will grow and the deer will leave them alone. 

So far the rabbits have not eaten the small zinnias. The baby ornamental kale will come soon. I really must figure out cabbage moths/ worms.

We continue to have timely rain. We have had 4.57 inches of rain in July. Normal is about 3.3. There is rain in the forecast.

Outwside of Iowa City-What a difference a week makes. There will certainly be scary moments in the next 3 months. But there is a freshness in the air. We did Hope 16 years ago. So this has to be something else. But it sure feels like Hope. Maybe in 2008 the option of losing was not quite so grim. We have since glanced into the abyss and it is to be avoided at all costs.

Pray for peace. Pray to keep the crazies from running the government.

Pray also for the energy to keep going. 

Philip