Week #10 January 30, 2022

January is almost over. Next month, February, is the short month. It is almost like someone designed it that way. Before you know it we can start looking for those first little snowdrops.

I am ready for that to happen. My seeds are growing. I planted lupins and coneflowers this past week. My poppy seeds have secondary leaves on them.

I do notice that we also had more votes this week than at any time this year. And more "comments" too. That is so appreciated. 

For anyone of you who are new to the blog, we have this winter picture contest each year.  But there is more to the blog. There are weekly recipes from Julia. There is the also the archive of posts, going back almost 15 years. You can see the post right after we elected Obama as president. You can read the excitement of the first cactus bloom. 

Mostly you can enjoy gardening and pretty pictures.

Last Week

The runaway winner was the pink Shirley poppy. It flirted with the 50% mark all week, finishing just one vote from that elusive mark. No other picture has done that well, this year. When we reach the playoffs I will seed at least the top three pictures. (There are 3 weeks of playoffs with the 13 winners and 2 wildcards.) This picture might get the top seed.

As I mentioned I think it looks like a dancer spinning around in a colorful dress. I have added pictures in the bonus section of past garden poppy dancers.

Here is the full vote total:

This Week which is Week #10

#1 Blue pulmonaria 

 April 17, 2021

This pulmonaria is probably Blue Ensign Pulmonaria.

Pulmonaria, also known as lungwort, have been a presence in the garden forever. They bloom in the spring, and grow in the shade. The plant is certainly on the short list as a companion plant to hosta, in the shade garden.

What else can I tell you about pulmonaria?

The genus is...pulmonaria.

It comes in various colors, including pink, almost red, and white.

While it blooms in the early spring, the leaves stay interesting all year, lasting well past frost.

It is a hairy plant, from top to bottom.

It is a cousin of the Virginia bluebell. Some flowers can change colors like the bluebell.

It is in the Borage family.

Once you get enough growing in the garden,  volunteers seems to pop up everywhere.

Here is Tony Avant on pulmonaria. He has a business in North Carolina called Plants Delight. It is a little pricey but he has some hard to find plants. It can be just fun to look at the catalogue.

https://www.plantdelights.com/blogs/articles/pulmonaria-lungworts

#2 Little Bearded Iris- Starshot 

May 1, 2021

I do so look forward to the time when the little bearded iris bloom. I greatly expanded their bed this past fall. I was given lots of new ones, and purchased some as well. So far the new bed along Fairview street has survived the utility workers as well as bad drivers. (Most of these little guys are planted near the curb. Occasionally a bad driver will flatten whatever grows there.)

This is Starshot, obtained a few years ago from a place called Salmon Creek Garden. It is located in Vancouver, Washington. It is fun to visit their website and just go through pictures of all sorts of iris. I particularly like the Standard Dwarf Bearded selection.

https://flowerfantasy.net/

#3 Yellow Orchid Cactus 

June 13, 2021

I have written about Orchid cactus before. I grow these plants in pots that hang in the trees. As such they are actually a good companion plant in the shade garden.

They do have to come inside in the winter. You try to encourage them to be dormant. while they are inside. They sometimes have a habit of waking up, even setting buds while it is still April. 

After 5-6 months inside you also have to be careful when you take them outside. Aside from avoiding frosts, the plants can get a sunburn, if exposed to hot sun soon after they have gone outside. Leaves can provide protection. But this can be a problem because leaves on some trees in the yard are late in making shade.

#4 Lemon Drop Coneflower 

July 5, 2021

Coneflowers have exploded in the last 5-10 years. I do believe there are more coneflowers listed in catalogues than any other plant, including hosta. Several pages are often devoted to showing all the different colors and shapes.

This is Lemon Drop.

#5 Blackberry Lily 

July 7, 2021

This is a pardancanda. It is also known as a blackberry lily. Sometimes it is called a candy lily.

So what are pardancandas?
Are they Blackberry lilies or Candy lilies? Are they even a lily?

Here is Dave's Garden.
https://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/2866

They are so new to the plant world that there is no wikipedia page.

More information, with pictures is found here:
http://amycampion.com/candy-lilies-why-i-love-em-how-to-grow-em/

So the genus for pardancandas is  "X Pardancanda".
The species is norrisii.
I think the X before the name of the genus means that the genus is a cross.
The person who did the crossing was Mr. Norriss.
The genus is a cross between Belamcanda chinensis and Pardanthopsis dichotoma.
Imagine that.
Well the first one of those is the blackberry lily.

So the term pardancanda lily is ofter shortened to candy lily.
To add to the confusion they are called lilies but are really iris.
I learned that the spring after I had grown them  for the first time.  I found all these little iris coming up. I had not planted them there. Well it was the blackberry lily seedlings coming up.
The seeds really are rather fertile.

I like these flowers in part because they bloom later in the summer, after the riot of color has ended.
They also will surprise you as to just what color will be where.

Whatever they are, they are sometimes called blackberry lilies after their seeds. They form a seed head that resembles...a blackberry.

Vote away. Find a friend to vote. Two people can vote on the same computer by first refreshing the page. To vote on your phone you first have to scroll to the bottom of the post and click on "see web version."

I send emails to many people on Sunday morning after the new post. This gives the web link to the blog for those who have not bookmarked the page. If you would lije to receive one of those emails write me at philip.mears@gmail.com

Bonus Section

Here is part of that newly expanded bed with the little iris, back in October. I also have about 75 little iris potted up staying in the cold back garage for the winter. I have thought about bringing a couple to the house now, a giving them a simulated spring. Would they bloom?

Here is a slideshow of poppies dancing. ( This relates back to last week's winner. )

More pulmonaria

The pulmonaria bloom at the same time as the epimedium. Look at all those spots.

Raspberry Splash is one of the nicer varieties. The Avant article says pulmonaria are short lived perennials. I have found this variety lives a long time. This plant must  be 10-15 years old.

These are some little plants potted up for the sale. They do transplant rather easily at almost any time of the year. I just have to keep the plants moist for the first two weeks.

This pulmonaria, which volunteered in the path next to the gnome, has also lived for a long time.

Here is a Blackberry lily slideshow.

Julia's recipe

Kale Lasagna

The link to the webcite with all of Julia's recipes is

https://mearskitchen.wordpress.com/

I have made meat and tomato lasagna, and I have made spinach and cheese lasagna, I have pastitsio, a Greek version of lasagna. But a filling of mushroom and kale was new to me. It is tasty and has fewer assembly steps than any of the lasagna or lasagna type casseroles listed above.  And vegetarian to boot. The recipe is from Joshua McFadden's Six Seasons. The guy has a way with kale.

The ingredients:

12 no-boil lasagna noodles (this is less than a box, which is sort of a bother, but with enough lasagna-making, it will come out even);

3/4 to 1 lb. cremini mushrooms;

1 bunch of lacinto kale;

1 lb. whole milk ricotta;

2 cups chicken broth, home-made or reconstituted from better than bouillon;

1 cup whole milk;

3/4 cup white flour;

8 tablespoons of butter;

1 lemon;

1-1/2 cups finely grated parmesan;

salt and pepper. 

I started by prepping the kale. I washed it, then folded the leaves in half lengthwise and cut out the stems/ribs. 

Next, I sliced across the folded leaves to produce thin ribbons. 

I set the kale aside and rinsed the mushrooms, removing any obvious dirt. 

I put the mushrooms in the food processor and zizzed them up.

Little mushroom bits.

Next, I started on two things at once. I melted 2 tablespoons of butter in a skillet (but I added 1 more tablespoon later on.).

In the saucier, I melted 4 tablespoons of butter.  

When the butter in the skillet was melted, I poured/scooped all of the mushroom bits in and cooked them over medium heat until they were pretty much cooked - about 12 minutes. I added maybe 1/2 teaspoon of salt and maybe 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper. I gave the mushrooms an occasional stir.

Meanwhile, then the butter in the saucier had melted, I added maybe 1-1/2 tablespoons of better than bouillon, followed by the flour. I cooked the butter-flour-bouillon mixture for maybe 2 minutes on medium heat then added 2 cups of water and the milk.

If I had used chicken stock, I would have added it with the milk. But the bouillon paste blends in better when added to the butter and flour (thank you Katie). 

I brought the sauce to a boil (on medium-high heat), then reduced the heat so that the sauce simmered ,and I gave it the occasional stir. I let it simmer for 5 minutes then turned it off.

When the mushrooms were done, I put them in a bowl, melted the last tablespoon of butter, and added the kale shreds to the same skillet the mushrooms cooked in. I added a little salt (maybe 1/4 teaspoon) and cooked the kale on medium to low heat for maybe 15 minutes. I needed to add a little water so the kale would not stick to the pan.

The goal is to have the kale completely limp but not browned (or not browned much). 

While the kale was cooking, I turned the oven to 375 degree and shredded the parmesan and opened the ricotta and got out the noodles and a 9" x 13 " pan. 

I grated and juiced the lemon and stirred both the zest and the juice into the ricotta.

When the kale was tender, I added a little more salt and a bit of pepper and it was time to assemble.

First, I put 1/2 of the sauce on the bottom of the pan. I topped the sauce with 4 noodles, 3 going north and south and 1 cut in half along the north edge. 

When I say "1 cut in half", I mean I cut/broke one noodle lengthwise and put the 2 halves side by side above the 3 north and south aligned noodles. This is easier to do than to explain. 

Next, I spread all of the mushrooms on top of the noodles. 

I spread the kale on top of the mushrooms. 

Then I made a second layer of noodles, putting the thin strips at the south edge of the pan. (Not shown.)

I put all of the ricotta on top of the second layer of noodles. (Not shown.) I used a disher (little spring loaded scoop) to plop dollops of the ricotta all around and then used a spatula to smooth a bit. 

Then I made a third layer of noodles, again putting the thin noodle strips on the north side. I covered that layer with the rest of the sauce, followed by all of the parmesan (Also not shown.)

The lasagna baked for about 45 minutes.

And it emerged from the oven golden brown and delicious. We let it cool for maybe 15 minutes before cutting and eating. 

I realize that this may be a weekend (rather than a weekday) project, as it is maybe 90 minutes from walking into the kitchen to sitting down to eat. The 45 minutes of baking and 15 minutes of post-baking waiting are not laborious, but these steps do take time. 

This lasagna does not taste brassica-y. One tastes the mushrooms and the cheeses and a hint of something else kind of green-tasting. It is good cold the next day or warmed in the skillet. We had it with one of Philip's lovely green salads and berries and yogurt.  

Odds and Ends

If you enjoy looking at garden catalogues this is the time of year. Some companies are just on line. I do like the paper versions. 

About this time of year some companies update their on line catalogues, including new plants that have just been developed. 

One way to gauge the changing gardening habits is to see how many varieties of a particular type of plant are listed in catalogues. These days echinaceas often fill more than one page. Pulmonaria, not so much.

Here is a plant oddity, taken from the Tony Avant article about pulmonaria. He tells us that the silver spots on the leaves are the result of air pockets in the leaves.Those are used to cool the leaves. The more silver in the plant, the more the plant is tolerant of heat. Pulmonaria are know to be drought resistant.

That is it for this week. 

Be careful and stay safe.

Philip