Check out this unbelievable video of a plant that blogs. I imagine that its posts aren’t that interesting. But, then again, have you ever read anything on Twitter?
Gardening to Cope with Tough Times
TheGardenLady wants to wish all her readers a Happy, Healthy New Year.
These are trying times – especially because of the economy. Remember that gardening can reduce stress. Many articles point this out. Going outdoors to garden you will be working in the sun so that you are getting extra Vitamin D for free while you are getting some exercise both to reduce stress and to save on your gym bill.
Buy packets of seeds. They are the cheapest way to go.
Burpee Seeds and
Park Seed are just a few of the excellent companies where you can go online to read what they have or they will send you a catalog.
With the strange winter we are experiencing, you may want to start planting seeds indoors (see this previous post). For example if you have a sunny window, you may be able to start your own herb garden. Buying herbs in the supermarket can be pricey and fresh can be better. By buying packets of seeds, each seed that germinates potentially can grow into a plant so that you can grow many plants, enough to plant outdoors when the weather in your area is right or enough plants to harvest and dry or even enough to give as presents. Or you can use the extra seeds to plant outdoors when the time is right.
Holiday Poinsettias
Read this excellent article by Michelle Gervais on Poinsettias.  According to it, Poinsettias are NOT poisonous to humans and rats. It doesn’t say anything about cats and dogs. It discusses how to choose the best plant, the care of the plant and it gives sites for more information on the plant.
Biblical Garden Foods for the Winter Holidays
Allium Cepa by Bambo
It is December and many of TheGardenLady‘s readers are celebrating either Hanukah or Christmas. The house is decorated in the appropriate way for the holiday you celebrate and food will be a main part of the festivities.
So this year TheGardenLady is suggesting that her readers try to cook with some of the herbs (Bible herbs) or foods that are mentioned in the Bible.
While friends and family are seated at the dinner table enjoying the special holiday treats, talking about the foods in the Bible might even add to your discussion – after all these celebrations are related to the Bible plus TheGardenLady‘s readers are those who are interested in plants, even ancient ones. And these dinner discussions might encourage some readers to grow the Biblical favorites in their own gardens.
Some of the Biblical foods mentioned are garlic and onions. Onion, garlic or shallots are all in the allium family of plants, relatives of the Lily. The common onion is the allium cepa (see photo above), the garlic is allium sativum and the shallot is Allium ascalonicum named for the city, Ashkelon in Israel from which it was supposedly brought to Europe by the Crusaders. (Alliums are now becoming a popular flowering plant for the garden; Allium giganteum is a particular favorite in TheGardenLady’s ornamental garden. Though ornamental alliums are not for eating.)
Lentils – Lens culinaris is another food mentioned in the Bible. Lentils are thought to be the oldest cultivated legume.
Some other foods mentioned in the Bible are honey, olive oil, and cinnamon.
This holiday you might try a Baked Honey Lentil Casserole as part of your menu. This casserole is composed of herbs, spices and vegetables that were eaten during Biblical times.
- Baked Honey Lentil Casserole for 6 as a side dish.
Cook 1/2lb red lentils as directed on the package. (Do not add salt when cooking lentils.)
Make a mixture of 1 tsp. dry mustard (optional), 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 small onion in small dice, 1Â clove garlic minced, now add salt- 1 tsp or to taste.
All the above items are mentioned in the Bible. (You can add ground black pepper to taste.) Mix this mixture into the cooked lentils and taste to see if you want to add more of any herbs or spices.
Put 2 Tbsp Olive oil on bottom of casserole- olives and olive oil were used in the time of the Bible.
Then pour the cooked lentil mixture into the casserole and pour 1/4 to 1/2 cup of honey on top. It depends on your sweet tooth. (Honey is another food that was used during Biblical times.)
Cover the casserole tightly with the lid or with aluminum foil. Put casserole in a preheated 350 degree oven and bake until tender- start checking after 1/2 hour- it could take up to 1 1/2 hour. When tender, take the lid off and let cook uncovered for another 10 minutes and serve.
Happy Holidays
Do you know what espalier means?
For those who don’t subscribe to a website called Wordsmith which has definitions and etymologies of all sorts of words, TheGardenLady wants to direct readers to this week’s words and photos. This week the words are related to trees: espalier, topiary, pleach, bonsai and pollard.
TheGardenLady has only cut and pasted the first word of the week-espalier– so that the reader has to enter the “A Word A Day” Wordsmith website for the other words.
A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg
A few months back I featured this quotation from the journalist Hal Borland (1900-1978): “You can’t be suspicious of a tree, or accuse a bird or a squirrel of subversion or challenge the ideology of a violet.”
Astute linguaphile Mark Germer wrote in response: “Recent work on information processing (even kin recognition) in plants suggests that there may be more going on there than we now understand; as for birds and mammals, it has long been appreciated that they are perfectly capable of deception and subversion. For my part, I don’t find these things odd or disturbing, as it’s the continuity of all life that intrigues me most. Humans are not alone in their baseness — though a few may be alone in their desire to rise above it.”
Mark said it well. There’s more to trees and plants than we think (see nature.com). So next time you pluck an apple from a tree or trim that hedge, be aware that it may not be as oblivious as you think.
This week’s words relate to what we do to the trees: chopping, trimming, twisting, bending, and stunting as we shape them. espalier
PRONUNCIATION:
(i-SPAL-yuhr, -yay)
Chinese Garden Tour
TheGardenLady just received an email about a garden tour in China. She knows nothing about the organization nor the people running this group so she cannot endorse the group. But she thought TheGardenLady readers might be interested in the following information.
China – Flower Blossoms & Peony Festival Tour April 7 – 21, 2009
Thinking of what to give yourself as a Christmas Present this year? Then think no further as this trip is the perfect answer!
We visit some of China’s most incredible gardens, sights and cities including Beijing, Xian, Luoyang, Suzhou and Shanghai. Gardens that are thousands of years old beckon you to stroll through to capture
cherry blossoms and peonies in their full glorious bloom.  Gardens that will become your memories!
When to Plant a Magnolia Bush
Photo by Fadadomar
TheGardenLady received this questin from Betty:
When is the best time of year to plant Magnolia bushes?
TheGardenLady never heard of a Magnolia bush; but since there are about 80 different species of magnolia that are native to the eastern United States and southeastern Asia as well as hunderds of named hybrids, there might be a plant that has the common name of Magnolia bush.
One difference between a bush and a small tree, TheGardenLady was told, is the height- a bush is under 20 feet tall and a tree is over 20 feet tall. So you can see how arbitrary the word bush can be in a plant name. That is why it is imperative to ALWAYS give the Latin name of a plant when asking a question about a plant. With the Latin name, the person answering your question knows exactly which plant to talk about.
Chrysanthemum Bonsai in Japan
Bonsai bon·sai n. pl. bonsai is the art of growing dwarfed, ornamentally shaped trees or shrubs in small shallow pots or trays. Bonsai appeared first in China over 1000 years ago but once bonsai was introduced into Japan in around the 12th century- some say earlier, the art was refined to an extent not yet approached in China. The word means means a tree planted in a container. Read this for some history of bonsai.
While in Japan, TheGardenLady visited what is considered one of the 3 most beautiful gardens in Japan which is also one of the most famous gardens in Japan since the Edo Period-for over 300 years. This magnificent garden is called Korakuen and is in Okayama. Because it is Chrysanthemum time, the garden had an exhibit of Chrysanthemum Bonsai.
Chrysanthemums In Japan
TheGardenLady has just returned from a two week tour of Japan with an artist who was raised in Fukuoka but now lives in the US. She knows Fukuoka very well and takes small groups with her to visit the area around Fukuoka which included Nagasaki and Kyoto. TheGardenLady was most interested in the flora and gardens of the area and to this end took many photos; but since the tour was not specifically plant oriented, ThisGardenLady would love to return to Japan some day to visit the botanical gardens as well as more of the formal gardens.
This time of year is the chrysanthemum festival. Many of the gardens or shrines have displays of chrysanthemums for visitors to gaze at.
According to Wikipedia “Chrysanthemums were cultivated in China as a flowering herb as far back as the 15th century BC. An ancient Chinese city was named Ju-Xian, meaning “chrysanthemum city”. Then, according to the chrysanthemum society “around the 8th century A.D., the chrysanthemum appeared in Japan. So taken were the Japanese with this flower that they adopted a single flowered chrysanthemum as the crest and official seal of the Emperor. The chrysanthemum in the crest is a 16-floret variety called “Ichimonjiginu.”
Gardening Books
Photo by joeysplanting
I don’t know when gardeners and people who buy gardeners’ presents for the holidays start shopping for these presents, but I thought TheGardenLady’s readers might want to look at some books to buy as presents or drop some hints to friends about certain books you or they might wish for. So, to that end, here is a list of some companies that publish gardening books- in alphabetical order.
The first publishing company that I love for books of all kinds is DK Books. Their gardening books are excellent. One book they print and sell that garden lovers would want to own is DK’s “A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants.”
A second publishing company for gardening books is Fulcrum Books. One book that TheGardenLady thought looks interesting on their list is called “Culinary Gardens: From Design to Palate”.