Please Don't Smell the Flowers

At least not the
Dracunculus Vulgaris
(The picture and description from Breck's catalog).

Large, exotic 10" dark red flowers with black pistils are enhanced by distinctive spotted leaves. A unique collector's plant to highlight a special bed. Zones 5-10. 20-25 cm bulbs.

Height: 14-20"
Blooms: Late Spring

The description does not mention what every gardener on the web has --
this plant puts out an incredible stinky odor on the first day of bloom -- some say it's akin to rotting meat and it attracts flies, which are its main pollinators.



They are exotic, strange-looking and even after I read the above, I want one.

Breck's has 3 bulbs for $17.99.
I am sending in my order today.

Now I need to find the perfect spot for 3 big stinky plants that attract flies.
LOL!

Update: Oh, dear, I just read that they smell like dead rats!
Fortunately I've never had the displeasure of smelling a dead rat, so can only assume it is quite bad.
Too late now, since the order is already in the mailman's hands.

Does anybody grow these?
Hopefully you can tell me that they do not remind you of decaying rats!

Country Garden Accents

Now that I am Back to Work

I have no time for gardening. My poor plants looked a bit wilted when I got home this afternoon.

Here are a few pics from the weekend:

Last week we finished the second path. This view is from the backside. This path connects to the first path, so now I can walk all through this border, which I am estimating at about 25 feet deep.

This is the front side


Remember the zinnias that were eaten by the stink bugs? Well here they are now

looking pretty good considering what they went through. I am so proud because I grew these from seed! I am not very successful with seeds. I had about 6 packages of zinnia seeds and this is all I have to show for it. Nothing I planted in the ground is still alive. The tall one here that you can't see the top of is going to be red. I was afraid that none of the red survived, so I'm happy to have that tiny bit of success.

The coleus section is looking pretty full now, too

So Many Little lovelies

enjoy the nectar from the butterfly bush.




But I still have not captured a hummingbird picture. I rarely see the hummers this year.

Last night I did see one briefly at the buddleia.

I pulled up a chair and settled in with my magazine and camera waiting for her.

She never returned.

So now I am officially stalking hummers.

While reading 'Country Gardens', I came across this interesting article


about flower arranger's camp. They spend a weekend at this farm in Virginia learning to make flower arrangements.

How unique!

It reminded me very much of the quilter's camp in Jennifer Chiaverini's Elm Creek quilters novels. I just finished reading the 9th and last in that series on Saturday.

Still Waiting

for the cannas to bloom.
I like the way the buds look almost as much as I like the flowers.

The bud on the top is growing in one of my whiskey barrels.


Unfortunately the yellow daisies in this barrel seem to have stopped blooming.
I don't know what happened. I have the same plant in the barrel next to this one and they are still going strong.

From the Ground to the Table

I have no vegetable garden and yet I have more fresh veggies than I can eat.

Veggie gardeners are very generous people. This week I have cabbage and redskins from my Dad, cukes from him and two other people, and tomatoes from my MIL. This morning I decided to turn that head of cabbage into many, many meals.

This is my Dad's garden. You would be hard pressed to find a weed in the whole garden. And look at that huge hedge that hides the garden from the house. Years ago he dug the cedar from a friend's cow pasture...imagine that!



Anyway back to my cooking..........I decided to make cabbage/hamburger/rice casserole. It's like stuffed cabbage, only the cabbage is shredded instead of stuffed. DH likes cabbage like that.

Since I will have a big mess to clean up, I decided I might as well make a lot (I am an avid multi-tasker). With 2.5 pounds of ground chuck, I decided I had enough to make three casseroles.
I will freeze two of them. In mid-December I am sure one of the casseroles will be very tasty and will remind me of the summer garden.

I don't have a recipe, but here are the step-by-step pictures of what I did (I wanted to remember just how I made it, so I can repeat it at a later date.) Most recipes I see use only tomato soup, which I find boring on it's own. I added beef broth (instead of water), vinegar and brown sugar. The vinegar gives it a little zing.


After I finished the 3 casseroles, I made parsley-buttered redskins.


I can hardly wait for dinner!

While we are on the subject of PB redskins, let me share my big pet peeve about them. . . I hate getting them at a restaurant when they are served in big chunks - like only cut in half. Our cooks at work do it all the time. I guess they find it too labor intensive to cut them into bite-size pieces.

If you cut them into tiny pieces, the ratio of flesh to skin is increased. With more flesh exposed more butter is absorbed into each bite. So if you like butter, they really do taste better if they are cut smaller! At least that's my theory...I have really never heard any professional chef mention it...

Making a Floral Arrangement

I start my flower arrangement by preparing the wet foam (be sure to use "wet" foam, not the stuff you use in dry floral arrangements as it won't absorb water).
I like to put the foam in the container and fill the sink full of water and let it soak for about half an hour. That is long enough for the water to be fully absorbed by the foam. (The foam fits snuggly in this container, so I don't worry about using tape to hold it in)


While it's absorbing, I go out and gather the flowers.
I stick them in water, too, so they absorb as much as possible before I arrange them.
I actually picked the silver Artemisia last week, but never made the arrangement. It's been sitting in water on my kitchen counter since then. Artemisia will last forever; even without water it will dry and stay silver.


I start with the Artemisia because it's the bottom filler plant. I am using Persian Shield for the second filler. I think fillers are the secret to making a pleasing arrangement.

I decided to stick a bit of spiderwort in the center. I've never used spiderwort in arrangements before, so this is an experiment.



Then I just fill in flowers. I work loosely in three's arranged in a triangular shape and I began with three of the purple phlox because they were the largest flower. Next I put in three of the purple coneflower, which are the intended focal flowers. I just add until I am satisfied.


Here it is at the point of my satisfaction


Yes, it is very precariously perched atop the deck railing.
The early morning lighting was not good on the table where I was working.
I kept thinking, if this falls off, it will serve me right. LOL. The things I do in the name of blogging.

The Thistle Has Bloomed

and I think this is one of the most beautiful weeds I have ever seen.

I hate to cut it down.

It seems DH bumped into it when he was filling the bird feeders. Ouch!
He does not like it nearly as much as I do. :)

I thought this lunaria (money plant) looked interesting with the sunlight shining through.

Since I Cleaned the Deck Today

I thought I would show you the current views.




This is the time of the year when all the plants are fully-grown and it becomes very pleasurable just sip a cup of coffee and marvel at how far they have come in such a short time.

While all the other gardens are in decline, this one is at it's peak.

Oriental Lilies

On the Move ... Again.....

Remember a few weeks ago I posted a pic of the long container filled with yellow callas and said that I usually have it as part of a larger arrangement? Well, right after I finished scrubbing the floors, I went out to the deck to play. I moved things around and now I have an arrangement more to my liking. (I just don't care much for one container in a straight line.)

The callas are almost finished just as the butterfly bush has come into bloom. I centered the callas with this huge bush in hopes they would bloom together and am happy that they are, even if it is only a short time. I anticipate the Buddelia (butterfly bush) will overhang the deck a bit more in the days to come. If all goes as planned the big flower spikes will tumble right down over the railing to replace the spent callas.

I had to play around with a few different containers to get a grouping I liked.


Hopefully, you would never know it's made up of little "yawns" like these!
By the way, when I call these "yawns", it is not a terribly negative term. I plant yawns on purpose because they are a necessity if you plan to arrange and re-arrange as I like to do.

Since I used many of the plants from the arrangement I changed last week, I had to bring in other plants for that space. Now it is almost all red and purple.
As soon as that canna blooms, I think there will be a burst of orange. I hope it's the spotted orange canna, but I can't remember at the moment. I was very excited today when I spotted a bud almost ready!

I know some of you are interested in calla lilies and are thinking of growing them. I took this picture to show you how they look as they begin to wither and die.

The flower gets heavy with the seeds developing inside and they turn green and just flop on over. I don't care about gathering the seeds, so this is the point that I cut them down. They do not rebloom.

If you take a little time to plan your container (or grouping as I do) you can enjoy the spotted foliage for weeks to come. I underplanted with a few impatiens and last year's purple petunias decided to make a welcome come back. By placing the long container where I did, it becomes the underplanting for the Buddelia. You see there is method to my madness!

Saving My Wall Planters

I have three wall planters that have a very small soil area. These guys need watering a couple of times each day.

Monday and Tuesday it was so hot here that they surely would have died if I had not had the good sense to put them in the garage before I left.

I put all three in the garage inside a wheelbarrow with about an inch of water in the bottom. Three and a half days later, all the water was gone & they looked just fine.

I also brought my six huge hanging baskets in the garage as they need multiple waterings every day. They did not get any water while in there, but they, too, looked great when I got home.

Due to my very wise horticultural decision making, I was able to enjoy this tasty whitefish meal without worry



and this garlic cheese bread with marinara sauce was to dieeeeeeeee for.........
I opted for two pieces of the cheesy bread rather than even open that HUGE potato.

This was the view out the window at the table

Unfortunately I am now back to my real life.

As soon as I hit the "publish post" button, I shall be grabbing a bucket of soapy water and dropping to my hands and knees to scrub the kitchen floor before it gets too hot.

Welcome to my real world - LOL.

Soo Locks

On Monday the heat index here was 105 degrees. On Tuesday it was 110 degrees. Lucky for us, we were hanging out at the Soo Locks, in Sault Ste. Marie, MI, where it was at least 10 degrees less.

The Soo locks are quite fascinating -- a real engineering marvel. The only way to get from Lake Superior to any of the other Great Lakes is by passing through the St. Mary's River. The big problem was that there is about a 21 foot difference in the water levels of Lake Superior and Lake Huron.

Don't ask me how, but the locks were constructed to overcome this problem and now this passage has become the busiest locks in the world.



Do you see here how Lake Superior (on the left) is way higher than Lake Huron (on one right)?


When a ship comes in (which is all the time), the water level has to be equalized before it can get through. You can see all the water coming in at the bottom.

It takes about a half an hour to get the lower side full. When full, the bridge opens


to allow the vessel to go through.

This particular ship is the Keizersborg, a 428-ft. vessel, from the Netherlands.

And off to Lake Superior she goes....

The International Bridge

spans the St. Mary's River between the United States and Canada. It is 2.8 miles long. I have developed a fear of this particular bridge.



This is a shot I took from the Soo Locks (zoomed).


I have been over it half a dozen times or so. Once I even drove over it. So it's quite strange that the last time I crossed, I was incredibly nervous. It seemed so high and so see-through. I just felt like it would be easy to fall off the thing... We considered going over it Tuesday, but I decided to just save that for another time when I felt a bit more adventurous....LOL.

So instead of crossing the International Bridge, we opted to do what the majority of Soo tourists do -- we walked around the touristy stores and stopped to buy fudge - YUM!