Friday Fabulous Flower - Red Buckeye

TPP hasn't mentioned red buckeye (Aesculus pavia) before and that can't be explained. For one thing, our red buckeyes are from the point of view of the Phactor's kitchen observatory behind the Carolina silverbell tree, which is pretty spectacular, so the buckeyes are easily overlooked from afar. The red buckeyes began flowering before the silverbell and now the silverbell is totally done and the red buckeyes still have an eye-catching display. Although they grow into a small tree, ours have remainded bushes and they do well on a shady margin. A large burr oak keeps smashing one of the red buckeyes as though it didn't like it. So clearly they can be maintained in a smaller size by careful pruning.  Although this cannot be confirmed, apparently hummingbirds like red buckeye; hummingbirds are regular but not common visitors to our gardens and since the buckeyes are way out there in the back garden, hummingbirds are too small to notice at that distance. At any rate red buckeyes are a highly recommended flowering shrub/tree and generally they are under planted. Around here the larger, ornamental horse chesnuts are becoming quite popular, which in spite of their name are another species of Aesculus; with their really gaudy inflorescences these horse chestnuts do provide quite a flowering spectacle, but they also become a big tree.  The smaller buckeyes, bottlebrush and red, are more versatile, when you can find them, and they can be a bit slow getting started especially from seed.

Watch out Texans!

Apparently the US military is going to use the ruse of "war games" to invade all of the hostile territory between Texarkana and El Paso and declare martial law for purposes of, well, that's not clear to this correspondent. Maybe they intend to solve a lot of problems by giving Texas back to Mexico. It takes some mighty shrewd thinking and deep insights into machinations of the federal government to have figured this all out without any real data. Seriously, have you folks thought about why our government floridates our water?  Yes, to weaken your precious bodily fluids, and perhaps you should drink nothing but whisky and branch water (or margaritas). What is a matter of some concern is that such paranoid conspiracy nuts would get so much attention especially from politicians or the wannabees who no longer seem to worry about how stupid they look or sound, as they pander for votes from those same people who have the least trust or use for government. Hmm, maybe we should be checking to see what's in the water. For those of you who may need them, and all presidential candidates for certain, here's Carl Sagan's rules for critical thinking.                                                                

Interesting profile in the garden - bigleaf magnolia

It's a beautiful morning, brisk and sunny following a big rain event that left things well-watered and very green. TPP is supervising young backs distributing mulch around our gardens. Having moved something like 22 cubic yards himself one summer, the younger back policy for moving mulch was adopted. From his supervisory position viewing the gardens from the kitchen table, one particular plant stands out against its back ground, not because of it's floral display, and while it is in flower, it isn't gaudy (one nearly open flower is under the top leaf whorls at the upper right), but TPP's bigleaf magnolia has quite a striking profile because of it's large leaves and their arrangement whorled near the ends of branches. Some people think it looks tropical.  This particular species is M. tripetala, a surprisingly hardy tree, but it doesn't like the upper midwest's wind and a more protected sight would be preferred. Alas, our gardens don't have a grotto. Sigh.

Inconclusive apple pollination experiment

Poor experimental design is the reason that the results of the apple pollination experiment were inconclusive. However, some pollination did occur because some young fruit are developing on both varieties of columnar apples. So whether the one variety is self-fertile remains a question. Yes, it could have been netted, and self-pollinated by hand, but then if not self-fertile it would have produced no apples at all. Botanical curiosity will go unsatisfied, but a few apples will be produced. As these are brand new trees, although of good size (6-7 feet tall) only a few apples will be allowed to grow.  The new trees have produced a very nice crown of leaves and if we can keep the Japanese beetles from defoliating them, they should get off to a nice start. Some nice bridal veil will serve nicely in that regard.  Mrs. Phactor's pear tree also has quite a few developing fruit, and it's about time it got going with the fruit production.  Perhaps the basal pruning administered to the non-producing apple tree as a lesson had some effect. The mild wet spring has also been producing some excellent lettuces, and just about the time the crop becomes over-whelming, they will begin to bolt and that will be that until August when it's time to replant. Herbivores have helped some.  The bibb lettuces planted in a parsley bed, and then fenced to no particular benefit, were just getting big enough to be harvested when they were eaten to the ground, although their tastiness spared the parsley from devistation. That kind of gluttony usually indicates a woodchuck rather than a bunny, so our watchfulness must increase, but no confirmatory sightings as yet. Well, that got rather off topic quickly.

An eerie quiet spread across the land

It was an exceptionally quiet Monday morning. TPP did not see a single other person while walking to the coffee shoppe. It had been raining for hours, and it was still a light drizzle. Things were wet, very green, fresh, and lots of new things had popped into bloom. However the strange quiet was because finals were last week and graduation took place on Saturday, so this college town had emptied and everyone went home for Mother's Day. Aside from all the new things in flower, other observations contributed to eerie nature of the morning. A lot of couches died over the weekend; fourteen were piled on the curb, four at a single address. At least they weren't hauled into the street and burned as was the fashion (very much frowned upon!) a decade or so ago.  A dismembered foosball table sat in an avenue's median. It looked sad. A dozen feet away sat a whole pineapple. One wonders if they possibly could have had any connection?  One apartment building was cordoned off by yellow caution tape.  It seemed very appropriate; TPP has no desire to investigate. The expected confluent litter of beer cups and associated drinking paraphernalia were strangely lacking except for one place where the empties were artfully stacked on a porch railing; it was all too neat. Maybe the pending arrival of parents triggered some primal survival instinct to pick things up. In contrast the coffee shoppe was bustling; a lot of faculty were getting caffeinated for a last bout of grading. Students were totally lacking. It felt really good knowing this was the first Monday after finals when grading did not ominously loom for TPP in over 4 decades! 

Friday Fabulous Flower - Silverbell tree

Oooo, TPP's yellow tree peonies are in flower, but maybe he doesn't want to over do the peony thing (but here and here anyways) . No problem; this time of year lots of things are in flower.  At the back of our perennial garden is a spectacular young tree, a Carolina silverbell (Halesia carolina). This is a great ornamental tree, native to SE North America, but completely hardy in Zone 5. They flower when quite young and are tolerant of some shade. TPP has blogged about a different genus in the same family (Styrax americana - American snowbell).  You get the idea, dangling white flowers are a thing in this family (Styracaceae - Storax family) and big bees love it. TPP also has a young Pterostyrax tree, but it hasn't flowered yet. Storax makes no sense as a common name because it's a reference to a medicinal resin from the appropriately named Liquidambar styraciflua (sweetgum) (note the specific epithet) which is in another family no matter which one this genus is now in. Seems there was some confusion way back when plant names were based on gum-resins. OK that's not your problem, but this is a highly recommended flowering tree. 

Rhubarb delights

Rhubarb is one of the true delights of spring. It's fairly easy to grow, a dependable, non-fussy perennial.  However it's amazing how many times people say they don't particularly care for rhubarb.  Now as TPP has mentioned before Mrs. Phactor is a very accomplished woman and pie making is one of those accomplishments (here for the record), and rhubarb makes awesomely good pie as long as you don't include strawberries, which don't make good pie. So the point is simple, when you have rhubarb pie for breakfast you've started your day out right. Now as if that wasn't enough, here's part 2 of your rhubarb double header: an Aperol Sour. Actually TPP doesn't know the actual name of this cocktail because he was looking for recipes that used a peculiar ingredient: rhubarb bitters. It happens the Phactors were in a big box liquor store buying a bottle of wine or two for the month and there was a display of bitters, and having previously discovered the value of orange bitters (try them in an Old Fashioned cocktail), Mrs. Phactor loving most things rhubarb bought the rhubarb bitters. That was like 2 years ago, but they have long shelf life apparently. OK, so here's the cocktail: 1 oz gin, 1 oz Aperol, 1 oz lime juice, 2 dashes of rhubarb bitters, and 1/4 to 1/2 oz of simple syrup well shaken with ice and served in a cocktail glass. Aperol is a red Campari like apperitif that uses rhubarb as part of its flavoring. If you like really tart drinks, omit the simple syrup. The lime was very tart, so a touch of simple syrup balanced the cocktail, but this is not a sweety type kiddy cocktail although it does look pink. This would prompt the same reaction as when TPP let his adult nieces and nephews, and even some of their parents, try a Negroni (a Florentine cocktail consisting of 1:1:1 (think ounces) gin, Campari, and sweet Vermouth) built on the rocks. Too bitter, not sweet enough was the general reaction, and then they left TPP's booze alone. Mission accomplished. Hope this pleases my readers. An endorsement for rhubarb pie for breakfast, and if anyone has a kuchen recipe with a rhubarb custard top (found in Switzerland), also eaten for breakfast, do pass it along, TPP has been looking for one, and a nice rhubarby cocktail for sipping in your garden.

Woodland peony

It's a good colorful garden this week because TPP's tree peonies and the fern-leafed peony are all in flower. TPP has blogged about his tree peonies before (here, here, here, here) and the fern-leafed peony too (here and here), and it would not bother him to do another as he isn't tired of them or proud. But lurking in a shady area are several less gaudy peonies that are native to forest communities (Paeonia japonica) so they are shade-loving herbaceous perennials and they grow rather like a trillium and are in that size range. They were slow to establish but now seem to be quite tough and some seedlings are showing up even though it usually takes two years for the seeds to germinate.  The flowers are 2-3 inches in diameter and white; growing above a colony of wild ginger they are utterly charming.

Cara Cara oranges

Cara Cara oranges have just recently shown up in local grocery stores. Novel fruits are always something TPP tries and his life list of fruits is pretty impressive. In this case, the Cara Cara is a variety of navel orange originally from Venezuela and is either a mutation or accidental hybrid, more likely the former because they are seedless like all navel oranges. This variety has only been around since the mid-1980s, and is probably showing up now because production has reached a critical mass. As navel oranges go, the Cara Cara is on the small to medium size and very round. The flesh is a reddish orange color (sometimes labelled "pink" navel orange) although not as dark red as "blood" oranges.  The samples TPP has purchased have a firm texture, and a surprisingly distinctive taste, sweeter than the usual navel orange and with some tropical fruit overtones. Rating: very good! Give them a try if you see them in the market. They worked great in a citrus based fruit salad. Image by WLU courtesy of the wikimedia creative commons. 

Friday Fabulous Flower - Goldenseal

Yes, today is Friday, and TPP is having trouble because yesterday seemed like Friday, so Friday, Friday. Hmm, Monday, Monday was a pretty good song, but Friday is just one of the every other days of the week. It's the end of the semester today, May 1st, May Day, so there are lots of people here abouts thankful for that. But on to the flower. Here's a pretty neat woodland ephemeral that grows widely in eastern North America, but how many of you have ever seen it in the wild? Let us know if you have. TPP has only seen goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis - buttercup family) a handful of times and never here in northern Lincolnland. Goldenseal grows a lot like bloodroot sending up leafy shoots in the spring terminated by it's strange, not terribly conspicuous flower, although not strange by buttercup standards, which has no perianth so the somewhat dilated stamen filaments produce the floral display such that it is. Later the pistils fuse to produce a small raspberry-like red fruit with several seeds. TPP has a couple growing in his woodland garden obtained from a reputable nursery where they were seed grown. Why so uncommon? Well, goldenseal is highly sought as a herbal medicine and it has been subject to severe over-harvesting to the point that in many areas it's just about gone. Habitat destruction is the other reason; woodland plants need woodlands.