Week #13- February 23, 2025

It was cold this week. For three days in a row we did not get to 10 degrees. It got to 20 on Friday which felt not so bad. But the end is in sight. It is to be 41 degrees today.

Of course there has been wintry weather everywhere. It snowed in Chincoteague. It  snowed in Springfield, Missouri, where I grew up. Springfield had over 10 inches of snow. There was one day this week when Springfield was the coldest place on all the locations on my phone. Screen shots are in the Odds and Ends section. 

We did not have snow this week. The roads were clear. One could hardly complain.

Of course there were plenty of other things to complain about. But not particularly on this garden blog. We celebrate the wonder of flowers and imagine good things to eat.

Last Week, which was Week 12

The winner by quite a bit was the hardy orchid, cypripedium Gisell.

Here was the full vote

This Week is Week #13

 Week 13 is the last week for you to select a picture to advance to the playoffs, which will start in one week.

# 1 Blissful, the dwarf iris 

May 5, 2024

When I close my eyes and think about spring I think about all the little dwarf iris. This is Blissful. It is a Standard Dwarf Bearded Iris or SDB. 

It is a recent hybrid, having been registered in 2016.

When I looked it up I liked the fact that its bloom season was described as "early to late."

#2 Lupines everywhere May 12, 2024

I talked about lupines in Week 3. I have them established at this point. They self seed all over the place. That provides me with replacement plants for this short lived perennial.

#3 Cristata Iris May 12, 2024

People know about Bearded Iris and maybe even about Siberian and Japanese Iris.

This little wonder is a wildflower called cristata. That is the species. Iris is the genus.

It comes from the eastern United States.

It seems hardy, but has a remarkable growing habit. It has rhizomes like the bearded iris. But it is like they grow mostly on the surface. It is like they do not fasten into the ground very much. I wish I had a picture.

#4  Toad lily August 16, 2024.

Do you love spots?

This is the toad lily.

It actually bloomed early, hence this picture in August. 

Keeping the garden going in the fall is always a challenge. The two main perennials in my garden that time of year are Japanese anemonies and toad lilies.  Toad lilies were developed in Japan.

The botanical name is Tricyrtis hirta. They are known for their spots. There are white flowered varieties which are on my "get one' list. There is also a yellow one, which I had for a few years but probably would have prefered a different location.

Tony Avant of Plants Delight Nursery has a nice piece if you want to know more about them.

https://www.plantdelights.com/blogs/articles/tricyrtis-toad-lily-bulbs-hirta

I have found that I can pot up toad lilies in the spring. I have these big clumps. I just dig up pieces all around the edges. 

One thing I love about gardening is introducing other gardeners to new plants. Many people do not know about toad lilies.

#5 Tiny Hoya October 27, 2024

I love hoyas. I have been growing my collection. This is Hoya nummularioides Porcelain Flower.  I got it in 2023. It bloomed for the first time last fall, This is the picture. I brought it inside and noticed it was going to bloom. 

It is described as one of the most reliable bloomers. It is said to bloom in the  fall.  It bloomed in 2024 and it even  bloomed when it was supposed to bloom.

I got it from a lovely old greenhouse in Connecticut called Logees. We visited there  once, when we visited friends in Connecticut. They have sales all the time. You can buy plants from them that you certainly cannot get at the local garden centers. (Sometimes the box stores do get interesting hoyas, that are not expensive,)

Logee's website is https://www.logees.com/

 

Bonus pictures

When I select pictures for the blog posts in the fall, I start with about 90 pictures for 65 slots. I then start picking pictures and eliminating pictures as the contest developes.

Here are some of the pictures that were in that first group, that did not make it to the contest.

Crocuses are always wonderful, particularly when it is still cold.

This little scilla was standing upright in the snow.

This is the oldest tree peony.

Another Siberian iris.

A. nice dayliy.

An inside orchid.

Right Now

Last night we had the first salad for supper where all the lettuce was grown in our house. We started the lettuce the first week of the new year.

The clivia is completely open. It is in a sunny spot and brightens the room.

Julia's recipe

A different chicken soup

I got this recipe from Michael Knock's cooking column in the Iowa City Press Citizen. As noted above, this is a different chicken soup: wild rice, almonds, red wine vinegar, cream, cornstarch, in addition to the expected chicken and onion and celery and carrot and chicken stock. It's good. But, I thought it needed a few tweaks, including two additional ingredients which show up in the little picture below the main ingredients picture.   

The ingredients:

2 cups (or so) of cooked wild rice;

3 cups (or so) diced chicken breast;

2 tablespoons almonds;

1 cup diced onion;

1/2 cup thinly sliced celery;

1/2 cup diced carrot;

1 teaspoon red wine vinegar;

4 tablespoons butter;

2 teaspoons cornstarch;

4 cups chicken stock;

2 cups 1/2-1/2; and 

salt and pepper. 

The recipe called for 2 cups whipping cream. I thought that was too much (in terms of richness): 1/2-1/2 was fine. I had some wild rice in my pantry for no reason. So I cooked it for this soup. If you have wild rice (or some wild rice blend), use it. I think long grain brown rice would also be fine. I roasted the chicken for about 30 or 40 minutes. I don't like to cook (saute) chicken on the stovetop. Don't know why. The oven worked just fine.  

If you have cooked chicken on hand in your freezer, you have a headstart. 

The soup turned out a bit bland. So I added more salt. And about 1 tablespoon of sriracha and about 1 tablespoon of rice wine vinegar - at the end just before serving. 

Maybe my taste buds have dulled as is reputed to happen to old people. Or maybe the soup was bland. Sriracha perked it up. As did the vinegar. I reached for rice wine vinegar. Apple cider vinegar or white or red wine vinegar would also work. 

I often add a shot of acid of some kind (vinegar or lemon juice) to soup just before serving. Makes the soup snappier.   

And I had simply undersalted it. Wild rice and vegetables and roast chicken are not salty by themselves. Taste the broth and, as they say, adjust the seasoning when you are ready to serve. 

As reported above, I had already cooked the wild rice and roasted the chicken. So I started with vegetable prep: onions, carrots, celery.

Then I diced the cooked chicken breasts. 

I melted the butter in a Dutch oven and added the vegetables. I cooked the vegetables on medium-ish heat. 

Vegetables cooking in butter.

Next I added the wild rice and the almonds and the red wine vinegar. 

I do not think that the red wine vinegar added much. I think the vinegar (whatever kind) should go in at the end. The almonds were interesting, but not essential. 

I continued to cook (and stir now and then) on medium-ish heat. 

When the onions were kind of soft (5 or 6 minutes), I added a thawed quart of stock from the freezer. 

If you don't have stock in your freezer, feel free to use a quart of store-bought. Or stir 4 teaspoons of chicken better than bouillon into the vegetable-rice mixture and then add 4 cups of water. 

Next in - the diced chicken.

I turned up the heat a bit to bring the mixture to a simmer. Then I covered the pot and let it simmer for about 30 minutes. 

After 30 minutes, I poured 1/2 cup of 1/2-1/2 into a bowl and whisked in the cornstarch. 

Then I stirred the cornstarch mixture into the soup, which thickened the soup slightly. I added the rest of the 1/2-1/2 and some salt and pepper and it was ready. 

Except it lacked oomph. Hence the sriracha and vinegar and more salt and pepper. 

On the table. It is a pretty soup. We had it with some home-made bread (that had been in the freezer) and a salad. 

And for dessert: pink jello. It's a combination of raspberry or strawberry jello and vanilla pudding. My Aunt Julia made it regularly for extended family meals when I was a kid. It's creamy and fruity, and it tastes like my childhood.  

We had leftover soup for lunch during the ridiculously stretch of cold weather this month. 

Odds and Ends

What are the odds that Springfield, Missouri would be the coldest in this group? This group is most of the locations where we have connections.  Juneau and Nome are just novelties. 

This was at 7:21 on February 20, 2025.

Thursday was our wedding anniversary. 54 years and counting. We learned this year that February 20 is the World Day of Social Justice. Happy to share the date.

There are so many bad things at the moment it is hard to know where to send the kind thoughts.

Pray for federal govenmental workers.

Pray for people who rely on governmental benefits.

Pray for strength to grow the resistance.

But most of all pray for the people of the Ukraine. They deserve better.

Remember the Gulf of Mexico.

Philip