My friend and neighbor and fellow gardener just gave me some of her last years Blue Potatoes. They are lovely and delicious. When I first looked at them I imagined they would cook up a dark, muddy color. But they were positively bright and clear in color.
See the almost little sprouts in these dark blue potatoes. As you will see later in this post, that’s a good thing! Next see how lovely they cooked up. I steamed them.
Imagine the amazing antioxidants that are captured in the bright blue pigment. They were delicious. First we ate them just like this with a bit of butter. Next I cooked them up with onions, peppers, spinach and served them with scrambled eggs with a sprinkling of cheese. Next I used what was left in a yummy quiche. So how did I manage to be offered such a treat?
Prevention magazine did an article entitled: “7 Foods That Should Never Cross Your Lips”. Anne Underwood writes that root vegetables absorb pesticides and fungicides. As for potatoes “they’re treated with fungicides during the growing season, then sprayed with herbicides to kill off the fibrous vines before harvesting. After they’re dug up, the potatoes are treated yet again to prevent them from sprouting.” The article challenges us to try to get a non organic potato to sprout. I tried, I watered one, put in on a window sill until I was tired of looking at it, not a sprout, not even a trace of a sprout! And, washing cannot remove the chemicals that are absorbed.
This spring we will be growing potatoes. When we added onto our kitchen, we also added an unheated 8ft by 16ft room under our addition. It is connected to our basement by a door and does a wonderful of keeping the harvest. I still have 2 winter squash in perfect condition that I harvested last September. I found this great article on growing 100 pounds of potatoes in a 2ft x 2ft area. It is quite clever. I think I will grow Yukon Gold and maybe some Pontiac Reds. My yard started with grass. I removed grass for flowers. I made some raised beds for vegetables. Now, I am finding more ways to make room for veggies.
“I want to dig out the boulevard garden”. That was my answer when Ted asked me what I would like to do on our 12th wedding anniversary. This was our second spring in our fixer-upper home. And, Ted had no idea that our yard was about to become a garden. “You want to do what!” He was in shock. The idea of spending a beautiful spring day removing the weedy grass and several pickup loads of soil did not at all sound like a romantic way to spend a 12th anniversary. But love can be displayed in so many ways. Sometimes with a twinkle in his eye Ted tells me, “The impossible we do immediately, miracles take a little longer”. That morning the impossible started.
Our boulevard garden or street facing garden or “hell strip” as Lauren Springer, renowned author of “The Passionate Gardener” calls them, is 8ft by 50ft. It is dry, hot and sits in full sun. In the winter after a snowfall the snow plow spreads sand and plows the streets. In doing so, sand and gravel gets thrown onto the boulevard strips of grass, eventually raising the level of the grass until the grass sits above the curbs. That was the case in our very old yard.
So we went to work. We dug out several pickup loads of dirt and gave them to a friend who was building raised beds. Ted then spread sand as a base for the stepping stones that we placed in the garden.
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There are 2 “pods” on each side of the center walkway. Notice the Mock Orange (philadelphus)
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Drought tolerate plants like Lambs Ears(Stachys), Salvia and Coreopsis flourish in this garden
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In the summer purple, white and pink Echinacea bloom along with the a tall yellow Heliopsis. Next to it on the left is Perovskia (Russian Sage) On the right you can see Achillea (Coronation Gold Yarrow).
The boulevard strip was the first garden. This spring I will show you the low maintenance changes I have made to the front garden.
To garden is more than just to place plants in the ground and watch them grow. It is more than science, botany, methods and plants. There is the sense of creating something beautiful. A garden is made with style, color, design and often scent and of course, purpose. I look out at the snow that started in October and that has covered my garden, at times like a while fluffy blanket and at other times as a patchy quilt and I feel the desire to “make something”, because I cannot garden. This winter, this blog has been that “something”. Along with learning how to blog I have found enjoyment in finding Blotanical and the beautiful gardens, talented gardeners and writers that not only post their blogs, but visit other blogs and comment with wit and thought and graciousness. But, in years past I’ve made things. I bet you have too. Here are a couple examples of things I have made:
Years ago I made this baby blanket for our dear friends in Lincoln, Nebraska. I crocheted 12” squares with a pattern that I drew up on graph paper. John, the new dad, had won a cow mooing contest, put on by a dairy company, hence the cow. I finished the blanket as we drove from South Dakota to Nebraska. I had Ted stop along the road and stepped into the open corn field and he took a picture.
This second blanket was presented to a friend at her baby shower. I single crocheted the pattern into 12” squares. Then the squares were put together.
So, my dear friends, what “creative things” do you do when you cannot garden?
In the beginning… Our front yard was lawn and more lawn, scraggly bushes and weedy trees. I’ve been posting a series that I tag “Making a Garden” where I show the “afters”. The time has come to show the “before” .
Our house was built in 1929. We moved in during the winter of 1992. Inside we stripped and finished the floors, painted and did what you do in fixer-uppers. Later we knocked out a back wall and enlarged the kitchen. We also added 2 dormers to the attic making an upstairs bedroom and a new bath. That spring I started in the garden.
Our first spring: Ted removed a couple elm trees. To the right in the middle of the lawn we kept a large elm tree that serves as shade. The two existing shrubs are double mock oranges. They are very fragrant. Take a look at them after a few years of getting care.
Nothing is constant except change.
I 
The previous post is on our Pink Limestone Pathways. This picture shows how very pink the flagstones start out. In time the stones turn a softer pink. If you scroll down the blogroll to the previous post you’ll see more examples of this pathway in our garden.
You can walk all through the garden on pink limestone paths. Throughout our county here in South Dakota we have pink limestone. Hot Spring’s historical victorian buildings were built out of a pinkish sandstone. You can take a peak at our named “2009 Distinctive Destination” by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. When we bought our house 18 years ago, I did not have a set plan for how my garden would look. I just knew I wanted a “secret garden” filled with flowers, fragrance and pink limestone paths. So, Ted and I set out to find and “mine” our pink pathways. We found places were we could dig up some flagstones. This was a job of hard work and patience. I don’t mind the hard work, but patience, I have to work on. Ted excels in both being fearless in the face of hard work, and he is patient. After finding our site, we had to carefully remove all the loose stone and any weight that sits on top of the potential flagstones. The stones are laid down in layers. When we found a good layer we used a sharp crow bar or shovel edge and slowly, carefully pried and lifted the top layer. The goal was to get as large a flagstone as possible before it would break. Then we lifted the stone onto the pickup. Our largest flagstone is 3 feet by 7 feet and about 2” thick. While Ted and I were pondering how we would ever get such a large, heavy stone onto the pickup, friends came by and helped us load the stone. I, the inpatient one had been ready to break it to fit. It took 6 men to unload the stone and place it in the carefully leveled spot where it has remained for years. If you go through my past posts you will see many examples of our pathways. As I removed more and more lawn and planted gardens, Ted added arbors and structures. When I would say, “Ted, you know what we need?” he would say “One more load!” and so off we would go. What a workout!
I worked with passion and determination to lay the pathways. Notice the rocks that line the back wall. I fancied they looked like fish.
There are groundcovers and there are what I call “ground huggers”. The ground huggers are the carpets of the garden. The tighter and lower a groundcover hugs the ground, the less chance a weed can sprout. I mulch these xeric plants with gravel. The natural limestone holds a bit of moisture making an ideal culture for these lovely purples.
At about 11 o-clock you can see Globularia cordifolia dwarf. It’s flowers are little puple pom poms. In the middle you can see a prickly ball which is, Prickly Dianthus, Acantholimon hohenackeri. Blooming up front is Bressingham Thyme
The lovely, larger purple flower is: Silky Rock Jasmine, androsace primula “chumby”
This is a view from the back garden. On the left you’ll notice the purple kool-aid scented Variegated Iris. Next to it our native white Penstemon Grandiflorus. Up close on the right side is a Meadow Rue, Thalicturm . The fragrant purple rose is Reine de Violettes. But the “star” of the post is the Lavender Thyme (thymus preacox skorpilii) growing in between the pink limestone path. The Lavender Thymes started with two or three tiny plants. It is a delight.
I previously did a post on this 33 Foot Long Arbor. The beautiful purple ground cover is Blue Wooley Speedwell, veronica pectinata,
One day a friend gave us a 50 gallon food safe barrel. And, like what often is the case I had an “ah ha moment”. And said to Ted “Let’s cut in down, and I’ll dig a hole and sink it into the ground and have a little pond”. And that is what happened.
Water Lettuce and little goldfish added to the charm of this little pond. My garden paths are lined with local pink limestone. The limestone edge hides the barrel.
The next year or so, after reading books on how to build a pond. I came up with this idea. I ordered the liner and a little pump online.
The water circulated from the lower pond up through the upper bog. The left side of the bog was filled with washed gravel. I washed it and ran it through a plastic colander, bucket by bucket. Then planted a ribbon grass in the water. This worked for a few years, but the gravel eventually got messy and I wanted a bigger pond. Water quickly evaporated from this pond. A fragrant Roman Chamomile volunteer can be seen in front. Last spring, we ordered a new, better liner and picked a spot where the pond is visible from our kitchen-dining room windows. The old pond spot became a raised bed created by the dirt taken from the new pond. I made sure to put the poorer dirt in the bottom of the bed and the richer dirt on top.
Ta-da! I think I like it!
Gardens need destinations. And if that destination is slowly revealed even better. An arbor not only is beautiful but it can fill a need. In this case give shade and shelter and a place to rest. And, less you think it is all work and no play for Ted, I have found him asleep on the comfy cushion swing bench., that sits under this arbor. When you first enter the garden you cannot see this arbor. You have to walk down the path and turn to the right behind the Little Pink and Yellow Garden House.
At this point there are hops growing on the arbor. They rise from the 2 front post. The arbor sits on the north west corner of the garden. The problem was that hops want to follow the sun as they grow. So every few mornings I would be out turning them back to the north onto the arbor. And, hops leaves have little hairs on them that are irritating to some persons. I found them to be very irritating. So a couple of years ago, I dug them out. What a workout!
BressinghamThyme carpets the area around the arbor. I love this low growing thyme. Notice the, recently planted hops.
You can see the design in the just finished arbor
I removed the hops and have let grapes grow over the arbor. I’ll show better pictures later this year. Yes this is my arm. I didn’t like the rest of me in the picture.
It is a delight to see the response of guests as they open the gate to the 33 foot long arbor. It is partially hidden by a large lilac and juniper tree. A few years ago this narrow full sun side yard was hot and dry. It was while visiting the Denver Botanic Gardens that I got the idea of putting an arbor that would run along the side yard that leads to the back garden. And, of course, Ted designed and made this arbor. I promised him that it would be the last arbor I would think up and so far so good. I still have 2 more arbors that I have not introduced in this blog, so indeed enough is enough. But, this arbor is a delight. I don’t think I want vines to cover it. It is fun to be able to look down and through it from from our upstairs bedroom.
Blue Wooly Speedwell (veronica pectinata) is one of my favorite ground covers. It is a true zone 4 xeric. It is also not attractive to deer or bunnies. I have it in several places in the garden. On the left side I have been letting the raspberries spread. The yellow painted gate at the end says “Welcome to our Garden”. I love it when first time visitors say as they open the gate “It’s a secret garden”
A William Baffin Rose Blooms in the summer with a bit of re-blooming later in the season
Trumpet vines bloom in the summer. I have been taming the growth on the right side creating spaces for vegetable to grow
Huge lemons that weigh 13 0unces each! That is what our little potted eureka lemon tree give us. This morning was sunny enough to wash windows in the little upstairs south facing sitting area. Almost 5 years ago Ted sketched out a remodel job for our upstairs. Eighteen years ago we bought our 1929 bungalow as a fixer-upper. After I dug, planted and layed pathways in the yard, I didn’t want to move, but we wanted more space. With the aid of our talented builder friend, Jeff we have added on to our house twice. First we removed the back wall and added 10 feet to the kitchen. Our kitchen remodel was limited by a huge shade elm tree. The elm tree would not have been our choice for a shade tree, but that is what we have and we do our best to nourish it. Later we took the upstairs attic and turned it into our bedroom. Jeff and Ted made 2 holes in the roof, popping out 2 dormers creating a bathroom on one side and this sitting area in the other. Eight new windows, lots of insulation, paint, plumbing and everything else that it takes to make a room, made our room.
Kumquat, Eureka Lemon and Plumeria spend the winter in the south facing upstairs window. Sometimes we are surprised by the scent of sweet lemon blossoms. In late spring these plants will go out on the front porch. Last year I put the lemon in the yard and the squirrels picked some of the fruit.
White flowers and a white arbor brighten the grey wall that encloses my first “garden room”. Our neighbor’s grey garage wall sits near the property line of our garden. I wanted some white to brighten the area. So, as is now the tradition with Ted and me, after enjoying a nice meal together, I ask him if he has any arbor ideas and he pulls out his paper napkin and proceeds to sketch the design. The biggest claim to fame that this arbor has is as a photo op. Ten years ago, I hosted a wedding shower for my friend Dell and later she was married in our home. I have an enlarged, framed picture of 26 friends sitting on and standing around this arbor.
- Behind the arbor, to the left is smoke bush, cotinus coggygria. After a few years of caring for the garden, the very large elm tree that shades the house, also came to shade the smoke bush. I dug out the smoke bush. The hydrangea and dogwoods flourished. Change is the one constant in a garden.
This arbor is very sturdy. I first planted it with a kiwi vine, with dreams of harvesting nice plump kiwis. The kiwis, if you can count 2 kiwis as a harvest, were like big marbles. After a few years I removed the vine. In this picture, the vine growing is hops. Hops die back every winter, but in the spring grow so fast. They quickly cover an arbor.
Weeds and an open yard. That describes our garden 18 years ago. I explained to my husband that a garden has “walls”, and the sense of security, enclosure, maybe a bit of secret whimsy. What we had a 3 1/2 foot tall chain link fence. But, where there is a will there is a way.
In 1929 when they made our house and our neighbor’s house, they built the detached garages right on the lot lines. For me each garage became a 36 foot long wall on the north and south side of the garden. Our house made a third wall. We just needed the fourth wall. My husband came up with the idea of using one “cow panel”. A cow panel is about 4ft by 16 ft long. He hung it between two 7foot posts set about 14 feet apart, creating a bit of a curve, stabilized with a metal post in the middle. The panel was hung high so that my divider was about 7 feet high. Perfect!
Until the plants grew, I decorated the panel with weaving. I went into the woods and picked willow and wove them into a pattern.
You can see in the background my weavings of willow. The Squirrel never did learn to ride the bike.
- House view side of divider. Notice the iron twin bed headboard turned sideways.
- From the back side of the divider. Roses from the right: Golden Showers, The Blaze Rose. And on the right one of my favorite fragrant reblooming roses, Madame Isaac Pierre
This was the view from the front of the divider. Amur maple, feverfew, Bonica Rose and the vine that dominates is Autumn Clematis.
This cake is going to a wedding reception! A friend recently asked me for my chocolate cake recipe. She wants to serve it as one of the desserts at her daughter’s wedding. Another friend, years ago, shared the original recipe with me. I cut out some of the fat and changed some of the ingredients. You could make it healthier with whole wheat pastry flour. But, on the theory of eating good 80% of the time and 20% of the time making the best choices you can. I choose this cake recipe. And I hope you will enjoy it. It also is very, very easy to make.
You Can Eat It Warm Chocolate Cake
1 ¾ flour 1 ½ cups sugar
¾ cup cocoa (less if you like it sweeter) 1 heaping teaspoon soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup soy milk or milk 2eggs
½ cup oil 1 cup boiling water
½ to ¾ cup chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 375. Grease a 9×13″ pan. Sift together all dry ingredients. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl add and beat eggs, milk, and oil. Add dry ingredients and beat together. Add boiling water and mix again. Bake for about 30- 35 minutes, or until toothpick test clean. Immediately pour chocolate chips over cake. Put cake back into oven for maybe 3 minutes. Remove cake and immediately, with a small spatula spread chips evenly over cake. Eat warm or cool.
Hoya carnosa 'Variegata'
Notice the white “flower” which is actually the variegated leaves. This hoya, or wax plant enjoys bright indirect light. The leaves are thick. “Carnosa” means meaty or thick.
- Begonia Dragon’s Blood
Many years ago I started this begonia by seed. It blooms all winter long in my west window. Notice the snow covered garden in the background. Late winter, I will take cuttings and root them in water and place them in a garden window box. The window box is under the arch that you see in my blogs header picture above.
Last fall I picked the Annabelle Hydrangea flowers before they turned dark brown. It is so easy to make a simple swag. Just tie the stems together with light wire. I added a few dried roses and some sprigs of ornamental oregano, one of the origananum laevigatums, which have spiky purple flowers that dry well and keep their color.
Annabelle Hydrangea ( hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’) does well on the north side of my neighbors wall. Our area tends to be quite dry, so I have clumped together close to our watering source a few moisture loving plants. Annabelle blooms on new wood. So in late winter, one day when the sun is shining and we have that odd 60 to 70 degree day, I will go out and prune it close to the ground. That helps revitalize it and encourages good form and gives me the feeling that I am gardening, even in the winter. Here’s how it looks in the summer and winter.
This is a follow-up post from the previous espalier apple post. Our 1929 bungalow came with a neglected yard. It had several weedy elm trees,large chokecherry bushes, weeds and overgrown lilacs. One lilac was even blocking the entrance to the garage. This little crab apple flourished as I removed lawn and added gardens to the front. The only problem was that as it grew larger it gave even more tiny, tiny crab apples. The apples were without flavor and even the abundant deer avoided them. Then in the fall they would all fall. Sometimes 2 or 3 wheel barrows full of squishy apples which would also stain the side walk. I told my husband I was sure that the reason this tree was named a crab apple was because it made their owners “crabby” I certainly did not enjoy cleaning up after this beautiful one time blooming tree. So as part of my lowering the maintenance of the front yard, we cut it down. Yes, we did that! And we dug out it’s stump making room for my ground cover gardens. My being “crabby” was not the only reason for getting the chain saw out. The large shade elm had also flourished and the yard looked overcrowded.
Now the reason for this very public confession is that this crab apple was a good pollinator for my neighbor’s apple tree and my grafted espaliered copy of the same tree. About every apple needs another type of apple as a pollinator (except for, I learned, Queen Cox which is self-fertile) The recommended maximum distance between pollinators is about 100ft, some say 50 yards. This seems to be the distance that bees will travel with pollen from one apple to another. My neighbor does have a pollinator maybe 175 ft on the other side of his yard. But, my little espaliered apple has nothing close. So every spring, I pick a bouquet of crab apple flowers and place them in a bucket under the little espalier. Am I doing penance? The bees work both flowers and we have apples. Ted says that maybe we should add another espaliered apple variety. We’ll see. I don’t know where I would put it.
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