February 16, 2025 Week #12

Winter is back. I guess that is how it goes in February. There was the first real snow. Actually it was only about 4 inches. But it slowed everyone down. And now it is cold, as in heading to  negative numbers. All this coming week. For one thing the cold means the snow sticks around.

I love the snow hats worn by the ornaments.

Those poor snowdrops pictured last week are buried. They really are tough. Their only vulnerability is being stepped on by the 4 deer wandering through the back yard when we came home on Friday.

So it is another inside garden day.

I am going to pot up some of the arugula. The leaves are big enough to taste. You can certainly tell the diffence between the arugula and the buttercruch lettuce. I think in a week I can start picking outer leaves to supplement the professional lettuce.

Last Week which was week 11

The winner in a tight contest was... 

the English bluebell.

I thought the red poppy would win. After trailing on the first day the poppy caught up midweek. At one point there was actually a tie.  Almost all the late votes went to the bluebell.  The blackberry lily finished a close third. 

But a win is a win. And a loss means go home. No wildcards this year since there were two ties. (I will have a field of 15 pictures in the playoffs. That will be in just two weeks.

Here is the final vote

This Week is Week #12

#1 Pink Rhododendron 

April 23, 2024

We have had this plant for maybe 10-15 years. I lost its nametag. I am not even 100% certain it is a rhododendron, as oppose to an azalea. (By the time I finished writing this I believe it is a rhododendron. 

But what is the difference?

Rhododendron is the genus. They are in the heath family. OK. (The heath family is sometimes called ericaceae.) What else is in the heath family you ask?

https://www.britannica.com/topic/list-of-plants-in-the-family-Ericaceae-2038184

One plant in the family is called...and I kid you not,.... doghobble. Google that. 

Most plants in the heath family are shrubs.

Rhododendrons come from the higher elevations, such as the Himalayas.

They can be everygreen or deciduous.

This one keeps its leaves, but they really do not look happy when it is very cold.

Azaleas are within the genus. They are a subgenera. (Are you getting smarter?)

How do you tell the difference between an azalea and a rhododendron?

Here is the answer. 

https://www.gardenia.net/guide/azaleas-and-rhododendrons-what-difference

I am not sure that helped. It is clear that all azaleas are rhododendrons but not the other way around. Azaleas are smaller plants and have smaller leaves.

In the end I read that rhodos have 10 stamen per flower. Azaleas only 5. Look at the bonus picture. This plant's flowers have 10. It is a rhododendron.

Heather is a heath.

#2 Lots of orchids- Cypripedium Gisell 

May 4, 2024

This wonderful clump of terrestrial is about 10-15 years old. I have tried Cyps over the years. This clump has been the most successful. It not coincidentally is listed in the Cyp stores as the easiest to grow.

There are some wonderful yellow ones, and there is the pink one that is the state flower of Minnesota.

#3 Fancy concflower June 23, 2024

Coneflowers come in a variety of shapes these days.

#4 Hibiscus Buds- Starry Starry Night 

July 26, 2024

Hardy hibiscus bloom in August, or late July in an early year. This is Starry Starry Night, naed after the Don McLean song. 

I got this plant 5 years ago. It died after the second year. I was told it was due to a lack of winter moisture.

So I got another Starry Starry Night. 2024 was its second year. I got two more, planting them near SSN. It is on the shelf on the west side of the house. It gets nice afternoon sun.

#5 Epiphyllum hookeri 

August 31, 2024

This is epiphyllum hookeri. Epiphyllum is the genus. Hookeri is the species.

They are found in Mexico and further south. That is near the Gulf of Mexico. (That is the new code word for the resistance.)

This epiphyllum blooms later in the year. Sometimes it will still be making buds when I have to bring it inside for the winter. I have found it does not do well inside.

Bonus Section

Here is a closeup of the rhododendron flowers. You can count the stamen. There are certainly way more than 5. That is the clue that the plant is not an azalea.

Right Now

The clivia stalk has grow. It was performing well in the sun the other day. 

These next two pictures are new cuttings of orchid cactus I boight last summer. I would like to add some more color to the collection. They have grown nicely and will go in small hanging baskets over the summer.

This is a cutting I made from the lovely pink orchid cactus. Look at the new shoot that is growing at the side of the pot.

This new paphiopedilum started to bloom. It is special because it is reblooming. It bloomed in early March 2024. Once you get an orchid to rebloom you are starting to be hooked.

This paph has been blooming for a month.

The arugula seedlings are getting bigger

Julia's recipe

Jambalaya

This recipe, for jambalaya, takes less than 45 minutes to prepare because it starts with leftover rice. A lot of less-than-1-hour recipes assume you have some time-consuming ingredient already on hand. I often do - rice or some protein or another. I believe in leftovers, cooked pork or chicken or rice or pasta, as a key to faster dinner preparation. But you have to keep track of what's in the refrigerator. Okay. The recipe is from the NYT, but I fiddled with it a bit. 

The ingredients:

2 cups cooked rice;

1-1/3 cup or so andouille;

1 cup diced onion;

about 1/2 cup sliced celery;

about 1/2 cup diced green pepper;

about 1-1/2 teaspoons smushed garlic;

1 tablespoon tomato paste;

1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes;

2 teaspoons cajun seasoning;

1 tablespoon tabasco sauce;

1 cup raw fish (I used sablefish);

1/4 cup or so sliced scallion;

2 tablespoons olive oil; 

some fresh spinach; and 

salt and pepper. 

I added fish because I have a lot of fish. You could leave it out or use cooked chicken or pork or raw shrimp. I added about 1/2 of a 5 oz. package of spinach because why not? But that's also optional.  

I started by cutting stuff up: the andouille into half moons; the onion into little cubes; the green pepper also into little cubes; the celery into sort of half moons; the scallion into thin rounds (both white and green parts). And I smushed the garlic. 

More prep.

I put the olive oil in a big skillet (big enough to hold everything) and added the onion. On medium to medium-high heat.

After a few minutes (3 or 4), I added the andouille and stirred now and then.

Then I added the fish. Sablefish has some bones along the midline so I cut that out and put the two pieces on top of the sausage and onions. I turned the heat down to medium and put a lid on the skillet and cooked the fish for about 8 minutes. It didn't take very long.

After the fish was done, I took it out of the skillet. Sablefish comes skin-on. So when I took the fish out of the pan, I skinned it (easy at that point) and set the fish aside on the plate. 

Back to the skillet. I added the celery and green pepper. I turned the heat up a little and stirred the skillet a time or two. When the celery and green pepper has begun to soften a little, I added the garlic. 

Then I added the tomato paste and the cajun seasoning and about 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper. I stirred a little and then 

added the cooked rice. 

More stirring, then I added the diced tomatoes and tabasco sauce and fish bits (which I had broken into flaky chunks on the plate).

When everything was mixed together nicely, I spread a couple of big handfuls of spinach on top and put the lid for a few minutes and turned off the heat. The spinach wilted in a few minutes. 

Then I turned it out into a nice serving bowl and sprinkled the scallions over the top. 

On the table. A nice, pretty easy one-pot meal. Protein and starch and vegetables all in one dish.

I made it on a Saturday and we had salad plus lemon pudding cake. Mostly we have dessert on Saturday night. Lemon pudding cake is good. If you're interested, the recipe is on the kitchen blog. 

We had some jambalaya left over, which Philip ate cold (he does that) and I reheated. For lunch.

Odds and Ends

Time goes by. February is over half over. It is a cold February. 

One year ago the color had started.

The kale looked good.

The early spring flowers had already started to bloom.

This early crocus bloomed on February 10.

Then there is the country and the world.

About the only positive is that bad things from Washington have made us not think about Des Moines. (That is where the Iowa R's have about run out of bad things to put into law. Most of those bad things are already there.)

This week I offer prayers for federal workers, an endangered group. I would like to know friends still have their jobs, but I hesitate to ask. 

Kindness is in short supply these days. It has been replaced by greed.

Bernie is right. Elon has taken down the curtain and shown us how the superrich are now running things.... in the open.

Pray for reeovery. I guess before we recover we have to survive.

Is it wrong to think about payback?

I close with a shout out to the Gulf of Mexico. I have made that name the current code word for the resistance.

Philip-