Wednesday, September 5, 2007

too much work evidently

Good grief - September 5th already! I am running as fast as I can and still falling behind. I am very behind in checking in with friends' blogs - sorry! I'll be there soon.

I want to thank all of you for the nice comments about my first video. It was fun to do - and hopefully future ones will be more polished!! Thanks for the encouragement!


I'll just take a minute and catch you up on some of my current projects. First, Zoey at Perennial Passion sent me a seed packet. I think this is so fun. Next year I'm planning to collect seeds and share too. She sent the cute seed packet above and an information sheet. I've never grown rose campion, so this will be fun. I think I have a couple perfect places picked out in the gardens. I can't wait until they come up next year. Thanks, Zoey - I loved getting the seeds and the packet you made!



I've been busy weeding gardens and think they are all finally done. So no doubt I can plan to start all over again in a couple days. Weeding is a never-ending chore in my gardens. I still have several areas that need mulch added - another big chore. I'm also hoping to get some cooler weather to move some things around - something I seem to do every year! My neighbor has some beautiful dark coral daylilies that I'm going to divide and add to my garden. And I want to put the Knockout rose in the ground (it's in a half-barrel planter in the driveway now). And I'm pretty sure I'll find several varieties of tulips etc that will have to go in this fall too. I think I'm going to be busy for awhile yet!


This is my hibiscus that was supposed to be a pale yellow. Still looking pretty white - but I see in the photo that the camera picked up both a little yellow and a little red - cool! The center of the hibiscus and the rose are very similar in color.

This is an iron table and chair that was on Craig's list. Mark ran over and picked it up yesterday while I was at my French class. It's child-size - which was a surprise - but way cool. I think I will probably end up putting it in a garden and let the flowers grow up around it. In the bottom photo you can see that it's quite a bit smaller than my "normal" size table and chairs on the patio. (Well, actually, it doesn't look all that much smaller does it? Hmmm...guess you'll have to trust me on this one.)
I also read an interesting article the other day about butterflies. In my previous post I referred to the caterpillar and the cocoon for the Eastern Black Swallowtails. In fact, moths come from cocoons. Butterflies come from chrysalids. I had thought that chrysalis referred to the process. It's good to learn something new!
Also, I wanted to share how my French teacher, Nadine, prepares her tomatoes to put in the freezer. She washes them. Then she puts the whole tomatoes in large freezer bags. When she wants to use the tomatoes, she removes as many as she needs from the bag - puts them under running water - which removes the skin with no further effort on her part. I'm not sure I have the freezer space to do this - my little bags of roasted tomatoes lay nice and flat in the freezer. But it sure sounds easy!! And it would be much nicer to roast the tomatoes for an hour in the winter before I make soup or lasagna than to heat up the kitchen in the summer. Thought I would pass it on to anyone who might be interested.
Note: my mom just left a tip in the comments section - she does the same as Nadine, but quarters the tomatoes instead of leaving them whole - so they fit into limited space better. Thanks Mom!! I still want the roasted taste when I add them to our meals, but it would be easy (with a little planning!) to do that before you use them with either the whole or quartered tomatoes.

9 comments:

Melissa said...

Oh - I am so ready to start moving things around in my yard too. Tim says next week should be cooler. I hope so, I am sick of this ninety degree stuff.

Wow!! You really scored on Craig's List. So Cool!! Lucky you!!

That sounds a slick way to do tomatoes...I might do some of my year-end slackers that way. Thanks for the tip.

Colleen Vanderlinden said...

Cute table and chairs! They'd look really pretty in the garden.

Love that tomato tip. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Good Morning, Another tomato tip, we just wash ours, cut them in 1/4's and put them in bags. They lay flat in the freezer that way (we too are short of freezer space), then when we use them I just add them like fresh tomato's and as soon as they warm up the skins just zip right off.

Love the table and chair--remember the 'ice cream chair' you worked so hard on---and won a Blue Ribbon on at the Fair?

Karen said...

Beautiful hibiscus! and the rose too!

The table and chair will look so cute in the garden, with plants growing around it. I would be tempted to set a teacup and saucer on it.

Connie said...

I have Rose Campion from winter-sown seed this year...since they are perennial they didn't do much this summer but sit there, so next year I look forward to the flowers!
Lovely color on that hibiscus. And your chair are the cutest! I think your idea to put them in the garden and let stuff grow around them is great. How about a nice morning glory vine?

Cindy Garber Iverson said...

Such a neat little table and chair set (albeit pint-sized). I love your idea of putting it out in the garden as ornamentation. That will be so pretty. You must share photos of it over time. Cindy at Rosehaven Cottage

Laurie and Chris said...

I love rose campion.I have two different colors.I really like the silver leaves. That sounds like a great tomato tip thanks for sharing:)

Chitweed said...

The tomato tip is such a good one. I never have enough room in my freezer.

Diana LaMarre said...

Kris,
You are so welcome!

I noticed that red in the hibiscus and the rose right away. It turned out to be a perfect combination, didn't it? It's so nice when that happens.

I just read today, too, about the moth=cocoon, etc. I love to learn new things!

Have a great weekend. I am off now to go shopping and out to dinner.