Mad about Pineapples

One of my go to places for fruit and vegetables in this area is the bi-weekly Wells Fruit and Vegetables open up at Rocky Mountain Plant Nursery.

I haven't been for a few weeks, and this week as well as some excellent items in modest quantities, I picked up a whole box of large Pineapples.  Eight large ones for £2 the whole box.  The were ripe and needed to be processed the same day.  As I was nearly out of my favourite Pineapple Chutney, I knew that two would be used for that.  

Pineapples 

I have also frozen pineapple pieces, and will again be making roasted Pineapple with vanilla, ginger and rhum.  Over on Mad about Macaron  there is a recipe for this, and I am also using up a spare white of egg in the fridge to make some of her coconut macaroons to accompany the roasted Pineapple for Sunday Lunch.

Salads too with chilli, onion, green leaves etc works a wonder for lunch, and just a slice is really refreshing as a post dinner fruit.

Two further pineapples were peeled, and then given over to neighbours, with one person later saying that although out of the two of them, they didn't like pineapple much, they are now a convert.  Being asked about the country of origin and make, I went over how to choose a pineapple, having enjoyed pineapple since I was very little, you may well ask am I mad about pineapples?  

The skill in choosing just the right 🍍 taught to when I was little by my dad. Mum sent me up to the market on my own from about aged 10 to buy them. Always unpeeled, but I watched the men in the market peel them. If our cook was too busy, I would end up peeling them. Don't buy green pineapples, they are picked too immature, will never get sweeter.

Best Ginger Biscuits made in very little time.

 Yesterday I posted a picture of the ginger biscuits I made yesterday.  As Jill was called to collected her youngsters from Glastonbury, I sent a few of these for them to nibble on. I even had a message to say how much they enjoyed them. 

Here they are this time 'uncropped'.  The recipe is from Dan Lepard's Book which I have had since it was first published and has been a great inspiration to me, and even though from time to time I have had to adapt the recipe to suit the ingredients I had in the cupboard, I would highly recommend his book 'Short and Sweet', and on page 245 is the recipe for 'Spelt and ginger Cookies'.  He does not stipulate which type of spelt, and had I had it I would have used white spelt, but having only Wholemeal Spelt for my breadmaking, used that, and of course as usual I used goat's butter.

Since I found the recipe on line at Larder and Life, I let you explore it there, and hope you have a chance to make these. If you only have white wheat flour or other plain flour, please do still try them.  By the way another ruse of mine is to make my own 'stem ginger in syrup', the easy way that it.  I fill a pretty glass jar with the candied ginger I get from Grapetree, pour a little hot water and a good tablespoon Tate and Lyell's golden syrup, or you could use honey, and in a day or two the ginger will have plumped up beautifully, after turning the jar around a few times.  I use it like that for all sorts of dishes: on melon, in flapjacks, on seared pan-fried salmon etc.

In a Vase on Monday - Fading gracefully

 I love the way that words can mean slightly different things. Bearing in mind the effect of the strong sun, one can say that colours fade as the sun bleaches the colours, or in such situations a plant can react or be damaged by excessive light, as I found when I collected some seaweed just beyond the low tide and still in the water in Tresco. Sadly this is not a 'graceful' fading.

During the past summers I have found that the colour of the Rose Open Arms does differ depending on how much sunshine it receives.  On our return from another week by the coast this time overlooking The Isle of Wight, most of the roses were finished, so I decided to have a good trim back of Rose Open Arms but pushed some saved stems into a deep bucket of water in the utility area.  After our drive home on Thursday, and a couple of hours in the garden, it was only Friday when I plonked the stems in a vase for the kitchen. I do like the way real fresh flowers mature, wane and finally need discarding or can even be saved as dried flowers, so for this week, although I only have one type of flower in a vase, I would like to show how beautiful they are over several days.

Of course there is no sun bleaching if flowers are gathered in their early stage, at tight bud or just beyond. Using the meaning of fade to mean 'waning', or to go over, I pictured the arrangement each day and also the last one being this afternoon's view of Open Arms.

Having recovered, and feeling less frazzled on the Friday, yes we returned a day early, I removed the bucket flowers and was amazed that the tight buds had already opened, but it isn't surprising as the temperatures here were about 28C.

Still continuing with warm nights, the ones where one has a 0 tog duvet, which means we sleep under the duvet cover without any duvet in it. Here on day three, yesterday Sunday, the buds have open a little further but the colour has not been faded by this I mean bleached out by the strong sunlight.

And finally today,  a few petals are on the point of falling.  Though as it is clouded there is little effect of over bright light causing a bleaching effect on the eye of the lense. The colour does fade from the petals as the flowers wane, and tomorrow, this collection will go the same way as all the clippings made on Thursday.

With a little feed, and some watering in the absence of rain, the plant will bounce back, and reflower maybe two or three times further, and for all these reasons if a delightful plant to have in the garden.

I am sure there will be many beautiful flowers in the other arrangement, which us followers of Cathy enjoy sharing on Mondays. This is the link to her anchoring post, which is to be applauded after she and the golfer opened their garden yesterday. 

And finally our June Challenge for our online WI zoom photography group is 'Fill the Screen', and this cropped picture of Rosa Open Arms just fits the bill:

I just pray it rains at some time during the coming week. I hope it does......

P,S. The other picture I shall be submitting is this picture of some ginger biscuits I made this morning, for our WI Knit and Natter that met here earlier on, which is why I am little later than usual posting.

Six on Saturday Mid Year

 It still continues hot and dry, and we may have just had a good shower once whilst we were away this past week.  Next week the forecast shows no rain either, so out comes the fleece to cover young vulnerable plants whilst the sun is over them.

1. On our way back from a long walk on holiday by the sea, we happened to pass interesting gardens, and one had a 'sales' table in the front garden. Inspired by some beautiful Lampranthus whilst we were on Tresco, I picked up three plants each at £1.50. 

 

Combined with some beach combing finds, I emptied the long terracotta pot and have planted all three together together to check on their form and flowering potential. Overwintered later in this, it will also be handy to move into the shed if it get really cold in the winter.  I do have Lampranthus which has survived several winters in the front Mediterranean garden, but those have  much greener fleshier stems and leaves. The one that did not survive had been driven over by some delivery van so I do need to go out there and make a few more plants. For the summer they will add a colourful element along the road side.

2. Another plant bought at a table top sale is this pretty Dierama nodding in the breeze, with its very pale pink almost white  flowers held its long arching stems.  It is has a little pink marking inside.  It didn't flower last year.  In a week or so it will be floating above a sea of Oreganums in flower.

3. A couple of years back I planted an Achillea again no name, bought at a local charity plant sale.  It has silver leaves.  I have no idea of its name, nice one though. It is quite bleached here, but doing well considering it has not been watered.

4. Another orange: Rose Shine On, again not bad colour considering the bleaching effect of the sun.

Orange Rose Shine On.

5. Close by in the same hue is Alstromeria Indian Summer, growing in a large pot. 

6. I do like a curiosity or two and strangely this year the Linaria Canon Went has provided a certain fascination. all self seeded.  I leave the odd plant to give a little height, and since these can be dotted around, look rather pleasing.  I left this very fasciated flower spike as a curiosity. The causes can be various.

On another plant the fasciation is at the very apex of all the flower spike rather than all along the stem.

Again my garden was looked after by a kind neighbour over the last few days, but we are seriously considering a watering system for the pots and may a leaking hose for the veggies.  I wonder what other Sixers may have posted about their garden this week.  I have a treat as I have two weeks to catch up with.  All through the magic portal which Jim opens over on his 'Garden Ruminations Blog'.

 

Six on Saturday - Roses roses and other plants

 Absolutely no rain, we are as dry as it can get, and this is 'Soggy Somerset' and mid June.   

The roses deserved a few bucket full of water over the weeks especially the newly planted ones.  I bought The Home Florist Timeless collection and they are starting to really show their colours beautifully.

1. The first of this collection to be picked is Rose Home Florist Timeless Pink. Even though not picked in bud, this bloom has lasted nearly a week, and still no sign of  shedding of petals.

Rose Home Florist Timeless Pink

The foliage is dark green and shiny and best of all disease free.  The plant is strong and stems upright, with good strong flower stems. The scent is a gentle one, similar to the scent of a Rose Scented Talcum powder, with no lemony tang. I took the rose in the vase to the garden to compare the colours, and they are the same, but indoors out of the sunlight the pink is more nuanced even to my eye, rather than just the effect of the camera.

Rose Home Florist Timeless Pink

2. Rose Home Florist Timeless Cream has not yet been cut, and I suppose to have those lovely single stemmed roses, I ought to have disbudded it.  Again the flowers last a long time on the plant, with the plant equally as strong and healthy looking as Timeless Pink.

 Rose Home Florist Timeless Cream

3. With the Cream roses in the middle it is still clear that Rose Home Florist Timeless 'Charisma' is darker that Timeless Pink, but in very much the same colour range, which  mean they would go very well together in an arrangement.

 Rose Home Florist Timeless 'Charisma'

The tacky covering on the leaves here is not due to greenfly but deposits of parts of the catkins from the large Holm Oaks that grow nearby.  

The Purple variation was planted a little way away out of the fierce burning sun and is yet to come into flower.  

4. Another new rose growing against the party fence is Rosa Malvern Hills.  At present there are just a few small stems with roses on the apex, but I guess this rose will take a year or two to bulk up.

5. Of rose colour but not a rose is this Rhodohypoxis 'Pintado'.  After a dry sejour in the shed over the winter, it is now back in bloom, still in its pot. but looking like it is ready to be potted on.  I planted another one straight into the gravel garden, and will assess to see whether it survives the winter here.

Rhodohypoxis Pintado

6.  Again in the gravel garden, which has had many sessions of dead oak tree and male catkins removal, is another rose colour plant.  I grew this one from seed gathered with my own fair hand, and is in its first flowering season, it does seem to be at home, and riding out the hot dry weather. 

Dianthus carthusianorum

It's Jim from Garden Ruminations who is responsible for chivvying us all along and keeping up our spirits and I think you know where he is if the in post doesn't work.

 

In a Vase on Monday 12 June 2023

 In a week where it has felt we were in a Mediterranean Climate with hot days, very warm nights and still no rain here, it feels right that my first vase come from my dry front garden where because of the conditions, it is very much Mediterranean type plants that thrive.

It all started when I knocked over an allium head when I was trimming the golden lonicera balls.  Then I went on to snip a few other bits: yellow flowered Phlomis fruticosa 'Bourgaei'. Centaurea Montana Alba, Centaurea 'Silver Feather', stems of Linaria Canon Went, and finally at the top pink flowered Phlomis pupurea Matagallo. When I went to visit Beth Smith and her beautiful garden leading down to the sea: Foamlea, with the Phlomis fruticosa 'Bourgaei' plants, she wondered whether I might be interested in growing a larger collection of Phlomis, of which she had been National Collection Holder.  Well with this weather it may be that I do consider a few more Phlomis for the garden.

However the last of  the first flush on the Rose Grace has yielded a little bunch.  I decided to give the plant a good cut back as 80% of the flowers were over, and this way the second flush will be on a well shaped bush. The Vase is one my father brought back from Japan many years ago, and was my mother's favourite, and with her birthday just gone bringing it out was in remembrance of her. 

For our WI Book Club we have been reading A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne.  There was a bit of a 'frisson' around the fact that some of the characters were male homosexuals, however our meeting in June has been postponed, but I can say that I found it lived up to the description on the cover.  I would recommend it. Mr S thought it was a little long winded and felt the denouement lacking somewhat.

A second book. that I am about a quarter of a way through. is The Garden in the Clouds by Anthony Woodward, I have got to the part where they are manoeuvring the old almost derelict railway Guard's Van up a steep Welsh Hill.  This was one of the books recommended during our In a Vase on Monday Zoom get togethers earlier this year.  It is beautifully written, and I too would endorse it.

As usual these vases of flowers are posted on a Monday to join in with Cathy was the 'designer' and leader in chief of this weekly meme.  Over there if you wish to following her guidelines you may link your post, or just view other vases from people who love to garden, or even if you have 'gardeners' and like to pick your own flowers. 

Six on Saturday - 10 June 2023

 It has been another very warm and bone dry week.  The soil is cracking and daily sweepings of leaf fall and now added to this all the male catkins on the evergreen oaks  have been adding layers of detritus all over the garden.  Sticky green pollen is laying over everything and requires daily washing down of external surfaces.  Mr S will tackle washing the outside of the conservatory once all has fallen.  Despite all that the front garden planted out with Mediterranean plants continues to surprise me. 

Twice a day I have been cleaning out and filling the bird bath, and as I write the bird song is just so lovely.

 Let's get on with six specific items, or else Jim with award me the 'rambler' of the week prize.  It is over on his post that any of us that care to post six things about our gardens congregate.

1. Another sort of Rambler is this pretty rose: Ghislaine de Feligonde. It is looking really beautiful this week, and is right in my eyeline when I sit in the conservatory where we love to have our breakfast.  Yes I do listen to Mr S chatter, but my eye is always on something in the garden.  This week we have had young foxes, quite small ones, who ought not be far from mummy, wander in the garden.

Rambler Ghislaine de Feligonde

2. Rose Munstead Wood is far happier having been moved from near the wall to the middle of the conservatory border, where once the Salix Mount Aso was growing.  She has to have a hosing down and the detritus removed to have her picture taken. Mount Aso really only had a very short period of looking attractive, so it went last autumn.

Rose Munstead Wood

3. It has been my turn to be on the receipt of plants albeit a donation for our club funds was requested.  All that I know is that these two are cherry tomatoes.  When asked about the variety, Janette looked at me with glazed eyes. It is a question of 'wait and see'.  Is there a way from telling just looking at a young plant whether they are bush or cordon varieties of tomatoes? During the week, Janette found the seed packet and these are Roma Plum Tomatoes.

I also picked up a couple of courgette plants from another open day of the gardens at the Museum in Wells.

4.  Our WI gardening group 'Blooming Fun' had an outing to Bristol Botanic gardens on Monday, and it is strange how one notices something out of the corner of one's eye, and it suddenly twigs, excuse the pun, there is a plant I have.  It reminded that I haven't shown the Japanese Umbrella Pine for some time. It continue to grow and am considering a spot in the garden to replace a plum tree which each year is absolutely riddled with green fly. I have now had it ten years! It is considered a living fossil. 

 Japanese Umbrella Pine Sciadopitys verticillata

5. This bowl full  proves that Pea Mangetout Norli is a sure winner, and the taste is very good too.

Pea Mangetout Norli

6. If a plant has silver leaves plus is covered with minute hairs, you know it can resist the sun, and this little shrub in the front Mediterranean garden is not minding the dry weather.  

Ballota pseudodictamnus is easy to propagate: I find a little piece of spare soil and just push some cuttings in. let them root, then find a new space or give plants away.  That way is far easier than caring for cuttings in pots.  I find after a few years,  the older plants as they get a little straggly even when cut back, and new plants looks neater..  I got my first plant in 2018.

That is my six this week, hope the weather breaks and it starts to rain a little.

In a Vase on Monday

Icebergs would melt if they came into the garden, and they would shed a whole lot of water too....

A simple arrangement of white Iceberg Roses, and Phlomis fruticosa 'Bourgaei'.  There was a delightful scent from the Phlomis but one which affected my eyes. I was moving the vase from the living room to the utility when I could hear my neighbour in hers.  The posy was soon passed over and hopefully the roses will last a couple of days and the Phlomis should last longer.

I could not get the rose heads to stay where I wanted them as the oblong  vase top was a little wide, so I twirled some raffia around the stems, and used my 'souvenir stones' from Tresco to anchor them. Here is a link to the first of my posts about Tresco Gardens. There are earlier posts about other parts of the Island too.

I am feeling a lot better, and wonder now what sort of affliction could have reached out and grabbed me, sometimes feel tired, but I am getting there.

I'm joining in with Cathy and others with this offering for In a Vase on Monday from their gardens.  I heard that Cathy had been poorly, but as well as being busy with the garden is baking in readiness for her open day.  Cathy has unusually not posted yet, so I shall make this post live and check later in the day when I return from a visit to Bristol Botanical Gardens, and make the link live then.

Here is a live link to Cathy's post this week, where there are the sweetest of little pink roses.

A Week in Tresco Gardens at the end of May - Part 1.

I'm  very lucky to have been able to holiday onTresco in the Isles of Scilly.  We had extended our visit at both ends of a three day break organised by a few members from the Henton Gardening Club. As we had not had an overseas holiday for several years, and had missed out on South Africa, this would be a great treat for us.  We had the most wonderful clear, warm and dry weather. A few years back I was really getting myself ready for a trip to South Africa to view plants, but with rising costs etc, regretfully have left it too late.  

Viewing all the plants in Tresco, it was as if the best of plants from various continents had been brought together and I was delighted that with our New Inn Hotel, we had a card covering us for entry for the duration of our stay. 

What follows is a few of the best pictures. They are by no means comprehensive nor of all the plants I spent my time admiring. As there are so many pictures and memories I wish to share, this will be the first of two posts on the garden.

Yellow Pin Cushion or Leucospermum Plant

Red and Orange within the Leucospermum Bloom

These closeup don't quite show the expanse and size of the plants, of which I would not want to hazard a guess at the numbers of flowers per plant.

Another flower which I felt a compunction to look closer at were the gazanias. I remember my father going off plant hunting in Africa during the 1960s and returning with a selection which then went on to be grown in the Municipal Gardens in Mauritius.

From the leaves this may be an Arctotis.

My favourite Gazania in the gardens

My Mauritian friends will understand my pleasure in seeing the Agaves, which grew around the island in large botanic gardens as well as in gardens.  A different form was grown and harvested by hand in areas of the island that may have been too dry for sugar cultivation or other crops.  Furcraea foetida, was introduced to Mauritius, and grown in plantations to be harvested and manufactured into cloth, which they were made into bags for exporting raw sugar.  This production ended when raw sugar handling was exported through bulk sugar transfer facilities. 

 

Also known as the century plant several Agave Americana were in flower.

Dotted around there were also the variegated forms again a great form often found in Mauritian gardens.

I was delighted that a number of the Protea were in flower.

The King Protea, Protea cynaroides from South Africa

'The Tufty Bract Protea' or some such Protea.

As it was so sunny, we often had to look for a shaded spot to rest, or at least Mr S to sit whilst I went looking around the garden or at a particular grouping of plants, the bench by the Water Sculpture of an Agave by artist Tom Leaper, was just perfect.

As we sat, several birds came to drink or cool down in the water spouts, and we wondered what this usual bird may have been. In certain lights it was a golden yellow, cap.  Later in the week when we were being shown round by Alasdair Moore, he said these were just the usual Blackcaps that had been feeding on the nectar of the flowering Puya berteroniana

For one of the days we were joined by Alasdair Moore Head of Gardens and Estate at the Lost Gardens of Heligan, who was spending a few days at his island home. He led us on a guided tour of the wilder natural north of the island. 

Alasdair Moore outside Tresco Gardens

The following day Alasdair walked up with us to the gardens, pausing at various locations even before we went through the entrance he regaled us with various details about the history of different buildings, the gardens and plants.  Here Alasdair is standing before a male Leucadendron argenteum, of which several are planted along the grass verge on Carn Near Road. 

Alasdair then went on to show us around the garden where he had been Assistant Head Gardener for 10 years, and still has a great fondness for it, pointing  out with great pride various plants which he had planted, or nurtured.  Another member of our group, Rosie had worked with and knew Alasdair well on promoting Tresco, so dinner together at the New Inn on Tuesday evening was a splendid affair with great conversations. Rosie had had the idea for the competition which led to the creation of the Mediterranean garden when the Agave fountain is situated. 

For a good descriptions of the Tresco Gardens read

Kew without a Roof, Mediterranean Society

The Ox Magazine