May 26, 2024- storms and bugs

 

We seem to be in a stormy weather pattern right now in Iowa. On Tuesday severe storms crossed the state doing major damage and killing people in the little town of Greenfield. That is southwest of Des Moines, It is the time of year when weather radar is a popular webcite.

Then Friday morning the sirens went off in Iowa City about 5 in the morning. The storms were 25 miles away but someone wanted everyone to be prepared, and awake. There was even an emergency blast on the cell phone about 6. While the closest rotation stayed 15 miles away we had close to 2 inches of rain in not much more than an hour. There was the big wind that toppled the large night blooming cereus, which had been sitting on a large log in the front yard. There were a few trees down in the neighborhood. There was  some water in the basement. But we never lost power.

We all have flashbacks to the derechio in 2021, the floods of 2008 and the floods of 1993.

It sees like the drought of the last two years is just about over.

Update: Sunday morning's storm was at 3:30 am. There were no sirens, just thunder. Maybe that will be the last rain for the weekend. 

Did I mention bugs? Did I mention rabbits? I will have to work at it to be positive.

But there were great pictures of flowers in the garden this week. 

How about some voting?

 My goodness- I started picking out pictures  and I found seven.

#1 Red Shirley poppy

This is a volunteer. It self seeded. Shirley poppies have such wonderful colors. Damn rabbits. (more later)

#2 Beauty of Livermore- Oriental poppy

This blooms in the frontyard. That bed is too crowded, a condition that can be said about much of the garden. I would like to get more oriental poppies, but that "more" list is long. Please note the conflict between saying the bed is too crowded and my interest in getting more.

#3 Black Tall Bearded Iris

Someone brought this iris to the sale last year. No one bought it. So I planted it without knowing its name.  It is actually not quite black. Apparently actual black has been achieved,

Look at this set of pictures from one of the iris growers.

https://www.schreinersgardens.com/collections/black

#4 Bartzella- the Itoh peony

We bought this wonderful plant in 2021. It is having its third spring not counting when we planted it. There must have been 10-12 flowers. It actually is rather crowed by the lupines. Maybe I should give it more space next spring.

Bartzella is getting popular. We noticed two other plants on a walk through the neighborhood.

I also understand that Costco was selling them last summer. The price dropped to 3 for $15. I met someone who bought 12. 

#5 Orchid cactus

This big plant started blooming this week, without my noticing it. I had started to set buds inside. It still has maybe 8-10 buds coming. Next spring I should bring it out and give it shade priority in late April. (I would have to watch for a freeze,)

#6 Blue tradescantia

Th pink variety spreads like crazy. This blue variety is much more mannered. Blue is always appreciated.

#7 Clivia with many blooms

All the clivia plants came through the winter as healthy as ever. I have about a dozen. That includes 2 yhellow ones from Pat a while ago.

This winter they all were in the basement apartment with some other big potted plants and the cattleyas. I followed instructions and gave them no water from November to March. I gave them each a systemic for white fly which kept that condition from being too much of a problem. Those bugs get down between the leave and are hard to reach with the spray.

This one in the picture  is blooming and has a second bud stalk coming. 

The yellow ones will start this next week.

There you have it. Seven pictures, all from this week.

Here are other pictures

The Siberian Iris continue. This was a particularly nice yellow one.

Here is another contributed tall iris. We had some of these tall iris inside on the table as they did not do well in the storm. As you can imagine it is the wind that blows them over.

The white cammasia is still going. Those plants will disappear in a month.

This is a closeup of the orchid cactus flower.

The lupines continue. Most of them are done. 

Here is the first lilium. It is an Asiatic lily called Lolipop.

Voodoo lilies. I overwintered several that did not sell last year. They are rather striking as they emerge.

The hosta look good at the moment. Here is Final Victory. It is getting some size on it in its thrid year.

This is one of the yellow clivias. getting ready to bloom.

Julia's recipe

Cherry Cobbler

I am a sucker for cherries, both the kind you eat out of hand and the kind you cook with. Pie cherries are not as readily available as eating cherries, so I buy them (usually 2 bags at a time) when they are for sale at Wilson's Orchard, which is north of Iowa City. Mostly Wilson's sells apples, but before apples come in, they sell imported (from Michigan) boxes of blueberries and bags of frozen pitted pie cherries, among other things. I buy blueberries and cherries. I usually make a pie right away and freeze the other bag and then promptly forget it's in the freezer. Recently, I was canvassing the freezer before the farmers' market kicks into high gear. And I found a bag of pie cherries. So I made a kind of cherry cobbler. Often, cobbler means fruit with biscuit on top. The topping here is sort of a cross between a streusel and cookie dough. Very tasty, with or without vanilla ice cream. 

The ingredientsfor the fruit filling:

6 cups or so of pitted cherries, fresh or thawed;

1/4 cup sugar;

1 tablespoon lemon juice;

1 teaspoon vanilla;

1/4 teaspoon almond extract;

3 tablespoons flour; and

a pinch of salt.

Ingredients for the topping:

2/3 cup sugar;

3/4 cup flour;

1 teaspoon baking powder;

a pinch of salt;

3/4 teaspoon vanilla;

1/2 teaspoon almond extract; and 

6 tablespoons melted butter.

As you can see, many of the ingredients do double duty in the fruit mixture and also in the topping. 

The cherries in the picture above are in a sieve over a bowl. Thawed cherries exude a lot of liquid, which is delicious to drink, but which would be bad for the texture of the cobbler. First I thawed the cherries in the refrigerator overnight, then I drained them (and drank the cherry juice).  

I have been able to buy fresh pie cherries from time to time. They are wonderful, but there are pits. Frozen, pitted pie cherries are easier to work with. And the pitters (wherever they are in Michigan) do a good job so I have never encountered a pit (thank goodness).

I have not worked with canned pie cherries, although there probably is such a thing. Not sure about differences in texture with the canned product. 

I mixed all of the fruit filling ingredients together in a big bowl. 

And I turned the oven on to 350 degrees.

I poured the cherry mixture into a souffle dish (the white vessel on the left side of the picture). I did not lube up the pan. I think it would be okay if you did.  

Then I melted the butter in a saucier. I like to use the saucier when (as here) I plan to mix the ingredients in the pan in which I melted the butter: no right angles in a saucier and no extra bowl to wash. 

After the butter had melted, I mixed in the sugar, and then all of the other topping ingredients. 

The topping was stiff, which is just right. After it was thoroughly mixed, I worked it into little clumps with my fingers.

Then I sprinkled the little clumps all over the fruit.

Fruit covered with clumps of topping. It baked for about 40 minutes. I started looking at 35 minutes. You should too, because ovens vary.

It was done when the fruit filling was bubbly and the topping was golden brown. 

Out of the oven. We had it warm with vanilla ice cream It was great. 

Odds and Ends

There was a funny thing about the storm Friday morning. I looked in the local newspaper to see how big a wind there had been. I read that the National Weather Service had tracked a gust of wind that was 70 m.p.h. The story went on ti identify the location as the corner of Highway 6 and First Avenue in Coralville. Pretty sophisticated.

I took four flats of shirley poppies over to the garden plot yesterday morning. They had all been nibbled down to almost nothing. Rabbits. I even saw one scamper away from the garden yesterday morning that was no more than 5-6 inches long. I guess I am going to have to learn about what rabbits like to eat and whether there is an equivalend of the stinky deer repellant I use. We haven't really had a rabbit "problem" in years.

I got the last of the caladium outside. Some are still sleeping. They will come. I hope to have some ready by early June. I guess that is right around the corner.

The orchids and hoyas now have to get outside. Speaking of orchids, look that this picture of a vanda Pat sent from Florida.

Orchids and Hoyas do make good displays in the garden. 

Drought? We have had 2 inches of rain above normal for May, and 3 for the year. It has been a good year if you are on the lawn mowing business.

With all that rain mosquitos are currently a problem both early in the morning and in the evening. And gnats. 

I have started planting  certain plants behind the back garage. Since the neighbor took down the fencce I have started using that 4 x 15 foot area as a nursery for plants. Every garden should have one. I planted some pots over the winter. It really worked. I have about 40 bloodroot plants that did not sell. I will plant them in their pots.

 We did sell 90 so it wasn't so bad that we had that many left over.

I potted up about 10 little lupine seedlings yesterday. I dug them up in the paths near where the lupine currently are.

After some hot weather we have had some delightfully cool early mornings. The last few nights have gotten down into the upper 40's. 

Up next will be the martagon lilies. I expect them to start to bloom this coming week.

The world is still a troubling place. So is Iowa. But I am doing what I can both at work and in the garden. The plant sale for the foodbanks continues.

Pray for peace, and reconcilliation. Pray that we fix the physical world. 

Enjoy the flowers.

It is always good to hear from you.

Philip