Borage Flowers

My Borage has been flowering now for about a week. It took a while to open because of all the rain. It’s still raining but the flowers are open. And when there’s a break in the weather the hover-flies and bees are all over it.

The flowers are such an amazing purple/blue and they droop their heads beautifully. The plant is quite tall too – about a metre high. At the moment it’s being held up by my White Currant bush. I’m guessing in open ground it would need staking, especially in bad weather.

It’s so worth it though. The flowers are very unusual. I haven’t made any Claret Cup yet. This historic recipe uses Borage as a garnish for the drink.

Beetroot – Bolivar

I harvested my Beetroot today. They were about the size of tennis balls and the top of the Beetroots were starting to show above the soil so I thought that would be an ideal time to bring them in. I don’t want them getting woody.

I don’t grow Beetroot very often. I guess I just don’t eat that much of it. It’s a very earthy taste. Does anyone have any great suggestions on what to do with it. I’ve pickled it in the past and was thinking about making this Beetroot and Chocolate cake. It sounds good.

Audubon Butterfly Garden and Insectarium showcases the red, white and blue

A display of red, white and blue letters spelling "USA" greets you in the lobby. But as you look closer, you realize the letters are much more than they seem: radiant blue, wine red and dainty white butterflies all suspended in glass cases. The iconic colors of the American flag are preserved in time by these beautiful creatures.

Enlarge Catherine Threlkeld CATHERINE THRELKELD / THE TIMES-PICAYUNE Butterfly keeper Vincent Olivares releases butterflies at the Audubon Butterfly Garden and Insectarium for the Independence Day celebration on July 7, 2012. The Insectarium will have more butterfly releases on Sunday at 11 a.m, 1 p.m., 2:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. Butterfly release part of Independance Day celebratoins gallery (5 photos)

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The Audubon Butterfly Garden and Insectarium on Canal Street is showcasing its best selection of red African butterflies, Great Southern Whites and blue Central American Morphos this weekend in honor of the July 4th holiday.

The exhibit is open Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. At 11 a.m. and 1, 2:30 and 4 p.m., entomologists will be releasing new butterflies, including a range of exotic specimens from all over the world.

Throughout the weekend, the staff will be offering butterfly-themed activities including butterfly identification, hands-on crafts, face painting, caricature portraits, magic shows and performances by butterfly dancers.

The weekend events also celebrate the newly renovated Butterfly Garden, a traditional Japanese-style garden complete with bamboo trees, a rustic cottage and a large pond with colorful koi fish swimming in its waters. This year, Audubon has added more koi and improved the lighting throughout the exhibit to facilitate the butterflies' feeding process.

The garden is Zen-inspired, its minimalistic focus intended to help visitors engage more in the exhibit.

"We don't want to distract them from enjoying nature," says Zack Lemann, manager of animal collections and visitor programs for the 4-year-old insectarium. Aside from about 30 different butterfly types and 10 plant species, the exhibit also features two tortoises and free-flying finches.

On Saturday afternoon, adults and children alike enjoyed wandering through the exhibit. Some ended up with the more intrepid butterflies perched on their hands or dresses. Kids eagerly crowded around as more butterflies were released.

"We're big fans of the aquarium and the zoo, so this is something different for us, but we'll definitely come back," said Donna Perez from the north shore, who was visiting with her grandson and daughter-in-law.

Playing catch-up with the garden

ust in case it's hot where you are, I thought I'd print a picture of the garden last winter:

Mmmmm. Snow!

And here's a view in the fall:

I say "catch up" because I started a gardening blog in RL, hoping to do at least one complete seasonal cycle of daily posts, but discovered, for reasons to become clear, I hope, shortly, that I couldn't maintain the post after 180 or so. (Also, WordPress made a technical change that destroyed my traffic.) So, through the month of July, I'll do some catch up and then, assuming woodchucks or deer don't destroy everything, I'll start showing this year's full glory in August.

A note on the form: The photos are taken with an iPad (I know, I know...), an infrastructural improvement I treated myself at the end of last year. I then annotate the pictures with arrows and text using a free "app" called Skitch. The whole project was really about teaching myself to see, or notice, better by focusing on the world through the iPad screen. And this did work, more from the discipline of finding something to photograph every day.

So, herewith. I think the annotations are self-explanatory, but ask me anything....

NOTE For those who remember last year's posts, the milk jugs are out. And thereby hangs a tale, which I'll get to....

Garden bargains start now, add instant color on the cheap

I bought a pot of four plants and plugged them right into some left over hanging baskets. Photo by Doug Oster

Bull Valley gardens open for a rare peek by visitors for one day

If you believe that Bull Valley is a magical place, you will want to visit its garden walk Saturday, July 14. After all, the garden club opens its lovely estates only once a decade.

Six gardens in this sprawling rural town of hills, fens and conservationists unfold their beauties, and volunteers will be happy to answer questions and impart gardening information.

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Bull Valley's Garden Treasures

When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, July 14

Etc.: Vendors will be at one garden; participants can ask about native plantings, bee keeping, attracting birds and butterflies and preserving natural landscapes.

Tickets: $20 in advance, $25 at door; available at several businesses and may be ordered by sending checks, email and phone number to Bull Valley Garden Club, Box 641, Woodstock, IL 60098.

Check-in at: Kimball & Bean Antiques, 3606 S. Country Club Road, Woodstock

Benefits: Bull Valley Garden Club projects; Friends of the Woodstock Library; Land Conservancy's Oak Tree Restoration Project; and garden therapy at a local nursing home.

Call: (815) 347-9020

Visitors can drive through the rural McHenry County community that legend says was named for the bulls that early settlers let graze in the valley tucked between Woodstock, Crystal Lake and McHenry. And they will view extensive gardens often carved from much larger land holdings.

Tranquillity Trails offers contemplative winding paths through the woods. The homeowner, a Master gardener, does much of the work herself, and is known for splitting and nurturing plants so that every year her gardens grow.

“She finds a little sprig and finds a space for it,” said Chris Curtis, one of the garden coordinators for the walk.

The homeowner shows a bed of 60 hostas that she divided from six plants, impressed with what nature provides.

Here are her favorite hostas: Praying Hands because the folded crinkled leaves look so different; Sun Power that lights up a garden; Gold Standard maturing from green to gold with a green edge; and the gigantic Sum and Substance.

Pagoda dogwood is one of her specialties, and she's gotten 10 or 15 from one tree. Visitors will also see many redbuds, and baby oaks seem to be everywhere with an occasional baby hickory that just dropped in.

All kinds of plants thrive in the woodland with its sunny spots: Cranesbill geraniums with variegated leaves; the blue blooms of tradescantia; monarda in blue, pink and lavender; Carol Mackie Daphne that at least one fan says smells like lilacs; golden tickseed coreopsis; and yellow ligularia Little Rocket.

Caramel's apricot foliage makes it her favorite heuchera. And of course there are the hydrangeas: Nikko Blue, Annabelle, Endless Summer and oak leaf.

And like many woodland gardens, sun lovers find their spots, including coneflowers, roses like Red Ribbons and the popular Knock Outs, and sedums.

A second garden, Private Pompousness, Poetry and Playfulness, presents three ponds on its 7 acres, At the edge of the first, visitors see a tall, densely planted berm whose inhabitants include Scotch pine, a 30-foot magnolia and a crabapple tree. The homeowners designed this to protect the home from road noise,

Beavers active in the ponds felled three trees while the homeowners were on a recent vacation, and one remains for visitors to see what these favorite rodents do. When beavers get to be too destructive, the only alternative is to destroy their home, and then they move on, the homeowner said.

One important lesson for homeowners who want to encourage wildlife is “don't clean up so much.”

This couple leaves dead trees on the east side of the east pond so herons will have a place where they can watch over their offspring when they check out the pond.

After passing through the two front ponds, the walk circles the house, starting on limestone pavers under an arch of copper beech trees. Across a deep lawn rimmed with native trees is a deck on another pond that holds bass, blue gill and koi.

The whole idea is living with nature, said the homeowner, who does not use pesticides.

Trees in the old forest are pruned to provide sunlit spots where an understory of plants like viburnum, dogwood and perennial hibiscus can grow. And flowers find that six hours of daily sun is plenty.

Around on the west side of the house is the rose garden, moved closer to be safe from deer. A ginkgo, tricolor beech and Japanese maple add charm to the spot, along with a hedge of burning bush. The wall of hedera helix or English ivy growing on a metal trellis blocks the view of furnace and air conditioning. Even here trees are wrapped in wire to protect them.

Across the path a Zen garden built around a red floribunda rose and a weeping spruce provides a quiet space.

Tip: Mixing Silver Mound artemisia with lamb's ear can help the soft, fuzzy plants grow taller and less scruffy.

If you notice a plant in a surprising spot, remember squirrels and chipmunks rearrange this landscape every year!

Botanic garden sculpture was a campus work in progress

It started with the leftover cardboard from the back of a legal pad.

Sometime in 2009, Dan Peragine, a visual and digital arts teacher at The Winston School in Del Mar, carved a series of shapes into the board and set it on his desk.

In recent months, Peragine took the concept and turned it into a full-size sculpture to be installed at the San Diego Botanic Garden in Encinitas. It is one of 23 works in the 2012-13 "Sculpture in the Garden" exhibit.

His process was unorthodox to say the least: Working in full view of his students, Peragine designed, carved and painted while fielding questions from fourth-graders and high school students alike.

"Even the little kids got to see this thing through its stages of development," he said. "They really got a good sense of how things are made."

This weekend the resulting project, entitled "Transpersonal," was scheduled to be dedicated along with 22 others that will remain in place through next spring.

"Sometimes they refer to me as the artist in residence here," Peragine said of his 24 years at The Winston School. "They're really gracious to allow me to pursue my own work on weekends and after school. The project was highly visible on campus as I was working on this piece ---- I had several students observing my design process.

"They would come in after the weekend and I'd have a whole new section done," he added, referring to the arrangement as "a symbiotic relationship ---- I share a lot of my process with the students, and I ask for feedback."

A dedication of the 23 sculptures was planned for Saturday afternoon, and Peragine's work can be seen along with the others from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week at 230 Quail Gardens Drive in Encintas.

"We are very proud of Dan," the school's headmaster, Mike Peterson, said in a news release about the exhibit. "He helped build The Winston School's art program into one of the best student programs in San Diego, and we are fortunate to have daily exposure to his work and talent."

Last month, four Winston School students ---- Nikolai Spiegelberg, Daniel Smith, Zachary O'Brien and Tim Higgins ---- helped Peragine cart the sculpture's segments to the garden and assemble them beneath a towering rubber tree.

"I really like direct light on the piece, and (curator) Naomi Nussbaum had done a really thoughtful job of selecting this particular site," Peragine said. "When you drive up, it's visible from the main entry, and when you come down the path from the other side, it's a little bit more harmonious and the color scheme speaks differently under the trees."

He said the sculpture is especially colorful, with layers of acrylic paint over marine plywood: "I was really stunned when I saw how the light coming through the trees worked on the sculpture," Peragine said.

Not for the faint of heart: If you plan to try your hand at Kyle Lograsso's fundraiser on July 20, be prepared for the fact that you may be out-golfed by a 10-year-old.

After all, Kyle has been swinging the clubs ---- or anything resembling a club ---- since he was a toddler, around the same time his left eye was removed due to a rare form of cancer known as retinoblastoma.

Kyle's latest idea beats all: 100 rounds of golf in a single day to benefit other kids with the disease.

"There's only about 300 to 500 children diagnosed with this in the U.S. every year," said Regina Lograsso, the young golfer's mother and the executive director of Through Kyle's Eyes Foundation. "I never even knew you could get cancer in your eyes ---- didn't know what to look for, didn't know the signs. We wanted to form this organization to support other families who are going through it."

The family lives in Murrieta, and the fundraiser will take place at Legends Golf Club in Temecula on July 20.

Lograsso said that her son, who swings left-handed, has already raised $17,000 in pledges for the event, and that 10 other people have signed up.

"I still tell him every day, 'I don't know if you realize how much 100 holes of golf is,'" she said with a laugh. "But for a kid to take this initiative ---- we want to support it."

Kyle already has 1,500 Twitter followers and has played alongside the likes of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.

Previous golf tournaments hosted by the foundation have yielded as much as $60,000, and the Lograssos are asking this month's entrants to raise at least $1,500 in pledges.

For more information or to sign up for the "Fight Fore Sight 100 Hole Challenge," visit www.kylelograsso.org.

Landscape Design vs. Landscape Architecture: A Garden Tour to Compare

I recently got an email and invite to attend a garden tour organized by the Cultural Landscape Foundation.

Green Residence - Seattle, WA

The Cultural Landscape Foundation has started an initiative called “Garden Dialogues”. It’s an opportunity to visit some spectacular landscapes, meet the owners and the landscape architects they’ve hired on to plan and design their spaces and learn about the whole process.

The dialogue here in Seattle begins in a few weeks with three landscapes that will be open to the public (for a fee of $35 per garden).

It’s no surprise that the garden that claims to have the most diverse and interesting plant material is sold out (Green Residence), but the other two should still offer a lot of interesting things to observe and definitely learn from.

For more information on the gardens and this whole program, visit their site.

Green Residence - Seattle, WA

Lakeview - Seattle, WA (Photo by Dale Lang)

Bendich Residence - Kirkland, WA

It’s an opportunity to  be in a space that we probably can’t afford, but if you’re at all interested in architecture and landscape design, this is well worth getting an opportunity to see!

I decided to mention this event because it raises a topic that I’ve been wanting to discuss. In my line of work, job titles vary considerably and are loosely given to anyone who claims to be a “landscaper”. I’ve often been asked what the difference is between a landscape architect, a landscape designer, and a landscape contractor.

Many will think that they’re all the same, but these terms are very “loose” at times as they mean different things depending on what part of the world you’re in and/or if you’ve got a license or credentials stating you are, in fact, a landscape ___________.

One of the problems that has occurred over time has been individuals or a company will claim to be one or another in order to secure a job. When someone is looking to hire a company to work on a landscape, most people expect a company to be able to do EVERYTHING. So when it comes to billing, it’s just one check; to one company; and that’s that.

Let’s start with defining each one:

*Landscape Architects (LA): Focuses on the planning, design and direction of a public/private spaces. This field determines the BIG PICTURE thinking more about objects in a space and how it works together. They design city plans, parks, recreational spaces, large estates, commercial properties and occasionally, large-scale residential landscapes   Very little emphasis or knowledge of plant materials and environmental factors beyond their expertise.

*Landscape/Garden Designer: Integrating concepts of design using structure/hardscape and plants/softscape (a term rarely used these days, it seems). Potentially a non-licensed LA. This is what most residential home owners will want to hire. They often have a very strong background in horticulture and pay close attention to proper plant selection, environmental factors, and are able to cater to the needs and specific requests from a client.

*Landscape Contractor: This is the individual or team that is responsible for physically building, installing and maintaining the landscape. They are often general contractors able to build structures, move and handle rocks, install irrigation, and water features.

A smarter and more practical approach is to understand the different roles these different fields/specialties and hire where you see fit. Some folks want to discuss plants and determine which ones grow well together; others want a design to follow and they want to DIT (Do It Themselves), and, of course, most wants the “money-saving package” where everything will be done.

There is A LOT of overlap between the three fields (especially Designer and Contractor) which makes finding someone to work with even more complicated. The results of the work and potential collaboration, however, can be absolutely beautiful and the gardens here on this tour should effectively demonstrate how it all comes together.

I hope you truly consider taking in a garden or two.

Harvesting Highland Burgundy Red

I planted my Highland Burgundy Red Potatoes back in April. Today, I harvested the first ones. The plants had flowered and they were getting big enough to start flopping over onto my Lettuce so I thought it would be a good time to start the harvest.

I recently bought a vintage Potato fork (with flat tines) for this very purpose and couldn’t wait to give it a spin. It seemed to work – I didn’t spear any, in any case. The first glint of purple was quite exciting too!

Once I brought them in (and they caused quite a stir in the kitchen too) I washed them and scraped the skin off. Or should I say pushed the skin off because it came off very, very easily. Then I boiled them with a sprig of mint. Served them with salt and butter and watched them disappear.

I had heard that this particular variety wasn’t that tasty but they tasted great. I’m of the opinion that anything that comes directly out of the ground and into the kitchen is going to taste good. At least better than they would if you bought them, right? And I just love the fact that you can’t buy these in the shops but you can eat them at chez Plot. Love that.

Simple Red Currant Jam

This year I harvested over 1.2kg of fruit from one Red Currant bush! That’s the most I’ve ever had I think. I’ve made Red Currant Jelly before but I wanted a simpler recipe because I knew that I wouldn’t be keeping the jam for very long as it would probably get eaten in a matter of weeks. The bush was so laden with fruit that I even had to cut off some of the branches as they had bent over with the weight. The recipe was a simple one. Just pick the fruit (which took about half an hour) wash and weigh the fruit. I had 1.2kg of fruit. Put these, stalks and all, into a preserving pan. Cook the fruit for about 10 mins squashing the fruit to release the juice. Add the same quantity of sugar (1.2kg) and bring to the boil. Boil for eight minutes then strain through a muslin. I bought this stand for the job. And it worked well. Sterlize some jars in the oven and when the mixture is strained pour it into the waiting jars. Regarding the amount of sugar – it is alot. Certainly when you weigh it out it looks like an excessive amount. Now that I’ve tasted the jam I think you could get away with putting less sugar in. Maybe even two or three hundred grams less. The resulting jam I’m guessing will be a little more tart but personally I’d prefer that so I’ll be reducing the sugar next time. If you like your jam sweet then go for equal proportions.

Just Doing A Spot Of Planning

I thought I would sit down with a nice cup of tea and my gardening notebook and do some planning. I don’t know about you but I encounter the same problem every year. I get too excited at the beginning of the season and plant up my whole garden with all the early season plants (Peas, Onions, Broadbeans, Lettuce etc) and then whehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifn it comes to putting the later season plants in (Pumpkins, Squash, Cucumber, Tomatoes etc) I have run out of space.

To compound the problem early vegetables like Radish, Spinach and Lettuce start to go over leaving holes in my garden that are not big enough to house say a Pumpkin because they are surrounded with plants that take a long time to grow (Broccoli, Cabbage, Cauliflower to name a few). I need a plan.

I find that traditional rotation and grouping vegetables by type doesn’t work for me in such a small space. Plus, my kitchen garden IS my garden so I want to avoid the ‘allotment’ look.

It’s still testing me, but I’ll let you know when I come up with something. Does anyone do anything purposeful to avoid these issues? Now back to my to plan.