Category Archives: amelia grant

In A Vase on Monday – Pina Coladas

20160807_110931

An idea formed in my head as I was walking my dogs yesterday morning, a coconut rolled down the street from a nearby palm and one of the dogs stopped to see what it was. Not very interesting to a dog, but I thought otherwise and picked it up. Then, I walked through my garden and spied this miniature pineapple, it has been around for so long the mother plant was producing pups and I had been thinking that it might be better for the plant to cut the pineapple.

20160807_104502-1

The next thing to find was some rum. The cabinet supplied enough for one frozen cocktail. Perfect. My husband is not a fan of such girly drinks. If only I had some umbrellas.

20160807_105726

The vase is a monogrammed highball glass from my in laws collection. A friend gave me the pineapple, the plant is red and green striped and the pineapple is inedible. But it looks great. The foliage is from a Dwarf Jamaican Heliconia and the spray of pink flowers is from Coral Vine (Antigonon leptopus). The coconut is Cocos nucifera, the Coconut Palm, very common in my neighborhood.

In my Rainforest Garden, later in the afternoon….rum, what rum?

20160807_125316

The Pina Colada actually has some Mango granita in it. Maybe it is a Sunset Pina Colada or a Mango Colada.

Cattleya Orchids, Finally Flowering in my Fig Tree.

 

20160804_130055-1

I have been writing about my ongoing attempt to grow Orchids in the trunk of my Strangler Fig for two years! It finally flowered!

This is a Cattleya Orchid gifted to me by my neighbor. Hers looks much better having been in place for a lot longer than mine-here are my neighbors Cattleyas just starting to flower, these are in the trunk of a Hong Kong Orchid tree.

Sometimes the best thing for a garden is time.

20160804_081952

I think my flower is a bit more purple. Curious. I also think I nearly killed the orchids by not watering them enough during dry weather. They were looking pretty puny a couple of months ago, then I started watering them daily or so.

Feeling very lucky today.

In A Vase on Monday- Less Tropical

20160731_113517-1

This week I decided to try a less tropical approach to my vase, using our Native Beach Sunflowers (Helianthus debilis) as the basis for a non tropical look. I thought Blue Willow china would be a not so tropical container for my vase. I have a collection of Blue Willow started by my grandmother a hundred years ago I have been adding to for years. So, I started with the Blue Willow bowl my father referred to as the ‘Creamed Onion Bowl’ a low covered casserole. That didn’t really work out the flowers were too tall or maybe the scale of flowers to bowl was just off. Then, everything got moved into this well used English teapot I bought years ago, one of my favorite pieces. I have never made tea in it, but somebody else did, many times, the interior is stained dark from use. I like antiques with a little patina.

To the Sunflowers I added Soap Aloe (Aloe saponaria) flowers in orange, Red Shrimp Plant (Justicia brandegeana), and some Parrot Flower  (Heliconia psittacorum) buds for height, Asparagus Ferns and Asian Sword Ferns for green texture.

20160731_112512

After all of this it occurred to me none of these plants would even grow at Disney World in Orlando, Florida! However, it can be proposed they could be grown as annuals. In containers.

Mission completed.

I renovated my big Frangipani vase from last week and the Bromeliads from two weeks ago are still looking good. I think the buds on the Frangipani will open. Here they are again:

20160731_113847-1

Unabashedly tropical.

In A Vase on Monday – Prunings

20160724_105040-1

My Bridal Bouquet Frangipani was getting too tall, so I planned an arrangement around the prunings. This variety of Frangipani is columnar and tends to break apart in thunderstorms, if anyone else is familiar with the dreadful Bradford Pear (I hope that tree never made it out of the US) the branching structure of this Frangipani is similar and breaks in the same way. The problem with the branching structure of both these trees is that the branches are held at such a steep angle to the trunk the weight of the foliage breaks the branches and sometimes the trunk splits.

The good news is the Frangipani usually doesn’t get more than ten feet tall and rapidly repairs itself if branches break off. This arrangement is four or five feet tall, so there is plenty of shrub left and it looks reasonably good. Better than broken in two anyway.

The red accents in the arrangement are just for fun. No pruning was needed, it just happened. The tall red element is a Raggedy Ann Copperleaf (Acalypha “Raggedy Ann”) A somewhat unfortunate pruning story. This plant is the closest thing to a Japanese Maple that will grow in Tropic Florida. Japanese Maples are one thing I pine for in my garden- so I bought this thinking I could prune it into a tree form ‘Japanese Maple’. Reality is this plant has none of the graceful habit of a Japanese Maple and is totally upright and frankly kind of scraggly looking, especially after tree forming by someone trying to make a Japanese Maple.

Very Raggedy Ann Copperleaf

The big red foliage leaves are from Blanchetiana Bromeliads, I love these plants for their coarse highly colored foliage and crazy flowers. It took me a couple of years to figure out how to cut the leaves off – kitchen scissors, go figure.

Blanchetiana Bromeliad

Here is a close up of the flowers in my arrangement:

20160724_105220

In A Vase on Monday-Bromeliads Singing the Blues

20160717_104815-1

Here’s the collection of blues. The violin bottle belonged to my grandmother, she always kept unusual bottles on her windowsills, some filled with colored water. The footed glass was found in my in-laws house whilst cleaning it out to sell it. For some reason they collected one glass each time they went to an Arts Festival, so there was an odd collection of ones, many of them pottery wine glasses. The corked bottle holds dried rose petals I collected from bouquets my husband brought home.

20160717_100806-1

I started with this one, my husband came in and said, ‘It looks like the violin is playing music’ – maybe the blues! The flower in this bottle is from a Miniata Bromeliad (Aechmea miniata) These are very easy to grow and bloom regularly in July. A simple Heliconia leaf has been added to the bottle. Here are the Miniatas in the garden.

20160710_101839

The footed vase has a sprig of Frangipani and a few clippings of our native Firebush (Hamelia patens var patens)

20160717_105006

Here is what has me singing the Bromeliad Blues. I bought this grey foliaged Bromeliad this spring at a Master Gardeners plant sale. No one knew what it was, but I liked the shape and foliage (the leaves have a deep pink tip) and it was $6, so I bought it. Check out this flower, I think this is a Bilbergia ‘Soundwaves’, but I am not sure!

Mangoes in Mass Quantity

July in South Florida means a couple of different things, heat, humidity and Mangoes. Lots of Mangoes. This year is a bumper crop. I am philosophizing the rainy winter produced many flowers followed by many fruits.

20160315_10351020160617_184052-1

Followed by many baskets of Mangoes, which I find irresistible.

20160703_110747 (1)

These are Haden Mangoes, from my neighbor the chef, who I suspect just eats his mangoes. I ate some of them, but my husband is not a big fan of plain and won’t eat them straight. So, I made a Mango Amaretto Cake. Not very pretty, but delicious. Last year my Mango effort included a Mango Rum Cake which I believe lasted longer due to its higher alcohol content. Something to consider if your household is not highly populated.

20160706_162433 (1)

After a few servings of the Mango Amaretto cake, I decided to take a more savory adventure with Mango Salsa for grilled fish (Pacific Swordfish in this case). The salsa is made with mango, red bell peppers, sliced green onions, cilantro, lime juice and honey.

20160706_174841

Great stuff, and I still had some leftover to have with my Blueberry Bread  from my lasr fruit overload and vanilla yogurt.

20160706_174850

Just when my Mango supply dwindled to this another basket was left on my front porch.

What to do? Bake some Mango Pecan Bread, of course.

20160714_172921

I used the same recipe as my Blueberry Pecan Bread and it turned out fine. This is not particularly sweet for a quick fruit bread but the resinous quality of the mango shines through.

On to my next culinary adventure in mangoland. Another neighbor gave me some Speckled Perch, a local freshwater fish. So, here it is – pan sauteed Perch in lemon butter sauce with Mango Tomato Sauce served with Parmesan Herb Rice and Sauteed Mixed Veg.

20160714_193626

Still have Mangoes. The only thing left to do is make granita. It can be eaten straight up, with vanilla ice cream, yogurt or vodka if you are feeling frisky.

The remains of the day and this is all I have left!

20150715_171204

Compost

In A Vase on Monday-Ikebana Lite

20160710_114711-2

Given the challenge of Ikebana style vase this week, I decided to read up on Ikebana. A familiar disconnect in my brain popped up. The Japanese Zen design concepts. Very daunting to a Westerner like myself. My Ikebana should be considered the Lite version. Like Lite Beer. Having read bits and pieces of the theories and schools of Ikebana and most of this flying right over my head, I decided to look at pictures of Hawaiian Ikebana as I could probably find the right plants and voila! Ikebana Lite. My disconnect with Japanese design theory began long ago…during a trip to visit a friend living in Japan.

20160710_130600 (1)

 

About 25 years ago, I found myself sitting on a wide set of ancient, worn wooden steps, unshod and somewhat hungover contemplating the famous Zen garden at The Temple of Ryoan-ji in Kyoto, Japan. This garden is the quintessential dry Japanese Garden consisting of stones, gravel and minimal greenery. The meaning of the garden has not been defined – at the time it was thought the stones in the garden represented ships going to the various islands. The photo may be the Ship Rock, I am not really sure.

I chewed antacids, contemplated the garden, then contemplated the garden some more. It was a drizzly, overcast, bonechilling day in early March. I had scheduled the trip hoping to experience Cherry Blossom time, but ended up missing the flowers. The English ladies behind me were exclaiming ‘we understand and see the ships’ Nowadays, of course, someone has made a computer model, claiming the Buddhist monks who built this garden were laying out the tracery of a tree.

I saw none of the above, appreciated the serenity of the space and went on to see if I could spy some Cherry Blossoms.

20160710_114822-1

Back to Ikebana Lite. The vase is the base of a stone jewelry box with a flower frog tucked inside. The taller flowers are Parrot Flowers (Heliconia psittacorum), the orange flowers at the base, Mexican Honeysuckle (Justicia spicigera). The fine textured foliage accents are recycled grapevine from last week and foliage from Muhly Grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris).

It is entirely possible I have pioneered the use of Muhly Grass in Ikebana Lite.

 

In A Vase on Monday -Grapes and Gardenias

 

20160703_105419

This idea germinated as I was surveying my new natives garden. My natives garden is currently a repulsive field of weedy grasses, sand and Indian Needles. The Indian Needles are a native that look like Coreopsis, reseeding like Crab Grass. Crab Grass averages a quarter million seeds per head. Dreadful stuff. The one weed I have not encountered in my garden. Thankfully.

I digress. The grapes in the arrangement were noted on my survey as well as the Tropical Gardenias (they are the buds) The grapes are also native and frighteningly prolific. These are Muscadines (Vitis rotundifolia) I have been pulling them out for five years. The grapes, while attractive stay this size and turn purple. The wildlife usually eats them before they ripen. It took me a while to find out what these are, terribly seedy and bitter, they are male muscadines, the female grapes are larger and sweeter. My grandfather used to grow these and make wine with them, it is syrupy, treacly wine.

20160703_105739-1

The Tropical Gardenias are the double white flowers with buds. Commonly called Florida Gardenia, the botanical name is Tabernaemontana divaricata, probably native to India and not tolerant of freezing, this Gardenia is from a different family than its more well known counterpart, Gardenia jasminoides. The foliage is a lovely dark green and the flowers are not quite as fragrant as G. jasminoides although the fragrance carries nicely on a breeze at night.

20160703_105433

In the center of the arrangement is a flower from my Frangipani, there are also a few flowers from the culinary Fennel and some Asian Sword Ferns. I have been calling these Boston Fern forever, but they are truly Asian. Tuberous Asian Sword Ferns, is the whole name, Boston Ferns have pointed tips.

I decided to stick with a white, chartreuse and green color scheme and the arrangement is held in a Fostoria pitcher from my mother’s collection of American pattern Fostoria. This pitcher graced the table filled with iced tea at many family gatherings. The arrangement is in my foyer as the fragrance from the Frangipani and Gardenia gets a bit thick!

Blueberry Madness

20150811_142604

The height of blueberry season is upon us here in the US. My husband is famous for his pies, see photo above for reason. I was tasked with blueberry procurement for pie production. Five cups were ordered, five pints were purchased. Oops. I was faced with an extreme overabundance of blueberries.

The pie was baked, tasted and deemed delicious. We still had a lot of blueberries, having recently read a blueberry feature in Better Homes and Garden, I decided to try Blueberry Corn Salad:

20160627_171057-1

An interesting idea, corn with a garlic lemon vinaigrette and spices. A bit weird, but good. Still, blueberries speak of baked goods to me and I still had some left. I thought Blueberry Pecan bread sounded like a good idea and freezable. Found a recipe for just the thing with a pecan crust on top. Baked it up, this is good and freezes well, so I will have some for later:

20160627_171043

Then, the horrible truth revealed. I still had some of the blue things left. And didn’t want to eat anymore at the moment. Realizing dogs could eat blueberries and they are actually good for them, I whipped up some Oatmeal Peanut Butter Blueberry Dog Treats:

20160628_151739

The overabundance of blueberries, finally conquered. I walked the dogs and gave them a treat. Everyone was happy.

In A Vase on Monday – Brown Greyhounds

20160626_093959-1

I had a brown greyhound vase long before I had a brown greyhound. The vase came from my great grandmother, Miss Emma. I am fairly certain my gardening interest can be traced back to Miss Emma. She was a famous gardener in the small South Georgia town my mother grew up in.

20160626_094601

The vase is marked ‘Made in Occupied Japan’ and is made of some sort of plaster that won’t hold water. I had a pair but the other vase was squashed as I didn’t realize about the plaster. My grandmother kept winter wheat in these and there was still some sand in the bottom from wheat days. When I poured it out the first thing that popped into my head was “Oh no, Great Grandpa’s ashes”. Then I remembered seeing his headstone. Whew.

There is another vase inside with water. Plants in this vase include in orange, Soap Aloe (Aloe saponaria), in yellow, Beach Sunflowers (Helianthus debilis), White flowers are Gaura, the Bellezza variety, pink is Coral Vine (Antigonon leptopus), the purple is Purple Hearts (Setcreasea pallida) a bit of Asparagus Fern adds some fine green texture.

20160626_093950-1

The real greyhound is Fuzzy’s Alan Alda (racing name) we call him Alan. His color is actually called Blue Fawn, the most wonderful and apt description of his coloring I have heard is it looks as if he has been painted with deep gray watercolors. He retired from racing at an early age because he lost nearly every race. I am deeply suspicious Alan is smarter than the people who were trying to race him as he is still extraordinarily quick and can easily outwit me! Alan and his toys, the “lawn” is a bit worse for wear.

20160307_164454(5)-1