Tag Archives: giant of italy parsley

Six on Saturday – Gifts from the Garden

I am joining SOS this Christmas weekend with a grateful heart. I take so much pleasure in interacting with my fellow garden bloggers weekly and thank Jim for his stewardship of SOS. To see more SOS posts, visit Jim at http://gardenruminations.co.uk.

Winter in a South Florida garden always brings enjoyable gifts. Some expected, some not so much. But all make me appreciate what is possible and how much I have learned. A little touch of Christmas color is appreciated in the tropical setting.

Meet Neoreglia McWilliamsii, a member of a group sometimes called Blushing Bromeliads. These show color in winter and are green in summer. This one colored up just in time.

Bromeliad Alcanterea odorata finally showing its grey stripes. This one produces grass pups rather than offsets. A friend sent me several pups a few years ago. They are somewhat difficult to grow and start out plain grey green and finally develop variation and then a nearly powdery grey coloration. Grown primarily for a foliage accent they last about 5 years, get about 3 feet wide, have a spectacular flower and die.

Another pup success, the ‘Purple Haze’ Billbergia, from the rock n’ roll series. There is one called ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ I must get. These flower in winter, but are not old enough.

Bay leaf, finally recovering from near defoliation by me in pursuit of soups and pasta sauces. I love fresh bay leaves a little too much.

Another favorite herb, always in a pot on the front porch. In my opinion, Giant of Italy parsley has the best flavor and I eat it nearly daily with fresh vegetables in vinaigrette.

A surprise and wonderful gift – two more dahlias are coming up. I planted the tubers in October and now have seen 3 out of 9 emerge. I am not sure what inspired the emergence, cooler weather and rain, the solstice?? I suspect removing the spotty leaves would be a good idea.

That is all of my surprises for this week.

Happy Holidays to all!

Six on Saturday – Food Dreaming

It is another windy, overcast day in South Florida. We seem to be attracting cold fronts every Friday night, they pass through with rain or not, then leave clouds and wind in their wake. The fruits and vegetables in the garden are ambling along towards creating edibles, just not quite fast enough for me.

Mexican Papayas grown from seed harvested from fruit I bought. These are almost big enough to transplant into the garden. I have three because Papayas can be male, female or hermaphrodite. Obviously, you hope for hermaphrodite. I have no idea what variety the fruit was, and I don’t think Papayas are true to seed. We shall soon see. Papayas don’t live long and are considered herbs rather than trees. They are known to produce fruit within 9 months of planting. I think the last one I had produced fruit for 2 or 3 years.

Cherry tomatoes taunting me. I think these are the Lost Marbles variety as they look pretty stripey. I never label vegetables as the labels tend to fail and I only grow cherry tomatoes.

Red Bell Peppers just setting fruit. These are the classic thick walled Bell Peppers. I had thin walled heirloom peppers last year, good but weird. I am looking forward to these.

Tiny mangoes have formed on the Glenn and Nam Doc Mai Mango trees. Supposedly it takes 100 days from formation to harvest. I hope these make it. I have been cutting powdery mildew infested flowers off the Glenn and that will ruin the flowers and fruit.

My favorite, Genovese Basil, grown from seed. I am trying not to eat too much of this.

Another herb I love, Giant of Italy Parsley. It has an intense parsley flavor and lasts for two years here. I grow it from seed every two years or when necessary, sometimes the Swallowtail butterflies eat it. My favorite use of this is a Marcella Hazan inspired celery salad with fresh celery, Parmesan strips, olive oil and pepper. Mmmm.

Thanks to Jim at gardenruminations.uk.co for hosting SOS. Follow the link to see what is going on in gardens from the world over.

Happy Gardening!!