Monday, May 28, 2007

Roses,Strawberries,Dumplings

This remarkable rose is "Evelyn"; a David Austin "English" rose. It's made a slow start, this is its 3rd summer. It's covered with numerous perfect appearing, highly fragrant, blossoms. If I didnt also have several other favorite roses, this would be my favorite. All organic, of course. My hand isn't dirty - those are wounds. I was weeding in a raised bed and the retaining wall gave way. I fell on the bricks. Ouch.
This is 'Gene Boerner'. I'll have to look it up. It's about 5 years old, has been moved twice, and looks quite settled in now.
The first strawberries. I'll eat them tomorrow.
The filling inside these dumplings is about 1/2 chopped chinese chives, and the other 1/2 is finely chopped tofu and scrambled egg. The use of the chives as a major ingredient, instead of just for flavoring, is why they are considered a vegetable instead of an herb. They were very good. But not as good as Ning's (He's in China for a few weeks). These are "slow food" at the extreme: grown from seeds from plants that were grown from seeds that were brought from china; in homemade compost-amended soil; fertilized with coffee grounds and leaf compost; and the dumplings hand made from flour and the ingredients as listed. Here's a similar (but not identical) recipe.
Posted by Picasa

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Friday, May 25, 2007

Lots of things blooming

Red Poppies. Seed grown, took 3 years to bloom. Now 5 years old.)
Tamara
Playboy
Palm is also blooming.
Posted by Picasa

More Irises

Bumblebee Delite

Coral Sunset (new from Schreiner's)

Liaison (below)
Dusky Challenger


Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Fragrant Rose. Black Bamboo

This is Ville De Bruxelles, an antique variety of rose. It is very very fragrant, with a strong "old rose" scent. The shrub is about 18 inches tall and is 3 years old. It was in a bad location so may do better now.

This is a Damask rose. The internet photos are different. It was bought at Heirloom roses and DOES look like their photo. They state "One of the most sublime of old roses" and give a mature height of 5 feet, so it has some room to grow. It was raised in 1832 by Monsieur Hardy.

Here is some more information about this and other Damask roses.

This is a black bamboo that paused for 2 years, but now is growing rapidly.Posted by Picasa

Saturday, May 19, 2007

MORE Irises!

Betsy & I went to Schreiner's Iris garden in Oregon. Here I am among the blossoms. I never knew that there were so many (hundreds, probably thousands) of varieties of irises. Amazing.

Posted by Picasa

More of Ning's Garden

Columbine
Ning's favorite rose, an early bloomer.
Ginkgo, looking healthy!
Posted by Picasa

Ning's Garden

Ning is in China for a few weeks, so these are posted for him to look up on the Blog. Hi Ning!


Posted by Picasa

Friday, May 18, 2007

Yellow Peony

Unknown variety - found growing among weeds 5 years ago. Fragrant, but the flowers hide among the leaves so it's better as a cut flower. As with the rest of the yard, 100% organic.
Posted by Picasa

Thursday, May 17, 2007

HYmenocallis has 2 blossoms. Spanish lavender

This was SUPPOSED to be fragrant. It isn't (at least I cant smell it) but it's a cool looking flower anyway.
Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Don Juan Rose and Ginkgo with cat

The first rose of the year
Posted by Picasa

More irises

China Moon (said to be remontant)
"Ning's Rescue" found variety (mild fragrance)
"Immortality" (also remontant, huge ruffled pure white blossom)
Posted by Picasa

Monday, May 14, 2007

Pink Iris

this one is jennifer rebecca. the leaves look unhealthy - mosaic? other cause? nice fragrance.
Posted by Picasa

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Hymenocallis blossom. Brugmansia bud. Opuntia ears.


I thought this might bloom mid or late summer. Here it is tonight.

Below is the brugmansia. Sorry about the blurry photo - might need to invest in better cam. I was surprised to find some little flower buds already. This probably points to June blossoms.
The little opuntias are growing 'ears'
Posted by Picasa