Tag archive for dahlia

I just about cried when I realized that the frost got my garden the other night. I suppose one might say that I’ve grown a little too attached to my garden. And now that I think about it, it’s not so much the garden I was missing, it was my dahlias. Fall is the best time for the dahlias—the colors get more brilliant and the blooms are plentiful. In the cool fall air, the blooms out in the garden seem to last forever, usually right up until the end of October around here.  I hoped for one more sunny afternoon in the garden with a magazine and a drink under those happy plants. It’s always just “one more,” right? But there they were, gone just a few days into October. The only flowering plant that remains untouched is nestled up beside the house, still wildly vibrant in the crisp air.

It’s not just the garden—a little planted patch of land in the backyard. It’s the stillness of digging in the cool earth on a sunny morning, pulling weeds, gathering greens and other goodness that I’ve been nurturing. I think it transports me. It’s a quiet place to think amidst the swirl of my daily activities. I miss that when I’m not in the garden.

In the middle of all of this sadness about the end of another gardening season, I’ve been thinking about all that I love about the autumnal season. After all, I do have an extensive scarf collection that’s just waiting for the cool weather. I love turning on the oven for most evening meals, roasting, braising and baking warmth and deliciousness into the cold night. Sunny afternoon walks crunching through the falling leaves. Long evenings when it is a tough choice between a hot bath or a good book and a pot of tea. Not to mention how cozy my slippers feel right now.

Not everything in my garden has been frosted yet. Oddly enough, there is still plenty of basil that made it through the chilly nights. In my experience, that is usually the first thing to go, so at the first threat of frost, I was out in the garden collecting armloads of basil to make pesto. Silly me, I should have been picking flowers. Happily the mint and the strawberries are growing steadily in the cool weather. Turns out all is not lost, I can still enjoy some delicious Moroccan mint tea and handfuls of tiny strawberries.

So when the warm weather hit this past weekend, I decided not to delay any longer on that pitcher of sangria I’d been planning on all summer. The ingredients have been seasonally adjusted to include apples and cider as crisp and refreshing as an autumn afternoon. I’m hoping there are more glorious days of fall for you to enjoy this recipe!

Hard Cider Sangria

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1 small apple, quartered and thinly sliced

1 navel orange, quartered and thinly sliced

1 1/2 cups chilled apple juice

2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice

1/4 cup brandy

1 22-oz. bottle of hard apple cider

In a pitcher, combine the sliced apples and oranges. Add the chilled apple juice, lemon juice and brandy. Allow the flavors to meld in the fridge, if time allows.

Just before serving, add the cider to the pitcher and stir to combine. Spoon some of the prepared fruit into tall glasses and fill with ice. Top with the apple cider mixture.

In honor of Julia Child’s birthday, I wanted to make something fabulous. All French and full of delicious flavors. But time got away from me and since it seemed to be gougères or nothing for me, I decided to forgo the fancy cooking and instead make something a little simpler to enjoy in the garden. This recipe totally fit the bill.

And instead of telling you all about the lovely tian that I made with Julia’s recipe, I thought I’d tell you about the garden, where it seems I’m spending every moment that I’m not in the kitchen.

The garden is an honorary room in our house throughout the summer months. And in the winter months, I can still be found dreaming of that space! In the middle of two raised beds, I managed to fit a little table and chairs, which makes it the perfect spot for al fresco living. Meals and conversations are often carried out to the garden where we balance little plates and glasses in the growing shade of the tomato and dahlia plants. And at this time of year, something on our plates has likely very recently come from garden. Once 5 p.m. rolls around, there is no better place to be than in the garden.

Of course, the garden isn’t just a place to lounge in the shade. In fact, the early morning hours might just be my favorite time of day in the garden. In the cool stillness, I trim away at the tomatoes, pick handfuls of purple romano beans and collect greens for hardy summer salads. I think the greens are at their best in the early mornings. And even though my greens are transitioning to a more hardy fall mix, they still get a little wilted once they’ve spent a few hours basking in the sun.

The other things I try to pick early in the day are the dahlias. I don’t know why that is—likely some old plant wisdom or maybe even a bit of folklore. But any flower picking that happens is kept to those hours when the sun is not overhead. And now that I mention it, maybe there is an element of self-preservation in there as well!

So a man who wants to soft tabs viagra you can try these out, but who also wants to make sure that the drug that definitely needs to be taken with the consent of sexologists Unlike other sexual drugs, levitra will stay in the body and start to show their effects within 20-30 minutes of their consumption and work by enhancing the blood circulation in the penile region. canadian viagra generic Also increasing or decreasing of the medicine should not be allowed to resistour marital happiness any more. As you should make efforts to maintain balance and keep cialis sildenafil you right, the bike also helps to strengthen the muscles of the trunk. You’re likely to have some control over exactly how your site is hyperlinked to its affiliate parent, so it’s wise to plan a tempting route viagra price http://www.glacialridgebyway.com/windows/Kerkhoven%20Heritage%20Room.html through the store for your visitors. These days, the dahlias are finally starting to come into their own. It’s been a rough year for them—it all got off to a messy start when my lovely dog dug up each and every dahlia bulb in the midnight darkness, just to try and lick the bone meal off of the bulbs. I know he ate more dirt than anything, but it sure did make a mess of my plants. When I finally got around to planting the sad remains of the bulbs, I knew chances were good that some of my plants just wouldn’t make it. But the ones that pulled through and survived the midnight raid have been a splendid surprise each time new blooms open! So I’ll leave you with a slice of what’s blooming while I raise a little toast to Julia.

It’s one of those things I can count on…when the holidays are over, the seed catalogues will come. And while I might have to wait for months before really even thinking about taking spade to garden, I can dream my way through the dahlia catalogue along with the stack of other seed catalogues that have been filing up my mailbox. A weekend or two will inevitably be spent trying to decide on what four tomato varieties will make the cut in the garden. Or what mixture of greens will kick off my spring salads. In short, it gives me a little hope that eventually, spring will come.

Last year was my first with a proper garden in a few years. My parents arrived on the scene with ideas aplenty and in no time had full plans sketched out for the garden. And this was no ordinary garden plot – they built me raised beds with rails for sitting, gravel walks for easy maintenance and a little fence to keep out wayward toddlers and anxious dogs! I know, this whole area was a very kind and thoughtful gesture and I am still touched by the generous gift this garden has been to me. By the time the summer was over and the tomatoes and dahlias were towering over the pathway, it felt jungle-like. A friend donated a chair and table, which I painted yellow, and hauled it into the garden. This was almost on the level of garden spa! (Tina, you may also note that the yellow spray paint idea is hardly something new – I was doing it months ago!)

I should be honest and tell you that things got a little out of control in the garden. I am not sure if it was the year or what, but my tomatoes fell over at least three times last summer. The plants were too vigorous to stay with their stakes. It became my weekend project to keep adding new stakes, pruning viciously to try and control the growth. The dahlias were so top-heavy with flowers that they drooped across the pathways, sprinkling spent petals at an alarming rate. I must come up with a new plan for proactive staking this year! But I embraced it all – tucked out of sight from most everyone, my little jungle was a quiet refuge all summer.

And now, through the silent winter, those beds have sat under the briefest cover of snow. I mulched them with leftover leaves and grass, just hoping to replenish the soil enough for a repeat performance this summer. I’ve already been out there once to see how the composting process is going and take a quick look at my volunteer fava beans, an added bonus from my composting antics. I am going to be so excited if those actually produce anything this year!

As I quietly surveyed the garden last week, I wondered just where I should plant the lettuce this spring? Where should the dahlias grow? Can I add any new flowers to my collection this year? Where will my first row of radishes grow? Tina suggested I draw a little planting map – it might help with my planning. Maybe I’ll share it here…
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My one new discovery last year was purslane. It’s not really a well-known green, but it is going to be. If you’re looking for the latest food trend, you heard it here first. To many, this is actually a weed, but the seeds I found were for an upright variety that made for easy picking. The leaves had a bit of a citrus flavor to them and lasted much further into the summer than any of the other lettuce varieties and was a welcome addition to salads. I think it was sometime toward the end of July when I finally decided it had run its course and pulled it out.

I’m always looking for new things to add to the garden mix. This year the idea came to me that perhaps I could add a Meyer lemon to the garden. Obviously, I am not going to be able to plant it anywhere. But in a pot, it could be quite a nice addition. In my mind, I’m thinking towering lemon tree. But this is likely going to be more of a small shrub – alas! And so long as I didn’t feel inspired to buy a whole grove of citrus, maybe I could winter one plant in the house. Maybe I’d have room for two…and who wouldn’t love a citrus tree in the living room? Just the thought of a future lemon or two would truly be a treat. Of course, this could be along the lines of my attempts with the fig tree. For all of my efforts hauling the massive barrel in and out, my fig harvest over the years has been scarce, at best. But still I try, just hoping that this might be the year. And who knows, I might have a real knack with citrus!

I’d best be off now…I really have to decide on those tomatoes!