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.
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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.
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More Irises

Bumblebee Delite

Coral Sunset (new from Schreiner's)

Liaison (below)
Dusky Challenger


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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