Blue Macro Monday, November 18, 2013

Welcome to my Monday post.   Today I am linking with-

Blue Monday hosted by Smiling Sally

Macro Monday 2 hosted by Gemma Wiseman

I Heart Macro hosted by Laura

Ruby Tuesday too  hosted by Gemma Wiseman, now updated

More blue tiles from my kitchen, this is over the stove, the black rope tiles around the perimeter I glazed and fired myself.  When taking the photos I got to thinking maybe I should have tried to match the cherry tile glaze, but that might have been difficult.  See the counter tiles with iridescent glass here.

This is Amber Ghost, the early leaves are amber with red veins, amber green in summer, then becomes more amber again in autumn until it becomes a glorious flaming red.

I missed a couple of flowers for Garden Blogger's Bloom Day the 15th.  Eupatorium (Conoclinium) coelestinum, Blue Mistflower, is blooming still in its first year, but I have it under a plastic plant umbrella for protection, hoping to let it ripen seeds.  The Blue Mistflowers I have posted are progressively more open, some here are turning brown, hopefully ripening seeds.   It likes moist to wet soils.  Butterflies and other pollinators like them.

Achillea millefolium 'Cassis' is also blooming in the open.  We have had some frosts.

So there are flowers after frost, for a while at least.   I am also restless to get some plants started for next year so they will bloom earlier, and also have some seeds that need to be stratified in the refrigerator for a month or more, so I am already sowing seeds and will report on them as they come up.   -Hannah

or cameras are macro

Favorite Plant Pick and Foliage Follow-up, November 16, 2013

Welcome to my Favorite Plant Pick of the week, linked to the Danger Garden blog hosted by Loree, which is also my Foliage-Follow Up post, linked to the Digging blog by hostess Pam Penick.  Check the comments sections for more posts on these topics from other gardeners.

For my favorite plant pick I have an evergreen large shrub that I enjoy immensely, Elaeagnus x ebbingei 'Gilt Edge'.

The evergreen leaves are always attractive and also make an excellent filler plant for flower arrangements-

Here it looks great with Berberis berries-

In the early fall it blooms, tiny blooms with a powerful fragrance that wafts, I look forward to it blooming every year.

For some additional foliage plants I am enjoying now, who needs flowers when you can have a Nandina for some color interest-

Nice ground cover plants I grew from seed and that also produce fruit are some Alpine Strawberries-

Red fall color- Amber Ghost Japanese Maple-

So much color for such a short while.   -Hannah

Garden Blogger's Bloom Day, November 15, 2013

Welcome to "What's Blooming Now?"    To see what is blooming in other gardens now see hostess Carol's May Dreams Gardens blog.

There is still one rose blooming, usually it is more at this time, Sea Foam, an excellent "ground cover" type rose.

Another blushing white flower is Camellia sasanqua 'Apple Blossom', which took quite a few years to begin blooming for me but now has quite a few blossoms.  'Yuletide', bought at the same time, has yet to bloom.   Maybe someday,

My new this year Hydrangea macrophylla 'Endless Summer' seems to be living up to its name, still bringing forth flower buds, and retaining the old flowers.   It looked a little bedraggled after planting but
will hopefully put on some growth next year and look more upright.   It is supposed to be hardy for zones 4-9.   All my old Hydrangeas died a couple of years ago from an unusual cold snap.

Also still blooming are Geranium Rozanne, Alpine strawberries, Rosemary, etc.  The days are getting shorter and shorter, brrr.    I'll be glad when they start getting longer again.  Hannah

Blue Macro Monday, Veteran's Day, November 11, 2013

Welcome to my Monday post, Remembering our heroic Servicemen and their families on Veteran's Day, with gratitude that can never be enough.   Linking with-

Blue Monday hosted by Smiling Sally

Macro Monday 2 hosted by Gemma Wiseman

I Heart Macro hosted by Laura

From the Farm hosted this week by timbercreekfarmer

Mandarin Orange Monday hosted by Lorik

Monday Mellow Yellows hosted by Gemma Wiseman

Gluten Free Tuesday hosted by Easy Green Mama

These are winter radishes from Kitazawa, Daikon radishes either Luo Buo or Big Time, though the package illustrations look more elongated than round.

This is a turnip, 1.75 lb, I started getting inexplicably large turnips-

I made a soup with it, or could be a stir-fry, adding celery and below, onion, oyster mushrooms, ginger diced, and garlic-

I seasoned it with Braggs's Liquid Aminos (or use soy sauce or tamari), ground seed mix (dill, caraway, anise, fennel, coriander, etc), turmeric powder, and lemon pepper.  Serve over rice or buckwheat.

A close-up of some of my blue kitchen tiles, with iridescent glass tiles, we did the tiling ourselves-

A wonderful evergreen shrub that gets quite large and has fragrant wafting flowers in the fall, Elaeagnus x ebbingei Gilt Edge, it also makes an excellent filler in flower bouquets-

I find the cool season vegetables very rewarding and carefree.

-Hannah

or cameras are macro

Blue Macro Monday, November 4, 2013

Welcome to my Monday post, today I am linking to-

Blue Monday hosted by Smiling Sally

Macro Monday 2 hosted by Gemma Wiseman

I Heart Macro hosted by Laura

Mandarin Orange Monday hosted by Lorik

Harvest Monday hosted by Daphne


I noticed some very pale aqua blue Lichens in the garden, fall doesn't seem to faze them-

Frost has hit and killed some plants, while others seem unscathed.  The Cocozelle squash plants were blackened, but I found a fine 5.5 lb squash.   Here it is cut in half to show the still-tender interior  with no developed seeds.

Most regular beans have given up but the cool-loving Runner beans are still slowly developing, 3.5 lb-

Raindrops on Acer-

Birthday cake for granddaughter #1 and only, Marzipan-

Small cake for candles-

Happy Birthday, Zoe!   -Hannah

or cameras are macro

Blue Macro Monday, October 28, 2013

Welcome to my Monday post, today I am linking with-

Blue Monday hosted by Smiling Sally

Macro Monday 2 hosted by Gemma Wiseman

I Heart Macro hosted by Laura

Ruby Tuesday Too hosted by Gemma Wiseman


Blue is not that easy of a color to find in the garden, but I tried a photo of some little Rosemary blooms-

I was photographing my new Eupatorium coelestinum blooms which are finally getting more open-

When a cute little hoverfly happened upon the flower and posed for me, the camera distorted the color of the flower some, notice his little stubby fly atennae, his bigger more wrap-around eyes, hairless back, lack of pollen baskets on his hind legs, and only 2 wings instead of 4-

A Gladiolus decided to bloom again rather late-

A frost is predicted tonight, I will have to bring in some tender plants and decide if I should cover a few others.   I'm not ready for frost, we have been having lovely dry weather and I've been getting lots of weeding and brush removal done.    Today I'm remembering my mother on her birthday, no longer with us, but appreciated.   -Hannah

Wildflower Wednesday: Berberis nervosa, favorite plant of the week

Welcome to my Wildflower Wednesday post, late, to see other wildflower posts, join others at hostess Gail's Clay and Limestone blog.   I'm also linking this with favorite plant pick of the week on hostess Loree's Danger Garden, see the comment section for other people's favorite plant picks.

   I'm presenting one of the plants that grows wild in my 2 acre garden.  The previous owner (PO) logged, and left little pockets of the original plants.   My favorite is Berberis (formerly Mahonia)  nervosa, a low-growing Cascade Oregon-grape.  It has glossy leathery dark green evergreen leaves.

Over time it spreads slowly by rhizomes to make stands that unfortunately get invaded with the native blackberry pest, Rubus ursinus, I just spend part of a day cutting out all the vines from this patch and dripping a little brush killer on the cut surfaces,  I'm an organic gardener but the blackberry vines have pushed me into what I hope is a very low-impact use.  It does seem to slow down their reappearance.  

They flower in April with sprays of yellow flowers like most Mahonia/Berberis species.

In addition to looking beautiful, they also yield edible dark purple berries, loaded with anti-oxidants.   They are like Salal, a little strong-tasting alone but nice cooked with some other fruit to make jelly or gelatin dessert.

Being a native plant, they are tough as nails here and need no supplemental water, even with our dry summers.  There are many native species of (ex-Mahonia) Berberis that are very worthwhile low-maintenance garden shrubs.  Berberis nervosa is a low-growing plant, others can be 3-4' tall.   A nice feature is that they seem to have no appeal for deer.   I've been also trying to grow one from the SW from seed, Berberis fendleri, but it is very slow-growing so still very small.

There are also a lot of very attractive and deer resistant thorny species from around the world, some with larger more-utilized fruit.  The Asian cultivar 'Soft Caress' caught my eye at a fair and is on my plant lust list.  I have also bought Berberis darwinii, a marvelous arching shrub with tiny leaves, and the diminutive Berberis stenophylla corallina.

Interestingly, the USDA site still lists them as Mahonia, and has 10 species listed as native, various ones in most of the US.   Tough plants, why not?    Hannah