Long time no hear

It´s been a long time since I updated, so I´ve decided to give you a short chronology in pictures. I´ve had several baking endeavors (see the lovely Strawberry Shortcake from the cover of Living July 2007)

cupcakes for my friend Andrea´s birthday (half chocolate, half vanilla with Swiss merangue buttercream frosting)
Then a fourth of July bash that somehow did not get sufficient documentation as I found when Iwent to upload the pics. We had Carolina bbq pulled pork, potato salad, cole slaw, tomatoes, angel food cake, patriotic icecream compotes, and lots of other yummy things including home made buns.
The chicken drumsticks with cilantro and lime garnish.
The drinks minus the ice tea. yes, that´s an old washtub filled with beer, cokes and ice.
Some of the guests chowing down. Unfortunately you can´t see the decorations that I worked so hard on, but they are there.
Then I decided to make my sister a hostess gift since I´ll be staying with her for a few days. As far as I know she doesn´t have a tea cozy, so I made this one.
And half a dozen napkins to match with fancy stiching
An apron to serve the tea in
and here I am modeling the apron. I copied a vintage one my grandmother had made and changed a few things. This one is a bit fancier than what she did--I decided to use a different material for the ruffle. Has something a bit maidy now. Oh well.
And a new rose in my yard. A yellow one that was supposed to be white. Oh well, guess nobody is perfect!

And last but not least, I´ve spent quite a bit of time making jelly out of blueberries, strawberries and sour cherries. And no, I´m not done. I´m half way through re-doing an old nightstand. So stay tuned, maybe I´ll finish it before I head home!

Ring around the rosey!

Peace!

She´s a beauty, isn´t she? I´m so glad my mother suggested this rose. Just a little info about this lovely courtesy of wikipedia:

The Peace rose is the most famous and successful garden rose of all time. Over one hundred million plants had been sold, as of 1992. It is a Hybrid Tea rose with very large flowers and a light yellow to cream color. It is very hardy and resistant to disease making it popular in gardens as well as in the floral trade (Beales).

It was developed by French horticulturist Francis Meilland in the years 1935 to 1939. When Meilland foresaw the German invasion of France he sent cuttings to friends in Italy, Turkey, Germany, and the United States to protect the new rose. The rose became known as 'Peace' in the following way. Early 1945 Meilland wrote to Field Marshal Alan Brooke (later Viscount Alanbrooke), the principal author of the master strategy that won Second World War, to thank him for his key part in the liberation of France and to ask if Brooke would give his name to the rose. Brooke declined saying that, though he was honored to be asked, his name would soon be forgotten and a much better and more enduring name would be "Peace".

The name "Peace" is a trade name; its formal cultivar name is Rosa 'Madame A. Meilland'. The adoption of the trade name "Peace" was publicly announced in the United States on 29 April 1945 by the introducers, Messrs Conard Pyle Co.. This was the very day that Berlin fell, officially considered the end of the Second World War in Europe. Later that year Peace roses were given to each of the delegations at the inaugural meeting of the United Nations in San Francisco, each with a note which read:

"We hope the 'Peace' rose will influence men’s thoughts for everlasting world peace".

Peter Beales, English rose grower and expert, said in his book Roses:

"'Peace', without doubt, is the finest Hybrid Tea ever raised and it will remain a standard variety forever".

And here she is just starting to open. She looks so much darker and brighter here. Once she fully opens and has been in the bright sun she fades to a much subtler yellow with just the slightest hint of pink. I much prefer her in the first picture.

And this is an almost spent blossom on my climbing rose, Constance Spry. I like the smell of Constance, and when the blossoms have just opened they are gorgeous. Unfortunately I was a bit late getting a picture, and since this is her first year in my yard she´s still very small. I´m sure that wont last long! She is almost ready to be tied to the trellis, and I can´t wait to see what she does next year. This year she had about 8 blossoms which wasn´t too bad for a new rose. It´s a pity she only blooms once a year. Sigh.


An last but not least, Schneewitchen. I like the pure white this rose has and the clusters of blooms. The bush is full despite this being its first year in my garden and I am thrilled.

Now if only Empress Josephine and the Pink Panther would bloom...they have buds, so I´m sure it wont be too much longer before I share pictures of them along with my other climbing rose New Dawn. Until then, happy gardening!

Pizza, Pizza!

I´m a big fan of pizza, just not frozen ones. I realized that I was hungry and that there was nothing in the fridge that appealed to me or could really pass as lunch, but I had some bell peppers, red onions, a tomatoe, black olives and arugula growing in the garden. I even had some grated pizza cheese and some block parmesan! And yeast that wasn´t expired, whole wheat flour and white flour (I like to mix half and half). So I decided to make myself a pizza from scratch and I think the result was pretty darn good. It certainly hit the spot and used up some things in the fridge that needed using and potentially helped to keep the arugula plant at bay....that Arugula is a post all by itself...

April showers bring May flowers...

Actually it didn´t rain a whole lot in April, but my garden is growing. Here are a few shots of our yard from May. When my parents were here in April I planted six rose bushes. This picture is of my 2.99€ mystery rose. I don´t know what kind of rose it is, and the tag said only that it was a pink rose. I think it´s lovely, just wish I knew which rose it was!
About three weeks ago the husband got a bee in his bonnet that we needed to have grass and needed to have it now. To appease him I let him get sod put down for the area around the roses/terrace. I think it has turned out well, and the husband is thrilled. He´s planning more....he´s bought the most amazing lawn mower to mow it with. I wish I could give you the technical details, but I can´t. I´m sure you are heart broken not to know.
Our predecessor had lots of iris growing in the yard, and I dug them all up just before the house was built and put them here in this raised bed where they have stayed. I´ll be moving them in July or August to the front of the house to go along the fence. we are planning to tear out the raised beds and the raised terrace behind. You´ll understand why in a minute.
Some more of my lovely iris with said raised terrace in the background. It is ugly as home made sin and has to go. I cannot wait to have the open space to do something with. The husband is shooting for the fall as demolition time. In the mean time he´s collecting bids to have it torn down. The previous owner worked in steel and concrete construction and the terrace has some serious rebar in it. Talk about reinforced concrete....
And last but not least, my lovely boxwoods! I transplanted them and in this photo they look really nice. At the moment they are looking a little peaked because of the sun and transplant stress/shock, but I´m hoping they make a full recovery.More to come later. I´m sure after tomorrow´s trip to the nursery I´ll have more to show!

lunch

So I´ll have a sub with turkey coldcuts, some unpasteurized cheese, feta maybe? Hold the greens please cause we don´t need that folic acid. A large diet coke, maybe a double espresso to go with that, and do you have cosmopolitans on the menu? No, ok, well how about a red bull with some vodka. Redbull but no Vodka you say, ok I guess I´ll settle for that bottle of prosecco you have. No, nothing else that I can think of. Well maybe a ciggy, but wait, I don´t smoke so I guess I skip that. Yes, that will be all, and can you make it to go? Great.

Lilac Land

So I have a thing for lilacs, and obviously the previous owner of our lot did too. The scent is positively intoxicating and the flowers are simply divine. Too bad they don´t last in a vase very long. Sigh. Unfortunately the lilacs are fading, but the roses have lots of buds. This picture below is the beginning of my rose garden which isn´t quite finished. I´ll take pictures again when it´s a little further along. So here are some of the lilacs behind our house (taken from the bathroom window).

And more lilacs....I also have lots of yellow iris which are about to bloom and a pretty hot pink/red peony with lots of buds. I can´t wait for my peonies to open. I think I like them even better than my lilacs...but then again, I love all my flowers.

It´s Spring!!

And I have been neglecting my blog in favor of gardening with my parents. The parents left this morning, and now I am alone with my garden. I´m sure the neighbors will be disappointed that the progress will slow now that it´s just me.

My project for today was to sow some seeds in peat pots for radishes and zuchinni. If I´m still motivated later, I´ll plant the sweet peas in some pots and get them started in a sunny window sill. As the Germans would say "immer mit der Ruhe" so I will be taking it slow.

I promise to put some pictures up of my accomplishments. I should probably find some before pictures or it might not be so obvious what has been accomplished....31 tonnes of dirt and lots of shade-loving plants, roses and boxwoods.