Oct 21, 2019
Today we celebrate the poet who wrote lustrously of Kubla
Kahn's summer garden and the French flower breeder who made our
favorite plants even more sumptuous with double-flowers. We learn
about the descendant of Olaf Rudbeck, who sought to create a legacy
of peace and the rainforest expert who wrote the flora of Mexico.
We'll hear a lovely prayer for Autumn from the poet Rainer Marie
Rilke. Today's Book Recommendation to help you Grow That Garden
Library is A Way to Garden by Margaret Roach. I'll talk about the
benefits of buying bagged mulch and then wrap things up with the
sweet story of an iconic flower photo from 1967.
Before we get going, I want to say thanks for all the well
wishes.
I finally caught this horrible virus that has been making its way
through the family. It started with a sore throat, then body aches,
and then a cough with no voice. It knocked me out for over a week
and I'm still on the mend. And, I did get my flu shot but it's one
of those years I guess.
Anyway, I started to use the last few days as I was waiting for my
voice to return to incorporate a few new ideas into the show format
here so if you're a regular listener you might hear a few new
things - you'll have to let me know what you think.
So, I had a little growing zone reinforcement situation happen
while I was sick. I had put these baby crotons in a planter out
front for fall and I know they are a tropical and I should have
thought to get them inside when I heard the forecast but they
looked so healthy and tough I didn't give them another thought and
then bam. Sure enough, that temperature dropped into the thirties
overnight and as I was backing out of the driveway this week going
to get more cough syrup - what did I see? All the little crotons
(about 8 of them - don't worry I got them on sale) were collapsed
and dead in the planter. I can't tell you how many times I hear
from friends this time of year about a houseplant or tropical that
gets left outside and then looks dead and then they wonder if it
will come back. The answer is usually probably not. But you know, I
get that this is sad and we can kick ourselves but really it's just
one more reminder of the constraints we face as gardeners. I know
we get by with zone pushing thanks to microclimates and that feels
so great when it works, but every now and then I'm actually good
with a reminder like this about the limits of my zone. It's kind of
grounding. It's like - hey, fall is here and it's serious and in
Minnesota that means get your houseplants in by October 5 period.
Respect
One of the Facebook groups I belong to asked for some good side
salad Recipes to bring out to the field for the Harvest crew. The
suggestions were so good. But, one, in particular, caught my eye.
It was for: Dill Pickle Pasta Salad and the recipe was from the
blog Together as a Family. If you love pickles and
pickle juice, then this is salad is for you. They wrote:
"Dill Pickle Pasta Salad will be an instant favorite! Tender
spiral pasta, 2 cups of diced pickles, cheese, and onion covered in
an ultra-creamy homemade dill dressing with pickle juice."
It is phenomenal! Something different and something the kids
actually eat - which is such a bonus. So if you're looking for a
fun, new side for your harvest meals, try making
the Dill Pickle Pasta Salad:
1 box (16 oz) rotini pasta
1/3 cup dill pickle juice (from the pickle jar)
2 cups chopped baby dill pickles
1 block (8 oz) Colby Jack cheese, cubed small 1 small white onion,
finely chopped
Creamy Dill Dressing
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1/3 cup dill pickle juice (from the pickle jar)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill (or 1 tablespoon dried dill) 1/4
teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
Cook pasta according to package directions. Don't forget to add
some salt to the boiling water before adding the pasta. I add about
1 teaspoon, give or take.
Drain pasta and rinse with cold water. Add 1/3 cup of the pickle
juice to the drained and rinsed pasta and let it sit while you
prepare the rest.
(Move the pasta from the colander into a mixing bowl and then add
the pickle juice) Chop the dill pickles, and cheese into small
cubes/pieces. Finely chop the white onion.
Drain the pasta again that was sitting in the pickle juice. Add it
to a large bowl along with the chopped pickles, cheese, and white
onion.
In small bowl, combine all the dressing ingredients and pour over
the pasta salad. Stir everything together to combine well. Salad
can be eaten right away but I prefer it cold, and if you do too,
then cover it and refrigerate it for 1-2 hours.
Notes:
I would recommend not making this too far ahead of time. For best
results serve this salad within a few hours of making it. Either
right away or after the refrigeration time. Leftovers do keep well
in the fridge (are still delicious) but the dressing thickens up
and it's not as "creamy" as when you first make it).
Use any dill pickles you want. I prefer the baby dills cause they
are already small in shape so it's easier to chop them small.
For best taste and texture use the real, full-fat mayonnaise. I
prefer Best Foods OR Hellman's brand. If you want some heat then
add a pinch (or two) of cayenne pepper to the dressing.
Any cheese or pasta can be used in this recipe but after testing it
out, rotini and Colby Jack cheese taste the best in this salad.
Brevities
#OTD Today is the birthday of the English poet Samuel
Taylor Coleridge, who was born on this day in 1772.
Along with his friend, William Wordsworth, Coleridge started the
Romantic Movement and was a member of the Lake Poets, a group of
English poets who lived in the Lake District of England during
the first half of the nineteenth century.
Coleridge felt that taxonomy was a sort of poetry. He wrote that
taxonomy was “the best words in the best order”.
In his poem called Youth and Age, Coleridge wrote,
"Flowers are lovely; Love is flower-like;
Friendship is a sheltering tree;"
Kubla Khan's Summer Garden at Xanadu is the subject of Coleridge's
1797 poem Kubla Khan, one of his most famous
works. The poem begins by describing Kahn's palace and the garden
contrasted with the setting of the ancient Mongolian forest.
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
#OTD Today is the birthday of the French flower
breeder Victor Lemoine, who was born on this day in
1823.
We owe a debt of gratitude to Lemoine for enhancing the beauty of
so many flowers in our gardens: lilacs, mock-oranges, phlox,
peonies, gladiolus, tuberous begonias, geraniums, and deutzias.
Around the year 1850, Lemoine borrowed money from his gardener
father and began a nursery that survived three generations thanks
to his son Emile and his grandson Henri. The Lemoine nursery
thrived on land bought in Nancy, France (pronounced "non-cee"). A
few years later, Lemoine created his first double-flower; the
Portulaca grandiflora or Moss Ross. As with so many of
Lemoine's creations, the double-flower created double the
beauty.
In 1854, Lemoine turned the original five-petaled single blossom of
the geranium into a double-flowered stunner he called "Gloire de
Nancy" or "Glory of Nancy."
Northern gardeners owe Lemoine a debt of gratitude for his work
with peonies. He crossed the Paeonia wittmanniana with the Siberian
albaflora; creating a peony that could withstand a winter freeze.
Lemoine created some of our most memorable heirlooms: the white Le
Cygne or Swan peony, the Primevere with creamy white outer guard
petals, and packed with canary yellow petals inside, the
blush-colored Solange peony, the pink Sarah Bernhardt, La Fee the
Fairy peony, and the creamy-white Alsace-Lorraine peony.
But, it is the lilac that will forever be associated with Lemoine.
Incredibly, Lemoine didn't start working on Lilacs until he was
almost fifty. That said, Lemoine's wife, Marie Louise, was his
tireless assistant when his eyes and fine-motor skills were
failing. She hand-pollinated the little lilac flowers and aided
both her husband and her son with hybridizing.
Lemoine worked magic with his lilacs. He made them bloom earlier
and later. He improved the quality of the bloom, and he expanded
their color spectrum. He grew the very first double lilac. By the
time the Lemoine nursery closed its doors in 1968, the Lemoine's
had bred 214 new cultivars of Lilac.
#OTD Today is the birthday of the Swede Alfred
Nobel, who was born on this day in 1833.
Gardeners are often surprised to learn that Nobel was a descendant
of the botanist Olof Rudbeck.
Nobel believed in peace and the goodness of humanity. At the same
time, he recognized the destructive power of his scientific
inventions. After Alfred's brother died, a newspaper accidentally
published the obituary under Alfred's name. The experience was a
defining moment for Nobel. He decided to craft a legacy of peace
and made arrangements in his will to create the Nobel Prizes in
Science, Literature, and Peace. The Nobel Prize ceremony is held
every year on December 10th on the anniversary of his death.
#OTD Today is the birthday of the Mexican botanist
Arturo Gómez-Pompa who was born on this day in 1934.
As one of the world's top authorities on rain forests, Gómez-Pompa
founded the Tropical Research Center. He is remembered for his
flora of Mexico and his tireless work on conservation.
Unearthed Words
Here's a prayer for Autumn from the Prague-born poet Rainer
Maria Rilke:
"Lord, it is time.
The summer was very big.
Lay thy shadow on the sundials, and on the meadows let the
winds go loose.
Command the last fruits that they shall be full;
give them another two more southerly days, press them on to
fulfillment
and drive the last sweetness into the heavenly wine."
Today's Grow That Garden Library book recommendation: A Way
to Garden by Margaret Roach
The subtitle is A Hands-On Primer for Every Season.
This book just came out in April of this year and it's one of my
favorites. The pictures are to-die-for. If this book doesn't make
you want to garden, I don't know what will.
I also wanted to read a little excerpt that I found extremely
timely. What I love about Margaret is that she is so real about
what it's like to garden:
"Mad Stash: Overwintering Tender Plants
I am asked two questions over and over again by visitors:
"Where did you get that plant?" and "Where do you put all those big
pots of tender things in winter?" My reply to the second part
begins with a question: Are you ready for an adventure?
Unless you operate a climate-controlled greenhouse - and even
then, if the power fails - matching non-hardy plants to the
possibilities of our domestic winter environment, especially in a
northern location, is indeed an exploration.
I have been experimenting for years with stashing tender plants
in the cellar, garage, house, mudroom – wherever I can – to try to
turn each purchase into an investment plant. Before I go attempting
any real heroics, though... I ask if there’s a way to carry over a
piece of each instead, as seeds or by taking late summer cuttings
and say Coleus or Pelargonium and rooting them - or simply by
digging up tubers or bulbs and stashing those?"
Today's Garden Chore - Improving your garden one actionable
tip at a time.
Buy some bagged mulch for handiness and ease.
Compared to loose mulch, bagged mulch is less labor-intensive and
messy. For people with physical challenges, bagged mulch is
way easier to use, stack, and store. Bags of mulch are manageable
to carry and cart around. At the end of the season, when just a
little mulch is needed here and there, you'll be glad to have a
little stockpile.
The gardening expert Thalassa Cruso wrote:
"The mulch you lay down will protect your perennial plants
during the winter and feed the soil as it decays, while the cleaned
up flower bed will give you a huge head start on either planting
seeds or setting out small plants."
Something Sweet
Reviving the little botanic spark in your
heart
It was on this day in 1967 that 100,000 demonstrators
attend the March on the Pentagon.
It was one of the most massive demonstrations of the Vietnam
War.
A 17-year-old high school girl named Jan Rose Kasmir walked up to a
row of soldiers holding rifles with bayonets. Kasmir courageously
stood directly in front of the bayonets. She held a single
chrysanthemum bloom in her hands. The little daisy-like flower was
the only thing between Kasmir's face and the tip of a blade.
This image, known as the flower girl, became one of the most iconic
photos of the Vietnam War era.
Thanks for listening to the daily gardener,
and remember:
"For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."