Red and White

We do not usually cut our flowers and bring them into the house.  Yesterday included a special event.  Our cut flowers were to be a gift at an open house.  One of our massage therapists is moving her studio to a building that she now owns.  Since she plays such an important role in keeping us able to continue to work among our plants, we wanted to mark her special event with some of our special flowers.  More stems were cut than needed so we now have flowers inside of our home.  They were temporarily placed outside for the picture.

These Red Norlands are our early potatoes.  Their vines blackened and dried signaling harvest time.  We planted only six of these potatoes.  The basket holds the harvest from only three hills.  This is enough for several delicious meals without creating storage problems.  We would prefer to harvest enough to eat without having to discard any that were in storage too long.  Our later potatoes will be ready to harvest by the time these are gone.

This is our first year growing both red and white Cipprolini onions.  The reds have been a favorite here for years.  Their colored rings extend all of the way to the center adding visual snap to any recipe calling for raw onions.  This year Becky wants to braid both colors together.  The resulting bi-colored onion braid  might win a prize at the fair.  Our onion plant supplier will be given a picture to be considered for use in his catalog.  A past braid containing only reds has appeared in his catalog.

Cardinal Flowers and stones are popular photo subjects here.  Now that we understand that their seeds need both generous moisture and warm soil temperatures to germinate, we will be able to write a complete chapter for our future book.  We have finally stumbled over the missing last piece of that puzzle in a book, taming wildflowers by Miriam Goldberger.

Summer sweet has long been a favorite plant here.  It combines dark glossy leaves with white flowers that fill the air with their sweetness.  Last fall we discovered this plant's willingness to be transplanted.  Two were placed in the newly opened bed in front of the house while an unneeded third plant was stuck in the ground at the edge of a compost pile.  All three transplants survived and each will flower this season.  We intend to utilize both their beauty and their hardiness to create a hedge at the edge of the garden down by the road.  Deer sometimes nibble on the new growth taking the flowers buds.  The trimmed plants grow on seemingly unfazed.  While working outside now we frequently walk into a sweet fragrant cloud.  Could it be their scent that has been carried a considerable distance from the plants.  Does it get any better than that?