May 8, 2022 Spring explodes-enjoy it while it lasts

After a slow start Spring has finally begun in earnest. The bluebells are at their best. The  towns that have tulip festivals should be happy.  The hosta are growing by the hour. 

On the other hand this coming week we are going to have temperatures that get close to 90 degrees. We had barely had temperatures get to 70 this year. 

Saturday was one of those beautiful but exhausting days in the garden. I think I was on my feet  for probably 5-6 hours. My feet let me know about that by the end of the day. 

 I think everyday has something new at this point. However I was out in the garden enough yesterday to find a lot of those "firsts" in the garden.

Friday the first little bearded iris bloomed.

By Saturday late afternoon there were 3 little iris blooming. Included was this one, whose name goes to the top of the list of favortie named plants. 

This is Boink. It is a miniature dwarf bearded iris. It is listed as being 4 inches tall. In the picture you can see two more buds coming. With that warm weather coming, the little iris season will be in fall swing this week.

A second flower I will say first blooming yesterday was this brunnera. It is one of those plants I call  forget me nots. I should probably say that I first noticed that it was blooming yesterday. But that counts for something.

Then there was this primrose. As a group the primroses are doing well this spring.

There are so many garden tasks at the moment. This week I started to divide the Liberty hosta that has been so grand the last 5 years. Here it was last year.

If you only have one hosta in your garden, I would recommend this one. Of course I guess it would also depend on how much space you would want to devote to the one plant.

I was digging it up since it now gets too much sun. I dug up about 2/3 of the plant. Maybe I will leave what is left in the ground. Out of the part I dug I got 10 plants.  When you divide hosta you can get a lot.

Next on the cutting board is the grand Sum and Substance in the front yard. I figure I can take out every third little clump in its circle. When it gets big it will not even miss what was removed.

Bluebells

As I drive around town I see many gardens with nice tulips and daffodils. What I do not see are bluebells in combination with those other spring bulbs.  They are such a natural.

Here is the white bluebell, doing well, which is just about what it has done in the same place for 5 years now. No seedlings that I can tell.

The tulips were good this week, including the species tulips that seemed to just be getting started this weekend.

The daffodils have been wonderful this spring. Cool weather will do that. Here is a slideshow for your morning enjoyment.

Coming soon:

English bluebells

Camassia

Slipper orchids

Many more little bearded iris

Julia's recipe

Tasty Asian-flavored Spaghetti

The NYT called the San Francisco-Style Vietnamese American Garlic Noodles. That's a lot of name for a remarkably simple and remarkably flavorful main dish. Seven ingredients. Less than 30 minutes. Vegetarian. Although butter and Pecorino cheese are not (in my experience) classic Asian cuisine ingredients, the recipe works.  

The ingredients:

1 lb. spaghetti of some kind;

5 tablespoons butter;

about 1/4 cup of smushed garlic;

4 teaspoons oyster sauce;

2 teaspoons soy sauce;

2 teaspoons fish sauce;

about 1/3 cup of grated pecorino (or parmesan); and

sliced scallion (optional - I did not have any on hand).

I peeled and cut the ends off a bunch of cloves of garlic.  Looks like about 16 cloves, of varying sizes.

It's not pictured, but I used the food processor to chop up the garlic. Mincing or smushing (through the garlic press) would have yielded a slightly finer garlic product. Processed was fine. 

You could buy minced garlic in a jar and it would be even easier. You'll want pretty much an entire 1/4 cup. 

Next I put 1-1/2" of water in a big skillet. Yes, just a bit of water. 

When the water came to a boil, I added all the spaghetti and fussed over it until all of the spaghetti pieces were under the water. 

I put the timer on for the pasta, setting it for 2 minutes less than the package instructions called for (8 minutes in my case).

While the pasta was cooking, I melted the 4 tablespoons of the butter in another big skillet and then when the butter was melted, I added all of the garlic, scraping it out of the food processor. 

After about 2 or 3 minutes on medium heat, the garlic was fragrant, and I added the oyster sauce, fish sauce and soy sauce and stirred them in. Then I took this skillet off the heat. 

When the pasta was done, I used tongs to transfer it into the skillet with the sauce (which was on a turned off burner). I did not drain the pasta. 

I used the tongs to mix the noodles with the sauce.

Next I stirred in the cheese and added another pat of butter. 

On the table. Every bite tasted of garlic and cheese and other pleasant things (presumably the oyster sauce, fish sauce and soy sauce). 

Not a heavy sauce by any means, but it provided wonderful coverage (assisted no doubt by the pasta water clinging to the spaghetti). 

We had it with the usual green salad and berries and yogurt. There were leftovers, and they were good warm or cold. 

Odds and Ends

More tree peony seedlings continue to come up. I think I am up to maybe 15 of this year's crop of seedlings. One thing that will be interesting about this year's class is that they may contain some different colors. Mostly in the past 2-3 years I have just planted seeds from the lovely white ones along the street. Of course they all came from a white one at my sister's place in Maryland.

I should add that we will not know about colors for about 5 years. That does give you a different prospective than planting annuals.

You know the weather is changing when

............We stop using flannel sheets.

............Many windows get opened.

............The little ants show up in the kitchen.

The plant sale continues. We have raised over $1300 so far. Contribution plants are arriving. People sometimes want to know if they can just dig up something and bring them in bags. I tread the fine line of being thankful for contributions but trying to say I just do not have time to pot other people's plants. I have enough to do potting my ownplants.  Then again who said stuff had to be easy.

Someone told me yesterday that the bluebells went well with the dandelions. I  took this to mean I really had to get to work on those volunteers.

I do want to pursue an all names list. Do you have some favorites? These would need to be the names of plants where you bought them in part because of the name.  Do not be shy. Let me hear from you.

Amidst the beauty I must remind myself that there are real storm clouds out there. We must never get used to the fact that there is this war going on. People in the Ukrane do not get to enjoy their gardens the way we do.  And then there is this awful group of judges in Washington that are intent on turning back the clock, or worse. Two major problems that seem to just stack on top of the other.What can a person do? 

I guess we help people, as we can. We do not forget. We give thanks for young people who march in the streets. And then we pray for peace.

Philip