Bloggers family visit

Do you remember my Post titled Georgia Drought you say? from last month? Well, it was not a pretty sight with water standing in my Georgia Garden while awaiting a Garden blogger's visit! I took the advice of the commenter's and just let the water flow off my mind.

As you can see the blogger friend was "In the Gardens" very own Master Gardener, Tina and family! Tina looked right over the mud and we splashed our way all over the yard. I was so excited of her visit that I forgot to change shoes and ended up sinking into a hole that once housed a plant! Arggg, my once white tennis shoes... Not much to see in the winter but it was fun talking gardens a few weeks before Christmas.

We were able to get in one quick sight seeing trip to the Savannah river before night fall. Sorry, no pictures of that. You may recall seeing a picture of Fall Colors snapped at this spot. All pictures you see today, were snapped by Tina as I never touched the camera the entire time they were visiting. Ever have so much fun you never snap pics?

Off to the Pizza Joint for dinner, (thanks for picking up the tab guys) then to a surprise for everyone! Light's of the South, is located near our home and has become a tradition for us. This is a wonderful place to experience and will surely put you into the holiday spirit. A family has opened up their farm to visitors to see their fabulous light display. Everything is custom made and set up by family and friends of the land owners. This castle was one of many new additions this year. It is made from 60,000 lights! You can either stroll the lighted pathways through the enchanted forest of lights or opt for a Hayride which we always do. With hot chocolate, fudge and apple cider in hand, we had a wonderful ride together. This was the Jimsters first Hayride! I was happy to have been there for his experiencing a hayride. Sorry we did not get to roast marshmallows over the open fires. Can we say long line for fluffy sugar cubes? Tina had told me the Jimster had started to play the guitar. I told her to have him bring it along so he and the Saint could jam together. The Saint pulled out his guitar and showed the Jimster a few cords. Notice the Jimster is not wearing any shoes. Tina, you have had him in Tennessee too long! snicker snicker, I can say that since I was born in TN. Jimster was really impressing us with his self taught guitar skills! The Saint would show him something and the Jimster would repeat on his guitar in no time at all. The Saint even handed over his electric guitar for him to pick on. Wow, I have never seen the Saint let anyone play his guitar before that night!

Jimster really does seem to have a talent for picking up cords quickly so maybe one day, I will be talking about attending one of his concerts. Don't forget us small people when you hit the big time! I think those two could have stayed up all night given the chance. As you can see, Mr. Fixit was about to fall asleep. Not really, Tina just caught him with his eyes closed as she snapped the picture. Heck, the guitar was so loud who could sleep if they wanted to? Mr Fixit was holding the Jimsters keyboard. Yep, that young man is also self teaching himself to play the keyboard! Can you tell I was enjoying the concert?

We enjoyed a glass of wine during our concert and now Tina has a pretty blue bottle to add to her Bottle Tree. I think we all ended up getting to bed around 1:00 in the morning.

The next morning the Saint took off for work and I made breakfast for everyone. Tina, loved my eggs. Tina, they were just scrambled eggs! Jimster took a sausage and biscuit to go as for some reason, he was too tired to get out of bed. And he is the young one that is supposed to be ready to take on the world! Ha, young whipper snappers don't have anything on us old hoot owls!

After breakfast, Tina, Mr. Fixit and the Jimster took off for Ft. Jackson to see Christine (daughter) graduate Basic Training. Again congrats Christine!

Tina, you have a wonderful family and we thoroughly enjoyed having you in our home. Although too short and we must do this again soon! This was one really nice BLOGGER'S FAMILY VISIT, In the Garden...

Mom's Vegetable Garden

Don't let the hydrangea fool you! This post is about a vegetable garden-with some ornamentals. My grandmother was an avid gardener who planted this hydrangea. This hydrangea is the mama of my hydrangea down here in Tennessee, and just happens to grow in my mother's vegetable garden so that is why I included it in this post. It is just now blooming in Maine.



My grandmother initially planted this hydrangea many years ago. At that time the now vegetable garden was strictly an ornamental garden. And this garden has an ideal spot on the east side of my mother's home over the septic field. It is in a bed surrounded by natural stone and somewhat raised. The raised elevation could have something to do with my mother hauling in 7 yards of loam; which went a long way to get the vegetable garden on its way.

My mother is handicapped and can barely walk, so you all know what a chore making this garden had to have been. When I arrived in Maine it was so tidy, neat and beautiful. Radishes are huge, watermelons are growing, the marigolds add lots of color, and those cool pea stakes also add some color and whimsy. While checking out the garden my sister-"I don't know why ANYONE would ever want to garden!" informed me they had all saved the front perennial garden for me to fix up. No problem! Fortunately the ground in Maine was soft and loamy, despite not having rain in several weeks. The weeds came up easily and the new perennials went into the ground quickly. I also added some old perennials and planted another hydrangea for my mother in her new perennial garden. The recent rains my mother has received in her neck of the woods in Maine has probably helped all the plants along their merry way.

I did help out a bit in this garden too though. Here is a longer view of the garden. Isn't that loam lovely looking? And look-no weeds! They worked hard to get rid of the weeds before we arrived in Maine. Did it have something to do with me coming Mom? I picked up some hay bales for my mother, laid the newspapers and mulched the whole garden. Actually, I must confess, the Jimster did it all with a bit of supervision from me. He was so happy to help out! And that is really what this garden has represented. My sister-"I don't know why ANYONE would ever want to garden!" , my daughter and her boyfriend and numerous other family members have all contributed to making this garden successful and beautiful. I hope it gives my mother many years of pleasure-and lots of good healthy food! It has sure served to give the family a common goal and purpose.

in the garden....

Birthdays, Baby Birds & Blooms

What cute picture's of Tina's twin girls, Christine and Liz, taken when they were mere tots.

Look at those great big smiles... Mom and the rest of us here at In The Garden hope you both have big smiles upon your faces today and always.... HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIRLS!
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Tina recently posted on the birth of baby Bluebirds and everyone seem to enjoy them so much that I decided to add a few pictures of some of the babies in our life as well... My all time favorite of course is the baby wren hatching from an egg. I was so lucky to be able to capture this moment but did not hang around after snapping the picture out of fear for disturbing nature.

I caught this baby Chickadee peeking out into the world getting ready to leave the nest...

Later on that day, I spotted the little guy on the watering hose watching my every move!

The Chickadee are such a small bird as an adult so this baby was really tiny...

Here is one of many baby Bluebirds we have had in our bluebird houses. The best we can tell, our houses have been home to about 75 baby bluebirds over the 6 years we have lived here! Unfortunately not all survive as the hawk and cats catch their share of unsuspecting babies...

Here is a baby Brown-headed Nuthatch. They have a cute squeak to their voice and walk upside down on trees looking for bugs...

This little baby bird is either a Downy or Hairy Woodpecker. Not sure which as they are so similar. This is the first woodpecker baby I have ever seen in the wild before so I was really excited to spot him this spring!

Here is a baby House finch nesting in a hanging plant. Each year I fight the little buggers off as they are so messy. We now have a deal with them, if you get a nest made and eggs in it, you win the plant but must deal with me watering it. I must get the step ladder with each watering. argggg....

I don't mind the wrens nesting in my ivy box because they are not messy plus the box is located on the railing of the porch so I do not have to get a ladder when watering...

The Eastern Phoebe nest on a metal beam in our garage each year. Last year while building a nest, we found one of the parent birds dead on the garage floor. Think the neighbors cat is to blame for that one. I have seen Phoebe this year but so far no one has made residency in the garage... Look at the cute baby swans! A pair of Swans nest in the Saints parents yard each spring. This year they had 3 babies and this was taken the day mommy kicked them out of the nest, which is within 24 hours of birth!
Here they are out for their first swim. These babies don't have a good survival rate as large snapping turtles will get them. The last I heard, Mom and Dad B reported only one of these babies remain. Nature can be so cruel at times...

Speaking of turtles, look at the cute little baby box turtle I found in the flower garden this morning when I went out to water a few things. Cute as can be...

Now to Blooms... I cut my finger this morning and typing is difficult as I keep having to stop and wipe up blood from the keys so I will just let the pictures do the talking for me. These are things that are blooming now or have bloomed and just now getting recognition from me...

LAVENDER

PINK PEONY
WHITE PEONY
AMARYLLIS HUSKER RED BEARD TONGUE


CLOSE UP OF BLOOMS











CLOSE UP OF CONFEDERATE JASMINE

I have Jasmine climbing along the trunks of 3 trees and the scent is wonderful and can be smelled throughout the yard!

Ignore the moss and weeds growing in the gravel. This picture was snapped before weed control...

The Ligustrum was blooming at the same time as the Jasmine and the lush green foliage of the leaves with the white blooms were spectacular together!








The Nandina Royal Princess plant which keeps my beloved Skeeter boy company at his grave, is now blooming as well.



I have never seen such white blooms on all of our bushes until this year. I assume they are happy and more mature now...




Here is one more picture I will share with you even though it does not fit in with the topic. As I went to replace a horrible looking zucchini in the veggie garden, Mr Peter Cottontail joined me. He let me walk right up to him as the Saint took this picture! I talked to him and he just sat there as if my little friend!





Am sure he had his eye on the veggie garden more so then me. Probably trying to see how I get inside the fence...



So Happy Birthday Liz & Christine and keep your eyes out for more Baby Birds and Blooms, In The Garden....

Peonies & A New Blog

*************Breaking News****************

My sister Dawn, who is an excellent crafter, now has her own blog on crafts. Today is her first post. Please stop by and say hello and wish her good luck selling her crafts. They are beautiful and she is very talented.

Her new blog is titled C & G Design and can be found at: http://candgdesign.blogspot.com/

Now on to the garden. Todays post is short and sweet, just a question and request (see above for the request). The question is which peony do you like best?

Unknown cultivar, pass along plant from Margie way down south of here.
Immaculee, a super white cultivar which blooms its heart out. The stems are fairly strong too.
Some kind of Japanese/Chinese peony. Unknown cultivar and variety since the Wal-mart bareroots I purchased were mislabeled. It was supposed to be Sarah Bernhardt-big difference!

Which one is your favorite-and why?

Very busy....in the garden....wishing my sister much luck with her new blog.

A Visit to North Carolina

On a recent trip to visit my in-laws in North Carolina, I was of course in the garden, though not my own garden. Maybe you could consider it my garden. First of all, let me say my father-in-law is an awesome gardener. He has taught me a few things about gardening and loves to garden himself. His main focus is on vegetable gardening. We have enjoyed many a fresh vegetable from his garden during our visits.

My mother-in-law is the one who really likes ornamentals. She works many, many hours at a local textile factory and does not have time to garden. A few years ago she and Jimmy's cousin, Sara, made up an ornamental garden in a highly visible spot. No vegetables allowed there. She purchased several plants, edged the bed with landscape timbers and added some ornamentation. It is a nice garden. I volunteered to tend it for her as I could. So on each and every visit I would either bring plants from my garden, or purchase whatever was in season (and on sale of course) and plant it in her garden. I have been doing this for two years.




The garden is located below a very thirsty Tulip Poplar tree, aka Liriodendron tulipifera. I think this tree to be a beautiful tree, but a very thirsty tree and somewhat of big bully. It is quite difficult to garden under tulip poplars, but this is where her garden is located. While visiting this time the tree was in full bloom. Since Frances showed me the macro feature of my camera, I was experimenting and took a good shot of the bloom. Most tulip poplar blooms are too high for enjoyment, but not these blooms. The first picture is of the tulip poplar bloom.


The second picture shows a 'Powis Castle' I planted two years ago. I was amazed at its growth. This is an ideal spot for the Powis Castle and you can tell it is quite happy in its location. So happy that it has rooted in several spots. I have not had this happen in my garden in Tennessee because I cut my Powis Castle back each spring. I like the effect at my mother-in-law's house, but she is worried it will take over. I assured her we want it to grow large and big as we gardeners dream of growing big plants. The bigger the plants, the less dirt, and less weeds! Works for me and I have her convinced. Alongside the Powis Castle are my favorite yellow irises. I also planted some lambs ears and tulips. The tulips were the biggest surprise for her this year and she enjoyed them very much. As mother-in-laws go, she is a pretty good mother-in-law because she raised such an awesome son, my husband. I am happy she has been able to enjoy this little garden and a piece of my garden. Now this particular tree is maybe a big part of Mother Nature, or maybe a big part of Mr. Don Shadow. On a recent trip to the Shadow Nursery in Winchester, Tennessee, I saw this stunning tulip poplar tree. Since I started the post with a picture of the bloom from a tulip poplar, I thought I'd share this picture of a variegated tulip poplar Mr. Shadow is working on. It was a sport he has worked with to grow and stabilize and evaluate for landscape use. The 30 or so of us gardeners who enjoyed the tour thought this tree was MOST unique. Look for it at some point in the future. I will be doing a post on this very educational trip very soon.


Speaking of Mother Nature, the Jimster was overjoyed to find a baby rabbit. He found two, but the other was dead. Both were victims of a cat. This little fella had one small puncture wound, but seemed OK. Sara, the Jimster's cousin, took the baby home with her to nurse it back to health. I was very relieved when the Jimster let him go so easily. We do NOT need another bunny here at Tiger Gardens. As much as we all hate bunnies in our gardens, isn't this baby the sweetest little thing? Just as tiny as can be, but his eyes were open and it had plenty of fur. We figure he is about 10 days old, but even at that age we are not sure of his prognosis. I don't think it good, but we won't tell the Jimster-will we?

in the garden....

Fiddleheads: New England's Okra

Whenever I see footage of Barbara Stanwyck I am reminded of my grandmother. In her early days the similarity between Barbara and my grandmother is uncanny. Unfortunately, I don't have a young photograph of my grandmother, but I 've seen 35 millimeter film in which my grandmother is being tricked by her girl scouts. The pack placed a whoopie cushion on her chair, and there is my grandmother....in her capris and button up sweater, falling for the joke.

One of the things my grandmother loved to do was fiddlehead hunt. I myself have never done such thing but I know it is a New England delicacy and more than likely served in every gourmet restaurant during the month of May. See, there is a two week span of time when the fiddlehead harvest happens, no time is set as it depends on the amount of rain and adequate temperature for the fiddles to make their appearance. Then a flurry of North American foragers descend on all of our woods.

I understand there is only one fern that qualifies as a fiddlehead and that is the Ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris), it is aptly named because the fronds resemble an ostrich tail. They are fairly easy to identify as young sprouts....having grooves in the stem similar to celery, smooth not furry, and surrounded by a brown papery material that shouldn't stick to the stem. This is referred to as chaff.

When one harvests ANYTHING from NATURE, the rule of thumb is to not take more than what can be replenished. In this case, every other frond is acceptable. Timing is critical as the fiddlehead should not have more than a two inch stem when cut. Fiddleheads are named such because of the uncurling fern resembling a scroll head top of a fiddle.

I have put together a idea of how to cook these greens. Best thing to do is to start by soaking them in salted water for a few hours, this will rid them of bugs and insects. The next step is to parboil them, changing water twice, this removes the bitterness the fiddleheads tend to have. Do not overcook, soggy fiddleheads are not what you are looking for, desirable flavor comes with the veggie being crunchy. The final cooking is to saute them in butter with garlic, cook in stirfry, or simply marinate in vinegar oil. Either way the fiddles are commonly served with a vegetable and taste like a cross between asparagus and broccoli, or to some, okra and peas. Fiddles are a good source of vitamin A and C.

This picture is of a recent walk that prompted me to think about my grandmother, if you look close, Tartarus's nose is pointing to some fiddles on a island. This picture is of our brook that borders our back property line, there are more ferns in a little spot lower in the water. Tatarus did make it to the island on this day although no one knows how. Tatarus is such a gentle dog and can't go far from where I'm located.

I want to include a picture of the recent bloom in my yard.....painted trillium. I look forward to this every year because it means our spring might have a little Jack Frost left, spring being the key word.

This post is for my grandmother who I can picture sitting down at the table with a plate of fiddleheads atop of a pile of corn. Enjoying eating in her Barbarba Stanwyck, stoical, independent way, and for my grandfather who I know sat at the table with..... steak and potatoes.

with love and respect......in the garden....